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PASSION FOR PARASITES
VOLUME 121 ISSUE 49
Researcher Kirsten Jensen proudly displays specimens of parasites and tapeworms found in shark and sting rays from across the globe. Jensen gave a presentation Wednesday night at the Natural History Museum entitled "A Survey of Tapeworms from the Vertebrate Bowls of the Earth" which highlighted the diversity of parasites and tapeworms that can be found in a variety of animals, and particularly sharks and striped snails.
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
BY JUSTIN LEVERETT jleverett@kansan.com
Kirsten Jensen loves tapeworms. She loves their miniscule, intricate biology. She loves the way they look under a scanning electron microscope. And she loves that the paths of their lives, like hers, are often dictated by chance.
Jensen, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary science, gave a presentation about tapeworms called "From the Vertebrate Bowels of the Earth" at the Natural History Museum yesterday
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evening. Her presentation was the first of a series of "Wild Science" lectures hosted by the museum.
Jensen spoke about a collaborative research project aiming to discover new species and to better describe the many of the nearly 5,000 known species of tapeworms. The National Science Foundation funds the international initiative, which is called the Planetary Biodiversity Inventory Program.
During her childhood in Delmenhorst, Germany, Jensen knew that she liked biology, especially marine biology, but she had no idea which animal she would end up studying.
After specializing in biology in high school, Jensen traveled to the U.S. to spend a year at the University of Connecticut. Upon arrival, Jensen was surprised to find that there was no resident marine biologist. But the
University did have a resident parasitologist, Janine Caira. As Jensen spent more time working with Caira, she came to love the study of parasites. Jensen's year in the U.S. turned into eight years, the time it took to get her master's and doctorate degree in parasitology. Jensen has now lived here 16 years. It was serendipity, she said.
Jensen finds the same element of chance present in the lives of the tapeworms that she studies. She said that tapeworms are transported from host to host throughout their life cycles and that they
have no control of this movement. Tiny crustaceans called copepods eat the tapeworm's eggs before they can hatch into larvae. Researchers think the copepods are then eaten by clams, snails or small fish, which are in turn eaten by sharks and rays, transporting the tapeworms up the food chain.
At any point in this process, something could go wrong and endanger the growing tapeworms' lives. Jensen said the unpredictability of the tapeworms' journeys
SEE TAPEWORMS ON PAGE 3A
HEALTH
University's sexual health ranking decreases
BY ZACH WHITE
zwhite@kansan.com
The University of Kansas lost to Kansas State University and the University of Missouri this week, but it wasn't in sports. According to the Trojan Sexual Health Report Card Rankings, the University is 56th in the nation, behind Kansas State at 47th and Missouri at 48th.
The University's ranking dropped from 48th last year, when Missouri was 64th and Kansas State was 84th.
The University ranked 56th in the nation in sexual health according to a TMIan survey. This is down from the University's 48th ranking last year.
The rankings were based on a cumulative grade point average, calculating a university's performance in 13 categories. These categories judged the availability and ease of use of a university's sexual health services.
The firm BestPlaces conducted the research for Trojan condoms. Bert Sperling, firm creator, said the research was meant to highlight the importance of sexual health education.
The University received a 2.71 on a 4.0 scale.
"We looked at the information available to the students," Sperling said. "The more information they get and the more services they get the better decisions they can make and stay healthy."
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Sperling used three methods in
Weston White/KANSAN
researching. There was a survey sent to health centers at the 141 universities in the study, asking about their services and availability. The health center's Web sites were evaluated for usability. And lastly a survey of students' impressions of health centers was conducted through Facebook.
According to Bruce Tetreault, group product manager for Trojan, the results were then put into a ranking to better catch the attention of students.
"We need to drive awareness of sexual health," Tetreault said. "What better way than to rank schools? People love rankings."
Sarber also said he remembered their survey asking whether the University had machines for students to buy contraceptives on campus. According to Sarber the university chooses not to do
"They're more interested in selling Trojan condoms than getting the facts straight," Sarber said.
this, because of reported cases of such machines being broken into and robbed at other universities. Student Health Services prefers distributing condoms to resident assistants to be given freely to students, along with information on proper usage.
Ken Sarber, public health educator at KU Student-Health Services, remains skeptical.
Saphire Stockman, Kansas City, Kan. sophomore, said she recognized the need for improvement at
the University
Sperling explained that the University scored above average across the board, except that there is not a regular column dealing with sexual health in the University
"Sex education is obviously something that could be worked on," Stockman said. "Formal education on safe sex is really important."
Daily Kansan. He also offered the explanation that a place lowering can be caused just as much by another university's rise as another's shortcomings.
Lavren Hendrick contributed reporting to this story.
Edited by Tim Burgess
REPORT CARD
KU earns C+ grade in green efforts
BY ALY VAN DYKE avandvke@kansan.com
University students earned top marks in their efforts to green the campus culture, but in other areas the university still needed some work, according to the College Sustainability Report Card.
The Sustainable Endowments Institute based out of Cambridge, Mass., gave the University a C+ this year, up two grades from its C-streak since 2007.
The Sustainable Endowments Institute has rated universities on sustainability for the past four years. Each year, the institute sends out a survey to the various colleges to be completed and submitted online. The institute evaluates the schools on nine different categories, ranging from Administration to Endowment. This year, it sent out the survey to 332 colleges in the U.S. and Canada. The highest grade, given to 26 universities, was an A-. 'The average was a B-'.
Kansas State University received a C- , while the University of Missouri earned a B-. The University and Missouri both received a C-last year.
"We're not leading the way, but we're not following behind the pack either." jeff Severin, director of the Center for Sustainability, said.
This year the University received B's in administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling and transportation. It earned As in student involvement and investment in renewable energy. But it recieved A in its green building efforts and F's in endowment transparency and shareholder engagement.
Severin, like others who filled out the survey, said he thought a B, rather than a C+, would be a more appropriate grade. Most said they would factor out the endowment responses and adjust the survey's Green Building standard to better reflect the University's efforts to protect the environment.
WINNING GRADES
Unlike the past years, the University didn't see a single grade drop from last year. In fact, four sections received better grades, one being Student Involvement, which jumped from a C to an A.
Severin said the jump was mostly because, for the first time, student leaders in campus environmental groups completed the survey instead of the Center for Sustainability.
"It's pretty evident on our campus how much students have made a difference". Severin said, pointing to the Rain Garden and the Potter Lake Project as examples of student initiatives making a difference.
Ryan Callihan, Lenexa senior and president of KU Environs, was one of the four students who helped complete the survey this summer. He said faculty involvement in
index
SEE CAMPUS ON PAGE 3A
Classifieds...3B
Classifieds...6B
Crossword...6B
Horoscopes...6B
Follow Aly Van Dyke at twitter.com/ yandykye.
Opinion...7B
Sports...1B
Sudoku...6B
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2009 The University Daily Kansan
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