STUDENT Excellence Megan Fastenau with her poster at the legislative poster session in Pierre, serving as NSU’s student research representative. Dr. Jon Mitchell (left), faculty advisor, Megan Fastenau (middle), student researcher, and Dr. Susan Citrak (right), coordinator of student research at NSU, in Pierre at legislative poster session. Alex Arndt at the National Collegiate Honors Conference in Texas. Dr. Liz Sills and students Jaeden Shaving, Kenissa Ross and Kristi Schurr MEGAN FASTENAU, a biochemistry major at NSU, shared her research with South Dakota legislators on February 7 at the annual Legislative Poster Session. Her research aims to isolate and purify novel bacteriophages and then annotate its genome. The findings are expected to help further understand bacteriophages and their host specificities, which could, in turn, help to fight disease in humans. Megan is also in the NSU Honors Program and a member of the Wolves soccer team. ALEXANDRIA ARNDT, a criminal justice major at NSU, was awarded first place for her Honor thesis “Addicts to Advocates: How Drug Courts Are Reforming the System” in the Social Justice category at the National Collegiate Honors Conference! Her thesis advisor is Dr. Justin Gus Foote from the Department of English, Communication, and Global Language in the CAS. Megan also serves as the VP for Speech and Debate and is on the softball team. KENNEDY DAVIS, a dual-degree biochemistry and German major, and Simon Bickford, a biochemistry major, along with Drs. Susan Citrak, Jon Mitchell, and John Long conducted research as a part of the student-faculty research team for AG Processing (AGP). Their research integrated life science, industry, and agriculture surrounding the use of soybean hulls in inorganic chemistry and biotechnology/ cell biology. They presented their research at two venues, an AGP convention and the South Dakota Agricultural and Rural Leadership (SDARL) agricultural and environmental science session. GRACE KRAMER, a biochemistry major, and KENNEDY DAVIS, a dual-degree biochemistry and German major, presented research at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Annual Conference in Seattle, WA with Dr. Jon Mitchell. KENISSA ROSS, an English major with a TESOL emphasis, KRISTI SCHURR, a communication studies major, and JAEDAN SHAVING, a history major, all attended the Lighthearted Philosophers’ Conference with Dr. Liz Sills in Greensboro, NC. Ross won the Eugenio E. Zaldivar Award for Top Undergraduate Paper on her paper about the ethics of the book, “The Inconvenient Indian.” At this conference, Schurr wrote about the standup comedy of Jimmy O. Yang, and Shaving wrote about Sherman Alexie›s “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.” EH POH, a medical lab science major, HANNAH MIELITZ, a biology major, LILLIAN GREBNER, a dual-degree biology and biotechnology major, and KENSINGTON (ECKHOFF) KRANZLER, a biology major, participated in continued ongoing research with the South Dakota Department of Public Health entitled: “Brown County Mosquito Surveillance”. This collaboration allows undergraduate students to perform internships and field experiences surrounding critical environmental and biotechnology research. Students are expected to present their results at the American Society of Virology Annual Conference in July 2023. JAEDEN SHAVING had his paper, “Let Me Be a Free Man,” accepted the USD Student History Conference, February 23, 2023. SCOTT JOHNSON and HAILEY SMITH wrote research papers for History 476 South Dakota History with Prof. Ric Dias Spring 2022, and won awards from the Brown County Historical Society Research Paper Contest May 2022. The two were Scott Johnson for “The Rising Star and the Lake on the Rising Shells” and Hailey Smith for “The Gold Rush in the Hills.” Both students won a cash award.
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