BIOLOGY Department. Newsletter Summer 2018 CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2018!

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1 444 BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT BIOLOGY Department Find us on Facebook at /EasternBiology Newsletter Summer 2018 CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2018! Congratulations to the class of 2018! The Biology department celebrated the achievements of our majors as we graduated 10 students 6 BS in Biology, and 4 BA in Biological Studies. Pride filled the smiles of the graduates as well as the Biology faculty. Several students graduated with honors: Liselle Kim (BS Biology) graduated Summa Cum Laude; Ashley Zemeski (BS Biology) earned Magna Cum Laude and the University Achievement Award; Britta Lokken (BS Biology) and Matthew Thiemsen (Templeton Honors College, BS Biology) graduated Cum Laude. (L to R) Eva Alves, Elizabeth Ling, and Kadeem Colburn with President Matthews (L to R): Leslie Henry, Hailey Pipersburgh, Liselle Kim, Britta Lokken and Matthew Thiemsen Britta s hat says it all! (L to R): Ashley Zemeski and Elizabeth Wright

2 BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT 2 Spotted at the Baccalaureate service Dr. Maria Fichera was the speaker Fun with some of our seniors at the Fichera house for the annual biology department senior party! Check out KADEEEM v=b4upvh5qc1m

3 BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT 3 Research and Scholarship Drs. Laakso and Hays accompanied their students who delivered posters for the 28th Annual St. Joseph s University Sigma Xi Student Research Symposium (April 2018). Dr. Meg Laakso, worked with several undergraduates during the year. Matthew Thiemsen (below 2 nd from R) and Britta Lokken (3 rd from L) each received a research grant from the Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences for $500 for their work with Dr. Laakso on the cotton leaf curl virus. Dr. Laakso presented a poster at the annual American Society of Cell Biology Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA - December 2017 and coauthored two student posters at the Pennsylvania Academy of Science Annual meeting. Dr. Laakso also published a paper: Laakso el.al., An undergraduate bioinformatics curriculum that teaches eukaryotic gene structure. CourseSource Dr. Ben Dube led discussions on crop pests at the annual ASA meeting last July 2017, presented a research poster at the Annual Society of Nematologists meeting in Aug. 2017, and spoke about developing compost manures for managing plant - parasitic nematodes at the ECHO conference in Nov Congrats to Dr. Dave Unander whose essay got published for BioLogos. It is entitled- Race: A Brief History of its Origin, Failure and Alternative guest/race-a-brief-historyof-its-origin-failure-andalternative Dr. Becky Hays worked with the students pictured below, shown in front of their posters at St. Joe s. L to R- Dr. Hays, Cody Lauffer, Samantha Thomason, Missy Staley, Tasha Jones, and Elizabeth Ling. This summer, Drs. Dube, Hays and Laakso and their students participated in the annual Science in the summer research program along with friends from Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dr. Laakso worked with three BS Biology students (Top right photofrom L to R- Jenna Beachley, Seng Seng Dingrin, and Lauren Bahr). Dr. Hays worked with an Environmental Science major (Tasha Jones) and a Biology major (Sarah Herring)- middle photo. Dr. Dube worked with a high school student, Biochemistry majors (Allie Ryan- 2 nd from L- and Keturah Paul, not shown) and a Biology major from another college.

4 BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT 4 Congratulations Biology and Environmental Science majors were inducted into the Sigma Zeta National Science and Math Honor Society in Jan Biology inductees were: Hannah Anderson, Matthew Cradduck, and Sarah Herring; Environmental Science inductees were Melissa (Missy) Staley and Samantha Thomason. The faculty leader of this honor society is Dr. Meg Laakso. Sigma Zeta Induction Congratulations to Dr. Becky Hays who received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor! Dr. Wendy Mercier received promotion to Professor. Below is the photo of the celebration! Also present are the Biology dept. summer research students and colleagues! Doing an internship is an excellent way for students to evaluate career paths and build bridges to their future. Students can enroll in BIOL 495: Internship, and can earn up to 12 credits total (five maximum can count as elective credit towards the major). Internships must be preapproved by a biology professor who is serving as the internship coordinator. This year, five students were involved in internships and received 3-4 credits on the average. Dr. Becky Hays also gave an invited talk on Creation Care at the Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA on April 14, These are some of the internship experiences our students engaged in this year: Medical scribe Medical office worker Homecare assistant Assistant for disabled Philadelphia Zoo educator Animal shelter volunteer At the Spring Faculty Development workshop, Dr. Fichera presented with Dr. Bundens from Chemistry about the use of an honors track in courses to challenge the well-prepared and assist the underprepared students in the same course.

5 BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT 5 Grads and Alumni updates Ashley Zemeski, BS Biology 2018 and star soccer player for all four years at Eastern, will be starting Salus University this fall for her doctorate in Audiology. Ashley received an academic scholarship to Salus as well. Ryan Mitchell, BS Environmental Science, 2016, is an Account Manager at Independence LED Lighting. Minah Khan, BA Biological Studies, 2015 was accepted to nursing school at Delaware County Community College starting Aug Photo courtesy of Eastern Athletics Matthew Thiemsen, THC, BS Biology 2018, was married in May and is working at Charles River laboratories doing molecular biology research. Kandace Thomas, BS Biology 2015, is at UNC Chapel Hill in a Genetics and Molecular PhD program. Her first author paper coming out soon in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease! Tim Straub, BS Biology, 2017 (pictured below with his wife Abby who graduated May 2018), has been working as a science teacher through Urban Promise and will be starting a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at Penn State this fall. Photo courtesy of Matthew Thiemsen Nicole Michaud, BS Environmental Science, 2017, is working as an Environmental Scientist for McCormick Taylor in their Mount Laurel, NJ office. Vanessa Maldonado BA Biological Studies, 2016, works at Merck and was accepted to the Professional Master of Science program at Temple University. Tamara Beal, BS Biology, 2016, is working as an environmental educator in upstate NY in the Finger Lakes region.

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