Fall 2010
The North Carolina
President’s Letter, 2010-2011
The NCAS has a rich history that includes a membership consisting
of individuals from across the scientific disciplines, publication of
a journal with roots dating back to 1884, and support of scientific
research through many avenues such as grant funding, awards of
recognition and an annual meeting. Even with such a notable
history, we might ask ourselves, “Where is the Academy now?”
and “Where are we going?”
You may not be aware of what the Academy is doing because our
newsletter has only been published on average once each year.
This year, we will be working to increase publication of the
newsletter to 3 to 4 times each year. We also launched a new
website this month. You can access the site with the same URL as
previously, but you will find that the pages load faster, the
information is more up-to-date and you can now accomplish a
variety of activities online. Membership renewal is available online and meeting registration will be available as well in
the spring. We hope this new interface will make it easier for you to find the information you need. Think about what
else you would like to see on the website and get back to us. We welcome your feedback on additional modifications we
can make to better serve you.
We have a number of exciting events on the calendar for this year. The CANCAS Fall Workshop will be held on
November 6th at Mount Olive College and include an opportunity for students to have their resumes reviewed. The
Annual Meeting will be held on March 25-27 at Elon University and has the theme “Science in Service to Society”. The
Academy will again be involved in Astronomy Days at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences on May 21-22. You can find
out more about the first two events in the October newsletter as well as learn about a Resolution on Climate Change that
was accepted by the Academy’s Board of Directors in September. Hopefully, this begins to give you an idea where the
Academy is now.
In recent years, small regional science organizations have found it difficult to draw the attention of scientists that are busy
attending national meetings because of the high profile recognition of such meetings. The same has been true of the
Academy although another reason why we may not be as well known is that prospective members may not realize the
benefits of membership and current members may not be tapping into our resources. When asked about the benefits of
membership in the Academy, some of our current members indicated opportunities included:
•
participating in a regional organization that supports undergraduate research and provides opportunities for both
faculty and students to present and publish
•
interacting with faculty from different universities and the opportunity to build collaborations
•
identifying some of the state’s best students and recruiting them to graduate programs
•
a chance to affect science policy, including science education, in N.C.
•
attending a short, nearby meeting and listening to stimulating keynote speakers
NCAS has a rich history, but we want to keep up-to-date and not become stagnant. We want our members to send us
feedback. Contact me with your ideas at guzman@campbell.edu or contact the board member chairing specific
committees. If you have ideas about the direction of the Academy: contact Parke Rublee. If you have ideas about
membership: contact Jim Fuller. If you have ideas about the website: contact Jim Brown. You can find our contact
information on the website at www.ncacadsci.org/NCAS/board.html. We cannot grow and adjust to meet your needs
unless you give us feedback.
I hope this year that you will see the Academy in a new light, not just the historical institution we represent. And I hope
that, as you get involved, you will help us to answer my second question, “Where is the Academy going?” There is a lot
we can accomplish related to science policy, education, and research in North Carolina as we partner together. Let us
know your ideas. I look forward to the interactions the Academy will stir up between scientists in NC this year as we
continue to make a rich history for the North Carolina Academy of Science.
Sincerely yours,
Karen Guzman, PhD, NCAS President, 2010-2011
CANCAS Workshop
The CANCAS Research and Career Workshop will be held at Mount Olive College on Saturday, November 6, 2010 from
8:30 am to 4pm in the W. Burkette and Rose M. Raper Hall, Mount Olive, North Carolina. The CANCAS student
officers and our Mount Olive College hosts encourage all undergraduate students and faculty mentors to attend. The
keynote speaker, Dr. David Kerstetter from Nova Southeastern University, will speak on the topic of fisheries and marine
biology. The workshop will also include discussions on graduate school and career opportunities in biotechnology,
interview tactics, mock interviews and a career panel. Besides these presentations and discussions, there will be a
luncheon and a CANCAS Board Meeting held during the event to give the participants an opportunity to network with
each other and talk about career interests. Contact Dr. Erin Lindquist, Co-Executive Director of CANCAS, if you’re
interested in sponsoring a group of students from your institution to attend the workshop at: erinlind@meredith.edu.
Students; if you wish to receive your reviewed and edited CV back at the meeting, CVs must be received via email
(mcariveau@moc.edu) by Oct. 20th.
Mentors Needed
CANCAS student members are seeking research
experiences and internships at NCAS member institutions.
If you are interested in mentoring an undergraduate
research student from a North Carolina institution, please
contact Dr. Erin Lindquist (erinlind@meredith.edu), CoExecutive Director of CANCAS, with a description of
your position (abstract of project, location and duration of
project, time commitment, and candidate qualifications)
and we’ll post this information to CANCAS’ website and
Facebook page.
The 2010-2011 CANCAS officers are (left to right): Justin Hawkins, Historian, Lenoir-Rhyne University; Lucas
Carnohan, Secretary, Lenoir-Rhyne University; Brian Sullivan, Vice President, Lenoir-Rhyne University; and Sara
Lachance, President, Guilford College
Schedule for the CANCAS Workshop
!
Undergraduate Career Workshop
Collegiate Academy of the N.C. Academy of Science
Mount Olive College
November 6, 2010
8:30-9:00
Registration and Continental B reakfast
Deacon Jones Lounge
9:00-9:15
W elcoming Remar ks
Dr. Erin Lindquist, CANCAS Director
Dr. Karen Guzman, President NCAS
Southern Bank Auditorium
9:15-10:00
Is G raduate School Right For You?
Dr. Gerhard W. Kalmus, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Biology,
East Carolina University
Southern Bank Auditorium
10:00-10:45
L ife in Industry ! C areer O pportunities in Biotechnology
Dr. Bill Schy, Manager, Education and Training Program,
N.C. Biotechnology Center.
Southern Bank Auditorium
10:45-11:00
Coffee B reak
Deacon Jones Lounge
11:00-12:00
K eynote A ddress
Dr. David Kerstetter, Assistant Professor, NSU Oceanographic
Center
Southern Bank Auditorium
12:00-12:45
L unch
C A N C AS Business M eeting
Deacon Jones Lounge
Room 130
1:00-1:30
Successful Interview T actics
Dr. Rhonda Bryant, Assistant Vice President, MOC Student
Development Center
Southern Bank Auditorium
1:45-3:00
Honing your skills ! Mock Interviews
Rooms 111, 112, 117, 120
Participants will have an opportunity to practice their interview
238, and 239
skills for graduate school, professional school or industry, through
mock interviews conducted by Mount Olive College Faculty.
3:00-3:45
C areer Panel Discussion
Southern Bank Auditorium
A panel of students from graduate, medical, dental, and pharmacy
school, as well as the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industries will
answer your questions.
3:45-4:00
C losing Remar ks
Dr. Philip Kerstetter, President, Mount Olive College !
!
Southern Bank Auditorium
!
Elon University will host the NCAS Annual Meeting March 25-27, 2011
Science in Service to Society
by Mike Kingston, Chair of the Local Arrangements Committee
The Annual Meeting of the North Carolina Academy of Science will be hosted by Elon University on March 25-27,
2011. The theme for this year’s meeting is science in service to society. In today’s world, science is conducted at a grand
scale with teams of scientists of diverse disciplinary backgrounds working together to address seemingly intractable
problems of great concern to society such as cancer treatment, climate change, emergent diseases, environmental
pollution, antibiotic resistance, habitat loss, and the spread of invasive species. Solving such problems involves the
interdisciplinary collaboration of biologists, chemists, physicists, environmental scientists, materials scientists, medical
scientists, mathematicians, engineers, computer scientists, anthropologists, psychologists, and sociologists. Given the
long history of the North Carolina Academy of Science in bringing together scientists from many disciplines across the
state since 1902, the theme for this year’s meeting is particularly apt.
“Science in Service to Society” will begin with meetings of the Board of Directors and the Finance Committee on Friday
afternoon, March 25. The Friday evening poster session will feature the research of undergraduate, graduate, and senior
members of the Academy. A student mixer will be sponsored by the Elon University Biology Club and the Sigma Mu
chapter of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society following the poster session on Friday evening. As in past years,
contributed papers from the Collegiate and Senior Academies will be intermingled during morning and afternoon paper
sessions on Saturday, March 26. Late Saturday morning, the keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Anthony Atala,
M.D., Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University. The title of Dr.
Atala’s presentation is “Regenerative Medicine: New Approaches to Healthcare.”
Dr. Atala is a practicing surgeon and a researcher in the area of regenerative medicine. He
led the team that developed the first lab-grown organ, a bladder, to be implanted into a
human. His work focuses on engineering new human cells, tissues and organs. One current
project involves the development of stem cell lines isolated from amniotic fluid that can be
harvested after birth. These stem cells can be induced to differentiate into multiple different
cell types and they do not form tumors when transplanted. Dr. Atala is a recipient of the US
Congress funded Christopher Columbus Foundation Award, bestowed on a living American
who is currently working on a discovery that will significantly affect society. Scientific
American named him as a Medical Treatments Leader of the Year for his contributions to
the fields of cell, tissue and organ regeneration and U.S. News & World Report featured him
as one of 14 Pioneers of Medical Progress in the 21st Century. In 2010, his work was listed
by Smithsonian Magazine as one of 40 things to know about the next 40 years. He has
published more than 300 journal articles, edited 9 books, applied for 200 national and
international patents, and currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Current Stem Cell Research and Therapy, and
Therapeutic Advances in Urology.
Following lunch, a workshop will be delivered by Dr. Malcolm Campbell, Director of
the James G. Martin Genomics Program at Davidson College. Dr. Campbell teaches
introductory biology, molecular biology, genomics, and synthetic biology at Davidson
College. He conducts pedagogical and basic research in synthetic biology and has led
numerous educational workshops. In collaboration with mathematician Dr. Laurie J.
Heyer, he co-authored the first true genomics textbook, Discovering Genomics,
Proteomics and Bioinformatics. In 1999, he co-founded the Genome Consortium for
Active Teaching (GCAT) and he is dedicated to bringing genomic methods into the
undergraduate curriculum through community cooperation. Since the fall of 2000, over
20,000 undergraduates have used GCAT microarrays. GCAT has organized NSF-funded
microarray workshops for about 360 faculty members from throughout the US.
Dr. Campbell will introduce NCAS members to the multi-disciplinary field of synthetic biology. The workshop will
combine a presentation with hands-on computer exercises that teach participants how to design and construct new DNA
devices out of standardized DNA parts. The presentation will show faculty how to develop a multi-disciplinary
undergraduate science course that blends mathematics, computer science and biology while teaching students how to
build and test bacterial computers that solve complex math problems. This approach involves undergraduates in original
research in synthetic biology with minimal financial cost.
On Saturday evening following the last contributed paper presentation, we will hold our annual meeting reception and
banquet. The awards ceremony to announce the prizes for best student presentations and posters will follow the banquet.
The meeting will be hosted in the recently constructed Koury Business Center which shares a parking lot with the
McMichael Science Center on the Elon University Campus.
Registration
On-line registration for the meeting will be available through a link on the NCAS web site by the end of November.
Make Your Room Reservations Early!
Blocks of rooms for the Collegiate and Senior Academy members attending the NCAS Annual Meeting, March 25-27,
2011, at Elon University are being held at several local hotels. The conference room rates are $41.99 per night per double
room (1-4 people) at the Econo Lodge, $59.00 for single or double occupancy at the Ramada Convention Center, $69.00
for single or double occupancy at the Best Western, and $89.00 per night for single or double occupancy rooms (queen or
king size beds) at the Courtyard by Mariott. The contact numbers and names for each hotel are listed below:
Best Western (block reservation held until March 1) – (336) 584-0151 (Regina)
Ramada Convention Center (block reserv. held until March 1) – (336) 369-0482 (Lucy)
Econo Lodge (block reservation held until March 8) – (336) 570-1444
Courtyard at Mariott (block reservation held until March 16) –(336) 585-1888 (Katie)
Additional information on the distance from campus and amenities provided by each hotel will be posted on the NCAS
annual meeting web site in the next few weeks. Individuals need to make their reservations by the dates indicated above
in order to receive the conference rate. To receive the reduced rate, please mention that you will be attending the NCAS
Meeting at Elon University. We look forward to seeing you all at Elon University in March!!
!
The North Carolina Academy of Science Recognizes Climate Change
The North Carolina Academy of Science acknowledges that human activities are profoundly affecting global climate and that urgent
actions must be taken to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The world’s leading scientific organizations and scientists are in agreement that global climate is warming, largely as a result of human
activities (http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/media/1021climate_letter.pdf). Chief among these activities are the burning of fossil
fuels, widespread deforestation, and changing land use practices, resulting in increased concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and
nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. While these “greenhouse” gases occur naturally in small amounts in the atmosphere, their elevated levels
generate an overall warming effect on Earth (http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/). The negative effects of climate
change will continue to impact human society, the economy and biological and physical systems.
The North Carolina Academy of Science endorses the scientific findings in the most recent assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch/). Further, the Academy endorses the American Association for the Advancement of Science
(http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/mtg_200702/aaas_climate_statement.pdf) Board Statement on Climate Change,
and the Joint National Academies statement on climate change (http://www.nationalacademies.org/includes/G8+5energy-climate09.pdf).
The challenges before us, both demanding and exciting, require novel thinking and the intellectual capital of the world’s scientific
communities. Current and future generations of scientists, many of whom will undoubtedly catch their first glimpse of science in the public
school or college laboratory, will provide the brain power to engage these challenging opportunities.
The NC Academy’s long history of fostering science in the state promotes public appreciation of science, science education, scientific research and a
meaningful role for science in public policy (http://www.ncacadsci.org/MissionStatement.html). The Academy offers a unique position from which to
contribute to advances in science and technology that can positively engage climate change issues.
Academy Award Winners
Yarbrough Grant Recipients for AY 2010-2011
Student
Recipient
Campbell, Elisabeth
Gore, Alissa
Holloway, Madison
LeGrand, Steve
Lowder, Mallory M.
Rickard, Jesse
Faculty Sponsor Institution
Karen McDougal
Lenoir-Rhyne
University
Dean Kahl
Warren Wilson College
Karen McDougal
Lenoir-Rhyne
University
Jeff Holmes
Warren Wilson College
Michele Mabry
David Ellum
Lenoir-Rhyne
University
Warren Wilson College
Rios, Skye
John Brock
Warren Wilson College
Ventrella, Taija
Victoria Collins
Warren Wilson College
Wagner, Amy
Louise Weber
Warren Wilson College
Proposal Title
The allelopathic effects of leachates from Japanese
honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) on lettuce (Latuca
sativa)
Using molecular modeling to predict products of
elimination reactions
Comparison of quercetin content and antioxidant
potential in red onions and the nut of acorns of the
northern red oak
Decrease in habituation time of the sensitive plant
(Mimosa pudica)
The effects of temperature on survival and activity in
compost soil of the red worm, Eisenia foetida
Effect of patch cut, row thinning, and coppice cut
practices on belowground carbon stocks in the WWC
forest
Hydrogen production by Rhodobacter sphaeroides
under varied conditions of lihght and ammonium ion
concentration
Total antioxidant capacity of fresh, frozen, and baked
blueberries
Adult wood frog (Rana sylvatica) fitness when reared
in the non-lethal presence of a predator