Tri-Beta Biology Honor Society Named Best in Texas
April 10, 2018
Angelo State University’s Epsilon Sigma chapter of the Beta Beta Beta (Tri-Beta) national biology honor society was named the Outstanding Chapter in District 2 for the 2017-18 academic year at the Tri-Beta South Central Regional Convention held April 6-8 at the Mt. Lebanon Camp in Cedar Hill.
The South Central Region is composed of two districts. District 1 includes colleges and universities in Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma while District 2 encompasses all of Texas. The award for Outstanding Chapter in District 2 is based on the number of student research papers submitted for presentation at the regional conference, number of members attending, chapter history results, paper and poster presentation results, and number of chapter officers serving official functions.
The ASU chapter will now compete for the Lloyd M. Bertholf Award as the top chapter in the nation at the Tri-Beta National Conference May 30-June 3 in Monterey, Calif. ASU has won the Bertholf Award a record eight times. None of the other more than 600 chapters in the U.S. and Puerto Rico has won the award more than six times.
Twenty ASU students attended the regional conference accompanied by their faculty advisor, Dr. Crosby Jones, professor of biology. Eight ASU students gave oral research paper presentations in different sessions, with four bringing home awards:
- Tyler Birk of Anson won second place in his session for his oral presentation of “Bacteriophage Isolation from Wastewater for Bacteria Pathogenic to Humans.”
- Angela Rollins of San Angelo won third place in her session for her oral presentation of “Temporal Differentiation in Activity Periods of Selected Mesocarnivores in Texas.”
- Hunter Miears of Center Point won third place in his session for his oral presentation of “Pigment Mutants of Staphylococcus aureus and their Response to Antimicrobials.”
- Nicholas Evans of San Angelo won honorable mention in his session for his oral presentation of “Creation of a MEGA-Plate to Understand the Nature of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.”
The ASU chapter also won first place for its scrapbook entry in the Outstanding Chapter History competition, and ASU’s Marisa Negley of San Antonio was elected secretary for Tri-Beta’s South Central Region. ASU’s chapter president and vice president, Marisa Thompson of Mansfield and M’Kayla Motley of Lamesa, presided over the convention business meeting.