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October, 2013
MSCI Monthly Newsletter
In This Issue
Conservation Biology
Welch
Pereira-Derderian Lab
Homecoming Events
Latest News
Update Your Information
Faculty Profile
Mrs. Jessica Faucett
Jessica Faucett is an Assistant
Professor of Mathematics. She
received her B.S. from Wayland
Baptist University and M.S. from
New Mexico State University
both in mathematics. She is
currently working towards a
Ph.D. from Texas Tech
University. Read more...
Calendar
From the "Herb-arium"
Dr. Herb Grover, Dean
School of Mathematics and Sciences
Greetings!
It is shaping up to be a very pleasant fall here
in Plainview - we had some welcome rains over
the summer and the temperatures are
moderating. As you can see in the articles
posted in this newsletter, this is the time of the
year when several of us take our students into
the field. Dr. Kasner, Dr. Walsh, and I go to great efforts to instill in our
students in General Ecology, Conservation Biology, and various geology
courses a healthy respect for God's creation by experiencing and studying it
in place! The mountains of New Mexico present the most rewarding locale
for our fall classes, along with various trips within Texas and a foray or two
to Oklahoma as time allows.
It is surprising, amazing, and rewarding to see our students respond to
these experiences with a sense of awe for our Creator that in turn heightens
their appreciation and understanding of what we are teaching in the
classroom. That said, it is also amazing to note that every year we have
students in our classes who have never even taken a hike (its true!), let
alone viewed their surrounding from a mountaintop; heard elk bugling in
the forests; been struck by the brilliant lavender and yellow colors of fall
flowers; seen birds of prey and migrating flocks in transit to their wintering
grounds; taken in the brilliant starry skies away from the light pollution of
cities and towns; or slept out under His heavenly lights. That is not to say
that learning and working in our labs is of lesser importance, but I am sure
our lab scientists agree that being in the field is certainly a rewarding
experience that is worth the effort!
In conversations among our faculty we often think back to our
undergraduate experiences. None of us - none - had the opportunities to
see God's creation in the variety and depth that we afford our students. A
couple of our students, one a geology major and the other a biology major,
recently tallied up their time in the field to more than 12 weeks total over a
two year period, covering the full expanse of the US from South Dakota to
New Mexico! Indeed, seeing God's works firsthand is one of the distinctives
of our program that we consider of great value to the mission of our
September 19-21
West Texas STEM Conference:
UTPB
September 18-22
General ecology and
conservation biology joint field
trip, NM
September 25-29
Geology field trip: West Central
and Southern NM
October 3
Fall Cookout
university.
So, as we embark on these travels, we ask for your continued prayers for
safe travel and productive sessions in the field. As always, we appreciate
your kind words and gestures of support for what we do through Wayland. I
hope that this newsletter finds you all well and that you will consider
coming to see us during our Homecoming festivities in October. But, if you
can't come then - stop by when you can - you are always welcome!
God Bless! - HDG
Conservation Biology and Ecology
October 5
Conservation Biology field trip
October 10
General Ecology and
Conservation Biology
Ogalla Commons Playa Festival
October 11
12p.m.: Prospective Student
informal luncheon
1:30p.m.; Alumni, Chancey
Thompson, brief seminar
October 12
8:00a.m.; Math and Sciences
alumni breakfast
October 12-15
GSA Meeting, Wichita, KS
October 25-26
Texas Undergraduates
Mathematics Conference, San
Antonio
October 27-30
AAPG Meeting, Denver, CO
November 9-13
43rd Annual Meeting of the
Society of Neuroscience
Support our programs
If anything in this newsletter
sparks your interest and you
would like to provide your
financial support to our
students, either by funding
specific areas of research or by
providing scholarship moneys,
there are easy ways for you to
give.
Contact our
Dr. Andrew Kasner
Conservation Biology, BIOL 4409, and General Ecology, BIOL 3407, will
be taking numerous field trips to help students learn and observe the
value and diversity of life on Earth.
Each year for the past several years, Drs. Grover and Kasner have taken
their fall classes in General Ecology and Vertebrate Biology or
Conservation Biology to New Mexico for an extended field trip. As we
have done for the past 3 years, we will begin by traveling to Glorieta
Conference Center on Wednesday, Sept. 18th, spending a full day
(Thursday) in the Tesuque Watersheds near Santa Fe, NM. The class will
spend an entire day hiking in the Aspen and Mixed Conifer forests at and
above 10,000 feet elevation. Students will collect various field samples
for later analysis. Some of the sites visited will include the aspen and
spruce forests where Dr. Grover conducted his doctoral research over 30
years ago.
The second day of the trip (Friday) we travel south to the Sevilleta
National Wildlife Refuge where we tour several major research sites
sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological
Research (LTER) program. Doug Moore, a research scientist with the
Sevilleta LTER, provides expert analysis of the programs underway.
Lunch will be shared at Cibola Springs; a very special site for a semi-arid
grassland, with running water and unique plant and animal habitat.
Following the Sevilleta visit, the group travels to Bosque del Apache
National Wildlife Refuge where we will view several species of water fowl
and other wildlife.
Friday and Saturday evenings will be spent at the Bowers-Thompson
Field Station, owned and operated by the School of Math and Sciences in
Cloudcroft, NM. On Saturday morning the class will hike in the vicinity of
Development Team:
Phone: 806-291-3430
Fax: 806-291-1984
E-mail: hope@wbu.edu
Mail: 1900 W 7th Street #621
Plainview, TX 79072
You can also give online:
https://give.wbu.edu
If you would like your funds to
be directed toward research or
scholarships in our School,
please designate your gift. Our
Development Team will make
sure our students receive your
support.
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About Us
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Travel Opportunites
Contact Us
The School of Math & Sciences
Wayland Baptist University
1900 W. 7th St.
Plainview, TX 79072
(806)291-1115
mathscience@wbu.edu
http://www.wbu.edu/mathsci
Bluff Springs campsite south of Cloudcroft and visit the Sunspot
Observatory. The field portion of the trip will come to a close at White
Sands National Monument where students may take some time to slide
in the sand and dine on hot dogs and smores while watching the sun set
and the stars reveal themselves to all creation under the New Mexico
skies.
All-in-all, this trip provides an in-depth study of high elevation forests;
semi-arid shrublands and grasslands; and the desert environment. Daily
student-led devotionals will focus on selected scripture readings, which
might include Psalm 104, Psalm 23, or others, providing appropriate
opportunities to reflect on how the natural environment influenced the
authors of those writings.
October 5th: students will travel to the Matador Wildlife Management to
see habitat management and research projects to protect Horned Lizards
(a state endangered species) and other wildlife. They will continue to the
Caprock Canyons State Park to hike the canyons to Fern Cave and see
ongoing prairie restoration projects and some of the last bison in North
America.
October 10th: Ecology and Conservation Biology students will be helping
Ogallala Commons to lead a Playa Festival for 5th grade students at
Lockney Elementary. These festivals address conservation value and
ecological importance of playas on the High Plains and get the kids out to
see a playa. The objectives include "TEKS" (Texas Essential Knowledge
and Skills) and some activities that the students can continue
afterwards.
During November the Conservation Biology class will travel to Nature
Conservancy's Yoakum Dunes Preserve to see Lesser Prairie Chicken
habitat and learn about the Conservancy's approach to landscape
conservation and ongoing research projects. They will also go to
Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge to see salt lakes and management
practices for Sandhill Cranes and waterfowl.
In addition to field trips, Dr. Kasner and students Jacob Kemmer and Nati
Sandoval are continuing their efforts through research. Jacob Kemmer is
doing his research on Herpetofaunal Diversity and Abundance Among
Different Aged Burns in a Shinnery Oak Stand. He is having great
success in capturing and comparing reptiles at the Nature Conservancy's
Yoakum Dunes Preserve in High Plains Texas. In November, Nati
Sandoval will be working on a project radio tracking Great-tailed Grackles
to study their daily movement patterns from winter roost sites in
Plainview. Dr. Kasner is currently monitoring grassland birds at the
Yoakum Dunes Preserve and hopes to start an additional research project
in the Caprock Canyons this winter.
Welch
Left: Dr. Robert Moore, Jessica Kenneson, Sarah Kelly, Dr.
Adam Reinhart, Trevor Burrow, Dr. Gary Gray
This summer Trevor Burrow and Jessica Kenneson completed 8 weeks of
summer undergraduate research funded by their Welch fellowships. They
received free room and board, a $3,000 stipend and 3 hours of tuition
credit. Jessica's summer research consisted of employing a high-end
DSLR camera to achieve professional results that compare to common
instruments used in the scientific community. Because of the camera's
wide range of settings, it was able to match or surpass the performance
of the specialized instruments used to quantify these various assays for a
very small fraction of the cost. This will allow other schools with small
budgets like Wayland Baptist to engage in research techniques that are
essential to fundamental research programs. Trevor did some final
characterization steps for his cytotoxic (cancer cell killing) ginger
compounds, as well as determined the mechanism of apoptosis
(programmed cell death) that the ginger compounds induce. He also
investigated 25 new plants for their cytotoxic potential; a few new plants
have shown surprising potency. He is currently preparing his Honors
Thesis in addition to preparing posters for several undergraduate
meetings throughout the semester.
Under Dr. Reinhart's supervision this fall semester, Sarah Kelly is
beginning her research and is supported by the Welch grant. Evan
McElwain is also starting undergraduate research, but is not supported
through the Welch grant. Sarah and Evan plant to continue the breast
cancer research that has been the major focus of Dr. Reinhart's research.
Specifically, they are going to conduct cell cycle analyses on breast
cancer cells following treatments with plant extracts we have previously
found to kill breast cancer cells through programmed cell death
(apoptosis). Cell cycle analyses are required to determine where in the
cell cycle the cells are arresting as they undergo apoptosis. These data
will help us to further understand the cellular mechanism by which the
plant extracts are killing the cancer cells.
Dr. Reinhart and Dr. Gray have received an invitation letter to apply for
continued funding for 2014-2015. Only invited applications are accepted
by the Welch Foundation, and, based upon all of the past progress
reports, the Welch Foundation has honored Wayland by asking us to
reapply for continued funding.
Pereira-Derderian Lab
Left: Melissa Perez, Dr. Derderian, Ashley Rivera
The Pereira-Derderian Lab is adventuring to the 43rd Annual Meeting of
the Society of Neuroscience (SFN). The prestigious meeting will take
place in San Diego, from November 9th to 13th at the San Diego
Convention Center. Dr. Derderian has been a member of SFN since 2007,
so the unique opportunity to take two of Wayland's own science major
students, Melissa Perez and Ashley Rivera, to this prime event is
remarkable. They both have been performing undergraduate research
supervised by Dr. Derderian for the past year. Their research, following
from Dr. Derderian's thesis work, generated new and insightful data in
the field of long-term changes in salt intake enhancement. Melissa has
been working on assessing the effect of social interaction on salt
addiction while Ashley has been examining the effect of oral-pharyngeal
and digestive afferences at the onset of salt addiction.
Their compiled data generated original abstracts which were submitted
and accepted by the SFN peer-reviewed committee. Melissa will be
presenting at a poster session on Sunday, November 10th and Ashley on
Tuesday, November 12th. Dr. Derderian has attended more than 30
scientific meetings and SFN is by far the most enriching conferences she
has experienced. The opportunity Wayland is providing to these students
thrills both them and Dr. Derderian. The Pereira-Derderian Lab feels this
experience is a blessing and looks forward to benefiting from it by
gathering innovative knowledge that is applicable towards student
growth and future research endeavors.
Dr. Derderian's MSCI-PL16 undergraduate research course consisting of
the Pereira-Derderian Lab team, along with two other Wayland student
researchers, Trevor Burrow and Jessica Kenneson, will soon start a
cohort of behavioral experiments with rats for collection of some organs
that might be involved with long-term changes in salt intake
enhancement. Soon joining the Pereira-Derderian lab is Christopher
Chapple. He is interested in researching topics in the field of
Neuroscience, involving either sleep deprivation or schizophrenia. His
training will start by assessing c-fos protein expression in certain regions
of the central nervous system of salt-seeking hypertensive rats that have
undergone water deprivation.
Homecoming October 11-12, 2013
Please join us for these special homecoming events.
Friday, October 11:
12:00 p.m.: Prospective students informal luncheon, Moody Science
Building, RM. 106.
1:30 p.m.: Math and Science guest alumni speaker, Mr. Chancey
Thompson, Moody Science Building, RM. 110.
Saturday, October 12:
8:00 a.m.: Breakfast for Math and Science alumni, faculty and students,
LRC Atrium.
News and Events
.
September 19-21: West Texas STEM
Conference in Odessa. Science major, Trevor
Burrow, participated in the regional showcase
of research in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
performed by undergraduate students.
September 25-29: Geology lead a field trip to West Central and
Southern New Mexico. Their trip included explorations of volcanic
mountains, numerous outcrops with fossils, lava tube caves and mining
towns.
October 3: 8th Annual Fall Cookout. Math and science majors (and their
families) attended one of the School's favorite fall events. Faculty and
students gathered together to enjoy great food, fun games and awesome
prizes!
October 5: Conservation biology field trip to Matador Wildlife
Management and Caprock Canyons State Park.
October 10: General Ecology and Conservation Biology will be helping
Ogallala Commons with the Playa festival for 5th graders in Lockney,
TX.
October 11-12: Homecoming events, including brief seminar from math
and science alumnus Chancey Thompson.
October 12-15: Dr. Walsh and two senior geology majors will attend
the Mid-Continent American Association of Petroleum Geologists meeting
in Wichita, KS. While there they will be participating in two short
courses, Mississippian Core Analysis and 3D Seismic Analysis.
October 25-26: 9th Annual Texas Undergraduate Mathematics
Conference at St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX. Dr. Emilia Moore
will be taking 8 math students in which they will participate in
competitive math games and conferences.
October 27-30: Geological Society of America 127th Anniversary
Meeting. Dr. Walsh along with upper-level geology students will attend
the GSA meeting
November 9-13: 43rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Neuroscience,
San Diego, CA. Dr. Daniela Derderian, Melissa Perez and Ashley Rivera
will be attending and both students will be presenting their research
posters.
Help us keep your information updated. We strive to keep
in touch with all of our alumni. If your information has
changed or needs to be added please click here.
us on
Scholarship Applications Now
Online!
All of our scholarship application materials are
available online! If you are a declared math or science
major, you may be eligible to receive scholarships that
are awarded through our school. The application for
incoming freshman students planning on attending next Fall is always
open. The application is also open for current science and math students
for scholarships of 2013-2014 school year.
To apply click here, or visit http://www.wbu.edu/mathsci click
Scholarships in the menu and select the appropriate application.
About Wayland Baptist University
Dreaming big for more than a century.
Wayland began in 1908 as the dream of pioneers who respected the lifealtering value of education. Now the oldest university in continuous
existence on the High Plains of Texas, Wayland Baptist reaffirms that
commitment every day through a distinctive combination of offerings.
Mission
Wayland Baptist University exists to educate students in an academically
challenging, learning focused, and distinctively Christian environment for
professional success and service to God and humankind.
Location
Main campus in Plainview, a community of 25,000 on the high plains of
West Texas between Lubbock and Amarillo.
Enrollment
More than 1,500 students on the main campus in Plainview, TX, plus
5,800 students on campuses in Amarillo, Lubbock, San Antonio, and
Wichita Falls, Texas; Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska: Sierra Vista and
Phoenix, Arizona; Aiea, Hawaii; Albuquerque and Clovis, New Mexico;
Altus, Oklahoma; and Kenya, Africa.
Our School
The School of Mathematics and Sciences emphasizes a rigorous, ethical
approach to the study of mathematics and science. We believe that
success in these disciplines requires a broad base of content knowledge
and the development of the critical thinking skills necessary for the
ongoing acquisition, processing and communication of current subject
matter. The activities of the School, both academic and professional,
intentionally reflect the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His centrality to all of
creation.
Prepared by Dr. William Hahn, Associate Dean and
Megan McPherson, Technical Assistant
School of Mathematics and Science, Wayland Baptist University
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