For 100 years, The TriBeta National Biological Honor Society has been funding the education and research endeavors of students in the biological sciences.
Recently, two CNAS students received research grants from the organization in recognition of their honorable research proposals.
Abilene Mosher
Odessa, Missouri
While studying wildlife conservation and management, Abilene Mosher has been a busy bee in the lab with her independent project.
“For the last three years I have been studying floral chemical cues and their role in plant-pollinator mutualisms,” Mosher said.
“I have discovered that chemical cues produced by floral anthers (the male reproductive flower part) elicit a pollen foraging behavior from bumble bees. I am currently working toward determining the specific chemicals involved in eliciting this behavior.”
She hopes to continue this type of work after she graduates in December.
“I would love to do field work and continue combining my passion for research and conservation,” she said. “I want to work hands on to better the environment.”
Receiving this grant helps Mosher push forward and get some helping hands.
“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity TriBeta has made for me through this grant. I am now able to continue my work and afford to pay other undergraduates to help!”
With every great student researcher comes a great adviser.
“Dr. Avery Russell has always been my biggest support and the best mentor for scientists at any stage of their career,” Mosher said.
Russell believes Mosher will be very successful in the future.
“Abilene continues to be an excellent colleague and researcher in the lab,” Russel said. “She has taken nearly every opportunity to present her research and thereby bring positive attention to the lab.”
“Abilene’s wealth of knowledge in bee identification and handling and her willingness to train other scientists has been crucial in multiple projects in the lab. I think it is essential that good scientists and positive role models like her are recognized and rewarded.”
Leo Carpenter
Springfield, Missouri
Only a sophomore in our environmental and evolutionary biology program, Leo Carpenter has already made big strides in their research projects, like naming a new species of a cave-adapted, eastern pseudoscorpion.
“This research project will examine the physical traits of a new species of pseudoscorpions, produce anatomical diagrams, and conduct genetic sequencing,” Carpenter said.
“The genetic data generated will be uploaded to NCBI GenBank, enabling future molecular research of pseudoscorpions. This study will advance cave research in the USA and provide genetic resources for our pseudoscorpion fauna.”
Carpenter has several research fields in mind for the future but is particularly interested in ecotoxicogenomics.
“[Ecotoxicogenomics] studies how gene and protein expression are affected by toxic environmental exposure,” they said. “I want to look at the effects of microsynthetic materials polluting waterways and how that can be avoided.”
After they graduate in May 2025, Carpenter plans to pursue a Ph.D. in the field.
This research grant will help them achieve that in many ways.
“Besides the physical funding and support this grant brings, it has strengthened my passion for research and helped me believe in myself,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter has many people to thank.
“Thank you to Dr. Stephen Charles for teaching cave biology and being patient with my microscope skills. I am thankful I took his course last semester and that he asked me if I would be interested in a research project.
“Thank you to Dr. Chris Barnhart for mentoring me in bivalve and butterfly research. He has always believed in me and has been highly supportive, even when I was an anxious high schooler who wanted to study snails.
“Thank you to Dr. Tina Hopper for being a fantastic adviser who has helped me meet my academic goals and balance my priorities.”
Hopper is proud of the student Leo has already become in two short years.
“Leo has been active in seeking out opportunities at Missouri State since they arrived,” Hopper said. “I am so proud that Leo was motivated and courageous enough to seek out these opportunities so early in their time here at Missouri State.”