Rhodes College hosted the annual meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science (TAS) on campus in November, and several Rhodes students received awards for their research. Dr. Gregory Vieira, assistant professor of physics at Rhodes, served as local arrangements chair.
Support for the meeting also was provided by Rhodes’ Office of Academic Affairs; Departments of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Statistics, Physics, and Computer Science; and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Environmental Studies and Sciences, and Neuroscience Programs.
Founded in 1912, TAS organizes symposia, manages on-going programs in various scientific fields, and communicates with the scientific community on a national level. The plenary session for this year’s meeting featured Dr. Richard Kriwacki, co-chair of the Cancer Research Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the Structural Biology Department and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Molecular Sciences at the UT-Memphis Health Science Center.
TAS members and students sponsored by TAS members presented their research, including the following individuals from Rhodes who received awards:
- Hoang Luu (mentor Jon Russ) Chemistry Poster 1st Place
- Damian Nguyen (mentor Jose Pastrana) Engineering & Engineering Technology Oral 2nd Place
- Anas Matar (mentor Jose Pastrana) Engineering & Engineering Technology Oral 3rd Place
- Jasper Scherz (mentor Jose Pastrana) Engineering & Engineering Technology Oral Honorable Mention
- Helen E. Pennington (mentor Erin N. Bodine) Math and Computer Science Poster 1st Place
- Helen Udeochu, Alana Wells (mentor Erin N. Bodine) Math and Computer Science Poster 2nd Place
- Zheng Yu (Kairos) Wong (mentor Jose Pastrana) Math and Computer Science (section 2) Oral 1st Place
- Lillian Whitesell (mentor Christopher Seaton) Math and Computer Science (section 2) Oral 2nd Place
- Kamil A. Yousuf (mentor Jose Pastrana) Math and Computer Science (section 2) Oral 3rd Place
- Phyu Sin (Jessica) M. Myat (mentors Brent Hoffmeister, Ann Viano) Physics Poster 1st Place
- Keith Hoffmeister (mentor Greg Vieira) Physics Poster 3rd Place (tie)
- Hugh Ferguson (mentors Brent Hoffmeister, Ann Viano) Physics Poster 3rd Place (tie)
- Grace Nehring (mentors Brent Hoffmeister, Ann Viano) Physics Oral 1st Place
- Kate Hazelwood (mentor Brent Hoffmeister) Physics Oral 2nd Place
- Blake Lawler (mentors Brent Hoffmeister, Ann Viano) Physics Oral 3rd Place
- Parth Sinojia, Catherine Althoff, Shayla Garrison, Samuel Lippe, Lauren Surratt, Jude Shive (mentor Erika David Parr) Science and Math Teaching Poster 2nd Place
Rhodes alum Andy Whitten ’00, senior research manager at Smith & Nephew, Inc., received the Distinguished Industrial Scientist Award.