Hawaiian coffee growers used to have a leg up on much of the rest of the world: The number one insect pest for the industry 鈥� coffee berry borers 鈥� hadn鈥檛 yet shown up on the islands.
But that changed in the last decade, and this summer 黑料正能量 Professor Matthew Siderhurst and two students aimed to beat even 鈥渃uppers鈥� 鈥� trained coffee tasters 鈥� at identifying the borers鈥� impact on Hawaiian coffee.
Hannah Walker 鈥� she graduated in May with majors in biology and environmental sustainability 鈥� and Leah Lapp 鈥� a biochemistry major who will graduate in two years 鈥� were among the five undergraduate students at 黑料正能量 who were awarded Glenn Kauffman and Roman Miller Research Awards of $2,500 each to support their research this summer.
The awards, named for professors emeriti Glenn Kauffman (chemistry) and Roman Miller (biology), are sponsored by donors to the Daniel B. Suter Endowment Fund and the CT Assist Grant Fund. The financial support can be used for student summer research wages, research supplies, and travel and fees to present ongoing or past work at a scientific meeting.
In Hawaii, Walker and Lapp each used a different device to detect the coffee borer damage.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very interested in the quality control side of this,鈥� Siderhurst said.
The instruments
Walker鈥檚 tool was a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, a six-feet long, $200,000 lab bench behemoth they referred to as 鈥渢he GC mass spec.鈥�
The instrument enabled them 鈥渢o see what volatiles are coming off damaged roasted coffee beans,鈥� to decipher the chemical fallout of coffee berry borers鈥� destructive presence, she said. The GC mass spec took a lot of adjustment 鈥� 鈥渁 lot of trial and error,鈥� Siderhurst said 鈥� but that 鈥渕essing around鈥� with equipment aspect of research was 鈥渧ery eye-opening, really cool,鈥� said Walker.
鈥淭hank goodness this man鈥� 鈥� she points to Siderhurst 鈥� 鈥渒nows instruments pretty well.鈥�
Lapp helped to establish standard operating procedures for new techniques using an electronic nose, a much less costly device that鈥檚 small enough to carry. Once trained, the 鈥渆-nose鈥� will be able 鈥� 鈥渢heoretically,鈥� said Lapp 鈥� to indicate the degree of damage in masses of beans, say to test bags of coffee on a production line.
But first it had some learning to do, through random 鈥渟niffing鈥� of vials filled with coffee beans, each vial containing a different percentage of borer damage.
鈥淲e spent a lot of time sorting coffee beans,鈥� said Lapp. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really important that you sort them correctly, because that will change all your results.鈥�
Lab blend
Walker and Leah weren鈥檛 only thinking coffee beans, though. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lab where the trio worked is also home to more than 50 other researchers and staff. For another project the duo helped maintain a fruit-piercing moth colony, harvesting leaves three times a week from Wiliwili trees for caterpillar feed and pupation locations.
And once a week they checked a trapline for the subject of another Siderhurst study about longhorn beetles.
It was, Walker said, 鈥渁 nice variety of being in the lab using different instruments and being out in the field and having to 鈥榯alk story鈥� [a Hawaiian term for 鈥榗hat鈥橾 with people who let us use their property for trapping.鈥�
They also got to know the area, Walker said, which was 鈥渃ool,鈥� except for the nauseating vog 鈥� volcanic fog 鈥� from the erupting K墨lauea. The mountain was downwind from the lab, but not always from everywhere else they needed to go.
鈥楴o wrong answers鈥�
Lapp called this summer 鈥渁n amazing experience鈥� because she learned what it鈥檚 like to work not just in a classroom laboratory where 鈥渢he professor鈥檚 leading you towards a certain conclusion,鈥� but in a setting where there are 鈥渘o wrong answers,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t allowed for creativity, and we brainstormed a lot,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e were always trying to figure out, 鈥極kay, what鈥檚 next? This failed; why did it fail?鈥� Or, 鈥楾his worked; how can we use what we learned from this to further our research?鈥欌��
Siderhurst said that for researchers like Walker and Lapp, the work is only partially finished at the end of the summer. Once back at 黑料正能量, they鈥檒l work together to write papers or create posters and presentations about their research.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fun,鈥� he said.
It must be, because this was Walker鈥檚 second summer on the GC mass spec project, and she said she could see such lab research being part of her career or ongoing studies.
In the meantime, she said, 鈥淲e were kept on our toes.鈥�