Biology

David Vandermast, associate professor of biology and environmental studies, chaired the meeting of the Southeastern Chapter of the Ecological Society of America in Austin, Texas, on August 10.

Professor Michael Kingston, of the departments of Biology and Environmental Studies, and Mona DeVries, an assistant professor of biology, co-taught a graduate-level Marine Ecology course at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C., from July 11 to Aug. 12.

Brant Touchette served on a research proposal review panel for Texas Sea Grant located on the campus of Texas A & M University.

Antonio Izzo and Yuko Miyamoto (Biology Department) presented "Elon's Biology Cabinet: An IT/Faculty partnership in online resource development" at the 2011 Educause Southeast Regional Conference held in Charlotte, NC June 2nd.

The presentation summarized the video production process resulting from a collaboration between the Biology Department and the Teaching and Learning Technology Group at Elon. Four instructional videos that focus on core Biology and Biochemistry lab techniques were produced that are currently being used in lab courses across these programs. These videos can be viewed at www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/elon_college/biology/resources/

The presentation included discussion of the developing model with an audience composed of both teaching faculty and IT staff from other regional colleges and universities.

Elon's Center for Environmental Studies is hosting a Wildlife Tracking and Vertebrate Field Survey workshop that will be co-taught by Jim Halfpenny, a nationally-renowned wildlife tracker and carnivore ecologist from Montana, and Josh Kapfer of the departments of environmental studies and biology. The workshop starts Saturday, April 30 and ends Sunday, May 1.

Brant Touchette, professor of biology and environmental studies, served as a National Panelist for the College Board in Newtown, Pa.

Millions of people on April 22 celebrated Earth Day, a program started in 1970 to raise awareness of the environment and the impact of human activity on the planet. Jeffrey Coker, an associate professor of biology, shares the history of Earth Day while offering ideas to consider in the latest in a series of videos where Elon University faculty members share their research and classroom expertise.

Antonio Izzo was appointed to the Student Award Committee for the Mycological Society of America (MSA). This committee administers awards both for research-based scholarships and for poster and oral presentations at the annual meeting. The Mycological Society of America is a professional society devoted to research of fungi and fungal-like organisms. The MSA publishes the scientific journal Mycologia .

Elon Biology Club members, Neha Sampat, Steven Greenberg, Kathryn Milizio, Elise Post and Brittany White were the first Elon undergraduate Ambassadors of science to participate in DNA Day on April 15.

David Vandermast, assistant professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, chaired the Southeast Chapter of the Ecological Society of America business meeting in Huntsville, AL last Friday.