Tuesday, 22
April 2008
College of Science and Technology Awards
This past Friday evening (April 18th) at the annual
awards banquet, the College of Science and Technology
singled out two of our graduate students and two of our
faculty for their achievements. Congratulations to:
Shea Hammond, Outstanding Masters Graduate Student. Shea
studies the reproductive biology of Gopher Tortoises
under the direction of Dr. David Beckett. As you may
know populations of this species are threatened in
Mississippi, which is on the western edge of a range
that at one time extended across the Southeast in
association with Long Leaf Pine forests.
Maritza Abril, Outstanding Doctoral Graduate Student.
Maritza, a doctoral student studying under the direction
of Dr. Kenneth Curry, focused her research on plant –
pathogen relationships. Upon graduation this May, she
will participate in "Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life"
( http://aftol.org/ ) as a postdoctoral fellow at
Louisiana State University.
Aimee Lee, who received the college’s Teaching
Excellence Award, coordinates our introductory biology
laboratories program, manages our outreach efforts
through the department’s Science Center, organizes and
hosts Summer Science Camps, and offers a tropical
biology course in Central America each summer.
Shiao Wang, was presented the Research Excellence Award
for his many and varied contributions to science,
including shrimp virology/aquaculture, the biology of
invasive mussels, and most recently bacterial source
tracking.
Wednesday, 20
February 2008
Frank Killebrew Memorial Scholarship
Congratulations to Maritza Abril, a doctoral student studying under the direction of Dr. Ken Curry, upon receipt of a Frank Killebrew Memorial Scholarship in support of her work in the area of plant pathology from the Mississippi Association of Plant Pathologists and Nematologists.
Monday, 18 February 2008
Maritza Abril Awarded Fellowship
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Upon graduation in May, Maritza Abril, a doctoral student studying under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Curry, will join Dr. Meredith Blackwell's laboratory at Louisiana State University where she will participate in
"Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life" (
http://aftol.org/ ). This multi-disciplinary project is designed to resolve the origins of major fungal lineages using morphological and genomic data.
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Martiza's doctoral work has focused on plant-pathogen relationships between fungi in the genus Colletotrichum spp. and strawberry using transmission electron microscopy. She has documented the mode of entry of C. acutatum and C. fragariae in strawberry petiols and stolons where these pathogens undergo a brief biotrophic phase during which they enter and maintain host cells alive before reverting to a necrotrophic phase where they draw nutrients from host cells they have killed. Maritza has also helped to evaluate the efficacy of natural product-based and commercial fungicides against economically important plant pathogens.
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Wednesday, 7 November 2007
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Congratulations to Mohamed Elasri, who was invited to deliver the Charles C. Randall award lecture at the recently held annual meeting of the South Central Branch of the American Society of Microbiology held on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus November 2 – 3. The Charles C. Randall award is given to the organization’s outstanding young faculty member. Dr. Elasri is conducting research on the molecular mechanisms of virulence in the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, and his invited lecture was titled "Regulation of Virulence by Msa in Staphylococcus aureus" |
Friday, 2 November 2007
Moore is Southern Miss HEADWAE Nominee
Frank Moore, Professor and Chair of Biological Sciences, was selected by the Faculty
Senate Awards Committee to represent the University as the
Higher Education Appreciation Day for Academic Excellence (HEADWAE) nominee.
HEADWAE is a program of the Mississippi Legislature, sponsored by the state’s corporate
community and coordinated by the Mississippi Association of Colleagues.
