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Math and Sciences Division Students and Faculty Present at Annual Meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences

DSU Division of Mathematics and Sciences students and faculty at the Mississippi Aquarium. (L to R) Dr. Nina Baghai-Riding, Dr. Chris Jurgenson, Bailey Didon, Geona Miles, Andres Becerri-Nieves, JuEun Yun, Aubrey Claire Norris, Joseph Anderson, and Ben Hemming.

CLEVELAND, Miss.— Eight Delta State University students and five faculty members from the Division of Mathematics and Sciences presented during the 87th annual meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences held February 22-24 in Biloxi. Their contributions included four oral and 13 poster presentations. 

Faculty who presented included Drs. Nina Baghai-Riding, Joseph Bentley, Chris Jurgenson, William Katembe, and Charles Smithhart. Students who presented included chemistry majors Joseph Anderson, Ben Hemming, Andres Becerri-Nieves, and Aubrey Claire Norris and biology majors Jasmin Carpenter, Bailey Didon, Geona Miles, and JuEun Yun. 

Assistant Professor of Geography and Sustainable Development Joseph Lane also gave an oral presentation for the Ecology, Entomology, Evolutionary Biology and Zoology Division titled “Guided Educational Tourism as Informal Physical Ecology Education on St. Helena Island, Michigan.” 

Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Dr. Nina Baghai-Riding was vice-chair of the Ecology, Entomology, Evolutionary Biology and Zoology Division. She helped to coordinate a symposium, student oral presentations, a poster session, and a field trip to the Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport. Additionally, Dr. Baghai-Riding was an invited guest speaker for the same division. Her presentation was titled “Tertiary Palynomorphs from Oligocene and Miocene Units in Mississippi.” She was elected to serve as the Co-Chair for the Division through February 2024. 

Dr. Chris Jurgenson, Associate Professor of Chemistry, gave an oral presentation for the Science Education Mini Symposium titled “Using 3D Printing to Make Models for Visualization of Protein Structure.” He was elected to serve as the Vice-Chair for the Science Education Division through February 2024. 

DSU science faculty members served as judges for undergraduate and graduate student poster and oral presentations. 

Several Delta State students received recognition for their scientific contributions. Bailey Didon, a graduating senior in Biology, received a first-place award for the best undergraduate oral presentation in the Ecology, Entomology, Evolutionary Biology and Zoology Division. 

Geona Miles, a graduating senior in Biology, received a Millsap Award, given to the top 10% of abstracts submitted by undergraduate students. She also received a Millsaps honorable mention award and a third-place award from the Ecology, Entomology, Evolutionary Biology, and Zoology Division for her poster titled “A Plant Anatomical Investigation of Hydrocotyle bonariensis Comm. ex Lam.”  This project is associated with her McNair Scholar research. 

JuEun Yun, a graduating senior in biology, received a second-place award from the Ecology, Entomology, Evolutionary Biology, and Zoology Division for her poster titled “Locally Grown Fruit Spreads Retain Their Soil Signature.” 

Andres Nieves, a graduating senior in chemistry, gave an oral presentation in the Science Education Division titled “3D Printed Models of the Mitochondria Electron Transport Chain and ATP Synthase.” 

More information regarding presentations at the Mississippi Academy of Sciences can be found at: https://msacad.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Vol-68_January_-No.-1-Journal-of-MAS_abstract_-Issue-2-4-23-final4.pdf 

To learn more about the Math and Sciences Division’s degree programs, faculty and scholarship opportunities, visit www.deltastate.edu/artsandsciences/mathematics-and-sciences.