A group of seven Beta Beta Beta (BBB), biology honor society students from Catawba College presented their research in late March at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists in Montgomery, Alabama. These students were accompanied by three biology faculty members, Drs. Jay Bolin, Carmony Hartwig and Steve Coggin.
Joel Schlaudt, a senior Biology and Environmental Science double major and president of the Catawba College chapter of BBB, Tau Eta, updated the BBB Southeastern Region on the annual activities of Tau Eta, including participation in the upcoming Catawba Research and Creativity Showcase and the cleanup activity at Dunn’s Mountain, a Rowan County Park.
BBB members presented four oral presentations and two poster presentations. These include:
- Audrey Hoffman & Jay Bolin. VOC interference limits host detection of the parasitic plant Cuscuta gronovii (oral presentation) – Honorable Mention BBB Brooks Award
- Viridiana Mandujano, Karina Noyola-Alonso, and Jay Bolin. A molecular and microscopic investigation of arbuscular mycorrhizae in quillworts (Isoetes: Isoeteaceae) (oral presentation)
- Taylor Parker, Carmony Hartwig, Richard Macri, and Jay Bolin. Citrus extracts as natural larvicides against Culex mosquitoes (oral presentation) – 1st Place BBB Brooks Award
- Joel Schlaudt, Katherine Shumaker, Audrey Hoffman, and Joe Poston. Foraging choices of the American beaver (Castor candadensis): effect of tree species, diameter, and distance from water (oral presentation)
- Enrique Garcia, Taylor Parker, Lee Brackman, Andy Maben, and Carmony Hartwig. Wild Brew: Isolation and genetic identification of wild yeast strains from Rowan County, North Carolina (poster presentation)
- Shannon Garrick, Chrystal Swinger, and Carmony Hartwig. Comparative study of mosquito biodiversity in Rowan and Cabarrus counties, North Carolina (poster presentation)
In addition to student presentations, Professor of Biology Dr. Steve Coggin gave an oral presentation entitled Teaching genetics in the age of personal genomics about his experiences with personal genetic analysis through the biotechnology company 23andMe and how to translate that interaction to the classroom.
Two Catawba College students received District 1 BBB Brooks Awards for Oral Presentations. Taylor Parker, a senior Biology and Environmental Science double major from Mt. Ulla, N.C., was awarded 1st Place for her presentation, and Audrey Hoffman a senior Biology major and Secondary Education minor from Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded Honorable Mention in the same category. Notably, Audrey Hoffman was also awarded a 3rd Place John Bowley Derieux Research Award in the Ecology and Behavior Science division at the recent North Carolina Academy of Sciences meeting held in High Point, N.C. About earning two awards at two consecutive scientific meetings, Hoffman exclaimed, “Being able to conduct research as an undergrad and to win awards has just been amazing!”
Taylor Parker has been invited to present her award winning research at the National Meeting of BBB this summer, about the invitation and award, Parker stated “it has been a great experience over four years and as a Biology and Environmental Science student and the invitation to a national meeting is a great finish to my academic career at Catawba”.
