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Ohio Wesleyan Student Earns Microscopy Society of America Scholarship

Daisy Glaeser, Class of 2016, to Use Research Award to Study the Evolution of Parasitic Pinworms

Daisy Glaeser ’16

DELAWARE, Ohio – Getting lost helped Ohio Wesleyan University junior Daisy Glaeser to find her academic passion and, years later, to earn a prestigious Microscopy Society of America Undergraduate Research Scholarship.

As a prospective student, Glaeser recalls walking Ohio Wesleyan’s 200-acre campus and losing her way while searching for her residence hall. A faculty member stopped to help and, learning that Glaeser was interested in microbiology, took time to show her the university’s scanning transmission electron microscope before walking her to her destination.

“It was this outreach to students that I was looking for in a university,” said Glaeser, a microbiology major from Brunswick, Ohio. “And the fact that a professor took time out of their day to not only personally walk me back to the proper dorm, but also to show me the (electron microscope) and tell me that I could work with such a wonderful microscope, I was overjoyed.”

Glaeser’s joy increased recently when she learned that she was among a small group of college students nationwide to be awarded a competitive 2015 Microscopy Society of America (MSA) Undergraduate Research Scholarship. As part of her award, Glaeser will write an abstract of her completed research for publication in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Microscopy and Microanalysis.

With her MSA scholarship, Glaeser will study the “Characterization of a Diverse Nematode Parasite Community from Millipedes using Scanning Electron Microscopy.”

“This research hopes to tackle some of the phylogeny (evolutionary) problems of the order,” Glaeser said. “My main focus for this research is to become more adapt with the scanning transmission electron microscope and to contribute to parasitology by helping identify possibly new parasites and cleaning up the phylogeny of the order these parasites belong in.”

Glaeser will conduct her research under the guidance of Ramon Carreno, Ph.D., OWU associate professor of zoology. She will focus on three parasites found in the digestive tract of millipedes, seeking to determine exactly where the parasites are located in the tract and why.

Although she hasn’t settled on a long-term career goal, Glaeser has a couple of important criteria: “As long as I work with something I’m passionate about, I’ll be happy,” she said. “Right now, I’m considering branching into parasitology more, or going into wastewater management. My career goal is to work with a scanning transmission electron microscope for the rest of my life.”

Learn more about the Microscopy Society of America and its scholarships at www.microscopy.org. Learn more about Ohio Wesleyan’s scanning transmission electron microscope at https://www.owu.edu/academics/scanning-transmission-electron-microscope/ and the university’s Department of Biological Sciences at https://owu.edu/BiologicalSciences.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.