BGSO Spring Symposium

The Spring Symposium is an opportunity for Biology graduate students to present their original research to the department. All biology graduate students and faculty are encouraged to attend, and the event is also open to the public. Presenting at the Spring Symposium fulfills the non-thesis Master's presentation requirement.

The 2009 Spring Symposium was held on Saturday, March 28th in Kaufman 100. The 2009 Schedule of Events is listed below.  

9:00-9:30 Breakfast 
9:30-10:15  Dr. Amanda Southwood,  *Keynote Speaker* presenting "Thermal biology of leatherback turtles: Implications for movements and foraging behavior"
10:15-10:30  Eoin Whelan "Spermatogonial stem cells"
10:30-10:45  Marc Milne "The effectiveness of the attraction mechanisms of the carnivorous plant, Sarracenia purpurea"
10:45-11:00 Suman Neupane "The Hedyotis-Oldenlandia-Kohautia complex (Rubiaceae) in Nepal: A survey of fruit, seed, and pollen characters and their taxonomic significance"
11:00-11:15  Sushil Paudyal "Molecular systematics and biogeography of Catesbaeeae-Chiococceae complex (Rubiaceae)"
11:15-11:30  Wei Ren "Nanosecond pulsed electric fields induce apoptosis in E4 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by multiple mechanisms in vitro."
11:30-11:45  Fang Li  "Age-related morphologic and microscopic variations in Syrian hamster ovaries and oocytes"
11:45-12:30 LUNCH 
12:30-12:45  Rachel Schroeder "The long-term effect of elevated atmospheric CO₂ on plant biomass in a Florida scrub-oak ecosystem"
12:45-1:00  Matthew Muller "Southeastern Virginia indigenous phytoplankton survey and status of Hopewell algal raceway biomass for biodiesel production: A VCERC component"
1:00-1:15  Matthew Semcheski "A molecular phylogeny of the snappers (Lutjanidae; Percoidei) inferred from cytochrome b sequence analysis"
1:15-1:30  Nathan Bowman "A seasonal study of phytoplankton composition and abundance dynamics in Back Bay, Virginia"
1:30-1:45  Todd Egerton "Estuarine phytoplankton ecology: salinity, diversity, and productivity relationships in three tidal rivers"
1:45-2:00 Angela Mojica "Effect of the herbivorous Channel Clinging Crab (Mithrax spinosissimus) on patch reef algal communities in the Florida Keys, FL"
2:00-2:15  Amanda Simmons "Antibiotic resistance in Vibrio cholerae"
2:15-2:30  Break 
2:30   Presentation of Awards 

The event was a great success, thanks to all who helped put it together, those who presented their research, and those who came out in support of the presenters. We awarded the top three presentations in both Master's and Ph.D categories. There were 9 faculty judges and winners were decided based on numerical scores and also group discussion among the judges. A special thanks go to Dr. Day for heading the faculty judging group.