Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science

Announcements

100th Annual Meeting - Program

2026-04-14

The program for the 100th meeting of the WVAS can be accessed here.

Read more about 100th Annual Meeting - Program

100th Annual Meeting - Agenda

2026-04-11

Presentation instructions

2026-04-07

Abstract submission and registration deadline extended!

2026-03-06

Current Issue

Vol. 98 No. 1 (2026): 100th Annual Meeting Abstracts

View Vol. 98 No. 1 (2026): 100th Annual Meeting Abstracts

Published: 2026-04-08

Meeting Abstracts-Oral

When Measurement and Meaning Diverge: Revisiting Platymeria and Platycnemia.

Kelly Buzzard
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The effects of fatigue on reaction time and landing force during a jumping task

Ethan Vargo-Thomas, Shawn Reese , Derek Dewig
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Growth, age, and maturation estimates of Plains Hog-nosed Snakes (Heterodon nasicus) in Iowa.

Alyssa J. Lutz, Joshua G. Otten, Zachary J. Loughman
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Evaluating the Security Awareness and Code Reliability of AI Models Against Common Software Vulnerabilities

Zachary Pfaltzgraff
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Movement Ecology and Space Use of Western Hog-nosed Snakes (Heterodon nasicus) in a Heterogeneous Sand Prairie

Paige Roswell, Josh Otten, Zachary Loughman
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Life History and Corresponding Maternal Behavior of the Little Brown Mudbug (Lacunicambarus thomai).

Hannah Holbert, Zackary Graham, Zachary Loughman
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Updated Occurrence and Species Accounts of Crayfish in Southeastern Kentucky’s Upper Cumberland River Subbasin

Kaleb Norris, Zachary Loughman , Katrhyn Schulz
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Microbiome Variation in the Genus Heterodon

Tyler Schwisow, Stuart Cantlay, Nicole Garrison, Zachary Loughman
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A Mixed-Methods Study of Students’ Definitions of Science Based on Their Experiences with A General Chemistry Course

Oluwaseun Agunbiade; Oluwatobi Odeleye
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Exploring the relationship between religious identity and Sense of belonging in STEM

Latifat Afolabi, Tobi
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Targeted deletion of FTL_1711 to evaluate its role in erythrocyte invasion by Francisella tularensis

Audrey Blust, Joseph Horzempa, Ph.D.
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Developing a new technique for tadpole measurements using a surrogate species.

Elisa Thompson, Makayla Zoellers, Heidi Ross, Zachary Loughman
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Student and Instructor Perspectives on Implicit Metacognitive Reporting in Organic Chemistry

Keyzar Dominguez, Michelle Richards-Babb
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Stress-evoked activation of corticotropin-releasing factor neurons in primary sensory cortex.

Lindsey Morais, Dr. Morgan Bridi
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Updated Range Extents of Cambarus monongalensis and Lacunicambarus thomai in Western Pennsylvania.

Jaden Rusnak, Zackary Graham, David Lieb, Zachary Loughman
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Survey for the Eastern Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia

Braden Mitchell
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Occupancy modeling of the Tumbling Creek Cavesnail and water quality analyses of Tumbling Creek Cave.

Bailey O'Brian, Zachary Loughman
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Diversity and distribution of the fishes of Elk River, West Virginia

Stuart Welsh
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Ecology of the Western Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis proximus proximus) at an eastern Iowa sand prairie.

Daniel Pitts, Dr. Zachary Loughman
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General ecology analysis of a Regina septemvittata population in North Fork Short Creek, West Virginia.

Natalie Gillis
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Eastern Screech-owl surveys in the major physiographic provinces of West Virginia.

Cleo McMahan, Matthew McKinney, Emma Knapp, Lorelei Eagle
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Ontogeny of secondary sexual characteristics using morphometrics and urinalysis in premature Cranwell’s horned frogs (Ceratophrys cranwelli)

Anabeth Sharpe, Zachary Loughman, Kinsey Guthrie, Kinsey Guthrie
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Evaluating the Security Awareness and Code Reliability of AI Models Against Common Software Vulnerabilities

Shane Reall
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Science Through Students’ Eyes: Connecting Definitions, Attitudes, and Chemistry Performance

Tobi Odeleye, Oluwaseun Agunbiade
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Influence of Lights Wavelength and Exposure Timing on Cognitive Function in Zebrafish.

Danielle Bond, Kristen Winter
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A COMPUTATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS ON EEG HEMISPHERIC SYNCHRONY

Jordan Brown, Mahmood Hossain, Tadashi Kato
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Refining STEM Student Support Through Systematic PDSA Cycles

Michelle Richards-Babb, Marjorie Darrah
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Machine Learning Identification of Exoplanet Transit Signals in Kepler Light Curve Data

Hunter
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An Empirical Study of Nonconvex Optimization in Deep Learning

William Blackwood
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Microhabitat Determinants of Nesting-Site Selection in Ornate Box Turtles (Terrapene ornata ornata): Implications for Conservation Management

Moriah Morris, Dr. Zachary Loughman
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A Study of Amynthas sp. Reactions to Climatic Variables

Loyd Butcher, Zachary Loughman, Grace Ake, Alison Wyer, Madeline Cecil, Jeremiah Dann
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Positive emotion produces higher EEG hemispheric synchronicity of the brain.

Tadashi Kato, Jordan Tyler Brown, Mahmood Hossain, Emma R. Urbanic, Agnes Maerta Bjoerk, Sara Lael Campbell, Janna B. Huggins
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Integrating Energy Conservation Across the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum: A Five-Year Teaching Initiative

Yogendra M Panta, William Church, Maya Panta
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Integrating Experiential Engineering Design into Middle and High School STEM Summer Camps

Yogendra M Panta, Maya Panta
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Determining the Standard Metabolic Rates of Eastern Indigo Snakes (Drymarchon couperi)

Beorn Ogrodnik, James Bogan, Zachary Loughman, Holly Racine
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An eight-year evaluation of a Terrapene ornata ornata Iowa population

Brandon Mawhinney, Zachary Loughman, Joshua Otten
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Sustaining and Scaling STEM Student Success: Lessons and Future Directions from the WVU Tech SUCCESS Project

Yogendra M Panta, Kenan Hatipoglu, Tamara Floyd-Smith
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Meeting Abstracts-Poster

The Impact of Healthcare Disparities on the Health Outcomes of Black Communities

Moshe Machlev
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Automating Postmortem Interval Estimation with Computational Forensic Tools

Emilee Henderson, Kristy Henson, Josh George
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Neurodegeneration in traumatic brain injury is attenuated by the MitoNEET ligand TT01001

Autumn Russell, Werner Geldenhuys, Jason Huber, Dominick Cicala, Maryam Maghareh, A.S.M. Rokunzzaman, Rapty Sarker, Dayton Miller
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A Lunar Regolith-Integrated Geodesic Kinetic Habitat Regolith-Integrated Geodesic Kinetic Habitat with Adaptive Membrane for Radiation-Resilient Permanent Settlement in Lunar Lava Tubes

Matthew Mawhinney, Joel T. Dugan
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Cooperation, Temptation, and Escalation in Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma Tournaments

Asher Rudolph, Robert Monahan
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Applying morphometrics to a semi-quantitative measurement approach to identify spinal pathologies in human skeletal remains

Alexander Bordenet, Kristy Henson
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Surveilling hard tick diversity and Spotted Fever Rickettsia Group prevalence in North-Central WV throughout 2023

Haden Fincham, Dr. Melanie Sal, Dr. Kim Bjorgo
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A Behavioral Study on Kin Selection In False Water Cobras, or Hydrodynastes gigas

Morgan Muller
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Color Vision Conditioning in Cambarus monongalensis

Kalie Burdette, Zackary Graham, Katherine Torrance , Zachary Loughman
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Economies of Distance in Commercial Aviation Emissions Intensity and Marginal Abatement Costs

Asher Rudolph, Qing Wang
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Studying Temporal Shifts Related to Land Usage in Invasive versus Native Crayfish of the Potomac

Bayley Roseman
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Utilizing Morphometrics to Determine Burrowing Type in Fossil Crayfish

Haley Holbert
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Behavior biology of Cambarus callainus in response to dam removal

Kayla Aungst, Zachary Loughman
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Variation in renal cortical thickness and its association with chronic disease in anatomical donors

Ian Cook, Kristy Henson
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Focusing on Student Thinking to Support Student Learning of the Movement of Matter and Energy Through Photosynthesis using the 5-E Model of Science Instruction

Emma Casto
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Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of Old Roman Catholic Burying Ground, Shepherdstown, WV

Zachary Musselman, Anika
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Influence of Environmental Factors on Population Density and Growth of an Invasive Earthworm.

Madeline Cecil
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Utility of the Mitochondrial D-loop to Understand Variation in Prairie Chickens (Tympanuchus)

Lorelei Eagle, Nicole Garrison
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Fungi captured from indoor air exhibit poor growth at human body temperature

Shelby Henson, Sarah Fischer, Laura Robertson
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An Overview of Tick and Tick-Borne Disease Research at West Virginia Wesleyan College: 2018-2025

Curtis Litton, Stanley Martin, Kim Bjorgo, Melanie Sal
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Seasonal and sex-based movements of the blue crayfish (Cambarus monongalensis).

Lydia DiBiagio, Zackary Graham, Zachary Loughman
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Morphological Differences of the Thyroid Gland in Avian Model of Induced Thyrotoxicosis

Madison Stratton
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Haemaphysalis longicornis as an invasive tick species in West Virginia

Elizabeth Kittle, Ashlyn Smith, Kaylie (Kai) Toler, Taryn Veltri, Haden Fincham, Melanie Sal, Kim Bjorgo
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Assessing Muscle Cell Excitability Following Fatiguing Vertical Jump Performance: A Preliminary Analysis

Shawn Reese
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Exploring the mechanisms underlying sleep/wake-dependent control of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission

Rachel Lee, Alyssa Wolfe, Michelle Bridi
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How much information is phylogenetically informative: investigations with single and multilocus analyses of garter snake (Thamnophis) taxonomy.

Daniel Pitts, Dr. Zachary Loughman, Dr. Nicole Garrison
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The effect of UV radiation on DNA degradation in blood samples

Kiersten Davis
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The Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1244 pilin glycan enhances twitching motility and renders bacteria more sususceptible to human beta defensin 2.

Shania Davis, Joseph Horzempa
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The effect of latex sap from the Poinsettia plant (Euphorbia pulcherrima) on the production of roots in propagated Tradescantia zebrina cuttings

Kaylee Haught, Rachel Cook
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Impact of Weather Conditions on Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio) Audio Responses in West Virginia.

Emma Knapp, Matthew McKinney, Cleo McMahan, Lorelei Eagle
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Impacts of land cover usage on anuran biodiversity in central Panama.

Makayla Zoellers, Elisa Thompson, Brandon Mawhinney, Heidi Ross, Zachary Loughman
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The Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation on Latent Fingerprints

Addison Tenney
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The effect of cleaning agents on Bluestar and luminol blood detection

Taylar Milburn
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Leveraging Longitudinal Gamified Assessment Data to Identify and Resolve Conceptual Thresholds in Undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology

Naresh Ramesh, Velsi
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Ethanolic extract from Rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) diminishes the viability of leukemia cells

James Standish, Joseph Horzempa
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Genetic Differentiation of Nutritionally Deprived Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Daron Weekley, Stuart Cantlay, Tesfaye Belay
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Skeletal Lesions in Covid-19 patients compared to Tuberculosis patients

Trevor Miller, Kristy Henson
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5E Learning Cycle Unit Plan Energized Ecosystems

Samantha Casto
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Project-Based STEM Learning: A Case Study on the Educational Applications of Pololu Zumo Robots

Weidong Liao, Mr., Mr., Osman Guzide
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Effects of a Drought on an Invasive Earthworm Population

Alison Wyer, Samuel Trusty, Jeremiah Dann
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Power Up Internships with the WV Career Collaborative.

Erica Harvey, Sara Sawyer, Ethan Backus, Shalika Silva, Logan Harrison, Maggie Sorensen, Lloyd Ford
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Localization of the divisome protein FtsL in Francisella tularensis LVS.

Abigale Riggle, Stuart Cantlay
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An enhanced multi-agent system for stock prediction utilizing machine learning and generative AI

Rachael Poffenberger, Skylar Guessford, Anna Hou, Weidong Liao
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Revamping existing websites through AI-assisted workflow and Vibe Coding

Taruna Suryawanshi, Osman Guzide, Weidong Liao
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Safe AI Initiative: A Call for Transparency of the Impact of Generative AI and Big Data

Jamie Kemman, Alani White, Holly White, Weidong Liao, Osman Guzide
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Refactoring a Codebase with and without Generative AI: A Comparative Study

Anna Hou, Skylar Myers, Rachael Poffenberger, Weidong Liao
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Exploratory Data Analysis for the Local Housing Market in the Surrounding Area

Skylar Myers, Jayden Kisner, Miranda Egan, Weidong Liao
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Typhinamycin – A Novel Phytochemical from Rhus typhina Extract Exhibits Antimicrobial Activity Toward ESKAPE Pathogens

Kathleen Loughman, Joseph Horzempa, Claudia Ospina
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GC-MS method development for the photochemical copper-mediated decarboxylation of 4-fluorobenzoic acid

Chelsie Blake, Andreas Baur
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Extremophiles on the Red Planet: Investigating Biocrust Viability in Simulated Martian Soil

Tanner Hoffman, Ember Morrissey
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Characterization of Putative Oxidoreductase Involved in Resazomycin Resistance in Francisella tularensis

Alexis Scott
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Use of Trade Data to Estimate Environmental Implications of Household Refrigeration Equipment Disposal

Roxana Vazquez Vega, Mason Butler, Tamara Smith, Vitalii Ishchenko
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The Effects of Microplastics and Acetaminophen on Regeneration in the Planarian Dugesia

Sara Sawyer, Macy Hilvers, Kamryn
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Circuit-Level Interventions in Stress-Responsive Hypothalamic Nuclei to Enhance Post-Stroke Outcomes

Laurel Stone, Morgan Bridi
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Sex determination of shrews through genetic analysis of SRY gene

Ana Chaguri, Linh Tran, Mark Brian Watson
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Development and Optimization of Steam Distillation for Extraction of d-Limonene from Navel Orange (Citrus sinensis) Peels.

Beth Thompson, Cody Barnes
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Assessment of the Antibacterial Potential of Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) Extracts.

Kelsi Foster Foster, Samia Hamati
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American burned: a natural remedy for ESKAPE pathogens

Stevie Starsick, Trent Taylor, Dr. Shalika Silva
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The Effects of Irrigation Methods and Volume on the Growth and Production of Pea Plants

Donaven Kinzer
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A Discussion of Activities and Outcomes of the Shepherd S-STEM Scholarship Program

Qing Wang, ROBERT MONAHAN, AMY DEWITT, HANNAH WILLIAMS-MCNAMEE, WEIDONG LIAO, OSMAN GUZIDE
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Effects of Nutrient-Induced Developmental Delay on Adult Drosophila Brain Structure

Holly White, Reagan Ackermann, Mallory Dean, Stephanie Castillo, Michael Gurson, Conor Sipe
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Molecular Detection of Human Fecal Indicators in Piney Creek, West Virginia

Aida E Jimenez Esquilin
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Sampling eDNA of brook trout within Tygart Valley River Watershed West Virginia

Annalyse M White Annalyse, Kelley Flaherty
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NL-1 Can Reverse Cognitive Deficits and Restore Astrocyte Function Following Adolescent Intermittent Ethanol Exposure

Alyssa Ihlenfeld
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Characterization and isolation of a fungal secondary metabolite that inhibits the growth of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Colton Thomas, Joseph Horzempa
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Characterization of sleep regulation and cognitive processing in schizophrenia mouse model

Victoria Shifflett Shifflett, Jacob Smertneck , Claire Melvin, Michelle Bridi
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Sex Dependent Rescue of Astrocyte-Synaptic Remodeling by Rosiglitazone Following Adolescent Binge Ethanol Exposure

Grace Angelona, Mary-Louise Risher, Hannah Sexton, Olivia Coulter, Alyssa Ihlenfeld, Tristan Muck, Darshan Sangani, Mika Jones
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Aishlynn Egan, Dept. of Biology, Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV, 25414. Screening food plants for antibacterial activity to guide future testing of antibiotic synergy.

Aishlynn Egan, Dr. Courtney Campany, Dr. Sara Reynolds
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Role of oxyR in the Resazomycin Susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Kiera Saksa
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The Effects of Seasonality and Environmental Covariates on Two Heterodon Species

Stanley R. Bielinski Jr. , Dr. Zachary Loughman
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Contribution of perR to the resazomycin susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Bailey Sebroski
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Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Landfill Soil Microbiomes in Beckley, WV

Nevaeh Wooding, Samia Hamati, Charleigh Price
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Isolation and Characterization of Bacterial Contamination in Echinacea Supplements.

Nicole Powell
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Characterization of Enterococci species in Town Run

Ava Biafore
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Examining the impact of road salt use on salinity levels in Town Run Tributary of the Potomac River.

Sophie White, Sara Reynolds
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Effects of Stress on Cortical and Subcortical Circuitry in Two Mouse Models of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Claire Melvin, Dr. Morgan Bridi
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Leadership and self-efficacy impacts of student participation in the First2 Network

Erica Harvey, Mary Ellen Sullivan, Margaret Falletta, Samantha Mitchell, Sue Ann Heatherly, Jenna Wilcoxen
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An investigation of in vitro tick feeding methods to evaluate the role of erythrocyte invasion by Francisella tularensis

Gillian Hartz, Dr. Joseph Horzempa
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Derivatives of resorufin morpholinoethyl ether exhibit antimicrobial activity against Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Meg Warner, RANDALL KOZIEL, KH TANVIR AHMED, GREGORY DUDLEY, BRIAN POPP, KARATAS HACER, Deanna Schmitt, Mackenzie Hall, VAHID LOTFIKALAJAHI
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