printmaking research worksheet

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What Is Printmaking?

Printmaking is an artistic process based on the principle of transferring images from a matrix onto another surface, most often paper or fabric. Traditional printmaking techniques include woodcut, etching, engraving, and lithography, while modern artists have expanded available techniques to include screenprinting.

A matrix is essentially a template, and can be made of wood, metal, or glass. The design is created on the matrix by working its flat surface with either tools or chemicals. The matrix is then inked in order to transfer it onto the desired surface. To print from a matrix requires the application of controlled pressure, most often achieved by using a printing press, which creates an even impression of the design when it is printed onto the paper or fabric. (More modern printmaking techniques, such as screenprinting, do not require a press.) The resulting print is often the mirror image of the original design on the matrix. One of the great benefits of printmaking (save for monotype) is that multiple impressions of the same design can be printed from a single matrix.

Learn more about the various printmaking techniques below.

Freyda Spira , Liz Zanis , and the curators of the Department of Drawings and Prints

Rachel Mustalish , Department of Paper Conservation

Paul Lachenauer and Wilson Santiago , Imaging

Screenprint

This project was made possible by the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University.

Printmaking Ideas for the Classroom

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Printmaking Ideas with Found Objects

Printmaking can be such a great medium for exploring science, math, culture, and even literacy. In this session, IAS artist-in-residence Amy Traggianese shares some simple printmaking ideas students can do at home using found objects.

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Printmaking Ideas You Can Do Anywhere

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This workshop preview is part of our members-only Accelerator workshops. Each month, we release a stack of videos and worksheets to help educators bring inspiring new techniques into their classrooms. Each workshop also provides teachers with a certificate for 1 PD hour.

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Printmaking Worksheets - KS3, 4 or 5

Subject: Art and design

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

22 February 2018

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X - Research Guide - FORWARDED to Library Resources / Niche Academy

• RESEARCH WORKSHEET
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Take notes during your research process

• Library Research Worksheet Click the link and a Word version of the worksheet will download to your computer for completing and printing.
• Library Research Worksheet Click the link and a PDF version of the worksheet will download to your computer for printing.

The Library Research Worksheet is a resource that you can print out and use to take notes during your research process. Note-taking while you research is highly recommended because it helps you organize your thoughts and findings, and it keeps you on track when you have to divide your research time into several sessions. The worksheet guides you through the steps of developing your topic, figuring out how to search for information, evaluating search results and citing sources.

See an example of the research process

This document is the Library Research Worksheet completed with an example topic to help you understand the research process a little better.

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Research Worksheets and Handouts

• Getting Started
• Evaluating Sources
• General Research

Getting Started Having trouble getting your research rolling? These handouts and worksheets can get you past that initial hurdle.

Topic Identification worksheet (pdf) This graphic organizer will help you understand your assignment, identify and focus your topic, create a search strategy and find sources in 6 easy steps! For more information about research topics, visit www.codlrc.org/research101/topics

Developing Your Research Question (pdf) An infographic of journalistic questions that can help you brainstorm potential research questions.

Finding Evidence worksheet (pdf) Before you start your research, consider what evidence you’ll need to support your claims and think about how to find it.

Subject vs. Keyword Searching (pdf) Learn how to use keyword searching and subject searching together to find what you're looking for in the Library catalog and article databases.

Boolean Logic, Truncation, and Nesting (pdf) An introduction to advanced search techniques you can use to help you find information efficiently and effectively.

Advanced Research Search Strategies and Techniques (pdf) A quick reference for the types of advanced searching techniques you can use in databases, the Library catalog and in search engines.

Tips for Evaluating Information (pdf) Whether a resource is print or electronic, text-based or image-based, researchers must carefully evaluate the quality of the source and the information found within. When evaluating the quality of resources, here are some things to consider.

CRAAP Test (pdf) Do your sources pass the CRAAP Test? Use this guide to help you consider whether a source is appropriate for your research needs.

Source Evaluation Worksheet (pdf) Use this form to help you determine if a source is appropriate for your research. For more information about evaluating sources, visit www.codlrc.org/evaluating/sources

Research Article Anatomy (pdf) Reading research gets easier once you understand and recognize the pieces and purposes of research studies, from abstract to references.

Reading (and Understanding) Research (pdf) Adapted from How to Read and Understand a Scientific Paper: A Guide for Non-Scientists by J. Raff.

Introduction to College Research (pdf) Helpful resources for every stage of the research process.

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Research Worksheet: Research Worksheet

Research worksheet printable versions.

• Rersearch Worksheet Printable Word document. Feel free to download and print.
• Research Worksheet Printable PDF version. Feel free to download and print.

How to do Research

Systematic Serendipity

Read this in conjunction with the Research Worksheet in the next box to develop your research skills; learn to work smarter, not harder; and ensure your research efforts are efficient and effective.

In a phrase, research is the process of  “USING SOURCES TO FIND MORE SOURCES” (aka Systematic Serendipity) . Here you will find a brief explanation of the basic steps involved in research while applying this principle.

Select and Focus a Topic :

Select a topic . If you can select your own topic, pick something that is of interest to you and for which there are sufficient resources available. Be careful not to select a topic that is too broad or too narrow but make sure you limit your topic to just  one  concept. Use this focusing exercise to guide you in the early stages of your search.

Turn your topic into a title . Allow yourself the freedom to change the title, outline and even the topic as your research informs your ideas.

Write a thesis statement or statement of purpose : what one question do you want to answer about this one topic. Asking yourself who, what, when, where and why about the topic will help you focus where you want to go with it. 

Develop a Preliminary Outline . Use the keywords from the title and thesis statement as key search terms and as the basis for a preliminary outline. This will help guide you in the early stages of your research. It will inevitably change as you gather information and refocus your topic.

Identify terminology:   Make a list of what you already know from off the top of your head:  authors, titles, and keywords. Think about synonyms, broader terms, narrower terms and related terms, alternate spellings, scientific or technical terms as well as common terms.

An extremely valuable tool to further assist you in identifying good search terms is the  Library of Congress Subject Headings Online  (LCSH) <https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects.html> search platform. Here you can look up your common, colloquial concepts to find universally recognized subject headings. Also, use LCSH Online to discover how your selected terms fit within their related subject hierarchies (click on <Church work> below).

For example a search for <ministry> leads to <Lay ministry> which in turn retrieves this useful information:

·  Variants

·         Ministry, Lay

·         Volunteer workers in church work

·  Broader Terms

·          Church work

·  Narrower Terms

·          Lay preaching

·          Lay readers

·          Lord's Supper--Lay administration

·          Lord's Supper--Lay celebration

·  Related Terms

·          Laity

·          Priesthood, Universal

·          Volunteer workers in Christian education

Get Background Information:    Get acquainted with your topic by searching broad range tools like encyclopedias and dictionaries. In addition to general information on the subject, these will give you a basic outline, the broad parameters of your topic, a bibliography of highly recommended sources as well as a recognized expert in the field. This will help you focus your research topic as well as enhance your understanding of the topic as you read more detailed resources.  The bibliographies and authors of encyclopedia articles are excellent sources for further research, which is a prime example of Systematic Serendipity , i.e., using sources to find more sources . To easily identify encyclopedias and dictionaries on any topic, use the Discovery Catalog with this formula: <su:encyclopedias OR dictionaries> *  then whatever your topic, either as a subject or as a keyword. Like this:

su:encyclopedias OR dictionaries AND “lay ministry”

su:encyclopedias OR dictionaries AND kw:”lay ministry”

If you can’t find anything on your specific topic, try searching its broader context (e.g. search the broader concept of “church work” if “lay ministry” doesn’t retrieve any results). Use the  LCSH Online   to identify broader, narrower, related terminology.

*NOTE :  the terms "encyclopedias" and "dictionaries"  must  be plural; OR  must  be in all caps

Tools to search .  Using the authors, titles and terminology you now have:

Go to the  Online Public Access Catalog  (OPAC) (i.e.  WorldCat Discovery   and  WorldCat Discovery Advanced  to locate library materials related to your topic.  Apply “Using sources to find more sources” to your search results (hit list) by examining the Subject field in the Description portion of each record. This will provide more appropriate terms with which to find more relevant resources. When you locate materials that are helpful, use their respective bibliographies to identify even more sources; another example of “Systematic Serendipity”

In addition to searching books, you may want current information not yet published in book form. Periodicals will need to be searched for the most current scholarly information available on a subject. Searching periodical indexes and abstracting sources will identify for you the articles available on your topic. These can be accessed through the  Discovery Catalog   by limiting the Resource Format to “Articles” or Content Type to “Peer Reviewed”. Better still, use “ Find Databases ” for a more focused search of specialized indexes and databases related to the selected category, i.e., ATLA Religion with Serials Plus, BAS Online, Christian Periodical Index. Use the authors, keywords and subject headings you discovered from your reading of encyclopedia articles, the records that you found in your Discovery catalog search and the bibliographies from the books you’ve discovered. 

Recommended Reading for help in Library Research:  Badke, William.  Research Strategies:  Finding Four Way Through the Information Fog, 5 ed. Bloomington, IN: IUniverse, Inc., 2021.  ISBN: 9781663218742. Call # 001.42/B142r/2021.

Use the Research Worksheet below to guide the early stages of your research. It is not necessary to fill in all the blanks; use only those that are relevant.

Last updated February 2024.

Research Worksheet

Use the Research Worksheet to help you walk through each step of the Research Process without losing your way.  Each step is designed so you can add any new information that you may find; No need to repeat the same information over and over again.  The lines are merely prompts.  Include as much or as little information as is needed for the research project.

  napkinwriter.wordpress.com 4322 × 2007   February 26,  2013

Select & Focus your Topic 1.  Select a topic: ___________________________________________ 2.  Turn your topic into a title:  _________________________________ 3.  Write a thesis/purpose statement: ___________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

4.  Prepare a preliminary outline:  I.  Introduction II.  ___________________________________________________    A.  _________________________________________________    B.  _________________________________________________ III.  __________________________________________________    A.  _________________________________________________    B.  _________________________________________________    C.  _________________________________________________ IV.  __________________________________________________    A. __________________________________________________    B.  _________________________________________________ V.  Conclusion

 5.  List known terminology:  Authors: ______________________________________________  Titles of books or articles: ________________________________  Keywords: ____________________________________________

 5.1 LC Subject Headings ( click here to access): select a term(s) representative of your topic and search LCSH Online for universally recognized subject headings. Variants: ______________________________________________ Broader Terms: ________________________________________ Narrower Terms: _______________________________________ Related Terminology: ____________________________________

6.  Get background information from general/specialized encyclopedias: Discovery catalog: su:encyclopedias OR dictionaries AND [your topic].

Before you go any further, analyze your search results to retrieve the best sources: Use   Analyzing Search Results Worksheet

   Titles used:  1.  ___________________________________________________                        2.  ___________________________________________________                        3.  ___________________________________________________                        4.  ___________________________________________________                        5.  ___________________________________________________

Use Sources to find other sources :  Record here any newly discovered pertinent or relevant information gleaned from encyclopedia articles: Persons; article author: _____________________________________________ Places:  _________________________________________________________ Events:  _________________________________________________________ Keywords:  ______________________________________________________

Prepare a Bibliography adding selected titles from encyclopedias & dictionaries; put citations in proper style.

7.  Refocus topic based on information learned from encyclopedias and dictionaries as needed: Change Title: ____________________________________________________ Rewrite Thesis/Purpose Statement: __________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________

Adjust Outline: I.  Introduction II.  _________________________________________________________    A.  ________________________________________________________       1. _______________________________________________________       2.  _______________________________________________________ B.  ________________________________________________________       1.  _______________________________________________________       2.  _______________________________________________________    C.  ________________________________________________________       1.  _______________________________________________________       2.  _______________________________________________________ III.  _________________________________________________________    A.  ________________________________________________________       1.  _______________________________________________________       2.  _______________________________________________________    B.  ________________________________________________________       1.  _______________________________________________________       2.  _______________________________________________________    C.  ________________________________________________________       1.  _______________________________________________________       2.  _______________________________________________________ IV.  _________________________________________________________    A.  ________________________________________________________    B.  ________________________________________________________    C.  ________________________________________________________ V.  Conclusion

Tools to Search  8.  Search the Discovery catalog: use searchable access points identified from 5 & 6 above. 

Analyze your search results to retrieve the best sources: Use  Analyze Search Results Worksheet

 Use Sources to find other sources:  Record any new relevant searchable access points gleaned from bibliographic records:  Dewey Decimal number(s): _________________________________________  Subject Headings:  ___________________________________  Authors:  ______________________________________________  Keywords/Descriptors (from Tables of Contents, Notes, Titles):  __________________________________

Bibliography :  Add selected citations to bibliography (in proper style); very briefly annotate each title; indicate why each title has been chosen and which part of the outline it will support:

9.  Select appropriate Periodical Indexes:  from the Library’s Web site select Find Databases. Use A-Z Databases list       _______________________________________________________       _______________________________________________________       _______________________________________________________

Devise Boolean Search Strategies for each database * and index (as needed):        _______________________________________________________       _______________________________________________________

*NOTE : online databases use these field codes: SU , AU ,TI , and TX  for subject, author, title and keyword respectively. Include a space after each code and before the search terms.

Apply Limits peculiar to each database and index:        _______________________________________________________       _______________________________________________________

Bibliography :  Add titles to the bibliography (in proper style); very briefly annotate each title; indicate why each title has been chosen and which part of the outline it will support. 

10.  Select appropriate Web sites.  Use Scholarly Internet Search Engines compiled and maintained by librarians and scholars (work smarter not harder):         

11.  Use Sources to find other sources:  Record any new relevant additional searchable access points gleaned from each article, book, bibliographic record, Web site used:    Authors: __________________________________________________    Persons:  _________________________________________________    Places:  __________________________________________________    Events:  __________________________________________________    Keywords:  ________________________________________________    DDC/LC numbers: __________________________________________    LC Subject Headings:  _______________________________________    Bibliographies; Cited References - add to your own bibliography if useful.

12. Evaluate each resource found (use Evaluating Sources ).

Work smarter not harder. Ask Miss T

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Research Writing Templates

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What is Research?

Research is the systematic process of gathering and analyzing information to establish facts, gain knowledge, and draw new conclusions. It involves a methodical approach to collecting data from various sources and critically examining it to generate insights and deepen understanding.

When conducting research, individuals seek to explore a chosen topic or question and find relevant information to answer it. This may involve investigating existing knowledge, gathering data through surveys or experiments, analyzing statistical information, or reviewing scholarly literature. The goal is to uncover new insights, validate existing theories, or contribute to the advancement of knowledge in a particular field.

Collecting information requires careful consideration of reliable sources. These sources can include books, scholarly articles, reputable websites, and expert interviews. By utilizing trustworthy and credible sources, researchers can ensure the accuracy and validity of their findings.

Research allows individuals to go beyond surface-level knowledge and delve into a subject in depth. It involves critically examining different perspectives, analyzing data, and interpreting results to form evidence-based conclusions. Individuals can contribute to the body of knowledge, inform decision-making processes, and make meaningful contributions to their respective fields.

Utilizing Research Worksheets to Improve Research Skills and Enhance Writing Abilities

These skills are essential for students to develop a better understanding of various subjects and effectively explore topics. Our templates offer valuable guidance and resources to assist middle school students in their journey of conducting research and writing papers. They provide a structured framework that helps students navigate the process, explore different subtopics, generate ideas, and avoid plagiarism. By utilizing these worksheets, students can enhance their skills, improve their writing abilities, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics they are studying.

One of the key aspects of the research process is identifying suitable topics. Our templates offer prompts and exercises that help students brainstorm ideas and select topics that align with their interests and academic goals. By engaging in these activities, students can explore various subjects and narrow down their focus to a specific area.

Once students have chosen their topics, the templates guide them through the process of conducting research. They provide helpful tips on utilizing search engines effectively, evaluating the credibility of sources, and organizing information. Kids can use these worksheets to record their findings, take notes, and develop a comprehensive understanding of their chosen topics.

Furthermore, they cater to the unique needs of students by providing age-appropriate activities and resources. They are designed to foster engagement, critical thinking, and independent learning. By utilizing these worksheets, students can develop essential skills that will benefit them not only in their academic journey but also in their future educational pursuits.

In conclusion, research worksheets serve as valuable tools for middle school students to enhance their skills, streamline the process, and gain a better understanding of various topics. By incorporating these handouts into their learning, students can develop valuable skills, foster a deeper appreciation for education, and excel in their academic endeavors.

Examples of Classroom Activities to Use Research Worksheets

• Social Studies Exploration: Introduce students to the world of research by assigning a country project. Provide them with templates that guide them through the process of gathering information about their chosen country. These worksheets can include sections for collecting statistical information, identifying reliable sources, and establishing facts about the country.
• College-Level Research: Prepare middle school students for higher education by incorporating college research worksheets into their curriculum. These worksheets can focus on developing skills such as utilizing search engines effectively, avoiding plagiarism, and critically evaluating sources. Students can practice these skills by exploring different subtopics related to their areas of interest.
• Writing a Research Paper: Help students navigate the process of writing a research paper by providing them with specialized worksheets. These worksheets can assist them in organizing their research, outlining their paper, and citing sources. By using writing a research paper worksheets, students can gain a better understanding of the process and develop strong academic writing skills.
• Interactive Research Activities: Engage students in hands-on activities using printable country research worksheets. These worksheets can include prompts and questions that guide students in collecting specific information about a country, such as its geography, history, culture, and economy. Students can work individually or in groups to complete these activities, fostering collaboration and critical thinking.

In addition, we offer a wide selection of other educational materials to support your teaching. Our worksheet templates section provides a wealth of resources, including phonological awareness activities, making connections worksheets , and active reading worksheet templates . These resources can be seamlessly integrated into your lessons to strengthen students' understanding of cardinal directions while building essential reading and comprehension skills.

How to Make a Research Writing Worksheet

Choose one of the premade templates.

We have lots of templates to choose from. Take a look at our example for inspiration!

Click on “Copy Template”

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Give Your Worksheet a Name!

Be sure to call it something related to the topic so that you can easily find it in the future.

Edit Your Worksheet

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Click "Save and Exit"

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Frequently Asked Questions About Research Writing Worksheets

Where can i find research worksheets for different topics.

You can find a variety on Storyboard That. They offer activities and college research worksheets that cater to various subjects and grade levels.

Can I use Storyboard That for research activities?

Yes, Storyboard That offers a range of resources and tools to support research activities. We offer handouts and college research worksheets that assist students in organizing their findings, creating visual representations, and writing research papers. Additionally, their free printable country research worksheet is a helpful resource for studying and exploring different countries.

Are the research worksheets from Storyboard That suitable for college-level research?

Yes, Storyboard That offers college research worksheets that are designed to meet the research requirements of college-level students. They cover various aspects of the research process, including topic selection, gathering statistical information, using reliable sources, and drawing new conclusions. They provide a comprehensive framework for conducting thorough research and writing academic papers.

Can I access the research worksheets from Storyboard That for free?

While Storyboard That offers a range of resources and tools, some of the premium content may require a subscription or purchase. However, we also provide free printable country research worksheets and offer trial periods and discounts for educators and students.

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Undergraduates present research at Meeting of the Minds 2024

by E. Forney

Engineering undergraduate students had a wonderful showing at Meeting of the Minds, displaying posters, giving presentations, and demonstrating projects they have worked on this past academic year.

• Learn more about Meeting of the Minds

For one day at the end of each spring semester, the Cohon University Center becomes a hub of academic posters, presentations, and demonstrations of projects that undergraduate students have been working on throughout the year. Here are some highlights of what Engineering undergraduates are researching at Carnegie Mellon University.

Gravity-fed hydroponic rainwater management

Kate Hanson is a junior in civil and environmental engineering . Her project was inspired by a sight that Pittsburgh natives may remember from downtown a few years ago—a large green wall on a building owned by PNC Bank, brightening the intersection of Sixth Ave. and Grant St. The green wall has since been taken down due to the cost of upkeep, but this got Hanson wondering: was there a way to create a green wall that wasn't cost prohibitive?

After the upfront cost of installation, green walls require two main resources to maintain themselves: a supply of water to nourish the plant life and energy to work the water pumps. Pittsburgh is a city with heavy rainfall, so water comes from the sky for free. But making sure it is distributed along a wall in times of heavy or sparce rain without using an expensive pump was the calculation that Hanson tackled.

In her project, Hanson envisioned a long pipe system installed on the vertical face of any given wall, feeding the plant life. In times of heavy rain, flooding would be avoided by added a bobber below the rain collection tank. Working like a toilet flushing system, the floating bobber would be chained to a small door at the bottom of the tank. As the water level rises, the bobber rises, bringing the chain and door with it, allowing water to rush through the door until the water level lowers the bobber once more.

In dryer times, there may not be enough water to reach up to the roots of the plants from the bottom of the pipes. To make a small amount of water stretch further, the pipes are fitted with ribbed floors. These floors take up volume that water would otherwise fill, displacing the water level to raise it up to the plant roots. 

Hanson received the Undergraduate Environmental Award for her poster. She is advised by Greg Lowry , professor of civil and environmental engineering, and will continue her research with the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship to hopefully bring green walls to life in Pittsburgh. For a first installation, she has her sights set on Wean Hall, specifically the front face of the cube-like protrusion that houses a classroom above the fifth-floor entrance of the building.

Creating gold nanoparticles to sort chiral medicines

Alexander Henry (Harry) Burton is a sophomore studying chemical engineering and biomedical engineering . He worked on research in the all-undergraduate research lab overseen by Nisha Shukla , a special faculty member within the College. His research occurs at the nanoscale. In the lab, he can manipulate gold nanoparticles to give them a specific chirality, making them adept at sorting through chiral medicines.

Why gold? You may have asked the same question at the dentist's office. And the answer would be the same—gold is a largely non-reactive element, meaning that it does not interact with medicine or the human body in negative ways. Gold also has the added benefit of being easy to manipulate into different shapes at the nanoscale since it easily absorbs chiral amino acids, changing the gold into a desired chiral shape.

Chirality is a characteristic of nanoparticles that describes how they attach to other nanoparticles. You can think of it like the molecules having a clockwise or counterclockwise structure—a clockwise structure can never fit in with another clockwise structure, a counterclockwise structure can never fit in with another counterclockwise structure. Cells in our bodies have chirality. Therefore, to best administer medicine that needs to attach at the cellular level, clockwise medicine should be given to those with counterclockwise cells and vice versa. However, since the nanoparticles of medicine are basically identical, sorting out clockwise from counterclockwise particles is a difficult task.

That's where the gold comes in. By adding small amounts of chiral gold to the medicine, you can sort it into clockwise and counterclockwise parts. The counterclockwise medicine latches on to clockwise gold and vice versa, making it ready for administration into bodies.

When asked if the research was expensive, due to the nature of gold, Burton laughed and said, “It is expensive, but my lab’s principal investigator said it was okay.” The cost of the knowledge gained from the research outweighs the monetary price of gold.

Slug battery: an enzymatic fuel cell

Theophilos (Theo) Cockrell is a junior in electrical and computer engineering . He gave a presentation on a project he completed alongside post-doc Kevin Dai, Ph.D. candidate Michael J. Bennington, and Victoria Webster-Wood , an associate professor in mechanical engineering. They work in the Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group , which seeks to find ways to bring electronic sensors to marine biomes for environmental sensing purposes. 

Getting an electrical device to survive underwater is no easy task. Typical circuit boards cannot be exposed to water. Solar power is limited the further down you dive. And there is an abundance of marine life that researchers try their best not to disturb while placing sensors. So Cockrell’s group tried a novel approach—put a sensor inside a sea creature and power it off of the creature itself.

Cockrell developed an Enzymatic Fuel Cell (EFC), an implantable battery that charges based on organic input, such as glucose and oxygen in an animal’s circulatory system. For their model animal, they chose Aplysia californica —California sea hare—a kind of sea slug that has a convenient body cavity where a fuel cell can fit without harming the slug. This slug has suitable chemistry in the hemolymph transported by its open circulatory system.

Cockrell worked to test variables that could help perfect the so-called slug battery. Many factors can change the effectiveness of the battery, such as whether the electronics are rolled up or lying flat, the addition of certain chemical compounds on the battery, and the use of synthesized saline or hemolymph from the slug around the battery. The team was able to produce promising findings in vitro (in the lab) and hopes to move their tech in vivo (into a specimen) in the future.

Material characterization of metal additive manufacturing

Lauren Fitzwater is a junior studying materials science and engineering who is also minoring in additive manufacturing . She gave a presentation about the research she did as the only undergraduate student in the Engineering Materials for Transformative Technologies (EMIT) Lab which is overseen by Sneha Prabha Narra , an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Alongside Ph.D. students Misha Khrenov and Justin Miner, Fitzwater explored the lack of fusion (LOF) boundary in laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) of Inconel-718 (IN718).

There are a few acronyms to break down there: IN718 is a strong, non-corrosive nickel chromium alloy that is used in the production of jet engines and turbines. L-PBF is a manufacturing process that uses lasers to selectively melt metal powder to form it into the desired shape. LOF is a type of defect that can result from this form of additive manufacturing where pores form in the hardened metal where the melt pools have failed to overlap.

For typical L-PBF printing, parameters like laser speed and power will be carefully selected to avoid LOF and other defects like keyholing and metal balling up. Fitzwater noticed that the sweet spot was pretty rigid and difficult to achieve, and wondered if she couldn’t find a way to make the target a bit bigger. She noticed that traditional LOF research does not take into account melt pool geometry variability, instead basing calculations on average melt pool widths and depths.

The result for average melt pool geometry ends up being mostly a linear relation—a faster, more powerful laser will produce more defects. But Fitzwater tested a variety of melt pool sizes and found that the sweet spot started to wiggle around a bit more, resulting in a wavy pattern that showed that the laser could go faster and be more powerful at certain sizes. She hopes this research can be used in the future to improve the accuracy of process maps.

Fitzwater said after her presentation that finding this research opportunity with the EMIT lab opened her eyes to the world of additive manufacturing, a career path she had not previously considered. 

FRESH-printing meat from lab-grown cells

Daniel Aluko is a sophomore studying mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering. He works in the lab of Rosalyn Abbott , assistant professor of biomedical engineering, to study effective methods for 3D printing lab-grown meat . The hope is to offer alternatives to traditional meat, which is tasking on the environment and presents ethical issues around the treatment of livestock. 

Most people are familiar with 3D printers that extrude plastic—a rigid material that rapidly dries and takes form, holding itself aloft or supported on thin supports. However, when printing with something organic, the material cannot attach to itself quickly and take form without support since it is often squishy. This is why Aluko uses Freeform Reversible Embedding of Suspended Hydrogels (FRESH) 3D printing. With the FRESH method, lab-grown fat cells called adipocytes are added to a base of alginate, a neutral polymer formed from seaweed. This creates a viscous liquid referred to as bioink that is somewhere between castor oil and molasses in consistency. This bioink is then extruded into a support bath where it crosslinks or cures into the desired shape. The support bath is basically a clear jelly that melts away at body temperature, so it sloughs away from the final printed meat with ease.

Aluko was advised by biomedical engineering Ph.D. student Lindsey Huff. His role in the project was to test variables to ensure the best quality prints. Adipocytes are somewhat delicate and large, so ensuring that they remain intact throughout the print is crucial for a successful outcome. He studied the speed of extrusion, the gauge of the printing needle, and the viscosity of the bioink. By simulating extrusion in fluid flow software, Aluko was able to test multiple combinations of factors to find a happy medium between them all.

Aluko hopes to see the research also work for myocytes (muscle cells) which are smaller and more likely to hold up to anything that adipocytes can handle. As a sophomore, he hopes to explore other areas of research in his remaining years as an undergraduate at CMU. By getting an early start in research, he has time to compare FRESH 3D printing work to other areas of interest, such as biomechanics or biomedical devices. Exploring multiple areas will allow Aluko to better decide what he might like to study, should he choose to pursue a Ph.D. in the future.

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Preparing the Future Workforce in Drug Research and Development

Proceedings of a workshop.

Despite advances over the past several decades, the clinical trials enterprise has struggled to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse U.S. population. To help address this issue, a 2023 National Academies workshop sought to identify the expertise and disciplines needed to achieve the aspirations for a transformed clinical trials enterprise by 2030 and enable a workforce that can better support the evolving needs of drug R&D - one that is resilient, culturally aware, anti-racist, and interdisciplinary. The workshop, hosted by the Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation and Roundtable on Black Men and Black Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine explored strategies to bolster workforce capacity and challenges and opportunities associated with supporting the next-generation drug R&D workforce.

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How the incels warped my research

The ‘manosphere’ is claiming it has scientific legitimacy for its dangerous ideology. my field hasn’t done enough to defend our work from misappropriation..

Feminism has ruined dating for American men. American women are too entitled, they don’t respect their men, and they just don’t understand their role in life. If you want to find a good, traditional woman who will treat you right, you need to go abroad. But don’t bring her home or wokeness will corrupt her, too.

This is the world according to “passport bros,” a viral social media movement that advocates that men give up on American women. The sinister core of the movement is a group calling themselves “incels”, or involuntary celibates, an identity they’ve cultivated in a larger online ecosystem dubbed the “manosphere.” Composed of Reddit groups, TikToks, blogs, podcasts, wikis, and influencers, the manosphere tells men that women’s psychology, empowered by feminism, makes happy relationships impossible. Because of evolution, women will never date a guy like you; even if they do, they’ll eventually leave you for someone better.

Incels have been behind horrific attacks like the Isla Vista killings , when six students were murdered and over a dozen more injured near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, 10 years ago. The perpetrator explained in a book-length manifesto that his motivation for the massacre was frustration with women who didn’t find him attractive and envy of the men they did. This year, a man in Sydney stabbed six women to death in a shopping mall. The attacker’s father suggested his motivations were similar to the Isla Vista killer’s: frustration over his failure with women.

The manosphere claims its worldview is grounded in science, specifically the discipline of evolutionary psychology. That’s my discipline — I am an evolutionary psychologist and associate professor at UC Santa Barbara, the home of evolutionary psychology. In fact, it turns out incels have coopted some of my research to justify their ideology.

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I have generally tried to ignore the manosphere. But as an evolutionary psychologist, I’ve found that hard to do. You can hardly read two paragraphs of incel ideology without coming across references to my field.

Louis Bachaud and Sarah Johns recently published a content analysis of manosphere messaging in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences , explaining the ways in which our research gets appropriated by manosphere circles.

For example, incels maintain a wiki page of scientific citations they claim support their worldview — an annotated bibliography of misogyny. In one case, in a sort of Russian nesting doll of misrepresentation, the incel wiki quotes a pape r citing a study of mine as demonstrating that women prefer dominant men — which they further twist into the incel notion that women actually prefer violent men as romantic partners.

Reading this entry, I thought, “That’s odd, I don’t remember ever publishing on dominance preferences — do the incels know my work better than I do?” No. I double-checked: That study didn’t even mention dominance preferences.

Curiously overlooked in this whole wiki section on women’s preferences is the fact that kindness is repeatedly found to be among the most desired qualities in large-scale , cross-cultural studies of mate preferences.

This is just one example. Peering into the manosphere has been like walking through a funhouse mirror version of my science. The manosphere view of evolutionary psychology is distorted, filtered, selective, and embellished.

What has made evolutionary psychology so popular with incels?

Evolutionary psychology is the academic subdiscipline of psychology that tries to understand how the human mind works by understanding the problems it evolved to solve. Over the past four decades, evolutionary psychologists have explored the psychology of relationships — including patterns in what people look for in a partner, attitudes towards casual sex and long-term relationships, relationship emotions like love and jealousy, and the connections between hormones and mating psychology. All of these topics are central to incel ideology.

Like any biological approach to behavior, evolutionary psychology has always been controversial. In part, this is owing to some truly bad actors in the field. All it takes is some thoughtless tweets or blog posts for the entire field to earn a reputation as a safe space for provocateurs. This initiates a vicious cycle, where rabble rousers flock to the field, establish academic journals where they publish inflammatory work, get invited to speak on popular manosphere podcasts , and then use the publicity to sell books and garner enough career success to inspire the next generation of charlatans.

This grift cycle produces a small number of loudmouths who end up being the public face of evolutionary psychology. From the inside, I can promise you that most of our research is genuinely boring. But cool as this work is to nerds like myself, the good research doesn’t get you booked on Joe Rogan.

This allows the manosphere to sell its audience a scientific consensus around its ideology that simply does not exist. Its members appropriate and mischaracterize the literature on evolutionary psychology to lend a scientific patina to their hateful, misogynistic, and dangerous ideas.

For instance, incels are obsessed with the “dual mating strategy” hypothesis, a divisive idea that interprets fluctuations in women’s sexual desire as evidence that women have evolved to seek out men with “good genes” at the most fertile point in their menstrual cycle. Incels use this hypothesis to explain, in their eyes, why relationships are doomed: No matter how good a partner you are, women will always be looking to sleep around with someone better.

Part of the problem is that the dual mating strategy hypothesis was indeed a popular idea among evolutionary psychologists until about 2016. After that, it became one of the more prominent epicenters of psychology’s replication crisis, which revealed that large swaths of psychology research were based on unreliable findings. But even before this major setback, the dual mating strategy hypothesis was critiqued by some evolutionary psychologists like my friend and colleague Jim Roney. Nonetheless, Jim’s work gets hardly any play in manosphere circles, and the hypothesis has since morphed into a version quite unlike the one promoted by incels.

At the end of the day, incels attempt to draw from evolutionary theory a power it does not have. Evolution is not destiny. It is a powerful tool for explaining how we came to be who we are today, but it cannot tell us who we should be today or who we can be tomorrow. In fact, we can leverage an understanding of our evolved psychology to create the world we want to live in. The manosphere interprets my science to mean that love is impossible — but a major focus of my lab is helping people form happy, enduring relationships.

I am embarrassed to have ignored the appropriation of my work for so long. My complacency and that of my peers has allowed the manosphere version of our science to fester, grow, and borrow against our field’s credibility to suit its own interests. Because of our negligence, our science has a body count.

So I’m sticking my neck out. And I’d encourage my level-headed colleagues to do the same. The manosphere and our peers who cater to it don’t represent our field. If I could teach the young men flicking through passport bro videos anything about evolutionary psychology, it would be that believing evolution is important for explaining human behavior need not commit you to a regressive worldview. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling ideology, not science.

Daniel Conroy-Beam is an associate professor in the psychological and brain sciences department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Public Voices Fellow at The OpEd Project.

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Research center marks 75 years of cutting-edge crop science

Jessica Torrion, Superintendent of Montana State University's Northwestern Agricultural Research Center in Creston, inspects a row of the Center's winter wheat crop on Wednesday, March 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake) Casey Kreider

Jessica Torrion, Superintendent of Montana State University's Northwestern Agricultural Research Center in Creston, talks about the Center's winter wheat crop on Wednesday, March 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake) Casey Kreider

Winter wheat grows in rows at Montana State University's Northwestern Agricultural Research Center in Creston on Wednesday, March 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Casey Kreider

Maggie Sands lays out spring wheat seeds on germination paper while she and research associate Dan Porter perform germination tests at Montana State University's Northwestern Agricultural Research Center in Creston on Wednesday, March 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake) Casey Kreider

Jessica Torrion, Superintendent of Montana State University's Northwestern Agricultural Research Center in Creston, talks about the Center's new no-till drill on Wednesday, March 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake) Casey Kreider

Research associate Dan Porter places spring wheat seeds into a seed-counting machine before running germination tests at Montana State University's Northwestern Agricultural Research Center in Creston on Wednesday, March 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake) Casey Kreider

A Case International combine waits for harvest season inside an equipment barn at Montana State University's Northwestern Agricultural Research Center in Creston on Wednesday, March 27. (Casey Kreider/Daily Casey Kreider

Walking through a plot of winter wheat plantings just starting to push up through the dark soil in Creston, Jessica Torrion sees the results of decades of hard work and research.

All over the property at the Northwest Agricultural Research Center, high tech research equipment mingles with decades old farming implements.

“At first we were using shovels, using animals,” said Torrion, who serves as the center’s superintendent. “You can see that in our 1949 field day. But nowadays, we have this very advanced equipment attached to a GPS that’s very precise, and we’ve come a long way.”

In one of the property’s cavernous barns, Torrion, an associate professor of crop physiology, points to a small International tractor from 1947.

“We are still using this after 75 years, and it’s still very useful,” she says.

A field station for Montana State University’s College of Agriculture, the center conducts some of Montana’s most cutting-edge crop science research and is marking its 75th anniversary this year.

Originally established as the Northwestern Montana Branch Station by the Montana State Legislature in 1947, the center officially opened its doors in 1949. The station is one of seven scattered throughout the state operating under the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station system. 

Established to conduct agricultural research specific to the needs of producers in the Flathead Valley, the center originally focused on potatoes and sheep but today work mostly encompasses crops like wheat. 

Presently, the center researches both abiotic or physical impacts on crop productivity, such as water and nutrients, as well as biotic or living stressors like weeds, insects and diseases. 

The center’s first female superintendent, Torrion, came here 10 years ago by way of the University of Nebraska. She primarily focuses on irrigation research and the impacts of drought. This has been particularly important of late, as half of the years in the decade since Torrion arrived have been classified as drought years. 

Providing research that is tailored specifically to the unique geographical conditions that producers are facing is one of the primary goals. Torrion said this commitment lends credibility to the research and builds rapport with local producers.

The station’s location, on 200 acres along Montana 35, plays a large role in supporting that mission. Montana State University gave significant consideration to a number of locations and ultimately selected the site at Creston because its soil, topography and accessibility made it the ideal place to conduct research that would be applicable to a large number of counties. 

Sitting on the center’s advisory committee, Ken McAlpin commercially farms a couple thousand acres of irrigated crops in Lake County. A long-time collaborator with the station, he feels lucky to have access to quality research that he can apply to his own operation.

“That center at Creston is the gem of the system…. because it’s got some of the best soil in the whole state. They’ve got a nice facility, new buildings, great laboratories, center pivots, and all the bells and whistles that allow them to do research that’s really really pertinent for everybody.”

Torrion echoed the sentiment.

“We are very lucky because just to compare with other research centers I feel like this research center has a lot of things that we need and we have the space for things that we can do. We have the tractors, we have the seed lab, which is probably the best seed lab I’ve been in because of the space.”

The station maintains a year-round staff of seven, although the number of staff will swell as the crops mature and harvest kicks off and research begins in earnest, bringing in seasonal workers and MSU graduate students alike.

For now, the seed laboratory is relatively quiet, and only two staff members occupy the space in the early months of spring.

Dan Porter, a research assistant at the center, and Maggie Sand, a meteorologist by trade who spends ample time at the research station, are hard at work counting batches of 100 wheat seeds for this summer’s experiments. They run the seeds through a high-tech seed counting machine that uses a laser, and then double-check to make sure the machine didn’t make any errors.

Later this summer, after the wheat has been harvested, researchers will process the samples and conduct falling number tests and analyze the quality of the wheat. The results will provide the center and the wider farming community with valuable information about how different wheat varieties perform in a range of conditions, including soil, irrigation and fertilizer.

THERE ARE 10 buildings total on the property, brilliant red and muted blue and various shades of tan, from different eras in the station’s history. The buildings themselves, Torrion says, tell stories of how the center has evolved over time. 

She points out the faded blue barns on the property which have been here since 1949. In the 1950s, they housed sheep, but today store advanced planting equipment as the center has pivoted away from livestock research and now focuses exclusively on crops. 

The shift, Torrion said, was based on the economics of production in the Flathead Valley. As farmers’ needs changed, the center adjusted.

Choosing what to research is extremely important. As academics, there are endless topics that Torrion and her team would love to explore. Yet, they are limited by time, funding, and meeting practical needs.

“It’s a fine balance. You have an interest because you are hired to do a specific thing, and then you realize when you come here that there’s other problems brought to you by the farmers.”

“It’s expensive,” Torrion said of conducting cutting-edge research, but the center has been lucky enough over the years to consistently receive funding to keep the tractors, old and new, running.

Funding comes from the university along with commodity groups like the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, along with industry and federal grants and the local community. 

Selecting what to research, Torrion, requires being aware of the needs of those who support and are impacted by the center’s research. 

To that end, the Flathead Valley center, like all of the branch stations in MSU’s system, is governed by an advisory committee. 

The committee is composed of up to 15 members from Flathead, Lake, Lincoln, and Sanders counties, most of whom are local producers directly impacted by the center. They are responsible for guiding the research undertaken to ensure its relevance to the farming community.

McAlpin, who is serving his second term on the advisory committee, sees immense value in the close collaboration between producers and researchers. 

“That’s what the advisory council is for: ‘Will it work? Could it work? Yeah, it looks like it, so let’s try it.’ There’s a lot of cool new science that happens there, and then if it’s shown that it can be successful at the station, there’s no reason that our everyday producers can’t adopt the same technology. So that’s the real value in my mind.”

While the center is located in Creston, a significant amount of research also happens off-site, in the fields of farmers who allow center scientists to create “test plots,” which enables the center to further refine and personalize their research to different geographical regions even within the Flathead Valley.

McAlpin will be hosting two off-station plots on his farm this year because he sees the benefits of collaborating with the center in this way. 

“You can see a replication of the trial that took place in Creston on a farm in Lake County, and you can compare and see if things stack up side by side or if there are differences, soil differences, environmental differences. It’s all pretty pertinent stuff to guys who are trying to make a living growing food.”

FORMER CENTER superintendent Bob Stougaard, who served in the role for about 10 years first joining the center in 1991, said that collaboration in this way made a big difference in combating the orange wheat blossom midge infestation between 2006 and 2014. The center, through collaboration with scientists and producers, was able to come up with a variety of wheat resistant to the midge, which is devastating to crops. 

“That was probably the biggest involvement, and some were very willing to do some on-farm research comparing different varieties of spring wheat to determine on a large scale whether the variety actually attracted the midge or repelled the midge. They were very supportive of this research program.”

Staying connected with the community they serve is immensely important for the center, and one of the ways they do that is through an annual field day in July. Held every year since the center officially opened its doors in 1949, the center invites the public to come see for themselves what happens on the research farm.

Torrion said it’s still one of her favorite ways to connect with farmers and other members of the community.

“We invite them over in July… and we are still doing it in the traditional ways, like we barbecue and tour around using a wagon and have an actual field demonstration and question and answer.”

McAlpin said the field day, which will be held on July 11 this year, is an amazing opportunity to learn more about cutting-edge research happening right in our own community.

“It’s been a pretty amazing part of agriculture in Northwest Montana for a long time. Everyone pays attention and if they aren’t they should be. There’s some good stuff going on over there.” 

Having been at the center for a decade, Torrion is transitioning to a new role as the department head of the Creston center and is excited for the future of the center. As the needs of producers continually evolve, she hopes to further improve efficiency related to fertilizer and water input, as well as develop precision agriculture technology and access in Montana. 

Reflecting on the anniversary, Stougaard, though he’s moved to a position at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, hopes the Creston facility will continue to do what it has always strived to do — benefit the farmers who are at the center of it all. 

“I think and I hope that the local community and the farming community view the research center as an asset,” he said. “Hopefully the center has helped the ag community, making farming more economical and more sustainable. That’s what we strive to do and what we hope to do in the future.”

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