TSU students amass awards at Tennessee Academy of Science

TSU students traveled to Tennessee Tech University to participate in the 131st Meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science. There, the students competed in oral and poster presentations and came home with a bevy of awards. Photo courtesy of Dr. Fulya Baysal Gurel

By JOAN KITE

TSU participates every year and this year’s 131st Meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science was on Nov. 6, 2021, at Tennessee Tech University.

TSU students competed and fared well winning five first place, five second place and two third place awards.

First Place Winners were Krishna Neupane in the Agriculture 1 Oral Presentation, Aaron Felts in the Botany and Cell & Molecular Biology Oral Presentation, Sabrina Wadood in the Health & Medical Sciences Oral Presentation, Madhav Parajuli in the Agriculture Poster Presentation, and Aria McElroy in the Geology & Geography Poster Presentation.

Professor Dr. Tom Byl was McElroy’s advisor for her project.

“Pretty amazing for a sophomore considering the competition,” Professor Dr. Byl said about McElroy and her entry.

Second place winners were Sandhya Neupane for the Agriculture 1 Oral Presentation, Tobenna Aniume for the Agriculture 2 Oral Presentation, Sadiya Aras, for the Health & Medical Sciences Oral Presentation, Anju Pandey for the Microbiology Oral Presentation, and Grayson DeLay for the Agriculture Poster

As it turns out, the soil behind the Farrell Westbrook Complex, also known as “The Barn,” proved to be healthy, replete with the bacteria bacillus, which loves to feast on cotton underwear.

When the students located the underwear they had buried six weeks before, they dug up strips of elastic and cotton, former memories or their comfortable cotton selves. The less the cotton, the healthier the soil.

“I was pretty impressed with the degradation,” Dr. Sutton said. “I was surprised that the soil was that healthy.”

“In the experiment, I was really surprised that it was decomposed as much as it was,” said environmental student Aria McElroy. “I had learned about what soil does in class, but to see it up close from beginning to end was really interesting.”

Some of the students learned other invaluable lessons such as taking detailed and accurate notes. One pair of underwear was lost on the campus grounds.

“Dr. Vanags takes incredible field notes,” Dr. Byl said.

The students learned that if you are going to lose a pair of underwear, you may not want to do it so close to the President’s House.

By JOAN KITE

In an effort to attract more students to become Extension educators, Virginia Tech has joined forces with TSU to train undergraduate students to deliver food safety programs to rural Southeastern America and then travel to Senegal, Africa with similar programs.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is funding the project for almost half a million dollars. Dr. Rick Rudd, a professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech and principal investigator for the project, is working closely with TSU Professor Dr. John Ricketts, co-principal-investigator, as the duo and their colleagues select students to participate in the program for the next five years.

“The education piece is huge,” Dr. Rudd said.” The project is designed to educate people on having enough food to eat and ensuring a safe food supply.”

Both in Appalachia and parts of Tennessee and in Senegal, Africa, poverty is common. Teaching them how to grow their own food, harvest it, and store it safely is vital to preventing foodborne illnesses.

The project titled, “Illuminating Agricultural

Extension and Education Career Opportunities for STEM and Liberal Arts Undergraduate Students,” will establish four cohorts of 10 students from both Virginia Tech and TSU.

“Each cohort will receive some training in food safety and food preservation from me and (Extension) agents in both states,” said Dr. Ricketts. “My students and agents will work with Extension agents in Appalachia and the underserved communities in Dickson and Lebanon, mostly rural communities who need knowledge in food safety and preservation.”

Once the first 10 have experience working with participants in rural America, they will then travel to Senegal, where they will work with families there. Most of the residents of Senegal work in agriculture or other food industry.

Overall, the project hopes to expose 36 undergraduate participants, 400 household adults responsible for making meals at home, and 200 youngsters interested in preparing food.

Rudd said he is currently having grad students design and develop materials in French and Wolof, the