The 95th Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science was held at Cedar Crest College on March 29-31, 2019. The Spychala Student Presentation Awards were presented to the top student oral and poster presenters at the closing ceremony. Additionally, Women in Science Awards were given to two undergraduate students. Congratulations to these students!
Pictured left to right: Dr. Amy Diegelman-Parente (PAS President), Daniel Dudek, Tristen Rumbaugh, Eric Januszkiewicz, Carrie Carpenter, Carli King, Leslie Abreu, Colin Allen, Morgan Brown, Lauren Bahr, Brianna Hill, Rebekah Jones, Stephanie Barr
Undergraduate Poster Presentation Awards:
First Place: Joseph Schmoyer – York College of Pennsylvania – Bacillus Bacterial Strain Isolated from York College as a Source for the Production of Polyhydroxylalkanoates (PHAs)
Second Place: Brianna Hill – Cedar Crest College – The effect of Replication Protein A phosphorylation on the cellular response to DNA Damage
Third Place: Morgan Brown – Gettysburg College – A GYF-domain protein damaged by a reciprocal translocation partially rescues G2/M defects in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans
Honorable Mention: Leslie Abreu – Cedar Crest College – Invasive Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) and its potential hosts
Honorable Mention: Carli King – Lycoming College – Sholl analysis of Purkinje neuron morphology using MetaMorph software
Undergraduate Oral Presentation Awards:
First Place: Michael Gallo – Moravian College – Antiproliferative effects of gap junction protein delivery to glioma cells utilizing a cancer targeting peptide
Second Place: Tristen Rumbaugh – Harrisburg University of Science and Technology – Spectroscopic analysis of adulterated petroleum products using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Third Place: Stephanie Barr – Cedar Crest College – Development of Molecular Tools for Rapid Genotyping of Yeast Strains Used in Beer Production
Honorable Mention: Colin Allen – Lycoming College – Description of Lycobacillus franzii gen. nov. sp. nov. from freshwater creek and transfer of three Bacillus species into the new genus
Honorable Mention: Carrie Carpenter – Harrisburg University of Science and Technology – Characterization of Psychromonas aquimarina, a new model organism for climate change
Graduate Awards:
Top Poster Presentation: Daniel Dudek – Indiana University of Pennsylvania – Patterns of matrilineal evolution of neotropical leopard frogs (Ranidae: Rana: Pantherana)
Top Oral Presentation: Eric Januszkiewicz – East Stroudsburg University – Detection of Snake Fungal Disease caused by Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola among Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) in Pennsylvania
Women in Science Awards:
Top Poster Presentation: Lauren Bahr – Eastern University – Detection of tomato yellow leaf curl virus and determination of viral kinetics in two plant host species
Top Oral Presentation: Rebekah Jones – Messiah College – Prevalence of a variant gastrin receptor RNA and correlating genomic polymorphism in human pancreatic cancer