IRVINE, CA --- Lindsey Kingsland is a 2010 Concordia senior, stands at 6-foot-1 and averaged eight points per game in the 2009-10 campaign, but her contribution to Concordia University is better measured in something larger than basketball statistics.

The mathematics major turned in a first-place research project in the schoolwide Presidential Showcase, which was selected by a panel of Concordia professors.

Kingsland, a 2010 Golden State Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete recipient, was awarded for her outstanding work in researching Chagas disease, a tropical parasitic disease that affects an estimated 8 to 11 million people in Mexico, Central America and South America.

Kingsland's research, which also serves as her senior project, began in the summer of 2009, when she was accepted in an undergraduate research program at Oakland University (MI).

The goal of Kingsland and her fellow students at Oakland was to employ mathematic differential equations to explore the effectiveness of current prevention measures in areas affected by Chagas disease.

Kingsland's group at Oakland discovered, through differential equations, that the common practice of spraying a pesticide that kills an insect called a "tritomine" would be more effective if it were done at the beginning of summer, rather than the beginning of spring.

The bulk of Kingsland's work from that point on has been to translate the process and findings of her group into terms that would be understandable to scholars from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines.

Kingsland began work on what became a 25-page paper, along with a poster presentation, at the beginning of the 2009-10 academic year and finished just days before the award was to be judged.

"This was by far my busiest year of school at Concordia," Kingsland said. "It was a lot of work, but I am so glad I did it. It's great to see all the work that you put into something over such a long period of time pay off. God has been blessing me all the way through this experience."

Along the way, Kingsland received all the support she needed from a women's basketball coaching staff that boasts two completed master's degrees (including a Master's of Business Administration) and two more in progress.

Needing the critical eye of academically trained non-mathematicians, Kingsland asked her coaches to read over her work throughout the year.

"My coaches helped me out so much this year," Kingsland said. "They read over my work and gave up their time to help make the paper much more understandable, and I'm very grateful to them." 

Kingsland plans on using the scholarship award money toward an upcoming trip to Haiti, as part of a seven-student team from Concordia that is joining with St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Los Angeles, and is scheduled to depart in late May.

Also majoring in secondary education, Kingsland is a prime example of Concordia Athletics' goal of providing the best possible environment for academic, spiritual and athletic growth.

"We are so proud of Lindsey for receiving this award," Concordia head coach Jenny Hansen, herself a graduate of Concordia, said. "She has worked so hard to achieve this honor and is very deserving. The fact that she is such an excellent student is much more impressive given the amount of other activities in which she participates.

"Being a student-athlete is difficult enough, but Lindsey also volunteers her time to help others in need, has been a Bible study leader for her church, and still manages to excel in projects such as the Presidential Showcase. She is a well-rounded, absolute star."

Kingsland, who plans on becoming a high school mathematics teacher, says that she may have reached the end of her road in terms of researching Chagas disease, but plans on using the research in the future to display the usefulness of mathematics to her students.

Already, she has presented the findings of her undergraduate research group five times, including once in the local community and once at a mathematics convention in Portland, Ore.

However Kingsland uses the research and preparation she's accomplished over the past year, it was her time on the basketball court that helped prepare her for both the Presidential Showcase project and the upcoming project that she'll embark upon following her upcoming graduation-life.

"Having basketball in my life made me very good with my time," Kingsland said. "Basketball has helped me to do all of this, and it's also taught me that I need to ask people for help. I could never have done this project without the help of those around me, and since I don't naturally like to ask for help, basketball has been instrumental in teaching me that discipline."