Three students won awards at the 2015 National Association of Biology Teachers Professional Development Conference in Providence, RI. Cassandra Dowds (B.S. Science Education 2016; mentored by doctoral student, Lynne Beaty and Associate Professors Barney Luttbeg and Julie Angle (College of Education), won first place in the mentored undergraduate research competition for her poster “The Effect of Embryonic Exposure to Predation Risk on the Growth and Antipredator Behavior of Physa acuta.” Cara Stephens, (B.S. Zoology 2015; B.S. Science Education 2016; mentored by doctoral student Michael Moore and Professor Donald French), won first place in the scholarship of teaching and learning competition, for her work “Relationship between Instructional Strategies and Student Focus in a Flipped, Introductory-Biology Classroom”. Michael Moore (mentored by Professor Donald French) won third place in the scholarship of teaching and learning competition for his work “Is Active Student Participation in the Flipped Biology Classroom an Accurate Predictor of Performance?” NABT, in its 77th year, is the largest organization devoted solely to the research on and practice of life-science education at all levels. The poster session competition, now in its seventh year, is open to graduate and undergraduate students conducting research in biology education and to undergraduates conducting research in any area of biology.

Pictured Left to Right: Cara Stephens presenting her poster; Michael Moore with his poster: Barney Luttbeg, Cassandra Dowds, and Lynne Beatty with Cassandra's poster.

Dr. Puni Jeyasigh recently received an Award of Excellence for Junior Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. The award recognizes a non-tenured faculty member that has exhibited outstanding scholarly activity. Three faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences are recognized each year, one each in the fields of Arts/Humanities, Social/Behavioral Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Congratulations on Puni!

Jason Bried, a PhD student in the Department of Integrative Biology, has produced a special series entitled 'Directions in Applied Odonatology' that appears in the current issue of Freshwater Science, one of the leading journals in aquatic sciences. The series originated from a symposium that Jason organized for the 2013 Society for Freshwater Science conference. Jason initiated the series, contributed three of its papers along with the preface, served as handling editor for six submissions, and led the guest editor team from South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The cover image and table of contents may be found on JSTOR, here.

The Oklahoma State University Collection of Vertebrates (OSU COV) has received a $422,000 National Science Foundation grant for renovation and improved digital networking for the Collections of Fishes, Amphibians, and Reptiles. Drs. Karen McBee, Anthony Echelle, and Stanley Fox are the grant authors and investigators.The COV houses specimens that are representative of worldwide biodiversity and are a remarkable resource for students and researchers at OSU and other universities and agencies. In addition to providing funding for upgrades to speciman storage, funding from the grant will enhance educational use of the collections by K-12 groups. You can read more about the grant here.