East Georgia State College biology majors Hailey Rials, Kaitlin Warren and Lindsey Howell recently attended the Georgia Academy of Sciences 2016 Annual Meeting at Gordon State College. The students gave 15-minute presentations on their research projects conducted under the guidance of EGSC biology faculty.
Warren and Howell entered the Biological Sciences section. Warren presented “Baseline Water Monitoring of the Ohoopee River,” a collaboration between EGSC and the Altamaha Riverkeeper. Her advisor is Dr. Jimmy Wedincamp, Dean of the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and Jen Hillburn with the Altamaha Riverkeeper.
Howell presented “Identification of New MicroRNAs in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii,” a collaboration between Dr. David Chevalier and Dr. Glen Borchert of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Ala.
Rials entered the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences section with her presentation, “Simultaneous Extraction of Chlorophyll and Phycocyanine from Cyanobacteria with Octanol-Water.” Her research supervisor is Dr. Ed Schneider of EGSC. Rials was presented with the Outstanding Paper award, along with a monetary award. Her competition included students from the entire spectrum of colleges and universities in Georgia.
“A major focus of the EGSC biology program is to provide hands-on research opportunities for students. The entire biology department is very proud of these special students and faculty,” said Dr. Wedincamp.