Left to right: Delta State students Nichole Munsell, an environmental science major; Gabrielle Windless, a biology major; and Pamela Bellamy, an environmental science major, work on a study about regional variations in jams and jellies in Dr. Nina Baghai-Riding’s Material and Methods in Environmental Science (BIO 415) class last spring. Seven Delta State University environmental science students, with help from their science professors, had four publications accepted for the 2018 volume of Fundamental and Applied Research in Biology and Ecology, published by Perm State University in Russia.
Over the past three years, Delta State and Perm State have conducted an annual biology research symposium via videoconference. Select undergraduate and graduate science students present research projects. Usually, eight or more PowerPoint presentations are exchanged and students field questions from both audiences.
Recent research studies done at DSU incorporated the campus herbarium, scanning electron microscope, and various biology, chemistry, and environmental science laboratories.
Zhenja (Евгения Сайдакова), a biology professor at Perm State, invited students who gave presentations over the past two years to publish a three-page article about their research projects. Delta State environmental science students who published in this journal are Heather Brewer, Alexis Patterson, Karoline Lambert, Jon Farquharson, Emily Bodin, Hannah Taylor, and Pamela Bellamy. All were undergraduates when working on the projects and, excepting Bellamy, have since graduated. Dr. Eric Blackwell, associate professor of biology; Dr. Charles Smithhart, associate professor of chemistry; and Dr. Ahm Reza, associate professor of biology, participated in one or more of the student projects. Dr. Nina Baghai-Riding, professor of biology and environmental science, participated in all of them.
The publications:
- Brewer, H., A. Patterson, N. Baghai-Riding, A. Reza. “Impact of Urbanization on Bird Nest Materials in the Mississippi Delta.”
- Patterson, A., H. Brewer, K. Lambert, E. Blackwell, N. Baghai-Riding. “Prey Remains Found in 24 Owl Pellets from Carolina Biological Science.”
- Farquharson, J., N. Baghai-Riding, E. Bodin and H. Taylor. “Stomatal Density/Carbon Dioxide Leaf Peel Study of Woody Plant Species in the Mississippi Delta.”
- Bellamy, N. Baghai-Riding, and C. Smithhart. “Locally Grown Fruit Retains Its Soil Signature: An Elemental Study of Regional Variation in Noncommercial Jams and Jellies.”
Zhenja sent congratulations to Baghai-Riding, professor of biology/environmental science, about the quality of the research projects. “You and your students did a good job,” Zhenja wrote in an email.
“Overall, this experience allows students to collaborate with international scientists and students and form relationships,” Baghai-Riding said. “Plans already are being arranged for the fourth international symposium between these two universities.”
Caption: Left to right: Delta State students Nichole Munsell, an environmental science major; Andraia Johnson, a biology major; and Pamela Bellamy, an environmental science major, work on a study about regional variations in jams and jellies in Dr. Nina Baghai-Riding’s Material and Methods in Environmental Science (BIO 415) class last spring.
