Institution: Presbyterian College
Reporting Year: 2013-2014
Advisor: Brian Beasley
Advisor's Email Address: bbeasley@presby.edu
Has There Been a Change in Chapter Advisor During the Past Year?: No
Permanent Faculty Correspondent: same
Permanent Faculty Correspondent's Email Address: same
Officers: 2013-2014 officers: President - Joy Eckert; Vice President - Madison Paff; Secretary/Treasurer - Karlee Taylor 2014-2015 officers: President - Andrew Hane; Vice President - Reid McCandless; Secretary/Treasurer - Sarah Beasley
Chapter Website: http://
Number of New Members: 10
Number of Continuing Members: 17
Activities: At our opening meeting last fall, William Moore gave a summary of his summer research in biology, and Lauren Bookout talked about her summer actuarial internship at Colonial Life. William’s project, “Plant Host Control and Feedback Responses to Phyllosphere Microbes: Change in Metagenomes and Plant Traits in Response to Environmental Stress,” involved a detailed statistical analysis and visualization; William worked with PC Biology professor Stuart Gordon as well as with several students from other schools. Lauren presented an outline of her work on independent projects for Colonial Life, including her main project on GAAP product income statements, and she encouraged her fellow students to consider an actuarial (or related) internship next summer. Later in the fall, Dr. Stuart Gordon of PC’s Biology Department gave a presentation on “Math Makes Better Biology.” Stuart emphasized that many mathematicians have made important contributions in biological advances, noting that even G. H. Hardy helped the geneticist Reginald Punnett and in the process developed the Hardy-Weinberg principle. Stuart shared part of his own research on gray leaf spot and its effect on corn leaves, noting how he uses MapMaker extensively in this work. He also mentioned the current status of metagenome projects and the need for more mathematical and computational tools in such research.
Do any of your chapter members plan to attend or present at the PME National Meeting this year? No
Do you have any news about current students or recent graduations? For example, scholarships or other awards, acceptances to graduate school, paper presentations at conferences, etc.
Gonzalo Asis will enter the doctoral program in economics at the University of North Carolina this fall. Joy Eckert will enter the masters of public health program at Georgetown University in the fall of 2015, after spending a year in Hong Kong. William Moore plans to pursue an M.D. degree at the University of South Carolina, with the possibility of entering the Ph.D. program as well.
If you were awarded a PME Lectureship, Conference, or Prize Grant within the past year, please briefly describe the results.