JSU chemistry and biology students earn top honors at statewide conference

 By Jean Gordon Cook
601-979-1571
jean.g.cook@jsums.edu

  

 (JACKSON, Miss.) – Jackson State University chemistry students Sadia Afrin Khan and Toyketa Horne won the top poster awards in the graduate students’ poster competition at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, held in Hattiesburg, Miss., Feb. 17-18. The students are among seven from Jackson State to earn top awards at the annual conference.

 

Khan, a Ph.D. student from Bangladesh, won first place for her poster describing the application of nanomaterials to detect biological and chemical toxins. Horne, a master’s student from Shubuta, Miss., earned second place for her poster on a synthetic macrocycle – also known as a sensor – that can bind to and destroy harmful anions in water.   

“We really want to thank our supervisors, lab partners and especially our families,” said Khan, who works under the supervision of JSU chemistry professor Paresh C. Ray, who recently published a paper on using nanomaterials as a possible treatment for prostate cancer.

Horne works in the laboratory of JSU chemistry and biochemistry professor Md. Alamgir Hossain, who earlier this year earned the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to advance his teaching and research.

 

Jackson State biology students also earned top awards at the annual meeting. Undergraduate Dorothy Ndishabandi of Jackson, Miss., won first place in the oral presentation competition in the Agriculture and Plant Science Division for her research group’s paper on “Selected morphological characteristics of coffeeweed (Sesbania exaltata Raf.) grown in elevated levels of lead-contaminated soil.” The paper’s co-authors include Charnell Cain, an undergraduate biology major from Las Vegas; Jacqueline McComb, a graduate environmental science student from Port Gibson, Miss.; and Sonya Hentz, a graduate biology student from Lambert, Miss.

 

Undergraduate biology students Austin Russell of Conyers, Ga., and Clarence Donaldson of Saginaw, Mich., won second place for their oral presentation on the “Effects of lead and cadmium on seed germination and early seedling growth of tall fescue, wheat and mustard.” Student co-authors include Sonya Hentz and Jacqueline McComb.

 

Graduate students Sonya Hentz and Jacqueline McComb tied for third place in the graduate student oral competition for their respective presentations on “Cadmium uptake and growth of Triticum aestivum in response to various concentrations of cadmium,” and “Effects of lead on plant growth and lead accumulation of hydroponically grown Sesbania plants.” Hentz’s co-authors include McComb and Clarence Donaldson. McComb’s co-authors include Hentz and Austin Russell. Other co-authors of the biology students’ presentations include faculty mentors/advisors Gloria Miller, Maria Begonia and Gregorio Begonia of the Department of Biology.

 

The JSU Department of Biology, the NASA-funded Mississippi Space Grant Consortium grant to JSU and the NSF-funded Louis Stokes Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation Program at JSU supported the winning biology research projects.

 

Photo: http://www.jsums.edu/announcements/sadia.toyketa1.jpg

JSU chemistry students Sadia Afrin Khan (left) and Toyketa Horne won the first and second place poster awards in the graduate students’ poster competition at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, held in Hattiesburg, Miss., in February.

 

Jackson State University chemistry students Sadia Afrin Khan (left) and Toyketa Horne won the first and second place poster awards in the graduate students’ poster competition at the annual meeting of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, held in Hattiesburg, Miss., in February.