Dr. Diana Spencer Recognized for Excellence in Undergraduate Research

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The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education recently recognized Dr. Diana Spencer, George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Research, for her efforts in promoting and mentoring undergraduate research in Biotechnology.  The 7th Annual Promoting Undergraduate Research Conference was held at the Presbyterian Health Foundation Conference Center in Oklahoma City on September 30 with the theme "Thinking Outside the Lab: Empowering Students at all Tiers to Engage in Budget Neutral Research in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences."

The OSRHE award recognizes "an exemplary college or university program for excellence in undergraduate research." Dr. Spencer also presented at one of the conference sessions: "Embedding Research in the Curriculum." In addition to the OSRHE, event sponsors included OK-INBRE, University of Oklahoma, University of Central Oklahoma, Cameron University, EPSCOR, and Northeastern State University.

Professor Smith Sabbatical Focuses on Conservation Biology Projects

                          Click above to see Professor Smith on TCC's Big Blue Radio Show, where she discusses her sabbatical project.
Professor Patty Smith just returned from a five month sabbatical leave in Taos, New Mexico.   She worked on high impact educational practices – research, service learning, and global experiences – in conservation biology and environmental science.  Subsequently, high impact courses in environmental science were designed and developed in two locations, West Campus and New Mexico.  Patty manages the greenhouse, teaching gardens, community garden, Cross Timbers Nature Trail and acreage, and Natural History Collections on West Campus.  These provide high impact educational facilities for conservation biology and environmental science courses.  Scheduled for Summer of 2017, Introduction to Environmental Science offers research and service learning opportunities and global experience in New Mexico.  Recently, Professor Smith discussed her sabbatical leave on TCC’s Big Blue Radio Show. 

Professor Neil Enis and Students Participate in Small World Initiative 

The rise and proliferation of modern antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” combined with a shift away from antibiotic development by the pharmaceutical industry has created a global healthcare crisis which is widely considered to be one of the greatest emerging threats to human health today. Students in Professor Enis’s Honors Microbiology (BIOL 2164) course are helping to address this worldwide health crisis by participating in a robust and rapidly-growing international collaborative research effort called the Small World Initiative™ (SWI).  Founded at Yale University in 2012 by Dr. Jo Handelsman, SWI harnesses the collective power of student researchers across the globe in an effort to discover new antibiotics from soil microorganisms through an innovative and inspiring science curriculum. The program offers undergraduate students an authentic research experience, through which they have the opportunity to explore the biological and chemical diversity in their local soil environments in a quest for new effective antibiotics. For more information about the Small Word Initiative, please visit http://www.smallworldinitiative.org/.
Professor Neil Enis

​Biology Professor Bryan Coppedge Receives Research Grant

West Campus Professor Bryan Coppedge was recently awarded an EPSCoR grant to study the twig girdler (Oncideres cingulata), a beetle native to the eastern United States.  This species, as well as others in the genus, are noted for their peculiar propensity for severing branches from a variety of tree species, then laying eggs in the branches in which their larvae develop the following year.  Most of the damage done by this pruning or girdling activity goes unnoticed, except when the damage occurs in commercial nut or fruit tree settings.  The species is particularly fond of pecan, but also girdles elm, persimmon, hickory, birch and honey locust.  However, other common tree species such as ash, oak, willow, and sycamore are avoided.  Research on this species thus far has focused on assessing damage in pecan plantations and the bionomics and reproductive success on various host species.  Dr. Coppedge's research will focus on factors that affect the beetle's larval survival and adult populations, as well as factors or conditions of the host species that affect their selection as hosts.
Click here to view the interview with Dr. Spencer.
Dr. Diana Spencer was recently interviewed for TCC's Big Blue Radio Show, about the importance of research with undergraduate students. For community colleges to provide meaningful research experiences to students is uncommon, and the opportunities at TCC are "life changing" for students and for faculty, according to Spencer.  Dr. Spencer believes that the cross-disciplinary research and scholarly activity at all four TCC campuses allows students and faculty alike a chance to explore our world from a variety of perspectives.  "And everyone likes to explore," she says.  As the George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Research, Spencer looks forward to increased interest in research and scholarly activity, in addition to the traditional focus on classroom teaching, because It is such an important element in professional development.