April 2012
The North Carolina Scientist
Welcome Dr. Mickael Cariveau,
Incoming NCAS President
Mickael Cariveau, Ph.D., our president for 2012-2013, is an Associate Professor of
Biology and Chair of the Department of Biological and Physical Sciences at Mount
Olive College. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University where he
received a B.S. degree in Zoology. He completed his M.S. in Biology and Ph.D. in
Biomedical Physics at East Carolina University in 2005. He completed his
postdoctoral studies in Cancer Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Cariveau has been a member of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina
Academy of Science since 2009. His goals for the Academy this year will be the
continued evolution of the Academy’s internet presence, refocusing the mission of the academy to its
greatest strength – the collegiate and student academy, and assuring that the committees are functioning to
the best of their ability by evaluating and modifying their charges as necessary. This is an exciting time for
the North Carolina Academy of Science and we encourage you to explore our website at your leisure
(http://www.ncacadsci.org/home.html). If you are not a member of the Academy, we hope you will
consider joining to take advantage of the wonderful opportunities available this year
Got News??
Send your news, events and advertisements to the
Publications Committee Chair
Karen Guzman at guzman@campbell.edu
The newsletter is a great way to reach
scientists across N.C.
ASTRONOMY DAYS:
NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh
Come enjoy the event or volunteer at the NCAS booth
More information below
ASTRONOMY DAYS CELEBRATION
HELP NEEDED FOR MAY 19 & 20, 2012
The North Carolina Academy of Science will again provide a
public exhibit at the annual Astronomy Days celebration at the
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown
Raleigh on Saturday and Sunday May 19 and 20. We have had an
exhibit at Astronomy Days for the past several years as part of
our new public outreach initiative. This event provides an
excellent opportunity for the Academy to stimulate student
interest in science and science careers, to increase public interest
in science, and to showcase the work of the Academy.
Astronomy Days is the largest celebration of its kind in the country and attracts several thousand people to
the event, including many families, children as well as college and precollege students. Numerous exhibits
are provided by NASA and many state and local organizations working to support science education and to
increase public understanding of science. The Academy is endeavoring to take a more public role in
focusing attention on the importance of science to North Carolina and on the importance of science to the
economy of the state and the welfare of its citizens.
We need academy members to assist with our public
exhibit at this Astronomy Days Celebration on Saturday
and Sunday May 19 and 20 at the North Carolina Museum
of Natural Sciences. Volunteers will help greet visitors to
the exhibit and chat with them about science and Academy
programs. Training, materials, and support will be
provided for volunteers who can spend a few hours during
the weekend assisting with the exhibit. Please contact Dr.
Charles Lytle, past president of the Academy, at 919-3891845 or lytle_bio@ncsu.edu for more information or if you
can spare a few hours to help us May 19 or 20.
For more information about Astronomy Days, visit the N.C.
Museum of Natural Science Program and Events page:
http://naturalsciences.org/programs-events
109th NCAS ANNUAL MEETING REPORT
NCAS Annual Meeting Held at Campbell University
Contributed by Dr. Charlie Lytle, North Carolina State University, NCAS Past-President,
NCAS Government Advisory Committee
In keeping with our recent emphasis on encouraging public interest in science
and our focus on scientific matters related to current public policy issues, the
2012 Annual Meeting of the Academy at Campbell University March 23-25
offered several events of general scientific interest. The Friday evening program
included a poster session and reception in the Pope Convocation Center followed by a public forum on an
important current issue, Natural Gas Exploration and the Future of North Carolina: A Scientific
Perspective. Forum speakers provided scientific information on shale gas exploration methods, possible
effects on ground water supply, the importance of mineral rights for landowners, safeguards needed to
ensure environmental safety, and legislative issues.
Keynote speaker Dr. Stuart Pimm of Duke University, addressed issues of biodiversity and its
importance in maintaining a healthy environment on Saturday. Sessions on Computational Thinking Across
the Curriculum, The Science Behind the Effects of Wireless Communications (might have been called “To
worry or not to worry about radiation effects from my IPad, cell phone and other gadgets?”), and a Science
Photography Workshop, added to the richness of the program.
An interesting variety of contributed papers by scientists, teachers, and graduate and undergraduate
students ranged from the technical (The Role of Myosin IV in Epithelial Cell Migration), to the practical
(Grafting Tomatoes for Resistance to Early Blight and Late Blight in the Warren Wilson College Garden), to
the unpredictable (Randomness/non-randomness in gene base sequences). Several students displayed
posters with details of their research projects reported at the meeting of the Student Academy that met
separately on Friday at the NC School of Science and Mathematics in Durham.
This rich and varied program of science events and collegial exchange concluded with the annual
business meeting and the banquet and awards program. Numerous Derieux Awards for Excellence in
Undergraduate Research were presented to winners in various categories. We are indebted to Campbell
University, the program committee, and the local arrangements committee headed by Past President Karen
Guzman for a memorable meeting. The meeting concluded with a field trip Sunday morning to nearby
Rock Raven State Park.
See a photographic tour of the 2012 Annual Meeting below
2013 NCAS Annual Meeting
Will be held at University of NC at Pembroke
April 5-6, 2013
Zoology/Botany
Microbiology,
Chemistry, &
Astronomy
Cellular,
Molecular
Biology,
Biotechnology,
Biochemistry,
and
Pharmacology
Ecology,
Toxicology, &
Health Sciences
& Physiology &
Science
Education
Category
Title
Lasting effects of chronic caffeine dosage on heart rate, growth
rate and activity of zebrafish embryos
Population dynamics of a seed shrimp (Crustacea: Ostracoda:
Cypria sp) and its ectocommensal Protozoan (Ciliphora: Peritricha:
Lagenophryidae: Lagenophrys discoidea) in a North Carolina pond
Absenteeism in a metrapolitan law enforcement agency weight loss
program
Identification and Characterization of a Myosin II Heavy Chain
Kinases (MHCK-D) in Dictyostelium
The establishment of successful talin knockdown and appropriate
conditions for inducing focal adhesion kinase (FAK) phosphorylation
in mammalian cells (HEK293AD)
Cloning and Characterization of the Coxiella burnetii Macrophage
Infectivity Potentiator Protein
Binding Properties and Function of M. undulatus Estrogen
Receptors with Chlordane and the Effects of Amino Acid Mutation
on Binding
Analysis of Pungency Chemicals in Ginger Soft Drinks by HPLC
Do physical characteristics and human use affect the aquatic
microbial community of lakes on Mount Desert Island, Maine?
Discovery and Identification of Environmental Microorganisms from
Soil Samples of Buies Creek, North Carolina
Wavelength-dependent effects of light on the geotactic response of
2nd instar larval Drosophila melanogaster
Floral Morphological Comparison of Two Closely Related Hawaiian
Violets
The Phylogeography of the Seepage Salamander (Desmognathus
aeneus)
LaShonda M. Caine, Bobbie J. Legg, Sean P.
Graham and David A. Beamer
David R. Citron, Taek You, Larsen, and Sang
Seob Lee
Lindsey M. Stanley, Mariana V. Gattegno,
Jelena Y. Atkins, and David H. Dommer
Krystal T. Piotrowski and John C. Havran
Nash
CC
CU
MOC
CU
GWU
UNCG
NCSU
Michael T. Wyngarden, Mary B. Hawkins
Jeremy D. Griffin and David N. Judge
Ashley Williams and Parke Rublee
CU
Elon
Univ.
UNCG
UNCW
GWU
From
CU
Ben Dyer and Michelle S. Thomas
Allen R. Mullins, Robert W. Boyce, Tyler K.
Willett, Glenn R. Jones, Edward L. Boone
Grace Anderson, Almagul Kanafina, Emily
Lehman, Paul Steimle
Brittany L. White
Keely A. Ford and David N. Judge
Authors
Victoria Ellis and Karen Guzman
Abbreviations: CU: Campbell University, GWU: Gardner-Webb University, MOC: Mount Olive College, Nash CC: Nash Community College, NCSU: NC State University, UNCG: University of
NC at Greensboro, UNCW: University of NC at Wilmington
3rd Place
2nd Place
1st Place
3rd Place
1st Place
2nd Place
2nd Place
TIE
3rd Place
2nd Place
TIE
1st Place
3rd Place
2nd Place
Award
1st Place
Derieux Awards: Poster Presentations
Derieux Awards
Grafting Tomatoes for Resistance to Early Blight and Late Blight in
the Warren Wilson College Garden
Camille Taylor* and Amy E. Boyd
Alice Sloan* and Michael Torres
Andres Camacho
Laura M. Lilley* and Dr. Dean Kahl
Lauren W. Stranahan
Jessica Schaner* and Dean Kahl
Janna A. Joyner
Abbreviations: CU: Campbell University, LRU: Lenoir-Rhyne University, Peace: William Peace University, WWC: Warren Wilson College
3rd Place
The Suitability of Lower Peterson Creek (Queensland, Australia) as
Habitat for the Platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus
2nd Place
Zoology, Botany,
and Ecology
Behavioral response of subterranean termite Reticulitermes
virginicus as a result of exposure to acoustical vibrations
1st Place
Antidepressant Impairs Zebrafish Motor Development and
Behavior: Ramifications of Pharmaceutical Drugs in the
Environment
Untapped Abundance: Antioxidants in Edible Invasive Plants
The Mutarotation of Glucose in Dimethyl Sulfoxide
Physiology,
Toxicology,
Biochemistry,
Health &
Environmental
Sciences I & II
3rd Place
TIE
3rd Place
TIE
2 Place
TIE
nd
Analysis of PCB accumulation within trophic levels of biota
inhabiting an EPA superfund watershed.
2nd Place
TIE
Melanie A. Kemp* and Vicki Collins
Palatability and Nutritive Content of Wolffia for Warren Wilson
College Laying Hens
Morgan J. Gregg* and Dr. Yuko J. Miyamoto
Marcus Ford*, Victoria Ellis, Morgan
Campbell, Sandra Westergaard, John
Bartlett
Authors
1st Place
Examining The Role of mTOR if T cell Proliferation Under
Immunosuppression by Rapamycin
Prevalence of Methacillin Resistant Staph Aureus (MRSA) on
Campbell University Campus and the Efficacy of Current Cleaning
Products
Title
The effect of mutating the FMN riboswitch into the permanently off Lydia B. Shedlofsky*
position on the virulence of P.lumenscens.
Microbiology, Cell
Biology, and
Biotechnology
Category
3rd Place
2nd Place
1st Place
Award
Derieux Awards: Oral Presentations
WWC
WWC
LRU
WWC
Elon
Univ
WWC
Peace
WWC
Guilford
College
Elon
Univ.
CU
From
Derieux Awards
A Photographic Tour of the 2012 Annual Meeting
Registration & Posters on Friday
From registration in the sun-lit foyer to the open area of the concourse where we viewed posters and ate heavy hors
d’oeuvres
We could only get a photo of the healthy
snacks because the other scrumptious
goodies were surrounded by a crowd!
More posters…
NCAS Displays
Forum on Fracking
What is fracking and how could it affect us? That was just some of what was discussed by the panel of speakers at
this event that was open to the public.
Student Academy Posters
Student Academy high school district winners
were our guests for a special presentation of
their posters
Exhibitors & Vendors
What a great time to learn about everything from graduate/professional programs to laboratory plastics to
photography of insects.
Sponsors
Thanks to our sponsors for supporting the meeting.
Keynote Address
Our special guest was Dr. Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology, Nicholas School of the
Environment at Duke University
Dr. Mike Larsen, Chair of the Department of
Biological Sciences at Campbell University
introduces the guest speaker
Dr. Stuart Pimm shares his
words of wisdom on how to
maintain biodiversity.
Relaxing
Time to relax, enjoy the scenery and chat with our fellow meeting participants.
Oral Presentations
CANCAS Business Meeting
2012-2013 CANCAS Officers
From left to right: Tatum Lemly - Historian (GC),
Michael Khayat - Historian (GC), Jennifer Floyd President (MOC), Sam Kelly - Vice President (GC),
Katie St Clair - Secretary (CU)
Abbreviations: GC: Guilford College, MOC: Mount Olive
College, CU: Campbell University
Awards Banquet
Boy, are we hungry after all of those presentations!
… And now for the awards. What a great looking bunch!
Derieux Award Winners