ASU Biology Honor Society Named Top Chapter in Texas

Hundreds of students and faculty from 13 Tri-Beta chapters in the region, including 30 representatives from ASU, attended the meeting, which featured ASU as the organizing chapter. In addition to distinguished speakers and other activities, the meeting included contests for undergraduate research posters and oral presentations of research papers.

ASU senior Brittany Bosma won first place for her oral presentation of her research on “Microbial Culture Clash: Pyocyanin vs. Staphyloxanthin.” She was awarded an expense-paid trip to the national Tri-Beta Convention May 17-23 in Durango, Colo., where she will compete against winners from chapters throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

ASU senior Marie Tipps won second place for her oral presentation on “A Molecular Approach to the Phylogenetic Position of Cheiromeles (Molossidae: Chiroptera).” A scrapbook prepared by the ASU contingent also took second place in the Chapter History contest. Other ASU student presenters were Kaci Pruser, Candace Frerich, Dara White and Michelle Wentworth.

Additionally, ASU junior Amanda Hicks was elected Tri-Beta regional secretary for the upcoming academic year.

The ASU Tri-Beta chapter is celebrating its 40th anniversary this semester. Biology professor Dr. Crosby Jones has been the faculty adviser for the last 31 years. The ASU chapter is the only six-time winner of the Lloyd M. Bertholf Award, symbolic of the top chapter in the nation.

Tri-Beta is a national honor society for undergraduate biology majors that is headquartered in Florence, Ala., and has 550 chapters in universities throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Its objectives are to promote undergraduate research, promote scholarship in biology and disseminate biological information.