February 21, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MCCC STUDENT DEVELOPS ORGANIC PESTICIDE DEVICE

           MONROE, Mich. – Cara Peterman, a pre-biology major at Monroe County Community College, has developed a device that uses carbon dioxide­ – one of the most common gases in our atmosphere – as a natural, organic pesticide.

          Constructed of two plastic beverage bottles and a large plastic bag and connected with a simple system of valves and tubing, Peterman’s device combines baking soda with citric acid to produce carbon dioxide gas.  The gas is allowed to escape into a sealed plastic bag that has had the oxygen inside removed via pumping action.  When an insect-infested plant is placed into the bag, the insects on the plant suffocate and die, leaving the plant intact and chemical-free.

           Peterman, who lives in Tecumseh, said her initial goal was just to figure out a pesticide-free way of killing aphids that had infested her indoor herb garden.  However, she found that her experiment addressed another environmental concern: recycling.

           “I’m not a die-hard environmentalist,” said Peterman, a sophomore who plans to attend the University of Michigan-Dearborn in the fall and major in biology with a minor in chemistry.  “But I recycle where I can and reuse what I can.  The carbon dioxide generator was built from materials that were scavenged from around my home with only one part coming from a local hardware store.  It may look a little haphazard, but the effect is deadly!”

           At the urging of her MCCC instructor, Lori Bean, associate professor of biology/chemistry, Peterman submitted a report on her procedure and findings for extra credit in her advanced organic chemistry lab. 

           Bean then forwarded Peterman’s report to the Michigan Liberal Arts Network for Development Student Scholars Competition.  The annual LAND writing competition encourages students in community colleges across Michigan to submit research papers for review, with the winning author from each field receiving $100 and full publication of his or her paper in The Journal for Student Scholars at Michigan’s Two-year Colleges.
 
           Peterman’s paper won first place.  MCCC students have been among the winners in the Student Scholars Competition each year since the event’s inception in 1996, according to Dr. William McCloskey, professor of English, who helps coordinate MCCC’s participation in the event.

           “Many of the papers submitted to the competition are literature reviews,” Bean said. “But Cara’s was unique in that it was based on an original project.  This is a wonderful example of a student who takes education beyond the classroom and applies it to the world around her.  She took the concepts she learned in class and used them to actually make a device that has potentially far-reaching applications.”

Cara Peterman	Oraganic Pesticide Device