Barnhart receives award (5-7-12). At today’s all-faculty reception, Dr. Chris Barnhart received an award from the Honor’s College for excellence in Research.  The award “is meant to recognize a faculty member’s research excellence and is meant to acknowledge those Honor College professors who serve as the best example of the ideal scholar/teacher…”.  This is a new award in celebration of the 25^th anniversary of the founding of the MSU Honor’s College.  In addition there is an award for teaching and an award for service.  Congratulations to Chris!

Murray goes to Boise State (5-7-12).  Biology graduating senior Erin Murray has been accepted to the Master of Hydrologic Sciences program at Boise State University.  She will have a fabulous support package, including a tuition waiver, health insurance through the school, and a $22,000 annual stipend as a research assistantship.   She also will have free housing in a furnished on-campus grad student duplex for two years. 

Reynolds accepts job (4-26-12). Kari Reynolds, who will be defending her thesis on May 11, just accepted a job with Environmental Works.  This is solid and growing consulting firm based here in Springfield. 

Thompson Receives Grant (4-17-12). BIO graduate student Denise Thompson received a grant from Sigma Xi in the amount of $500 to support her thesis research. Only approximately 20% of applicants receive any level of funding. 

Medley Finishes Ph. D. (4-13-12). Kim Medley, BIO MS 2004 (zooplankton communities and flood frequency) just finished her Ph.D. at the University of Central Florida (March 30, 2012), where she worked on the invasion biology of Asian tiger mosquitoes.  Kim is getting ready to move to the University of Colorado for a post doc with Pieter Johnson.  She also had a baby (Brice), so is a busy gal these days.

Maddux Accepts Position at UIUC (3-27-12). John Maddux was recently accepted to Entomology programs at University of Georgia, Penn State, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was also awarded the prestigious Illinois Distinguished Fellowship and the University Fellowship at Penn State. He has accepted the position at UIUC.

Bansbach Accepted into a Summer Program (3-27-12). BIO major Lauren Bansbach has been accepted into a summer REU program at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs.  Lauren will be studying marine algae.  Her application was no doubt helped by her undergraduate research experience with freshwater algae in John Havel’s lab with assistance from algae expert Beth Bowles. This is Lauren’s second REU.  Last year she was in the research program at Kansas State.

Alumni Published in Developmental Cell (3-23-12). Megan Andriankaja (formerly Ladd) recently got a publication in Developmental Cell entitled, “Exit from proliferation during leaf development in Arabidopsis thaliana: a not so gradual process”  (Andriankaja et. al, 2012).  Megan was an undergrad here, and our first accelerated grad student.  She is almost finished with her Ph.D. at University of Gent.

Aubrey takes on tenure track position (2-27-12). Doug Aubrey (MSU BIO – BS and MS) has taken a tenure track position  as an assistant professor at University of Southern Georgia. He is currently completing a post-doc at the university of Georgia – where he also obtained his Ph.D. after a couple of years working for the US – Forest Service in South Carolina.  Doug’s MS research was in Alexander Wait’s lab.

Erwin Accepts Doctoral Fellowship (2-27-12). Biology senior Alexandra Erwin was recently offered two doctoral fellowships: one at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, the other at MU-Columbia. The latter is the prestigious Life Sciences Doctoral Fellowship of which only a few are given each year. Alex chose the program at the University of Kansas at Lawrence. She will conduct dissertation research in the area epigenetic regulatory mechanisms.

Thompson turtle talk is tops (11-10-11).  Biology graduate student Denise Thompson won the Toland Award for Best Student Presentation at the recent Kansas Herpetological Society’s annual conference in Wichita.  Her advisor is Dr. Day Ligon, and her presentation was titled:  Rocky Raccoon Must Die: Nest Predation Patterns in a Reintroduced Population of Alligator Snapping Turtles. MSU graduate students Charlie Tucker and Travis Anthony also made presentations at the meeting.

John Havel invited speaker in Brazil (9-28-11):  Dr. John Havel was recently an invited speaker at the 13^th “Congresso Brasileiro de Limnologia” (a biennial conference on inland waters) in Natal, Brazil.  His presentation was in a special session on invasive species. The meeting had over 1,200 participants, including scientists from North America and Europe, as well as from South America.

Wilkinson honored. (5/12/11) The board of Governors of MSU today announced 2011 MSU Wall of Fame inductees, including Dr. Robert Wilkinson, Jr.  Wilk taught at MSU for 34 years and served as Department Head in 1993-1998.  As a teacher, he focused on igniting enthusiasm about the natural world and not just passing along information. Wilk's research in herpetology and particularly aquatic salamanders made him a nationally recognized expert.  He was an early and faithful champion of graduate education at MSU and challenged other faculty in the department to look for grant opportunities and hands-on research experiences for their students.
 

Award winners at Interdisciplinary Forum 4/4/11 Biology graduate student Risa Wright (shown accepting award from Dr. Jim Baker, MSU VP for Research & Economic Development) won first place in at the 2011 Graduate Interdisciplinary Forum for her presentation titled “A preliminary study on the effects of thermal gradients on hibernating tri-colored bats”.  Other award winners from Biology were Kelli Hastings, MSU’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant, and John Havel, the university’s Outstanding Thesis Advisor. 

Ecology
1st Place – Daniel Brawn (left) (Faculty Advisor: Dr. Chris Barnhart)
2nd Place – Valerie Jones (Faculty Advisor: Dr. Alicia Mathis)

Students attend Missouri Conservation Federation convention (2/11) MSU Biology students recently attended the annual Missouri Conservation Federation convention with the Conservation Leadership Corps at Lake Ozark. Present included Valerie Jones (left), Mark Sharp, Colton Zirkle, Sarah Morris and Meghan Lenhardt.  Students from throughout the state worked in groups to draft resolutions on various conservation issues. The resolutions must pass through several committees and the CFM general assembly. Once passed, they are sent the appropriate agencies for action. 

Bird banding at Bull Shoals Field Station (8/10) BSFS Director and Biology Professor Janice Greene has initiated a bird banding project at the station and has completed the first season of data collection.  She reports that the most common birds at the station this year were Kentucky warblers, Black and White warblers, Indigo buntings, Acadian flycatchers and Red-eyed vireos.  Interesting rare sightings include the American Redstart and Yellow-breasted chat.

Award Winners (2/10)

Dr. Janice Greene received the Outstanding Lifetime Service Award to an Individual in Recognition of promoting environmental education in Missouri.  The award was presented by the Missouri Environmental Education Association at their annual conference in October.

Dr. Chris Barnhart received the Conservation Champion Appreciation Award from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, at the Regional Endangered Species Coordinators Meeting in October. 

Barnhart also received the Research Collaborator of the Year Award from the Missouri Department of Conservation at the 2010 Missouri Natural Resources Conference.