Contact: Kasia Haupt
Mississippi State's biological sciences department is introducing students from other institutions of higher learning to graduate research opportunities in areas ranging from conservation to ecosystem evolution.
Eight collegians around the nation are participating this summer in the university's first Biology Research Experiences for Undergraduates program. Each REU member is receiving a $3,000 stipend, meal allowance, travel reimbursement, and campus housing.
The program is made possible through a three-year, $209,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The 10-week experience focuses exclusively on the Southeastern United States, according to Giselle Thibaudeau, REU coordinator and principal investigator.
The MSU biological sciences faculty member said the program is designed to encourage independent research while helping introduce potential careers in conservation, ecology and ecosystem evolution. It also enables direct interactions with established researchers and other students with similar interests, she explained.
"The program was established to give more students an opportunity for hands-on research that will prepare them for graduate school and careers in science," Thibaudeau said.
"Getting young students involved with research encourages them to stay in science," she added. "When they ask questions and are able to find answers based on their own research, it is very motivating."
REU participants began in early June with an orientation and a three-day visit to the Crow's Neck Environmental Center in Tishomingo County. Their research findings will be presented at a concluding awards ceremony Aug. 6.
Assisting Thibaudeau as mentors and laboratory/field study leaders are MSU biological sciences colleagues Gary Ervin, Mark Fishbein, Eric Linder, and Chris Taylor.
Participants in the MSU biology research experience include (by hometown):
BATESVILLE, Ark.--Sophomore Morgan Presley, a biology/environmental studies major at Lyon College.
CHICO, Calif.--Junior Anna Stepenson, a biology major at Whitman College.
EUREKA, Calif.--Senior Melissa Smothers, a biology/environmental studies major at Humboldt State University.
MADISON--Sophomore Cori Anderson, a biology and French double-major at Birmingham-Southern College.
RINGGOLD, Ga.--Senior Jeremy Morris, a biology major at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
ROME, Ga.--Junior biology major Joshua Singleton and sophomore ecology/field biology major Joseph Vick, both at Shorter College.
ST. CLOUD, Minn.--Junior Nathan Jahns, an ecology/field biology major at St. Cloud State University.
LOCAL EDITORS: Individual residential ZIP codes for the REU students include: Presley, 72501; Stepenson, 95926; Smothers, 95503; Anderson, 39110; Morris, 30736; Singleton and Vick, 30161; and Jahns, 56303.