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The Spirit of Inquiry is an annual symposium the UA Honors College hosts to showcase the research of its students.

David Hsieh was working in a University of Arizona neurobiology laboratory when he learned about an inexpensive medicine that had potential as a treatment for one of the most deadly forms of cancer.

Hsieh, a UA Honors College student studying molecular and cellular biology, took an interest in the research and began working in a laboratory on a project attempting to understand how cancer stem cells work.

He'll present his work – which is focused on glioblastoma multiforme cells, which result in deadly brain tumors – alongside dozens of other Honors College students during the "Spirit of Inquiry" undergraduate research forum this month.

Even after drug treatment, surgery and radiation, glioblastoma always returns. "There has been this belief that there is a subpopulation of cancer cells that are responsible for this 100 percent recurrence rate," he said.

"We now have to find these cancer stem cells – we think of them as being at the start of the cancer – and figure out a way to target them," said Hsieh, who is one among nearly 30 students who will present their work during the forum.

Working in the laboratory headed by Baldassarre Stea, the UA radiation oncology department head, Hsieh isolates glioblastoma multiforme cells and evaluates them using gene expression arrays.

"There is still a controversy about it, but we're pretty certain these stems cells can exist," he said. "And we think this is the new frontier in the cancer field – targeting the cells that matter the most."

The Honors College forum is an annual showcase of some of the most innovative and creative scholarship being produced by students in the college.

"They are able to try out research and scholarly work in their field. Some decide not to go on, but some decide that this is their passion," said Patricia MacCorquodale, dean of the Honors College.

"It is important that these projects are initiated, and they are each of the student's own idea," she said. "For many students, this is a career-related experience."

The event will be held Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the South Ballroom of the Student Union Memorial Center, 1303 E. University Blvd. The forum is free and is sponsored by the Honors College and Leslie Tolbert, the UA's vice president for research, graduate studies and economic development.

"It's a direct way that research dollars are affecting undergraduate students," MacCorquodale said.

During the forum, Honors College students will present on topics that include writing and health, arsenic exposure, displaced communities in the northern region of Mexico, brain tumors and stop motion animation.

Each student's work is grant-funded, and each had to write a proposal to be considered to eventually present during the forum. The grant selection process is "very competitive," MacCorquodale said, adding that about half the projects are typically funded.

Honors College students – those who complete about one-quarter of their degree coursework in Honors classes – must earn at least a 3.5 grade point average and complete a thesis or capstone project prior to graduation. Each year, a select number of those students are chosen to present their work during the Honors College forum.

"Two things that are the most important are their ability to communicate to an interdisciplinary audience, and they must have a passion for the work they are doing. You can tell from what they are doing that they are really excited," MacCorquodale said.

"One thing that is amazing to me is the level of sophistication in their research," she said. "We hear from faculty who say that many of these undergraduates are performing and contributing on the level of graduate students."

Calvin Bernard Gosla III, a UA engineering senior, will present an air data probe device he developed.

Gosla's curiosity led him to develop a less expensive device that could accurately measure the flight angle of an aircraft using air pressure and temperature measurements.

To do so, he applied aerodynamic principles so that his model would not need any moving parts. It took a while to figure it out – particularly in designing a device that could be easily and cheaply manufactured. 

"Typically in industry, they use weather vanes on a probe, but it requires very precise machining and tends to be expensive," Gosla said. "I realized there was a lack of supply for this in the industry, so I turned it into a marketability and business study in addition to the research."

In the end, he said it "went smoothly and very well and showed that this is definitely going to work scientifically."

Gosla came up with numerous models before developing a prototype that he is now confident he can pitch to a manufacturer. He is already having professional prototypes made; the next step is developing a business plan.

Another Honors College student who will present research is Tamra Kaspryzk.

Kaspryzk spent the summer of 2008 in Paraguay studying the Paraguayan-Guaraní dialect, which is spoken by indigenous populations in South America and is the second most commonly spoken language in Paraguay after Spanish. Kaspryzk's motive was to understand the phonetics and morphology of the language.

Among her most notable findings was the use of compound words. Kasprzyk noted that "family member relations in this language are marked differently." That goes for a person's place and often age in a family.

A sister might use two words for "brother" depending on whether she is referring to an older or younger sibling, said Kaspryzk, a UA Spanish and Portuguese senior.

But there is another benefit to research Kaspryzk said.

"It was a real eye opener for me. I experienced an entirely different culture and realized there were things I took for granted, like paved roads," she said. "And there were differences in food and in the importance of family and interaction."