School of
Math & Sciences
Winter 2010
Wayland Baptist University
From the Dean
Dr. Herb
Grover
Dean of the
School of
Mathematics
and Sciences
Welcome to our inaugural
issue of the School and Mathematics and Sciences
newsletter. Many thanks to
Dr. Scott Franklin, Associate
Dean of our school, for putting this first issue together.
We look forward to many
more as we work to keep our
alumni, supporters and
friends apprised of our accomplishments.
With the retirement of Dr.
Ross, appointment of me as
Dean, and appointment of Dr.
Franklin as Associate Dean,
this has been a year of change
for our school. We have
added two new faculty members (Dr. Emilia Moore in
math and Dr. Andy Kasner in
biology); modified our curriculum in biology to take
better advantage of Dr. Kasner’s strengths in conservation biology; and added a new
major/minor in Environmental Science that will take effect in the fall 2010 semester.
In future issues of the
newsletter, I will expand on
our efforts in the area of
Christian environmental
stewardship.
We have also made great
strides in upgrading our
building with a new lighting
system and improved heating
and air conditioning system
components.
While changes in adminsee GROVER, page 4
Students find potent extract
PLAINVIEW – Kassie Hughes
laughs when she recalls the moment her professor, Dr. Gary
Gray, visited them in the lab to
see their final analysis results.
“He jumped for joy, that’s for
sure,” said the senior chemistry
major.
“It took them a while to realize what they had done,” Gray
said. “You just don’t see something that appears to kill (cancer)
cells like this.”
Hughes and fellow student
Asenath Arauza, a junior chemistry and molecular biology major,
were participants in Wayland’s
summer research program in
chemistry, funded in large part by
a grant from the Welch Foundation.
While they haven’t exactly
discovered a cure for cancer, what
Hughes and Arauza did over the
summer does have quite a bit of
value in terms of scientific research and in their own personal
education.
The pair started their research
in the spring 2009 term after
learning in November that they
were chosen for the program.
They spent the spring doing an
extensive literature review once
they chose a topic from the umbrella of choices they were presented.
They chose to follow a path
started by May 2009 graduate
Joanne Jacob, who had experimented with 12 different herbs
and their effect on tumor growth
in mice. One in particular had significant results in Jacob’s research, and the two coeds decided
to further check out Ashwagandha, commonly known as Indian Ginseng and used by many to
treat depression, inflammation
and neurological disorders.
Using a powdered form of the
Student summer researchers Asenath Arauza (left) and Kassie Hughes
look over results from the HPLC machine after it ran a test on a particular compound in their experiment.
You just don’t
see something
that appears to
kill (cancer) cells
like this.
Dr. Gary Gray
Professor of Chemistry
root, Hughes and Arauza first
rinsed it to remove any lipids,
then ran a 6-hour process known
as a Soxhlet to liquify the extract
into a more usable form.
Using thin-layer chromatography on glass plates, the team was
able to separate the extract into
various compounds. Through
nearly 30 plates the duo was able
to identify one particular com-
pound that was strong every time.
They eluted the compound from
the plate and tested it on 4T1
breast cancer cells grown in Petri
dishes to determine how it would
affect the cells. The results were
astonishing.
“This was really annihilating
the breast cancer cells,” noted
Arauza.
The girls’ next plan is to repeat their entire research project
to get a purer, larger sample and
then run the cell culture test again
before moving to the next stage,
which is to inject the cancer cells
in mice, then inject the compound
and measure the results.
“This raises all kinds of interesting questions since this appears
to be different than the compounds that are already known,”
Gray said. “If this turns out to be a
unique plant steroid that just
grows naturally and has this effect, this should be pursued.”
Page 2
School of Mathematics and Sciences
Winter 2010
New Faculty
Profiles
Dr. Emilia
Moore
Assistant
Professor of
Mathematics
Jarrod Alford (standing)
and Zack Gibson, junior
pre-engineering majors
at Wayland Baptist University, demonstrate
some of the functions of
Gobstopr, a super computer they helped construct this summer.
Dr. Moore began teaching
at Wayland in the fall of 2009.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from
Huntingdon College and her
master’s and Ph.D. from
Auburn University. Her research interests include design
and graph theory.
WBU group builds super computer
Dr. Andrew
Kasner
Associate
Professor of
Biology
Dr. Kasner holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
biology from Angelo State
University, and Ph.D. in
Wildlife and Fisheries Science
from Texas A&M University.
Dr. Kasner was previously on
the biology faculty at Lamar
University and worked for the
National Audubon Society as
the Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon Texas. He
joined the faculty at Wayland
in Fall 2009.
Dr. Kasner’s research interests are focused on the
ecology and conservation of
birds and the ecology of freshwater fishes. He is also interested in the interactions
between wildlife and industrial development. Current research in which Dr. Kasner is
involved includes ecology of
endangered Interior Least
Terns, ecology of Snowy
Plovers, and ecology and conservation of Reddish Egrets
and other waterbirds.
PLAINVIEW – Wayland Baptist
University took a step up in the
world of computing this summer.
Dr. Scott Franklin, Associate Dean
of the School of Mathematics and
Sciences, led a project, with the
assistance of two of his students,
to construct a super computer.
Franklin, who did his Ph.D.
work at Texas Tech and conducts
summer research at Tech each
year, came up with the idea after
working on Tech’s super computer.
“I’ve done a lot of work in the
past on high-performance computing machines,” Franklin said. “My
Ph.D. being in applied mathematics is all about implementing numerical methods onto clusters or
super computers.”
Wayland has an agreement
with Dell Computers to rotate its
computers every three or four
years. Franklin thought it would
make sense to take the old computers that were still in good
shape and use them to build a
super computer. The administration liked the idea and approved
the project. Wayland’s IT department donated a server and
Franklin began setting up the
computer.
“Right now we have 18 machines,” Franklin said. “They are
older, but they are still 2 giga-
hertz machines. They are still usable.”
The department purchased the
shelving, an Ethernet cord and a
fan to help disperse the heat produced by the computers and set up
the super computer for less than
$500.
Franklin explained the technical term for the type of computer
cluster he set up is a “PoP, pile of
PCs.” The cluster is running
ROCKS software … therefore, according to Franklin, the computer
is a PoPROCKS computer fittingly named “Gobstopr” by
Franklin and his students.
With Gobstopr up and running, students can now focus on
complex mathematical computations. The purpose of the super
computer is to take these equations and break them down into
smaller units. These units are
shipped out to the various processors where they are completed,
then brought back together at a
central node where the individual
results are combined to produce
the final result.
Franklin’s students are learning to write code to break complex equations into what are
called “parallel” pieces to be sent
to the individual nodes. These
complex equations are common
when dealing with engineering
projects and other scientific research. One project that Franklin
has his students contemplating
deals with the genetic sequencing
of cotton.
Franklin, who worked with
Tech mathematicians on cotton research, explained that each cotton
plant has around 52,000 genes. He
said the key is to take a lot of
samples from the two types of
plants in order to compare gene
sequences at varying points of development.
While the project sounds intriguing, Franklin said this computer will primarily be used as a
teaching and learning tool as students learn how to build these
types of high-performance machines then work with them
through program and mathematical applications.
Jarrod Alford and Zack Gibson, who also helped build the
computer this summer, are both
pre-engineering majors who will
transfer to Texas Tech next summer where they will work with
similar machines and projects as
they complete their engineering
degrees. Students who participate
in the joint pre-engineering program with Tech spend three years
at Wayland and two years at Tech
graduating with degrees in engineering and mathematics.
Winter 2010
School of Mathematics and Sciences
Page 3
Changing lives around the world
Science teaming with business and missions, turning project into practical application
Wayland Baptist University
administrators, faculty and students are planning to go a step beyond the normal, textbook
education by putting a classroom
research project into practical application.
For the past several years, Dr.
Joel Boyd, associate professor of
chemistry, has led a research
group that was intent upon developing a simple, cost-effective
means to purify water. Over the
last four years, different students
have continued to build upon
previous research, bringing the
project to its current state in
which the school already has one
patent in place and another pending. The research is based on
using titania and light to remove
impurities, including metals,
lead, arsenic, pesticides, herbicides, petroleum by-products and
more from drinking water. The
process also converts algae, bacteria and protozoa to non-toxic,
inert substances.
Through this
process you can
take the rankest
water you can find
and turn it into
drinkable water.
Dr. Bobby Hall
Executive Vice President
Now, with the research in
place, the School of Math and Sciences is joining forces with the
School of Business and Wayland’s
Missions Center to put the lab
work into practical use.
“This is our chance to do
things together and that we cannot
do ourselves,” Boyd said. “We
need to function together as a
team, analogous to the Body of
Christ.”
Simply put, the School of
Math and Sciences will provide
the means to create the water purification systems then turn the
process over to the School of
Business which will determine the
best way to market the products to
consumers. Once the purification
systems are in production, they
will be sold with the proceeds
funding mission projects around
the world. The plan is to use the
proceeds to produce more purification systems that can be distributed through the work of the
Missions Center to developing
countries.
“Through this process, you
can take the rankest water you can
find and turn it into drinkable
water,” said Wayland Executive
Vice President and Provost Dr.
Bobby Hall. “This project has the
potential to change lives around
the world.”
The relatively simple production process can create purification systems that can be used in
something as small as a personal
water bottle for outdoor enthusiasts, or larger systems that can
clean coy ponds. They could also
be produced on a massive scale to
purify water for a village.
Dr. Hall, Dr. Boyd and Dr.
Rick Shaw, director of the Missions Center, held a preliminary
meeting with students who are interested in working on the project.
Dr. Hall ensured them that Wayland is committed to this project,
having funneled additional funding to the research aspects of the
project over the last few years and
making a commitment to do so as
the project progresses.
“There is no interest in profitability, and there are no strings
attached,” Hall said. “We are
using the resources at this institution to make a difference in this
world.”
WBU scholarship honors longtime educator
During a career that has spanned over 50
years, Mrs. Joanne Bowers has been involved in chemistry education in several capacities.
She taught high school
chemistry for 40 years,
with 37 of those in the
Plainview Independent
School District.
Mrs. Bowers was also
actively involved with the
training of teachers. She
was a mentor teacher for
Bowers
many years and taught 23
separate science education
courses for teachers as a member of the
graduate faculty at Wayland Baptist University. Many of the laboratory experiments
that she developed are still in use in high
school chemistry laboratories around the
state and the nation.
In honor of her many years of dedicated
service, the Joanne Bowers Chemical Edu-
cation Scholarship has been dedicated at
Wayland .
Scholarship Administration:
The recipient(s) of the Joanne Bowers
Scholarship is to be a declared chemistry
and physical science education double
major.
The recipient(s) of the Joanne Bowers
Scholarship must continue to make good
progress towards the degree in order to remain eligible for scholarship funds in subsequent years.
The expressed purpose of the Joanne
Bowers Scholarship is to aid in the development of excellent high school chemistry
teachers.
The recipient(s) of the Joanne Bowers
Scholarship will be chosen each year by the
chemistry faculty based on the student’s expressed interest and ability to become an excellent high school chemistry teacher.
In the event that no recipient qualifies
according to the 3 criteria above, the faculty
of the School of Mathematics and Sciences
may designate a student preparing for a career as a high school biology or mathematics
teacher to receive this scholarship.
If no recipient qualifies for the above 4
criteria, the faculty of the School of Mathematics and Sciences may designate a student
majoring in mathematics or science to receive this scholarship.
Other scholarships that have been started
to benefit math and science students, but are
not yet fully endowed include: the Vaughn
and Johnene Ross Scholarship for math and
sciences, J. Hoyt and Joanne Bowers Scholarship for biology, the Harold and Audrey
Temple Scholarship for chemistry and the
Eldon Milstead scholarship for Geology.
For more information on donating to
these scholarship funds, visit our Web site at
www.wbu.edu/mathsci. Online giving opportunities are also available at
https://give.wbu.edu.
NONPROFIT•ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PLAINVIEW, TX
PERMIT NO. 134
School of Mathematics and Sciences
1900 W. 7th, CMB 283
Plainview, TX 79072
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&
twitter.com/wbumathsci
Page 4
GROVER, from page 1
istration, program offerings,
and facilities are important,
our real mission is educating
students who will serve as
leaders in their chosen professions and lights to the world
through the active expression
of their faith. In this newsletter, you will read about the accomplishments of our faculty
and students participating in
research and travel courses,
and their success in presenting
their research findings at scientific meetings.
We are proud of our
school’s accomplishments and
we continue to build on the
reputation of excellence that
our school has enjoyed for the
past century.
So, thank you in advance
for your support and prayers,
and if you are ever in the area,
please stop by and say “hello.”
God Bless
School of Mathematics and Sciences
Winter 2010
Beloved science “pet” dies
Things have been a little quieter in the School of Mathematics
and Sciences over this semester,
especially for the second floor.
A beloved member of the science department, a South American lungfish named Dippy, went to
his eternal reward a few weeks
ago. While it may seem insignificant to many, add the fact that
Dippy had called the Moody Science Building home for about 25
years and the loss takes on a bit
more impact.
“He had a good life, if you
consider what he would have had
out there in some muddy river or
pond,” said Dr. Herbert Grover,
dean of the School of Mathematics
and Sciences. “We had a real affection for him.”
Dr. Vaughn Ross and Dr. J.
Hoyt Bowers, professors emeritus
of biological sciences, were
among the faculty members
around during Dippy’s years at
Dippy the Lungfish
Wayland, though Bowers retired in
2008 and Ross in May 2009.
When thinking about the lungfish,
both commented not only on
Dippy’s uniqueness but also on the
growth and metamorphosis of
WBU science in his decades of
life there.
“He’d seen lots of changes in
the department,” Ross noted,
adding that Dippy was there when
he joined the faculty 15 years ago.
“There were probably 20-25 biology majors at the time he came
and now there are close to 100 majors. All those students are in professional careers in medicine or in
other science careers now.”
Ross noted that while certain
biology faculty members were
fond of the little lunged fellow, it
was likely the students who were
the most attached. Over the years,
student workers in biology were
charged with care of any live animals in the department, and Dippy
was part of a family.
It was a student, in fact, who
dubbed the lungfish Dippy in the
first place, drawing on his group
name dipnoi. Judy York not only
named the fish but cared for him
during her years at WBU.
While there’s no record of
how many students visited with
Dippy over his quarter century at
WBU, Bowers notes he was used
in every biology class he taught
(as well as those of other faculty
members) in lessons on vertebrates, noting the unique nature of
the lungfish as possessing both
gills and lungs for breathing.