FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 10, 2010
Contact: Cydney Archie
(662) 329-7119
cja2@muw.edu

MUW students and faculty attend MAS conference in Hattiesburg

COLUMBUS, Miss.− Twelve students and three faculty members from the Department of Sciences and Mathematics at Mississippi University for Women recently attended the Mississippi Academy of Sciences in Hattiesburg at the Lake Terrance Convention Center.

The MAS is a regional scientific conference that meets every spring in Mississippi. Faculty, undergraduates, graduates students and postdoctoral fellows from throughout the state are invited to present their latest data. MUW has attended this event for more than 10 years.

Erika L. Harmon Pratte of Columbus and Kathy Butler of Florence were two of the students who were recognized for their work. Harmon Pratte, a senior microbiology and chemistry major at MUW, was honored as the “Most Outstanding Undergraduate Speaker.” Her topic was given in the Division of Cellular, Molecular and Development Biology, and her presentation title was “Deletions in the nhaB gene significantly reduces the expression of IcsA in Shigella flexneri.”

Butler, a senior biology major at MUW, won honorable mention for her presentation titled, “Expression of yin, a putative oligopeptide transporter gene in the reproductive tract of female Drosophila melanogaster.”

Faculty who attended the conference included Dr. Paul Mack, assistant professor of biology; Dr. Lauren Brandon, associate professor of microbiology; and Dr. Ross Whitwam, professor of biology. Other students who participated  were Teonte Brooks, Samantha McCorkle, Nancy Ogendo, Stephanie Floyd, Jeremy Winders, George Stoner, Emma Harris, Phuong Lam, Brittany Long and Dominque Robinson.