ULM biology students, faculty bring home first place wins from Louisiana Academy of Sciences

The University of Louisiana at Monroe Biology Department scored three first place wins at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences on March 3 in Alexandria.

Competition was plentiful - there were a total of 73 posters and 112 paper presentations, all sections combined, with participants from 32 institutions.

In the undergraduate botany/environmental science/zoology category, Stephanie Allen of Monroe; Cathy N. Ho of San Jose, Calif.; M.L. Reid of Memphis, Tenn., and Dr. Joydeep Bhattacharjee presented "Distribution patterns of tree species during secondary succession in bottomlands" for the best poster award.

Allen said that she was glad for the chance to participate. "It was a great learning experience for me to present at the LAS," she said

In the graduate agriculture/wildlife/forestry category, the ULM team of Charles Battaglia of Monroe and Dr. John L. Carr won the best poster award for "Survey of the herpetofauna of Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern Louisiana."

Battaglia also appreciated the opportunity afforded him. "It was a wonderful experience, along with being a lot of fun."

In the graduate botany/environmental science/zoology category, Chris J. Paight of San Diego, Calif., and Dr. Russell L. Minton won the best paper presentation award for "Genetic and morphological population structure in freshwater snails over small geographic distances."

"It's good to see our graduate and undergraduate students being rewarded for their hard work," said Dr. Sushma Krishnamurthy, professor and department head of the ULM Biology Department.

"We are so proud of them. Our biology faculty research mentors deserve a lot of credit for guiding the students through their projects."

Photo of ULM students courtesy Dr. Joydeep Bhattacharjee