News

Recent peer-reviewed articles from Biology faculty and students

• Alejandro Calderón-Urrea, Bartel Vanholme, Sandra Vangestel, Saben M. Kane, Abdellatif Bahaji, Khavong Pha, Miguel Garcia, Alyssa Snider, and Godelieve Gheysen. Early development of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. (2016) BMC Developmental Biology. Published online: 28 April 2016 (DOI: 10.1186/s12861-016-0109-x).
• C. Chang, J. Rodriguez, and J. Ross 2016.  Mitochondrial-Nuclear Epistasis Impacts Fitness and Mitochondrial Physiology of Interpopulation Caenorhabditis briggsae Hybrids. Genes|Genomes|Genetics 6: 209-219. 
• M. F. J. Aronson, F. A. La Sorte, C. H. Nilon, M. Katti, M. A. Goddard, C. A. Lepczyk, P. S. Warren, N. S. G. Williams, S. Cilliers, B. Clarkson, C. Dobbs, R. Dolan, M. Hedblom, S. Klotz, J. Louwe Kooijmans, I. Kühn, I. MacGregor-Fors, M. McDonnell, U. Mörtberg, P. Pysek, S. Siebert, J. Sushinsky, P. Werner and M. Winter. 2014. A global analysis of the impacts of urbanization on bird and plant diversity reveals key anthropogenic drivers. Proc. R. Soc. B 2014 281, 20133330, published 12 February 2014.
• Quinn S. McFrederick, Ulrich G. Mueller and Rosalind R. 2014. Interactions between fungi and bacteria influence microbial community structure in the Megachile rotundata larval gut. Proc. R. Soc. B 2014 281, 20132653, published 29 January 2014.

Recent grants and awards received by Biology faculty and students

2018 College of Science & Mathematics Awards:

Outstanding Undergraduate Student, Biology: Christian Cunningham (Dr. Van Laar's lab)

Outstanding Graduate Student, Biology: Jaime Castro (Dr. Blumenshine's lab)

Outstanding Graduate Thesis Award, Biology: Hailey Salas (Dr. Tsukimura's lab)

Congratulations to the following Biology department students who won awards at CCRS Spring 2018!

    Outstanding Graduate Oral Presentation:  Jaime Uhl, Dr. Gousset's lab

    Outstanding Oral Presentation:  Shuchi Kakkad, Dr. Brooks' lab

    Outstanding Poster:  Daniel Ashley, Dr. Bush's lab 

    Outstanding Poster:  Shristi Chand, Dr. Youn's lab 

 

Congratulations to Dr. David Lent, recipient of an NSF Career Award:  Navigation in Naturalistic and Changing Environments:  Perception, Learning and Memory

2017 College of Science & Mathematics Awards:

Outstanding Teaching/Lecturer:  Dr. Julie Constable

F. Harold Downing Scholarship, Biology: Shyam Patel (Dr. Bush's lab)

Outstanding Undergraduate Student, Biology:  Shoghig Stanboulian (Dr. Calderón-Urrea's lab)

Outstanding Graduate Student, Biology:  Erik Arevalo (Dr. Lent's lab)

CSM Outstanding Graduate Project Award:  Rania Haddad (Dr. Ross' lab)

Outstanding Graduate Thesis Award, Biology: Erik Arevalo (Dr. Lent's lab)

Congratulations to the following Biology department students who won awards at CCRS Spring 2017!

     Outstanding Graduate Oral Presentation:  Jessica Wilson, Advisor: Dr. Paul Crosbie

     Outstanding Undergraduate Oral Presentation: Amanda Olvera, Advisor: Dr. Hubert Muchalski

     Outstanding Poster Presentation: Puneet Sran, Advisor: Dr. Karine Gousset

     Honorable Mention Oral Presentation: Rachel Lee Nelson, Advisor: Dr. Tricia Van Laar

     Honorable Mention Poster Presentation: Sosse Kendoyan, Advisor:  Dr. Alejandro Calderón-Urrea

 

2016 College of Science & Mathematics Awards:

Outstanding Teaching: Dr. David Lent

Outstanding Teaching/Lecturer:  Mrs. Karen Chooljian

2015-2016 Provost's Award, Innovation: Dr. Joseph Ross

2015-2016 Provost's Award, Promising New Faculty: Dr. David Lent 

F. Harold Downing Scholarship: Boris Pavic (Dr. Ross' lab)

Outstanding Undergraduate Student, Biology:  Matthew Pomaville (Dr. Lent's lab)

Outstanding Graduate Student, Biology:  April Booth (Dr. Lent's lab)

Outstanding Graduate Project Award:  Jordan Montgomery (Dr. Ross' lab)

Outstanding Graduate Thesis Award:  Taylor Spaulding (Dr. Blumenshine's lab)

Dean's Medalist Nominee's:  Matthew Pomaville (undergraduate) and Michelle Abou Naoum (graduate, )

 

Congratulations to the following Biology department students who won awards at CCRS Spring 2016!

• Outstanding Graduate Oral Presentation:  Saika Esani, Advisor:  Dr. Tricia Van Laar

  Outstanding Undergraduate Oral Presentation:  Samantha Hartanto, Advisor:  Dr. Mamta Rawat

  Outstanding Poster Presentation:  Meganne Weissenfels (Session 1, Advisor:  Dr. David Lent), Rachel Tamayo (Session 4, Advisor:  Dr. Alejandro Calderon-Urrea)

  Outstanding Undergraduate Poster Presentation: Marisol Lauri (Session 3, Advisor:  Dr. Joseph Ross)

  Honorable Mention Poster Presentations:  Chirag Vazirani, (Session 2, Advisor:  Dr. Alejandro Calderon-Urrea)
  

  Honorable Mention Undergraduate Poster Presentation: Joy Aparicio Valenzuela (Session 3, Advisor:  Dr. David Lent)

• Ms. Shola Arelu in Dr. Mamta Rawat's lab has been selected for a 2016 Amgen Scholars Fellowship at Caltech.
• Mr. Jason Thomas of Dr. Mamta Rawat's lab received the Howell-CSUPERB Research Scholar Award, January 2016.
• Ms. Natisnet Ghebrendrias of Dr. Mamta Rawat's lab has been awarded a position in the 2015 France/Belgium iREU program.  She will be spending the summer in Toulouse at the University Paul Sabatier  within the group of Dr. Olivier Neyrolles.
• Mr. Jason Thomas, also from Dr. Rawat's lab, has received the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Undergraduate Research Capstone award. Their abstract to the ASM General Meeting has been accepted and Jason will be presenting at this meeting in New Orleans this year.
• Dr. Mamta Rawat received a National Science Foundation award of $576,000 for her research proposal involving undergraduate students: RUI: Thiols in Cyanobacteria
• Dr. Mamta Rawat received a National Institutes of Health grant of $300,000 to study Bacillithiol metabolism in Staphylococcus aureus.

Recent popular media articles written by / about Biology faculty and students

• Biology professor, student earn top research honors. Article about Dr. Mamta Rawat receiving CSUPERB Faculty Research Award.
• Cities could be wildlife refuges of the future. Opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor, by Dr. Madhusudan Katti, based on the following article.
• Biodiversity can flourish on an urban planet. Article in The Conversation.