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Arkansas Academy of Sciences Meeting Hosted by Hendrix

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CONWAY, Ark. (April 5, 2019) – On Friday, March 29, and Saturday, March 30, Hendrix College hosted the 103rd meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Sciences (AAS). This meeting marked the fifth time the College has hosted this gathering of scientists from Arkansas and neighboring states, and the first time since 2005.

This year’s meeting included more than 270 participants from 27 institutions of higher education and organizations including the National Park Service, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and the Arkansas Academy of Computing. It featured over 150 scientific presentations across eight different disciplines, including Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Ecology, Engineering, Geosciences, Mathematics, and Physics. View a selection of event photos

At Saturday’s business session, Dr. Todd Tinsley ’98, associate professor of physics at Hendrix College, was elected vice president of AAS. The meeting also included recognition of the best undergraduate and graduate oral and poster presentations in each discipline. Seven Hendrix students won presentation awards:

  • Jacob Belding ’19 won the award for best Undergraduate Poster Presentation in the category of Chemistry for his poster titled, “Design and Optimization of a Low-Cost, Arduino-Controlled Fluorometer,” on work he did with coauthors Dr. Julie Gunderson ’06 and Dr. William Gunderson, both Hendrix College faculty.
  • Lauren Dwyer ’20, Brianna Kelly ’19, Hannah Moore ’19, and Sesalie Satterwhite ’20 won the award for best Undergraduate Poster Presentation in the category of Biology – Medicine, Molecular & Cellular for their poster titled, “Papillary Thyroid Cancer Cells Display Differences in Drug Sensitivity that are Dependent on Extracellular Matrix Composition,” on work they did under the supervision of Dr. Laura MacDonald ’09.  
  • Allison Monroe ’19 won the award for best Undergraduate Oral Presentation in the category of Ecology and Organismal Biology for her talk titled, “Biodiversity of Hymenoptera Across Sky Islands of Arkansas.” The talk highlighted work she did with coauthors Oliver J. Kuhns ’21, Sierra C. Hubbard ’20, Reynol Rodriguez ’19, Dr. Maureen R. McClung ’01, Dr. Matthew D. Moran, all of Hendrix College, and Hendrix alumnus Dr. Michael W. Gates ’92 of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
  • Harrison Russell ’20 won the award for best Undergraduate Poster Presentation in the category of Physics for his poster titled, “Quantitative Binding of Divalent Metal Ions to DNA Hairpin Loops,” on work did also with coauthors Dr. Julie Gunderson ’06 and Dr. William Gunderson, both of Hendrix College.

Another 27 Hendrix students presented their scientific research, including:

  • Nathan Andress ’19, Michaela Edwards ’19, Amber Melcher ’19, and Brock Sullivan ’19, who presented the poster “Chemokine Secretion Varies Significantly in Papillary and Follicular Thyroid Cancer Tumor Cells” for work with co-author Sarah Glass ’19 under the direction of Dr. Laura MacDonald ’09 (Hendrix College).
  • Cole Stanton ’19, Keith Taylor ’19, Sarah Gilmour ’19, and Moira Moore ’19, who presented the poster, “Integrin Signaling is Required for Collagen-Mediated Tumorigenicity of Papillary thyroid Cancer Cells” for work with co-author Jonny Jenkins ’19 under the direction of Dr. Laura MacDonald ’09 (Hendrix College).
  • Kirstyn Baker ’21, who presented the poster “Development of a modified Michaelis-Menten Langmuir kinetic model for supported lipid bilayer formation” with co-authors Robbie Kiss ’20, Jackson Bridges ’19, and Dr. Peter Kett (Hendrix College).
  • Jackson Bridges ’19, who presented the poster “Investigating the role of a critical vesicle concentration in the formation of supported lipid bilayers” for work with co-authors Kirstyn Baker ’21, Robbie Kiss ’20, and Dr. Peter Kett (Hendrix College).
  • Hayden Criswell ’20, Reece B. Mitchell ’20, and Shawqi Musallam ’19, who presented the poster “Organocatalytic pericyclic reactions: catalyst reactivity and substrate scope” for work with co-authors Evan Glassford ’20 and Dr. Heidi A. Dahlmann (Hendrix College).
  • Henry Dana ’19, who presented the poster “Water adsorption on polyhydroxylate microspheres as a function of relative humidity using an FTIR spectrometer equipped with a flow cell” with co-authors Cayman Botner ’20, Rebecca Parham ’21, Karen Morris ’21, Hailey Hayes ’19, Megan Cassingham ’19, and Dr. Courtney D. Hatch ’00 (Hendrix College).
  • Hailey Hayes ’19, who presented the poster “Water adsorption on polyhydroxylate microspheres as a function of relative humidity using a quartz crystal microbalance” with co-authors Rebecca Parham ’21, Karen Morris ’21, Henry Dana ’19, Cayman Botner ’20, Megan Cassingham ’19, and Dr. Courtney D. Hatch ’00 (Hendrix College).
  • Sierra Hubbard ’20, who presented the poster “Surveying variability in cyanide production of white clover (Trifolium repens) across an urbanization gradient in Little Rock, AR and Memphis, TN” with co-authors Savannah Draud ’19, J. Tristian Wiles ’21, Caralee Shepard ’20, Dr. Joyce Hardin (Hendrix College), and Dr. Adam C. Schneider (Hendrix College).
  • Jacob Idec ’19, who gave the oral presentation “Explaining the Diversity and Evolution of Color in Ants Using the AntWeb Image Database” with co-author Dr. Brian Fisher (California Academy of Sciences).
  • Jamie Johnson ’19, who gave the oral presentation “Wild game consumption and greenhouse gas emission savings in the U.S.” for work with co-authors Nathan Taylor ’18, Benjamin Zamzow ’18, and Dr. Matthew Moran (Hendrix College).
  • Tel Johnson ’20, who presented the poster “Effect of multi-course prenatal steroids on fiber-type profile and enzyme activity in the guinea pig rectus thoracis” with co-authors Judith Brown ’15, Julie Avery (University of Alaska Fairbanks), and Dr. Jennifer Dearolf (Hendrix College).
  • Robbie Kiss ’20, who presented the poster “Understanding the role of flow rate and lipid concentration in the kinetics of supported lipid bilayer formation” for work with co-authors Kirstyn Baker ’21 and Dr. Peter Kett (Hendrix College).
  • Dylan Mitchell ’19, who presented the poster “Design and Implementation of 3D-Printable Optomechanical Components” with co-authors Ryan Bullis ’20, Dr. William Gunderson (Hendrix College), and Dr. Julie Gunderson ’06 (Hendrix College).
  • Karen Morris ’21 and Rebecca Parham ’21, who presented their poster “Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements: Design and calibration of a CCN analysis system” with co-authors Hailey Hayes ’19, Olivia Eddings ’21, Megan Cassingham ’19, and Dr. Courtney D. Hatch ’00 (Hendrix College).
  • Varenya Nallur ’19, who presented the poster “Restoration Potential of Abandoned Wells in the Fayetteville Shale” with co-authors Dr. Maureen R. McClung ’01 and Dr. Matthew D. Moran (both of Hendrix College).
  • Krishna Patel ’21, who presented the poster “Biological and ecosystem level changes from the addition of reservoirs to headwater streams” with co-authors Margaret A. Young ’19, Brian Staley (University of Central Arkansas), Danielle Braund (University of Central Arkansas), Dr. Maureen R. McClung ’01 (Hendrix College), Dr. Matthew D. Moran (Hendrix College), and Sally A. Entrekin (University of Central Arkansas).
  • Kate Sanders ’20, who presented the poster “Creating a New Molecular Phylogeny of Arceuthobium” with co-authors Jacob Idec ’19 and Dr. Adam Schneider (Hendrix College).
  • Caralee Shepard ’20, who gave the oral presentation “New state records for the Texas frosted elfin (Callophrys irus hadros) and its host plants (Baptisia spp.)” for work with co-authors Leah C. Crenshaw ’20, Natalie E. Phelan ’20, Melissa Lombardi ’96 (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service), William H. Baltosser (University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Dr. Maureen R. McClung ’01 (Hendrix College), and Dr. Matthew D. Moran (Hendrix College).
  • JunHyeuk Shin ’20, who presented the poster “The roles for specific chromatin environments in promoting dissociation of the FACT complex from 3’ ends of genes following transcription” for work with co-authors Sydney Ozersky ’17, Graham Harris ’18, and Dr. Andrea A. Duina (Hendrix College).
  • Sofie Varriano ’19, who gave the oral presentation “The synergistic relationship of bison grazing and arthropod herbivory in structuring a tallgrass prairie plant community" with co-authors Luke H. Lefler ’19, Krishna Patel ’21, Carolina Kirksey ’18, Adam Turner ’18, and Dr. Matthew D. Moran (Hendrix College).
  • J. Tristian Wiles ’21, who presented the poster “Behavioral response of Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) to songs altered to escape masking effects of anthropogenic noise” for work with co-authors Spencer M. Skaggs ’20 and Dr. Maureen R. McClung ’01 (Hendrix College).
  • Margaret Young ’19, who gave the oral presentation “Estimating cultural ecosystem services provided by the Buffalo National River using a contingent valuation method” for work with co-authors Dr. Maureen R. McClung ’01, Dr. Matthew D. Moran, and Dr. William Haden Chomphosy ’13, all of Hendrix College.

On Friday night, Hendrix hosted the AAS banquet for meeting participants with the welcome address delivered by Hendrix College President William Tsutsui, and the keynote address “The Emerging Science of Complex Systems: From Physics to Cities and Back Again” delivered by Dr. Luis Bettencourt.

Bettencourt is the Pritzker Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, and Associate Faculty and Special Friend of Sociology at the University of Chicago. He is also External Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. Prof. Bettencourt received a doctorate in theoretical physics from Imperial College (University of London) and held postdoctoral positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Heidelberg. His recent accolades include an invitation to the White House Frontiers Conference (2016), service on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology working group on “Technology and the Future of Cities” (2015) and the World Cities Summit Young Leaders network (2015), and induction as Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences at the Frontiers of Science Japanese-American Symposium (2014).

The local organizing committee responsible for hosting the committee included Susan Ablondi, Dr. Heidi Dahlmann, Bobby Engeler-Young ’93, Dr. Joyce Hardin, Dr. Brenda Houck, Dr. Laura MacDonald ’09, Dr. Maureen McClung, and Dr. Todd Tinsley ’98.

About Hendrix College

A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.