Delta State professor holds fossil workshops throughout Delta

                               

 Photo 1: Indianola Academy elementary educators, Debbie Arrington (left) and Deven Hill, learn how to make fossil carts during a recent Riding workshop. The program was coordinated with the Center of Science of Environmental Education (CSEE).

Photo 2: West Bolivar elementary and middle school teachers, (left to right) Nathan Towers; Carrie Bell; Melanie Bray; Katrina Stallings and Brenda Moorhead look on as Dr. Nina L. Baghai-Riding (in blue) exhibits an Ice Age fossil. The program was coordinated with the Center of Science of Environmental Education (CSEE) and held on the Delta State University campus in Caylor Hall.

This past spring, Dr. Nina L. Baghai-Riding, an associate professor of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Delta State University, was awarded a community pride grant from 4-H and Chevron. As part of that grant, Riding has been visiting local schools throughout the Delta, educating both, teachers and students, about Ice Age fossil remains. The fossils, which include those of the mammoth; mastodon bison; giant ground sloth and tapir, have been found along gravel bars throughout Bolivar and Washington County. Additionally, Riding will be presenting a professional poster at the upcoming Botanical Society of America conference. Her research involves the pollen and spores from the McNairy Sand Member in northeastern Mississippi.  To date, Riding has identified 171 species.  Fossil palynomorphs include spores of fungi and ferns, dinocysts, and pollen of angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (conifers, Ginkgos, and cycads). The conference is scheduled to run Aug. 14 – 17 in Austin, Texas. For more information regarding Delta State University’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences, please contact (662) 846 -4240.