Tarleton College of Science & Technology Winter Newsletter - March 2021

CO L L E G E O F

Science and Technology

WINTER NEWSLETTER 2020 - 2021

MESSAGE FROM THE

College Dean The 2020-2021 academic year for the College of Science and Technology will be a year that we will likely never forget.

Tarleton faculty and staff welcomed a record number of students to the university in the middle of a record setting pandemic. With a little

more than 14,000 students enrolled in the Fall, 2020 semester, Tarleton has continued its transition towards becoming a large institution (many sources consider 15,000 students as the threshold for being considered a large university). For the College of Science and Technology, overall student enrollment for Fall 2020 was up 10.1% as compared to the enrollment in Fall 2019 – 1,690 students enrolled in COST programs. And, spring 2021 data shows that Tarleton has had three consecutive semesters of record enrollment. It is great to see so many students pursuing their education at Tarleton. The enrollment growth has also put us in a much better position to weather any budget cuts we might experience in our state funding due to the pandemic impact.

Dr. Michael Huggins, Dean

Tarleton is working on a new and ambitious 2020-2030 strategic plan that will assist in mapping out the next 10 years. The plan is due to be launched on April 8th. As part of the strategic planning efforts, the academic colleges have been working on plans to expand our degree offering. For COST, we have proposed 14 bachelor’s, 11 master’s, and two doctoral programs to consider for additions to our program portfolio. The first programs on the list are BS Cybersecurity, BS Forensic Science, BS Statistics, BS Industrial Distribution, and MS Mechanical Engineering that will all launch in Fall 2021 or Fall 2022. The remaining programs should be added slowly over the next 10 years.

The fall semester did bring its challenges as well. All Tarleton’s courses were offered either in the fully online mode or “hyflex” mode of delivery. In hyflex, course content is delivered to students in the classroom as well as live streamed to students online and recorded for students to use at alternate times. Most of our traditional face-to-face courses were offered in the hyflex mode. Teaching in hyflex added a substantial amount of work for our faculty, but they did an outstanding job adjusting to ensure continued delivery of high quality educational experiences for our students.

Having just completed my first year at Tarleton and as Dean of the College of Science and Technology, I continue to be excited about the future for the College. We have a great team of faculty and staff!

Sincerely

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In 2020, the College of Science and Technology benefited from the generous support of many alumni and friends of the College. Gifts like this allow for the support of

activities such as student research, conference travel, equipment purchases, student scholarships and much more. On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students in the College of Science and Technology, we would like to recognize these supporters and thank them for helping us improve the quality of the education and provide enhanced academic experiences for the students in our programs!

THANK YOU! A. Dwain Mayfield

Julie Boone

Acme Brick Corporate Office

Justin K. Russell

Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC

Justin R. Haschke

Alfonso E. Pino Allan D. Nelson Allen C. McDonald Andrew R. Huf Automation Direct Bartlett Cocke General Contractors

Karla R. Dick Katherine R. Smith Kimberlea M. Adams Lisa M. Lopez Louis Green Margaret L. Duffy Ora Lee Leeth

Birdsong Peanuts Corporation

Richard L. Iley

Bryant M. Wyatt

Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc

Connie L. Bell

SAMPE

Daniel K. Marble

Shaukat N. Goderya

ExxonMobil Corporation

Sheila A. Hawkins

ExxonMobil Foundation, Inc.

SSC Services for Education

Gary W. Beall

Stephenville City Electric, Inc

James R. Pierce

Steven M. Jenkins

Jami K. Lovelady

S’ville Services, LLC

Jason A. Mogonye

Ted M. Pettijohn

Jay Mills Contracting, Inc.

Texas Floodplain Management Association

Joe W. Lane Joel Zuniga

Texas Society of Professional Engineers - Fort Worth Chapter

John T. Farley

Trenton B. Alford

Julia L. Eubanks

Truman T. Bell

TABLE OF CONTENTS Message from the Dean COST Donors Fossil of New Plant Species Student Research Herbarium BRIT Project Endowed Professorships Giving to COST

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COST

TARLETON RESEARCHERS

Uncover Fossil of New Plant Species A previously unknown species of plant life has been discovered by Tarleton State University researcher Dr. Ryan Morgan and two former students. Morgan and his team found a single fossilized

leaf of the new species belonging to Cyclopteris, an extinct genus of seed ferns, in sandstone beds of the Placid Shale near Ranger in Eastland County. The plant fossil is characteristic of the late Paleozoic Era. Morgan, an Associate Professor in the university’s Department of Chemistry, Geosciences and Physics, published the discovery of Cyclopteris chevronii [MDRF1]

[RP2] [RP3] in the International Journal of Paleobiology and Paleontology.

According to Morgan, at the time the fossil was deposited North Central Texas was located on the coast in an ideal environment for lowland plant species. “Descriptions from fragmentary and partial fossil material are increasingly rare but are important to cataloging important sites and morphologies,” he wrote. “Many fossil plant genera and species are described from partial fossils, prompting further research and improvement of our understanding of plant taxonomy and evolution.”

FOSSIL OF NEW PLANT SPECIES According to Dr. Ryan Morgan, at the time the fossil was deposited North Central Texas was located on the coast in an ideal environment for lowland plant species.

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STUDENT RESEARCHER

Presents Findings at Online Symposium Tarleton State University senior biology major Shady Kuster recently presented her research findings at an online symposium.

She was one of 13 students nationwide to participate in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Georgia.

Shady’s research focuses on detecting recombination events between betacoronaviruses, including SARSCoV-2. Recombination is where two related viruses co-infect a host cell and interchange segments of their genomes, resulting in a new viral strain. Because of COVID-19, student participants did not travel to the Georgia campus. Instead, they worked remotely with their mentors.

Shady plans to graduate in December 2020. During the fall semester, she will continue her genetics research in the laboratory of Dr. Russell Pfau.

PROFESSOR AND STUDENT RECOGNIZED AT INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION CONFERENCE DR. POORYA HAJYALIKHANI, AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY CONSTRUCTION SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT BRADY HUDSON recently earned the Best Presentation Award at the 2020 International Conference on Wood Structure and Wood Framing.

The award was given for the duo’s paper, “Bracing Location for Hip and Valley.”

Dr. Hajyalikhani has a PhD in structural/ construction engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington plus seven years’ experience in design and project management for civil and structural projects. Brady is an honor student in the construction science and mgmt program.The conference was for researchers, practitioners and educators to present the most recent innovations and concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and solutions adopted in wood structure and framing.

The ICWSWF was originally planned for Helsinki, Finland. However, due to the pandemic, it was conducted virtually.

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COST

Herbarium BRIT Project Tarleton Herbarium Part of $1.49 Million BRIT Project

Tarleton State University is participating in a $1.49 million grant to digitize Texas herbarium collections received by the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. EBRIT received funding from the National Science Foundation to digitize herbarium specimens gathered in Texas and Oklahoma. Peter Frisch, Vice President of Research and Director of the BRIT Herbarium in Fort Worth, is the principal investigator for the project. “The project continues BRIT’s and Tarleton’s collaboration in research and education, bringing knowledge of the regional flora to the forefront of our communities while helping to address the global biodiversity crisis,” Fritsch said.

Herbarium Collection

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The four-year project brings together 46 collaborating herbaria to mobilize the data from nearly two million plant specimens. It is primed for action by its strong integration with the Texas and Oklahoma Regional Consortium of Herbaria (TORCH, www.torcherbaria.org), which will help oversee the project. Coordination with Integrated Digitized Biocollections (idigbio.org) will facilitate team meetings, broader impact elements and data workflows, mobilization and access.

The Tarleton Herbarium has been a member of TORCH since its inception and moved its collection of 7,000 specimens to BRIT so they can be imaged and included in the project. Dr. Allan Nelson, Curator of the Tarleton Herbarium, is working with Tiana Rehman, BRIT’s Herbarium Collections Manager, to ship specimens.

Rehman’s team is unpacking specimens delivered to BRIT, isolating them and treating for possible insect infestation, scanning images, adding data to the TORCH database, repacking the specimens, and shipping them back to Stephenville.

TORCH held its annual meeting at Tarleton in 2007.

Dr. Nelson served on the 2016–2017 TORCH steering committee, and he has attended numerous workshops with the group. Over the years, the Tarleton Herbarium has involved several undergraduate and graduate students as well as volunteer workers. In this capacity, students learn to prepare specimens and the basic curation of a collection.

“The Tarleton Herbarium has important research voucher specimens for Erath County, Padre Island National Seashore and numerous investigations of ecosystems in the Cross Timbers ecoregion,” Dr. Nelson said, adding: “The advent of data mobilization from biological specimens housed in U.S. institutions has profoundly enhanced the value of museum collections and has allowed scientific questions to be addressed in novel ways. Because these two states constitute a major crossroads of North American ecological and plant diversity, digitizing their plant specimen data can serve as a key element for understanding ecosystem evolution across the North American continent.”

The project is expected to contribute to a globally competitive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce through workshops and lectures for its technicians and practical training for undergraduate interns.

Digitizing Files

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COST

Endowed Research Professorship Tarleton State University received more than $590,000 from the estate of Dr. Burnaby Munson to establish an endowed research professorship in chemistry. The

Burnaby Munson Endowed Research Professorship will be used to support and enhance chemistry research in the Department of Chemistry, Geosciences, and Physics in the College of Science and Technology.

Dr. Burnaby Munson, a Wharton, Texas, native, had a long, distinguished career as a professor of chemistry at the University of Delaware. He was a Tarleton Distinguished Alumnus, Class of 1952. An analytical and physical chemist, Dr. Munson’s research focused on mass spectrometry, a field where he had an important impact and for which he received numerous awards.

“Endowed professorships are an important tool for Tarleton to support research, and in this case it also

supports our undergraduate students by providing funding to hire chemistry students as research assistants,” says Dr. Michael Huggins, Dean of the College of Science and Technology.

Dr. Rajani Srinivasan has been named the inaugural Tarleton State University Burnaby Munson Distinguished Research Professor in Chemistry. Dr. Srinivasan, associate professor in chemistry, joined Tarleton in 2012. She earned her PhD in applied chemistry from Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University in Kanpur, India.

Dr. Srinivasan most recently has worked in the field of green polymers as a potential drug delivery system in chemotherapy and gene therapy and their application in sustainable water treatment. She was recently awarded a patent for her invention related to the use of plant-based materials in water treatment.

“I am excited to be able to mentor more undergraduate students and provide them with hands-on research experience. This will help in shaping future STEM scientists.”

- Dr. Rajani Srinivasan

Dr. Burnaby Munson 7

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Dr. Rajani Srinivasan

McKenzie Endowed Professorship Tarleton State University has received a $100,000 gift from Mark and Susan McKenzie to establish the McKenzie Family Endowed Professorship. Endowed

professorships are crucial for Tarleton’s efforts to recruit and retain high-quality faculty as well as providing tools for increasing research productivity and student support. Donors Mark and Susan McKenzie, owners of Focused Post Acute Care Partners in Fort Worth, are both Tarleton graduates. “My success was a direct result of the environment at Tarleton,” Mark said. “We just hope that whatever assistance we can provide enables both the professor and Tarleton students.”

Dr. Hoe-Gil Lee, Assistant Professor

Dr. Hoe-Gil Lee, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Tarleton State University, has been named the first McKenzie Family Endowed Professor. Lee, the holder of two Korean patents, has been at Tarleton since 2017. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2015 from the University of Miami. Dr. Lee’s project aims to design hydrogen and fuel production processes that lead to high-efficiency bioenergy production and utilization of the biofuels using small-scale electric and power generation applications.

The project consists of five modules, beginning with the raw biomass resources and applying fuel production processes, leading to the produced fuels. He participated in a 2005 project to minimize auto emissions and a 2008 project to improve fuel mileage and utilize environmentally friendly materials for South Korea-produced cars.

“Endowments like the McKenzie Endowed Professorship are of great benefit to the success of our faculty,” said Tarleton Provost, Dr. Karen Murray. “Our junior faculty have the ability to apply for this professorship at the midpoint of their path toward tenure. This gift will enhance the ability to make significant scholarly contributions.”

GIVING BACK If you would like to support the College of Science and Technology or your favorite academic department; gifts can be made online at: GiveToTheCollegeOfScienceAndTechnology.

A gift that impacts the entire College can be made by joining the College of Science and Technology’s Dean’s Circle, join today at: CoST Dean’s Circle.

If you have any questions or would like more information about giving to the College of Science and Technology or establishing an endowment, please contact the College’s Director of Development, Wayne Davenport at wdavenport@tarleton.edu or 254-968-1744.

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Photo Credit: Kurt Mogonye Writing Credit: Phil Riddle

1333 W. Washington Stephenville, TX 76402 254.968.9781 tarleton.edu/cost