Samantha Van Gorder
  • Class of 2012
  • Ramona, CA

Samantha Van Gorder conducts research at CLU

2011 Sep 13

Samantha Van Gorder was one of 21 undergraduate students at California Lutheran University who spent the summer conducting full-time research and will present their findings at the 8th Annual Student Research Symposium on Oct. 29.

With funding from university grants and guidance from faculty mentors, the students took on challenges that ranged from developing an inexpensive method for teaching neuroscience to investigating the connection between hip hop and religion. Most of the students will also publish their results and make presentations at professional conferences throughout the country.

Van Gorder, a senior exercise science major from Ramona, worked on "Relationships Between Anthropometric and Functional Measures of Sarcopenia and Osteopenia." She tested more than 100 seniors to determine the connection between the loss of bone mass and the loss of muscle. Van Gorder received a Swenson Science Summer Research Fellowship to conduct the research.

The symposium will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Richter Hall in the Ahmanson Science Center.

CLU is a selective university located in Thousand Oaks, Calif., with Adult Degree Evening Program and graduate centers in Oxnard and Woodland Hills. With an enrollment of 4,000 students, CLU offers 36 undergraduate majors and graduate programs within the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Management and Graduate School of Education. Doctoral degrees in educational leadership, higher education leadership and clinical psychology are also offered. Members of the CLU student body come from across the nation and around the world and represent a diversity of faiths and cultures. For more information, visit http://www.callutheran.edu.