Students prepare for research for conference
A group of Georgia College & State University students and faculty will present research on varying topics while hosting the 82nd Annual Georgia Academy of Sciences meeting this weekend.
After months of collecting data, conducting research and perfecting their presentations, 17 GC&SU students will present a total of 16 research presentations on Friday to an audience of professionals and experts in the field of science. GC&SU will be one of several schools in Georgia to participate in the meeting and have students present their research.
Representing GC&SU will be students Alex Kittle, Mark Brewer, Robert Bahn, Kelly Clark, Joshua Clark, Joseph Sheffield, Emily Parrish, Shannon Shepley, Angeline Mouton, B.R. Lemieux, Christy Cecil, Ben Batchelor, Stephanie Westmoreland, Stephen Parrish, Michael Bender, Faith Owens and Brooke Hawk.
The Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences Chair Dr. Bill Wall will be one of a group of co-presenters that will accompany the students. Also co-presenting research presentations will be Dr. Dennis Parmley, Dr. Christopher Skelton, Dr. Melanie DeVore, Dr. Dave Bachoon, Dr. Alfred Mead, Dr. Harold Reed and Dr. E.H. Barman.
” I am very proud of this level of student involvement in high quality scientific research,” Wall said. “Our students are clearly given the opportunity to actively experience what it means to be a scientist.”
Robin Harris, director of the Office of Experiential Learning, said she believes the experience is invaluable to students.
“I think that this is one of the most important things to come out of [our office],” said Harris. “This conference allows everyone on the campus to see what students are doing in other disciplines.”
Parmley said he is looking forward to seeing his student, Michael Bender, present his research material.
“Michael is doing a survey on the bats of Baldwin County,” Parmley said. “It’s a survey of what species of bats inhabit the county. There is only one official documented species in this county, but so far, he’s been able to find six.”
Another professor making the trip to Barnesville, Dr. Alfred J. Mead, will be helping numerous GC&SU students make their presentations this weekend. One of his students, Geology minor Joe Sheffield, explored and researched a kaolin mine in Washington County.
“[Some miners] were mining in a kaolin mine and hit a layer that had a lot of fossils in it, and they actually called us and asked if we would be interested in looking at it,” Mead said.
Sheffield visited the mine and uncovered several fossils, including some that indicated that an ocean once covered Washington County, which lies about 20 miles south of Milledgeville.
“[The fossils] are definitely of interest to us,” said Mead. “I mean, it’s not something you would sell on EBay or anything, but he found a lot of shark teeth, various invertebrate fossils, like clams. It’s very interesting.”
The conference will begin at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning with a welcoming address by Dr. Anne Gormley, vice president of GC&SU’s Academic Affairs. Sessions will go on throughout the day, with a conference keynote panel scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and a reception and poster session to follow at 4:30 p.m.
“We really need students, faculty, and staff to make an effort to attend as many of the conference sessions as possible,” Harris said. “The students benefit by having as many people as possible in the audience and we all benefit by this opportunity to learn about the great work going on across the campus.”
For more information on the Georgia Academy of Science meeting and other upcoming events, contact Barbara Funke at (478) 445-1780. Additional information is also available on the InfoPage at info.gcsu.edu.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Apr 1 2005. Filed under News.
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