Cissell DSSEC Group Overview
High School Students: Ross Brown, Sarah Jacobs, Samuel Maher, Jenny Wu
SVSU Students: Marissa Dobulis, Adriane Miller
High School Teachers: Jean Marie Learman, Megan Witte
SVSU Faculty Advisor: Kyle Cissell
Research in the Cissell group is focused on water quality analysis of the Cass, Saginaw, Shiawassee, and Tittabawassee Rivers. Nitrogen and Phosphorus, fecal coliforms, and dissolved oxygen levels were all collected at varying locations along each river. In addition, bacterial source tracking was performed using gene and species-specific primers through polymerase chain reaction. These results are being compared to those found in a 2015 Dow SSEC project which focused on the same rivers. As side projects, students are building a 3D-printed turbidity meter using Arduino-programmed microcontrollers and are evaluating two different types of plastic for use as casing material. In addition, students are performing a statistical comparison of means between two common nitrogen analysis methods to determine which method is more beneficial for analysis at the typical nitrogen levels that are observed in the Saginaw Bay Watershed.
Link to Website: Blazing Bacilli