College of Science & Mathematics Winter 2022-2023 Newsletter

Science and Mathematics

TABLE OF CONTENTS

College Dean

The Fall 2022 semester was a busy one for the College of Science and Mathematics (COSM).

The overall number of undergraduate majors in COSM increased by a little more than 2% while graduate student enrollment increased by almost 13%. Overall, COSM is now home to just over 720 students. However, the College is one of the largest generators of student credit hours (SCH) of all the academic colleges (there are seven academic colleges at Tarleton). In addition, we had over 750 high school students enrolled in dual credit courses offered through the OnRamps program with Tarleton faculty teaching the college portion of the courses. These data show COSM on a solid growth trajectory. More data about the College is provided later in the newsletter.

Tarleton continues to mature as a large institution showcased by the recent membership in the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities as well as the elevated Carnegie designation of Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity. As COSM plans for future growth and new directions, we have initiated efforts to start two doctoral programs. Efforts are underway to offer a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and potentially a Ph.D. in Biology. In addition, we will begin offering courses in support of the B.S. Biomedical Sciences degree program at the Fort Worth Campus on Chisolm Trail in Fall, 2023. M.S. in Data Sciences is also starting in fall 2023, having recently received final approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. These new programs, along with the B.S. Statistics and B.S. Biotechnology programs that started in Fall 2022, should provide sustainable enrollment growth for the College while continuing our efforts to meet the regional employment needs for the STEM workforce.

We have launched several initiatives to assist in the professional growth and development of students pursuing one of the STEM degrees offered in COSM. Working with our partners in Career Services, a program has been launched to assist our students with finding internships, summer employment, and their first job after graduation. This effort includes establishing corporate partnerships with regional employers, a new website highlighting job vacancies, and training in the Handshake portal (Handshake is a national database of employment opportunities for students). Additionally, we have launched the COSM Student Professional Development Academy where we will offer workshops on a variety of topics that provide students assistance with resume writing, interview preparation, professional communication, and much more. Details for both of these initiatives can be found on the COSM website - https://www.tarleton. edu/cosm/.

None of these efforts would be possible without the outstanding faculty and staff in the College of Science and Mathematics. In closing, I want to thank them for their continued hard work and dedication to providing our students with high-quality educational experiences.

Sincerely,

Dr. Michael Huggins, Dean

FACULTY AND STUDENT Accomplishments

• The Tarleton Chemical Society (student chemistry club) received Honorable Mention and a Green Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society based on their 20212022 activities.

• The Tarleton Observatory hosted its annual Star Party with nearly 100 faculty, staff, students and community members participating in the event.

• Dr. Anne Egelston joins faculty from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Texas A&M AgriLife to work on two USDA grants. Both the Texas Climate Smart Initiative and the Climate resiliency for the farm and market development: Economically viable low-carbon work to enable farmers and ranchers to adapt existing practices to monetize climate benefits.

• Timberlake Biological Field Station hosted Mills County ISD 6th grade students for a field day experience in collaboration with Mills County Soil & Water Conservation District. The students received leadership activities from the Mullin FFA and hands-on science sessions offered by Tarleton Faculty and Staff.

FACULTY ACHIEVEMENTS Faculty Awards

BARRY B. THOMPSON SERVICE AWARD

Dr. Jesse Crawford Mathematic

• The chemistry faculty led by Dr. Arthur Low received a renewal of their Welch Foundation Departmental Grant which provides support for students with scholarships, lab equipment and chemicals as well as travel to industry meetings and conferences. This 3-year grant provides $45,000 per year ($135,000 total) to support undergraduate student research that is mentored by our dedicated team of faculty.

• Avery Campbell & Gavin McIntosh won 1st place undergrad poster at Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics (SIAM TX-LA). Supraventricular Tachycardia Study Using a Dynamic Computer Generated Left Atrium

• Aeron Pennington earned the Sarah McIntire Award for undergraduate oral presentation of her work on “Modulation of Bacterial Host Phenotypes by Mycobacteriophage Pixie Gene Products” with Drs. Dustin Edwards and Harold Rathburn at the Texas Branch of the American Society for Microbiology hosted at Rice University on November 11, 2022. The project was partially supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute SEA-GENES program and by the Tarleton State University College of Science and Mathematics Undergraduate Student Research Award.

• Dr. Dustin Edwards was also recognized for the 2021 Millicent and Eugene Goldschmidt Faculty Education Award for contributions to the advancement of microbiology in Texas.

• Drs. Victoria Chraibi and Phil Sudman were awarded a $15,000 grant from the Texas Pioneer Foundation to support the FIELDS program at Timberlake Biological Field Station. The FIELDS program is designed to provide regular opportunities for hands-on experiences in STEM to the rural schools near the Field Station. The program will work closely with Tarleton faculty and staff to provide exceptional STEM experiences.

OUTSTANDING JUNIOR FACULTY AWARD

Dr. Melissa Williams Chemistry

FACULTY EXCELLENCE IN STUDENT SUCCESS AWARD

Dr. Phil Sudman Biology

FACULTY EXCELLENCE IN SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

Dr. Jesse Meik Biology

O.A. GRANT EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD

Dr. Michael Warren Mathematics

ENGAGED FACULTY AWARD

Dr. Anne Egelston Environmental Science

Department of Mathematics Names Room for Retired Faculty

On September 21, 2022, Tarleton State University held a ceremony to celebrate two outstanding retired mathematics faculty members – Dr. Tim Flinn and the late Dr. Pam Littleton. The third-floor seminar room (Room 337) in the Mathematics Building on Tarleton’s main campus has been designated as the Dr. Tim Flinn Mathematics Conference Room. In addition, a first-floor classroom (Room 113) in the Mathematics Building has been designated the Dr. Pam Littleton Mathematics Education Laboratory. During the ceremony, the many family, students, faculty, and administrators in attendance heard tributes from faculty in the mathematics department as well as Dr. James Hurley, President of Tarleton State University, and Dr. Diane Stearns, Executive Vice President and Provost of Academic Affairs.

Dr. Flinn retired from Tarleton in 1999 after 31 years on the faculty in the Department of Mathematics and Physics. A native of Strawn, he received his degrees from San Diego State University and Texas A&M. His dedication in the classroom has been recognized on numerous occasions. Dr. Flinn received the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Phi Eta Sigma Outstanding Teaching award at Tarleton. He is one of only a select few University faculty members to be chosen as a Piper Professor. The Mathematics faculty honored Dr. Flinn by naming a departmental teaching award, The Timothy L. Flinn Faculty Excellence Award, after him.

Dr. Pamela Littleton, a retired professor of mathematics at Tarleton State University, was instrumental in establishing and growing the current Mathematics Education program at Tarleton. While at Tarleton, Littleton received many accolades including the O.A. Grant Teaching Award and was named a University Teaching Mentor and a President’s Teaching Fellow. In 2010 Dr. Pam Littleton was honored as a Regents Professor by The Texas A&M University System. She was the sixth Tarleton faculty member to be honored as a Regents Professor, however, she was the first female professor from Tarleton to receive the Regents Professor designation. Dr. Pam Littleton retired in 2011. Upon retirement, Pam was granted Professor Emeritus status.

Left to right: President Hurley, Mark Littleton, with daughters Tiffany Overton, Becca Henley, and Stephanie Savins

Left to right: President Hurley, Dr. Tim Flinn

Faculty Research Spotlight

Bio Questions

Name: Dr. Russell Pfau

Rank: Professor

Home department: Biological Sciences

How long have you been a faculty member at Tarleton?

Since August 2000

Where did you get your Ph.D.?

Oklahoma State University

Fun facts: In my personal time, I’m obsessed with photo documenting as many different animals, plants, and fungi as I can. I post them on iNaturalist, an online platform for documenting biodiversity worldwide. I’m only up to 3,712 species so far—a lot more to go still! It’s been very inspirational engaging with “citizen scientists” using this platform.

Discussion Questions

What is your research focus?

Population genetics. Uncovering patterns of genetic diversity among populations and studying hybridization between closely related species.

What drew you to your field?

Biology has been a life-long interest, but I was drawn into field biology by Dr. Fred Stangl at Midwestern State University. From there I became interested in genetics by sitting on the floor of a storeroom adjacent to my thesis advisor’s lab digging through piles of journal article reprints. That was Dr. Walt Dalquest (Dr. Linda Schultz’s father)—a really amazing old-school biologist. For my PhD, I had to make a tough decision because I still had such broad interests. I ultimately went with population genetics and was supported in that pursuit by my PhD advisers Drs. Karen McBee and Ron Van den Bussche. Those four people were my role models during that critical period when my research interests were being established.

What has been one of your most exciting discoveries?

I think that I may I’ve discovered a new species—that sort of thing is pretty exciting to most biologists and never something I thought I’d have the opportunity to do. It’s in an obscure group of wildflowers that only blooms for a month in late winter/early spring and then goes dormant for the rest of the year. I’m not a botanist, so this happened spontaneously stemming from my iNaturalist hobby. But it’s now a full-fledged research project. Unfortunately, there’s no grant funding for discovering new species! And, out of fear of jinxing myself, it might not turn out to be a new species in the end—I’ve got more field and lab work to do before I can say for sure.

Any advice for our junior research faculty?

Realize that the mid-career stage of your life is racing toward you like a bullet train. By the time it arrives, Tarleton will be a very different place than what it is now. Prepare for that certainty as best you can!

How have you been able to engage students in your research program?

I’ve always had a steady flow of undergraduate and graduate students that I’ve worked alongside in my research lab. About 60 over the past 23 years. At the university level, I supported undergraduate research by proposing and creating what was called the Office of Student Research and Creative Activities about a decade ago. That office no longer exists at Tarleton, but some colleges still retain the sorts of funding opportunities which that office facilitated. Without the support of funded undergraduate research, very few of my research projects would have ever happened—and many students wouldn’t have been afforded these types of opportunities.

How have you overcome challenges in research?

My greatest challenge over the past few years has been gaining the necessary skills needed to collect and analyze genomics-level data. Just acquiring a computer running Linux took an entire semester—then I had to learn how to work within such a different operating system using the command line. Fortunately, I had two committed undergraduates at the time who played a large role in pushing my lab into the genomics era. Given the rapidly changing nature of genomics research, there is no agreed upon set of analysis criteria— so critical decisions must be made based on multiple, nuanced details of one’s data with conflicting advice as to which approach is optimum. These decisions still plague me as I begin data analysis for my current project, funded by Texas Parks & Wildlife, to provide information that can be used to make management decisions of a species of frog threatened by habitat loss.

Dr. Russell Pfau, Professr

Program Awards

One primary focus for the College of Sciences and Mathematics is the student educational experience, both the traditional classroom experiences as well as those outside the classroom activities that enhance the education of STEM students. These enhanced student experiences are an essential tool for developing the skills needed for student success, both during their academic studies and professional careers in the STEM workforce. Participation in these enhanced experiences increase the likelihood of College of Science and Mathematics graduates gaining admission into top-rated graduate and professional schools and competitiveness for premier employment opportunities.

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS IMPACT PROGRAM

The COSM Impact Program has been created to support projects from faculty, staff, and students to provide enhanced educational experiences for students. The program awards up to $2,500 to students, staff, or students to support projects that provided new educational activities to students.

CHGP Ryan Morgan & Anne Egelston

CHGP Daniel Marble

Environmental Alliance Garden

Physics Majors Visit Texas A&M and attend the Texas A&M Physics & Engineering festival

CHGP Stephen Bardowell (Student) $800 Outreach at the Tarleton Observatory

MATH Michael Warren $2,374 Faculty & Student Writing Retreat

TBFS* Phil Sudman $14,000 Bunkbeds for Timberlake Biological Field Station

TBFS Victoria Chraibi $2,500 Educational Pollinator Garden at Timberlake Biological Field Station

Total Funds Awarded $23,474

* funded via anonymous donor for purchase of 12 bunkbeds

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS DEAN’S RESEARCH AWARD

In continuing to support our growing research agenda, the College of Science and Mathematics will provide support for the purchase of research instrumentation, equipment, supplies, consumables, etc. associated with faculty research operations that lead to external grant submissions and/or peer-reviewed journal publications. The program awards up to $5,000 to faculty, and specifically supports:

• Projects that represent a new research direction

• Adding a new technology or instrumentation to a research operation

• Acquisition of preliminary data in support of a specific external grant submission

• Acquisition of data needed to complete a peer-reviewed journal article

BIO Victoria Chraibi $3,323

Diatom SEM Image Acquisition and Taxonomic Collaborations toward Publication

BIO Chad Brock $5,000 Biological Field Research in Southern Alaska

BIO Janise Speshock $3,431

Establishment of Microfluidic Air-Lung Interface

“Lung on a Chip” Model

BIO Max Sanderford $5,000 The effect of mild intermittent hypoxia conditioning on measures of sympathetic neural activity in type 2 diabetic rats

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS STUDENT RESEARCH AWARDS

Qualified undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Science and Mathematics wishing to be engaged in intensive, facultymentored research are eligible to apply for up to $2000. Prior to applying, a faculty mentor must first agree to mentor the student and proposed research project. Awards are provided to support activities in the fall, spring, and summer semesters.

STUDENT

DEPT PROJECT TITLE FACULTY MENTOR

Stephen Bardowell CHGP Using the Shelyak spectroscope with Tarleton Telescope to obtain spectroscopic data on selected eclipsing binary stars and stars that host exoplanets.

Avery Campbell MATH Modeling Supraventricular Tachycardia Using Dynamic Computer-Generated Left Atrium

Samuel Garcia-Rodriguez MATH Silicon Building Silicon” Dynamic Modeling of Dust Crystal Formations in a Complex Plasm using NVIDIA GPUs

Gavin McIntosh MATH Modeling Supraventricular Tachycardia Using Dynamic Computer-Generated Left Atrium

Elizabeth Mary Mullins BIOL Mesocosm Experiments to Characterize Pulse and Press Disturbances on Algal Communities in Central Texas Lakes

Matthew Williams BIOL The Effect of Mild Intermittent Hypoxia Conditioning on the Sympathetic Activity in Type 2 Diabetic Rats

Zachary Watson MATH Silicon Building Silicon” Dynamic Modeling of Dust Crystal Formations in a Complex Plasm using NVIDIA GPUs

Goderya

Wyatt

Wyatt

Wyatt

Chraibi

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Sanderford

Wyatt

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