Warhawk Weekly 4-26: Celebrating spring graduates; Student research awards
Celebrating our Spring 2022 graduates
We’re a little more than a week away from our Spring 2022 commencement ceremonies. If you’re a member of our Spring graduating class, tell us where your Auburn University at Montgomery will take you. Email your graduation photo, name, hometown, major and future plans to [email protected].
Get the full May 7 commencement schedule, as well as details on live-streaming, here: https://www.aum.edu/current-students/graduation/.
A storybook campaign emerges from class project
Representation matters.
Students in Katherine Irwin’s Public Relations Writing class wanted to ensure that the children attending AUM’s Early Learning Center would see themselves in the storybooks read to them each day. As part of a class project, the AUM students utilized public relations best practices to solicit book donations as part of a “Read and Representation” drive.
Biology students earn awards at university-wide research symposium
AUM biology students Samantha Mejia and Alexandra Jackson earned awards for their undergraduate research at the “Auburn Research 2022 Student Symposium” in March.
The annual symposium hosted at Auburn University showcases undergraduate and graduate student research through university-wide oral and poster presentations.
AUM students competed against each other in the AUM category of the College/School Awards. Mejia, a junior also majoring in chemistry with pre-veterinary studies, received the undergraduate poster award for her presentation “Digitizing the AUM herbarium: A valuable resource for biodiversity information.” Jackson, who is also a junior, won the undergraduate oral presentation award for her research project, “Suppression of ROS by beverages.”
Mejia collaborated with Assistant Professor of Biology Vanessa Koelling to examine AUM’s herbarium, a collection of preserved plant specimens that can be analyzed and studied for various types of research, including understanding the distributions of plant species over time.
The team plans to digitize the contents of the herbarium to “make it more accessible for modification and, hopefully, expanding its collection to reflect the uniqueness of Alabama plant life.”
Jackson worked with Department of Chemistry Chair and Professor Duk (Daniel) Kim to study the health effects of drinking beverages that suppress reactive oxygen species (ROS), a harmful process generated in the body by the reduction of oxygen molecules within mitochondria. Reactive oxygen species include hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals, which are essential to life.
The suppression of ROS, primarily highly hydroxyl radicals, in the body has been associated with cancers, trauma, strokes, asthma, heart attacks, aging, retinal damage and Parkinson’s disease, Jackson said.
“In our research, we found that beverages with vitamin C, polyphenol, and caffeic acids have the highest ROS suppression,” she said.
In all, seven AUM student researchers participated in this year’s symposium. In addition to Mejia and Jackson, AUM students Muhamad Bedwan, Molly Belew Trammell, Hyacintha-Ghislaine M. Bisimwa, Cody Jefferys, and Robert W. Kiefer presented in the competition.
Warhawks have postseason plans
AUM’s men’s and women’s tennis teams will open Gulf South Conference tournament play Thursday at Lagoon Park, while the 5th-ranked softball team and baseball team will try to maintain momentum against conference opponents.
The AUM men’s tennis team will open tournament play Thursday at 10 a.m. against West Alabama. AUM is the No. 5 seed. The second-seeded AUM women will face Lee at 2:30 p.m.
AUM’s softball team (34-8) has already clinched a berth in its conference tournament, but will try to maintain its narrow lead atop the GSC standings this week when it travels to Montevallo for a Wednesday game before hosting Shorter for a weekend series.
The baseball team (28-17 overall, 16-11 in GSC) will visit Columbus State for a non-conference game on Wednesday before hosting Shorter College this weekend.
Follow the Warhawks: https://aumathletics.com/news/2022/4/25/baseball-this-week-in-aum-athletics-april-25-30.aspx
AUM volleyball camps offer opportunities for youth, high school players
If you have a volleyball player in your family, you’ll want to register them for one of the upcoming camps hosted by AUM head coach Flavia Siqueira.
Camp sessions are available for high school and junior college players interested in playing at the NCAA Division II level, as well as K-7th grade players interested in building their skills.
Get the details: https://www.flaviasiqueiravolleyballcamps.com/
MHA program introduces advisory board
The College of Business’ first Healthcare Administration Advisory Board features experienced C-suite executives representing a wide range of healthcare systems and medical disciplines.
Advisory board members help the college fulfill its mission of preparing “students for successful careers by providing quality educational opportunities utilizing dedicated faculty, stakeholder collaboration, and small class sizes.”
Board members include: Daniel Barbee, President Rural Market, Bon Secours Mercy Health; Oliver L Banta, VP & CIO East Alabama Health; Chad M. Collins, Director of Operations, University of South Alabama Health; Shane Denevan, CEO, Premier Radiology Inc.; Jeshaonton (Shaun) Essex, Regional Vice President, Main Line Health; Julie Firman, System Chief Nursing Officer, Baptist Health; Ed Fry, President/CEO at FaithSearch Partners, Inc. & HealthSearch Partners; Todd Kennedy, President & CEO, Ascension Providence Hospital; Joe B. Riley, President and CEO, Jackson Hospital and Clinic Inc.; Warren Smedley, Vice President, The Kinetix Group.
Learn more the MHA program: https://www.aum.edu/master-healthcare-administration/
Celebrate Earth Week with BioBlitz
Warhawk SEEDS, a new student chapter on campus, is encouraging members of the AUM community to participate in the nationwide BioBlitz competition.
Ending tomorrow, participants are asked to take photos of any wild organisms (plants, animals, fungi, algae, etc.) they observe in their daily lives and post them online. The photos can be taken with the free iNaturalist smartphone app or with a regular digital camera. If you use a camera, you will need to connect it to a computer to upload your images to the iNaturalist website.
The goal of a BioBlitz is to find and identify as many organisms that live in an area over a defined period of time. The data collected will be useful for scientists and conservationists worldwide. Questions? Contact Warhawk SEEDS at [email protected].
Keep up with campus events
Have you been missing out on some of the fun events that happen on our campus daily?
We can fix that. Enroll in AUM365 and get the 4-1-1 from Curtiss The Warhawk himself. Text curti$$ to 334-398-6025 to receive reminders about upcoming happenings.
