The Graduate Student Association has organized its first graduate research symposium, which will be held in the Colvard Union Ballroom. The event is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Michele Williams, president of the GSA and director of this year’s seminar, discussed the process of planning the conference. The GSA put out a call across the campus for abstracts summarizing research. Williams said the GSA received 31 abstracts from departments ranging from veterinary medicine to nutrition to education.
A variety of topics will be discussed at the seminar. The presentations range from discussions on cows, deer, blueberries, traffic, distance learning and shellfish.
Randall DeYoung, an MSU graduate student in wildlife and fisheries, is listed as one of the presenters. He conducted research on white-tailed deer by using new DNA fingerprinting to track the breeding success in bucks.
Another graduate student has performed research involving the deer. “My research involves using quality vegetation management to improve natural forage for white-tail deer in pine tree stands,” Scott Edwards, another scheduled speaker at Thursday’s event, said.
For those with veterinary medicine interests, graduate student Sonja Jones is scheduled to lecture on shellfish. Jones carefully described her research on the antibiotic resistant enterococcus, a species of bacteria found in shellfish. This particular species is naturally resistant to many bacteria and now is growing resistant to some antibiotics that are used to treat human infections, she explained.
The problem arises when humans eat the shellfish with the resistant enterococcus, Jones said. She added that she hopes her research could confirm a theory that links human resistance to important antibiotics with the shellfish that have the certain strain of enterococcus.
Williams encouraged everyone to come hear these and other presentations. She asked that people attend those lectures they find appealing. “You don’t have to stay for the whole thing,” Williams said. “Whenever you have free time, just drop in and listen.”
She pointed out that these presentations are good for everyone and claimed that undergraduates who are looking at graduate schools can benefit from witnessing some of the things involved with the program. Graduate students can gain experience from delivering their presentations, she added.
Williams mentioned that the presentations will break from noon until 12:45 for lunch. She also wanted to thank those who helped her organize the event, including fellow graduate students Susan Bowers and Frances Carter and Sigma Xi for gathering and being the judges of the presentations.
For more information about the graduate research symposium or for other topics that will be discussed, please call the office of graduate studies at 325-7400.