MS Theses & Senior Projects

Education and training of tomorrow's scientists and workforce development.

A significant component of every CAB project is education and training of tomorrow's scientists and workforce development. 

On some projects, the education component is communicating research findings, and results of other scientific studies, to people with no background in science. The impact of even the most significant scientific discovery is diluted if it is not communicated to the public in understandable terms. 

On most projects, there is a direct education component that includes graduate and undergraduate studies of real problems posed by the project. This may include field studies and analysis, basic and advanced lab work, and communication of results and principles to students, citizens, or other audiences. 

The CAB is an entity that is part of the larger Cal Poly University. Every project the CAB takes on benefits the university, the students who attend it, and the surrounding community. The pursuit of advancing science is the pursuit of learning. The CAB integrates this important philisophy into relationships with all of its constituents including corporations, scientists, students, and the community as a whole.

Masters Theses Completed at CAB

• Bacterial Community Dynamics in a Petroleum Contaminated Land Treatment Unit Indicate a Dominant Role for Flavobacterium in Petroleum Hydrocarbn Degradation (PDF), Chris Kaplan
• Analysis of Treatment Effects on the Microbial Ecology of the Gastrointestinal Tract, Anna Engelbrektson
• Development of TRF Assay for Detection of Actinobacteria, Jesse Wilcoxson
• The Search for Bacteria Involved in Anaerobic Petroleum Degradation, Kelly Wrighton
• The Characterization and Quantification of Methanogenic and Methanotrophic Bacterial Communities Associated with Petroleum Degradation, Wendy Phillips

Senior Projects Completed at CAB

• Determination of the Presence of the Catabolic Alkane Monooxygenase Gene From Soil Microorganisms Isolated From Coastal Sand Dunes, March 2000, Megan M. McCoy
• Determination of the Presence of a Naphthalene Dioxygenase Gene in Microorganisms Isolated from Contaminated Soils on the Central Coast of California, May 2000, Lisa S. Shimomura
• Molecular Analysis of Environmental Escherichia coli Using Repetitive DNA Sequences and the PCR primer BOXA1R to Differentiate Between Human and Animal Contamination Source, June 2000, Trent Elliott
• Analysis of Fungal Diversity in a Petroleum Land Treatment Unit Using Terminal Restriction Fragment Patterns (TRFPs), July 2000, Lucia D. Martinez
• Analysis of Fungal Community Diversity in a Petroleum Contaminated Land Treatment Unit Using Terminal Restriction Fragment Patterns (TRFPs), December 2000, Kristyna E. Palmer
• Characterization of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Bacteriophage B3: Investigations into the Host Range and Insertion Site, March 2001, Christiane M. Houde
• Terminal Restriction Fragment (TRF) Analysis of Fungal Community Diversity in Petroleum Contaminated Soil, 
  May 2001, Chris Reimers
• Testing Hemolytic Growth and Nutrient Levels Found Within Morro Bay, California, 
  June 2001, Dina Abate and Mike Walas
• Comparison of Cloning and Sequenceing vs. Terminal Restriction Fragment Analysis of Bacteria from Human Feces, October 2001, David Doherty and Danielle Elizondo
• Optimization of the nosZ nifH and phaC Polymerase Chain Reaction Primer Sets for Terminal Restriction Fragment Analysis, October 2001, Casey Weir
• Comparisons of Microbial Counts During the
  Ripening of Monterey Jack Cheese, 2001, Apryl Brown
• Subcloning of the Bacteriophage B3 terminase gene into pUCP20, March 2002, Suzanna Geary
• The Development of Primers Specific to Bacterial Species that Produce Cellulase Enzymes Using the Tools of Bioinformatics, August 2002, Steven R. Ohrmand
• Vertical Profile of the Bacterial Communities in Biovented and non-Biovented Petroleum Contaminated Cores using Terminal Restriction
  Fragment (TRF) Pattern Analysis, 2002, Anna Engelbrektson
• Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Capillary Fringe Soil Samples During Phytoremediation Using Terminal Restriction Fragment (TRF) Pattern Analysis, 2003, Kate Smith
• Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Groundwater Samples From Mature Willows and Comparison to Bacterial Communities From Young Willows During Phytoremediation, 2004, Erin Gerdt
• A Comparative Study of Fungal Communities in Vineyard Soils Using Terminal Restriction Fragment (TRF) Analysis, 2004, C. Jones, C.R. Bessemer
• 16S rDNA Terminal Restriction Fragment (TRF) Pattern Analysis of Clostridia Species in Feces of
  Volunteers Administered Antibiotics Alone and in Conjunction with Probiotic Bacteria, 2004, Litz Aguilar and Leisah Burrow
• 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Terminal Restriction Fragment Pattern Analysis Used to Assess the Stability of Bacterial Communities found in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract, Brandy Bunyea-Baron and Joseph Campanale
• Analysis of Microflora in Human Gastrointestinal Tract by using a PCR-based method called Terminal Restriction Fragment (TRF) Length Polymorphism, 2005, Amy M. Dinh
• Investigation of Microflora Stability within the Human Intestinal Tract using Terminal Restriction Fragment (TRF) Length Polymorphism Analysis, 2005, Elaine Tang, Marta Karolys and Kathryn Schlegel
• Comparative Analysis of Antifungal Activity of Natural Remedies versus Miconazole NitrateSalt against Candida albicans, 2005, Dorothy Thai and Ciari Ignacio
• The Effect of Willow Tree Growth on Bacteria in Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soil: A Possible Role in Phytoremediation, 2005, Richard Phan
• An Investigation of Microbial Flora Stability of the Human Gastrointestinal Tract using Terminial Restriction Fragment Polymorphism Analysis of the 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene, 2005, Vera Cherepakho
• Examination of the Stability of Bacterial Communities within the Human Gastrointestinal Tract through Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (TRFLP), 2006, Ellen Sanchez
• Molecular Signatures of Petroleum Degrading Bacteria in Petroleum Affected Groundwater from the Guadalupe Dunes), 2006, Linda Liao
• Two Dimensional Analysis of Groundwater Bacteria at the Edge of a Dilute Plume of Dissolved Petroleum, 2006, Jessica A. Cooper
• Stability of Intestinal Tract Microflora as determined by TRF Pattern Analysis of 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene, 2006, Catherine Houchen-Wise
• 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Terminal Restriction Fragment Pattern Analysis Used to Assess the Stability of Bacterial Communities found in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract, 2006, Monica Ferraro
• 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Terminal Restriction Fragment Pattern Analysis: Assessing the Presence and Stability of Bacterial Communities of the Human Gastrointestinal Tract, 2006, Lisa Bandner
• Groundwater Sampling Methodology: A TRFLP Comparison between Direct Groundwater Sampling and a Novel Biofilm Sampler, 2007, Chris D Kornblatt
• Analysis of 16S rRNA in Human Fecal Samples to Access Stability of Microbial Population by Terminal Restriction Fragment Patterns, 2007, Jonathan C. San
• Filtration of Bacterial Coliforms including Escherichia coli in Water Treated by Slow Sand Filtration, 2008, Anthony Chapetta