Thirteen Biology majors (count ’em!) graduated with Honors on May 18, 2015. In addition to maintaining a record of academic excellence, each Honors student is required to complete an original piece of research, write a thesis, and defend that thesis before a faculty committee. The titles of these theses indicate the broad range of our majors’ interests. Congratulations to all!
1. Morgan Burt, Dissection of Drosophila leukokinin signaling through site-directed mutagenesis (Advisor: Erik Johnson)
2. Lauren Doolittle, Refining the role of arf7 in lateral root development in Arabidopsis thalina (Advisor: Gloria Muday)
3. Michael Fasano, Morphology and fiber type of the axial musculature in adult Kryptolebias marmoratus (Cyprinodontiformes) and juvenile Micropterus salmonides (Periformes) (Advisor: Miriam Ashley-Ross)
4. David Hale, Function of neuropeptide F on noxious food intake under stress in adult worker bees (Advisor: Susan Fahrbach)
5. Diana Halloran, Identification of sites of action of a metabolic hormone in Drosophila (Advisor: Erik Johnson)
6. Tia Long, Antibiotics and endophytes (Advisor: Brian Tague)
7. Colleen MacGilvray, Quantification and qualification of mycorrhizal fungi in plants of Ecuador’s paramo (Advisor: Daniel Johnson)
8. Madeline Price, The role of fatty acid synthase in T cell activation and proliferation (Advisor: Jason Grayson)
9. Edward Primka, Growth and resource allocation of natually established seedlings in response to herbivory and light conditions on an elevational gradient (Advisor: Miles Silman)
10. Benjamin Robb, Antagonistic interactions of SA and JA pathways in endophytic infected grasses (Advisor: Michael Anderson)
11. Madeleine Tawadros, Coming of age: Quantifying endophytes in developing Magnolia grandiflora (Advisor: Brian Tague)
12. Matthew Tiebohl, An extra eye in the sky: Comparison of unmanned aerial vehicle (VAV) and gillnet surveys of juvenile lemon shark (Negapria brevirotris) populations in South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands – potential use of VAVs as a supplementary survey method (Advisor: Miles Silman)
13. Alec Trub, Involvement of zinc in the function of sufU in Bacillus subtillis (Advisor: Patricia Sos Dantos)