Last year, Krystle Duckett did something no other USC Aiken student had ever done. It involved rats, research in a lab, and every class she has taken.

Duckett, a senior psychology major from Beech Island, became the first USC Aiken student to participate in the Magellan Scholar Program, which is offered by USC Columbia. Duckett was not only the first USC Aiken student to receive this honor but also the first student from a University campus other than Columbia to receive the award.

This year, 50 Magellan Scholars received $146,048 in funding for projects, including three scholars from USC Aiken and one from USC Sumter, Robert Soos.

"The fact that this was the first Magellan Scholar award to ever be presented to a student at a campus other than USC Columbia is very noteworthy for USC Aiken," said Edward Callen, a professor and chair of the Department of Psychology who was Duckett's research mentor. "This award is a great achievement and recognition of the caliber of research being conducted on our campus."

Duckett, who said she was honored to have been chosen as a Magellan Scholar, worked with Callen on a project to tests rats to measure fear when it is conditioned, then extinguished, and then reinstated. "Professor Callen was always willing to help by explaining things, and he also let me do things on my own to learn," Duckett said.

The project involved 120 subjects and took about 20 hours of work each week. Duckett not only did research on what conclusions others had made but also ran the experiments and analyzed data produced.

Soos will study "The Effects of the Waste Water Treatment in Sumter County on the Water Quality of the Pocotaligo Swamp." More specifically, he will investigate the effects of effluents released from the Waste Water Treatment Plant on fecal coliforms, microinvertebrates, and macroinvertebrates, which are biological indicators of water quality in the local Pocotaligo Swamp.

Soos has a passion for biology and enjoys field-based research. He is planning to pursue a career in radiology while continuing to conduct research. Pearl Fernandes, an associate professor of biology at USC Sumter, is Soos' research mentor.

The Magellan Scholar Program is open to all students on all University campuses. The program allows undergraduate students to participate in research, which is funded for one year, in disciplines from science to music. Students are allowed a faculty mentor, who provides the students with a professional research experience. The projects are presented at USC Columbia's Discovery Day in April. Students also are required to write a research paper.

"As more students are named Magellan Scholars, USC has the opportunity to highlight the research of our exceptional faculty and talented students and to showcase USC's commitment to engaging students in their education on all our campuses," said Julie Morris, the program's director in the Office of Research and Health Sciences in Columbia. "Undergraduate research is an incredible opportunity for students to get hands-on experience in their chosen fields, and the Magellan Scholar program is a common thread that unites the campuses with this commitment."

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