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Centre students win awards at Kentucky Academy of Science meeting
RELEASED: Nov. 23, 2005
DANVILLE, KY—Three Centre College students were honored at the Kentucky Academy of Science's annual meeting on Friday, Nov. 11, at Eastern Kentucky University. Angie Bohnen, a senior from Marathon, Fla.; Brenna Bulach, a senior from Union, Ky.; and Laura MacDonald, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., all received Undergraduate Research Competition awards for their presentations.
Competing in the zoology section, Bulach was awarded first place and MacDonald third place. Both reported on results of a study of hybridization between the crayfishes Orconectes juvenilis and Orconectes cristavarius in the Kentucky River Basin. Bulach reported on the genetic evidence and MacDonald on the morphological evidence. The paper's co-authors, along with Bulach and MacDonald, were Rachel Stamper, a freshman from Danville, and Rob Ziemba, assistant professor of biology, who was recently named Outstanding College/University Teacher at the KAS meeting.
"In their research this summer," says Ziemba, "Brenna, Laura, and Rachel Stamper showed that they were motivated, intelligent and creative scientists. They're certainly some of the best students I've ever worked with. I'm proud of Brenna and Laura for preparing wonderful talks and showing such professionalism and poise in their presentations. They represented Centre very well."
Bohnen won third place in the student undergraduate section in the cell and molecular biology section for her talk on neurotransmitter expression in the developing brain. She co-authored a paper on the subject titled "Transient expression of tyrosine hydroxylase in the developing rat cerebral cortex," with Kevin Phelps, a junior from Leitchfield, Ky., Cindy Hartley, a senior from Elizabethtown, Ky., and Ryan Steed '05, along with Stephen Asmus, Dowling Associate Professor of Biology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
"Angie put a huge amount of time into her presentation, and it paid off," says Asmus. "She told me that she was nervous, but it didn't show at all. Her delivery was professional and very clear. She did a great job of presenting her research results in the context of a 'story' that flowed together nicely."
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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/
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