Department News

Monday Messages

Biology Department

February 25, 2013

Please submit Monday Messages items to Dr. Murphy (Christopher.Murphy@indstate.edu)

News about us!

 

Patty Bollinger, a Ph.D. student working with Drs. Elaina Tuttle and Rusty Gonser, received a Graduate Student Research Fund award from the College of Graduate and Professional Studies.

 

Marga Barcelo-Serra, a Ph.D. student working with Dr. Elaina Tuttle, and Adam Betuel, a Ph.D. student working with Dr. Rusty Gonser, spent Saturday, February 16, 2013 volunteering at Dobbs Nature Center.  They were representing the Wabash Valley Audubon Society and aided in bird identification. They will volunteering again on March 16 and April 13, so please join them if you wish to learn how to identify local birds.

 

On the evening of Wednesday February 20, Dr. Diana Hews gave a presentation at the monthly meeting of the Wabash Valley Audubon Society. The meetings are held in at the Vigo County Public Library and are open to the public. Dr. Hews’ talk, “Herpetologists in Oaxaca, Mexico”, focused on the research trip that she, her graduate students, and her colleagues undertook in June 2012 to work in Huatulco National Park. In her talk, Dr. Hews gave an overview of the lizard research project and the field methods used, in addition to a slide show on the many animal species that they encountered while working in the National Park.

 

Roshni Roy Chowdhury, a Ph.D. student working with Dr. Swapan Ghosh has accepted a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Dr. Yueh-hsiu Chien in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University.

On February 20, Biology Tri-Beta members joined students from ISU’s chapter of the American Chemical Society to help judge a science fair at Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

 

From left to right: President Nicholas Gallina, Treasurer Marty Placak, Vice President of Student Affairs Sonja Cox, and committee member Taylor Nolting.                      

 

Sonja Cox evaluates a project investigating the variables that effect a bouncing soccer ball.

                    

Dr. Michael Rowe, a recent graduate of the Ph.D. program, and his graduate advisor, Dr. George Bakken, and their colleagues, will soon publish work that will be a featured paper in The Journal of Experimental Biology.   The paper is entitled “Heat storage in Asian elephants during submaximal exercise:  behavioral regulation of thermoregulatory constraints on activity in endothermic gigantotherms.”

 

Jake Pruett, a PhD student in Dr. Diana Hews' lab, won the best graduate student paper for the library's Bakerman Research Award of 2013.  Jake will be recognized in a ceremony in the library on Wednesday, Feb 27th at 3 p.m. Students and faculty who wish to support Jake are welcome to attend.

Announcements

Department Seminar

Jennie Carr, Department of Biology, Indiana State University

"Cold and dangerous:  avian behavior and thermoregulation under the risk of predation"

Tuesday, February 25, 4-5 p.m., Science 214.

Cookies and coffee 3:30-400 p.m.

Special Presentation

Dr. Joy O'Keefe, Department of Biology and Director of the Center for Bat Research, Outreach, and Conservation, Indiana State University

"Bats in trouble: the truth about Indiana's bats"

Tuesday, February 26, 5:30 p.m.

University Art Gallery and Music Recital Hall, Landini Center.  

Reception to follow.

Dissertation Defense

Roshni Roy Chowdhury will defend her dissertation entitled "Molecular and cellular signatures of phytol derivatives and the small intestinal submucosa in shaping immune responses to Staphylococcus aureus."

March 4, 2013 , 2:30 p.m., Science Building, Room 205.