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March, 2013
MSCI Monthly Newsletter
In This Issue
Dr. Reinhart: Research
TAS
Geology
Latest News
Upcoming Events
Faculty Profile
From the "Herb-arium"
Dr. Herb Grover, Dean
School of Mathematics and Sciences
Greetings!
In other newsletters and venues I have
highlighted what we consider to be the
distinctives of our program - promoting
undergraduate involvement in research;
providing unique opportunities for student
travel; and integrating faith and science.
The articles in this newsletter underscore
our accomplishments in each of these areas of distinctiveness.
For example, as I write this note the memory of a highly successful trip to
participate in the Texas Academy of Sciences annual meeting is fresh in the
minds of five of our faculty and thirteen of our students. While there were five
posters and two oral presentations offered to the TAS meetings by our
contingent, we are especially proud to recognize students Libby Saultz and
Jarrett Ross, who under the direction of Dr. Adam Reinhart won fourth place
honorable mention for their poster. It is noteworthy that their poster was one
of more than 130 undergraduate posters at the meetings. AND - the TAS
board of directors selected Dr. Andrew Kasner to take over the role of
managing editor of the Texas Journal of Science - the journal of the Texas
Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Adam Reinhart
Dr. Reinhart joined our faculty
in the Fall of 1999. In 1991, he
received a B.S. in Cell and
Molecular Biology from Texas
Tech University, and in 1998 he
received a Ph.D. in Anatomy
from the Graduate School of
Biomedical Sciences at the
Texas Tech University Health
Sciences Center School of
Medicine. Dr. Reinhart's
dissertation research involved
the elucidation of molecular
mechanisms underlying neural
Among our upcoming events with regard to undergraduate research is our
fourth annual spring research day (April 10th), and we have been invited for a
second time to participate in the "Texas Undergraduate Research Day at the
Capitol" (April 26th).
Perhaps by the time you read this newsletter, Drs. Reinhart and Kasner will
have embarked on a medical mission trip to the Honduras with seven of our
students and a few guests. With a clear emphasis on supporting several
medical clinics, the team will also spend at least part of one day touring a
national park near where they are staying. This is truly a unique opportunity
for the mission team members to meld both a commitment to acting on their
faith and studying God's creation. We ask that you pray for their success and
safe travel.
I hope anyone reading this note recognizes that these are only a few of the
differentiation, and more
recently has studied the
regulation of genes involved in
steroid production.
-> Read More <-
Calendar
March 22-24
Big Weekend
March 25
Vector/Envr field trip
April 4-5
Geology GSA Meeting- Austin
April 6-9
Geology SWAAPG
many recent opportunities and accomplishments involving our students and
faculty. Through these and many other activities and events, our dedicated
students and faculty continue to make our mark, gaining respect and
recognition among our peer institutions for what can be accomplished by
staying true to your mission and mindful of your heritage. I have to say that
these are times when God's grace is overwhelming; when the hard work and
servant leadership of our students and faculty focuses our attention even
more clearly on His purpose in our service to him through Wayland.
As always, we appreciate your continued support and prayers for our school,
our students, our faculty, and our staff.
God Bless!! - HDG
Deep Saturation Mutagenesis Research Lab
Course
April 11-13
Texas Section of MAA- TTU
April 17-21
Geology Big Bend field trip
April 19
Major Field Test
May 11
Plainview Graduation
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
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
From left to right: Dr. Bryan Sutton (Assistant Professor, TTU-HSC),
Sharon Robinson, Jessica Killerlain, Dr. Kerry Fuson (post-doctoral fellow at
TTU-HSC), Rohan Nandkumar (graduate student at TTU), Justin Januta,
Ashlyn Westerman, Megan Huerta, and Evan McElwain
Saturating Mutagenesis of Glutaredoxin
The overall purpose of the Deep Saturation Mutagenesis Research Lab
Course is to provide students with real-world research experience and to
generate valuable data for future protein engineering. This project seeks to
use accumulated, student-based experiments to collect data on 1,672
possible mutations of one protein, glutaredoxin. With the help of a grant
from the CH Foundation, this project was extended to non-Texas Tech
University campuses, among them, Wayland Baptist University. This
research based program is currently being used for the laboratory portion
of Biology 4408, Cell and Molecular Biology, and we anticipate using it in
Chemistry 4402 Biochemistry I in the fall of 2013. Dr. Bryan Sutton and
his postdoctoral fellows from TTU-HSC have visited WBU two times so far
during the spring semester to bring research supplies and equipment and
to help us get started on this project. At this point in the semester, our
research group has successfully generated and confirmed the DNA
sequence of 4 mutations to the glutaredoxin DNA. We are currently in the
process of producing and purifying large amounts of the mutated proteins
to determine how they differ from normal glutaredoxin. Eventually, we
hope to grow protein crystals and analyze the 3 dimensional molecular
structure of each mutated protein using x-ray crystallography in
collaboration with Dr. Sutton's laboratory.
support.
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Texas Academy of Science
Schreiner University: Kerrville, Texas
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
(From left to right) Dr. Andy Kasner, Ethan Crowley, Dr. Adam Reinhart,
Dr. Gary Gray, Nati Sandoval, Taryn Shadden, Jarrett Ross, Dr. David
Schmidt, Erin Miller, Garrett Williamson, Sarah Kelly, Jacob Kemmer,
Trevor Burrow, Taylor Eaves, Jessica Kenneson, Hunter Green, Libby
Saultz, Dr. Robert Moore.
February 28 -March 2, 2013
Five faculty members and thirteen math and science majors joined the
attendance of over 500 scientists to the 116th Annual Texas Academy of
Science Meeting. Of these Texas universities, Wayland Baptist University
had one of the largest contingents among the schools of its size and larger.
Wayland presented 5 research posters and 2 oral presentations. Students
Jarrett Ross and Libby Saultz placed 4th in the poster presentation, out of
138 entries, for their poster "Cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of Zingiber
officinalea (Ginger Root) and Sanguinara Canadensis (Blood Root) in 4T1
murine breast cancer cells".
In addition to attending meetings, faculty squeezed in time for other
learning opportunities. Geology traveled to areas located in the Llano uplift
region (near and around the Enchanted Rock area). Students were
exposed to a variety of geologic structures and ideas on how the region
was formed. Geologic features included granite intrusions, sedimentary
structures, metamorphosed rock with highly deformed bedding,
weathering/erosion, and mineral crystallization. The rest of the group went
with Dr. Kasner for hiking and birding in the Llano River State Park where
they could explore the biology of the area.
Geology
(left to right) Hunter Green, Jacob Kemmer, Dr. David Schmidt
Geol 4301: The field methods course this Spring has been conducting
field work in Caprock Canyon, Silver Falls, Tucumari and Tularosa NM. The
students have been learning how to use field instruments such as (total
station, Jacob's staff, brunton compass, GPS units, etc.) and apply these
methods for preparation of stratigraphic geologic map columns and
reports.
March 4-5: Dr. Walsh and Dr. Schmidt will be taking Taryn Shadden,
Hunter Green, and Garrett Williamson to the GSA Meeting in Austin, TX.
Taryn and Garrett will be giving oral presentations, and Hunter will be
giving a poster presentation.
March 6-9: Dr. Walsh and Hunter Green will be attending the Southwest
Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (SWAAPG).
They will attend the short course: "The Basic Tools for Shale Exploration"
presented by Dr. Lindell Bridges of Pure Earth Resources. The goal of this
course is to expose students to the basics of evaluating new and existing
shale plays.
Feb 15-17: WBUGS participated in the Hi-Plains
Mineral and Rock Show for their annual funderaiser
event. The money goes toward their events like
the community clean-up and for field trip travel
expenses. The organization helps set-up and break
down displays and also ran the concession stand for
the entire event. In addition to fundraising, the show is also an opportunity
for the students to promote the on-going research they've been doing in
South Dakota and other field events by bringing in and displaying samples
and providing a continuous-running slide show presentation.
March 8: To help participate in Science Day at Coronado Jr. High in
Plainview, Dr. Grover (wind energy), Dr. Adamson (physics), Dr. Hahn and
Dr. Thornhill (math) will be giving demonstrations to the students.
Anna Kite, a math and chemistry double major, has been accepted into
the 8-week summer research program in Algebra and Discrete Mathematics
at Auburn University. She is excited to be considering this and other
opportunities to further develop her research skills this summer. Anna's
main research interest is in Discrete Mathematics.
Dr. Emilia Moore is mentioned in Acknowlegdements in the new textbook
"Calculus" by Laura Taalman and Peter Kohn for her review of Chapter 1Limits.
Upcoming Events
•
March 11-15: During spring break, Dr. Adam Reinhart and Dr.
Andrew Kasner will be taking 14 WBU students to Tegucigalpa,
Honduras for a medical mission trip. To read more click here.
•
March 25: Dr. Grover and Dr. Adamson will be taking a field trip to
Dr. Grover's home to learn about the wind energy project he has
assembled there over the last three years. This field trip will
complement other visits to Pioneer 1, the wind turbine installed on
the roof of the Moody Science building.
•
April 11-13: Mathematics will be attending Texas Tech University
for the Texas Undergraduate Section of MAA. Students will
participate in the calculus bowl competition.
•
April 12: Fourth Annual Spring Research Day. Undergraduate
students majoring in math or science are encouraged to submit an
abstract for either oral or poster presentations. For more
information and abstract submissions <-click here->
•
April 13: WBUGS will be hosting their traditional service of Spring
Clean-Up Day. Additional volunteers are always welcome!
•
April 17-21: Geology will be taking a field trip to Big Bend National
Park. This is open to all geology students, but the main focus is for
the Sedimentation and Stratigraphy course and Petrology.
•
April 26: Texas Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol.
Students from Wayland will present research posters to legislators
and others in attendance to underscore the value of
undergraduate research to higher education in Texas.
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 high school
students planning on attending next Fall is always open. The application is
also open for current science and math students for scholarships of 20132014 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 1,000 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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School of Mathematics and Science | Wayland Baptist University | 1900 W. 7th St. | Plainview | TX | 79072