Academic Year 2024 has been filled with many exciting accomplishment by both our undergraduate and graduate students. Here we share a sampling of their publications, awards, fellowships, field school work, and more!
PhD student Olivia Chapman published an article in the journal Ecology. Read about her work here: Gastrointestinal morphology is an effective functional dietary proxy that predicts small mammal community structure.
PhD student Amanda Weller was recently accepted to, and attended, the course Bioinformatics Analysis for Conservation Genomics at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. Read more about the course here: Bioinformatics Analysis Course.
PhD student Kalea Nippert, and MS student Andre Plantinga-Kapteyn, won highly competitive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Awards. Read more about these students here in UNCG News, and learn about the award program at https://www.nsfgrfp.org/.
PhD Students Kalea Nippert and Kelly Clark both received the prestigious UNCG Hayes Fellowship for graduate studies. PhD Student Elise Grabda won the Oleta Norman Fellowship. Read more here: UNCG Fellowships.
PhD student Jenna Jordan was awarded a $4,000 equipment grant through Wildlife Acoustics for Ultrasonic Acoustic Recording Devices (Song Meter Mini Bat 2 – AA) necessary for my research. https://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/grant-program/past-recipients/2024-recipients
An LSAMP scholar, Rachel Thompson, participated in the NASA DEVELOP program at the Langley Space Weather Node location over the summer. Her summer research focuses on Enhancing Aurora Watch Planning at Glacier and Denali National Parks. Upon her return, she was invited to present her experiences as an LSAMP scholar and her summer research at the Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 29th. She also won first prize for a poster presentation at the National Science Foundation Louis Stokes for Minority Participation Conference in Washington DC!
The Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement (OLCE) emphasizes that leadership is a process, not a position. Through this program, students gain a deeper understanding of their personal beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions. This fall, two LSAMP students, Angie Guaglione Miranda (Biochemistry major) and Rachel Thompson (Biology major) completed the first level and were honored at the awards ceremony on Friday, December 5th.
Nine students including Cailin Herrik, Roger ailin Herrik, Roger Sorozza Herrera, Jenny Jones and five NSF UNCG Mountain to Sea LSAMP scholars— Alvarez, and Julitza Valle—had the incredible opportunity to travel to Padua, Italy, last summer to participate in the BIO 446 Evolutionary Medicine and Paleopathology Field School. During this program, they delved into the history of medicine in Italy, exploring ethical issues in human anatomy, the intersection of anatomy and art, and the skeletal anatomy and paleopathology of infectious diseases. For many of these students, it was their first time traveling outside the United States and engaging in research. Learn more about exciting course offerings in Biology here: UNCG Biology Course Catalog.
Kara Kupradit, an NSF S-STEM STAMPS student, was accepted into nine different dental schools, including her first choice of the UNC Adams School of Dentistry. In this video, Kara discusses the process of applying and reacts to receiving her admissions letters: https://youtu.be/h8xDVGWg4ys?si=djGEZVB50U0zgdRp
UNCG Biology Majors Erika Pardon (2023) and Trinity Shealey (2024) were accepted to NC State Veterinary Program for Fall 2024.
UNCG Biology Major Christina Mills (2024) was accepted to and enrolled in the University of Tennessee Veterinary Program.
Kate McDavid, a Biology undergraduate major currently in Dr. Jim Coleman’s Lab, was accepted to the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates in molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago in Summer 2024; Kate will begin a program studying abroad in Estonia in Spring 2025.
April Joseph, an undergraduate Biology major in Nick Oberlie’s lab, was accepted to and attended the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates at Rocky Mountain Biology Research Lab: https://www.rmbl.org/students/undergraduates-beyond/.
Aisha Mohamed completed her Master’s of Science Non-thesis Degree in December 2024, and she was accepted into UNCG’s Master’s of Nursing program.
Teaching a Love for Science: UNCG Biology alumna, Alex Nolan (2024), began teaching Earth and Environmental Science and Physical Science at East Forsyth High School this year. Speaking about her experience with her former advisor, Dr. Jim Coleman, Nolan states, “My colleagues have been so welcoming and supportive—it’s been a fantastic start, and I genuinely feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. Reflecting on my own classroom experience, I realize how much your guidance has impacted my approach to teaching. I’ve adopted your philosophy of viewing all my students as an extended family, a perspective I know has shaped not only my teaching style but the environment I want to create for them. It’s a joy to be able to foster that same sense of community and belonging that I felt in your class.”
Frontiers in Plant Science: Students in Dr. Ayalew Osena’s lab published an article on their work on the ancient grain tef in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science. Two of the main undergraduate researchers who authored the article recently graduated and have moved into new opportunities. Eric Whisnant, a former undergraduate member of the Osena Lab, has begun a PhD program at Duke University in the Lutzoni Lab exploring how lichen stress physiology and the molecular mechanisms that govern these processes can provide insight into the genetic basis for lichenization. Christian Keith, also a former member of the Osena Lab, is now a greenhouse manager at Wake Forest University and is planning to enroll in a graduate program there in the near future.
Expanding the Pollinator Garden: As committee members of UNCG’s Bee Campus USA initiative, Biology students Atlas Pratt-Brown and Tanner Lyons proposed a 2025 expansion of the existing pollinator garden to the Peabody Park Committee. The proposal was approved, and we are thrilled to continue expanding food resources and nesting sites for pollinators on UNCG’s campus! To learn more about UNCG’s Bee Campus USA Initiative, please contact Kaira Wagoner at kmwagone@uncg.edu.
