PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (March 15, 2022) – Six Prairie View AM University students clinched winning placements in the 17th annual Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) Pathways Student Research Symposium (Pathways). This year’s research competition involved more than 800 undergraduate and graduate students from all TAMUS institutions. Texas A&M University – College Station hosted the two-day research showcase symposium, which allowed students to increase the visibility of their research and network with students, faculty, and research scientists.
In the poster presentation competition for undergraduate students, PVAMU swept the Agriculture & Natural Resources category by taking first, second and third place.
- 1st place: Faith Isabelle, Senior, Agriculture major, The Effects of Nitrogen Rate on the Growth of Green Malabar Spinach (Basella alba L.) in Sandy Loam Soil in Southeast Texas, mentors Peter Ampin, Ph.D., and Eric Obeng, Ph.D.
- 2nd place: Lenaye Palmer, Senior, Agriculture major, Analyzing the microbial population on the fresh produce collected from the community garden, mentors Laura Carson, Ph.D., and Addisie Geremew, Ph.D.
- 3rd place: A’naya Ware, Senior, Agriculture major, Morphological and phytochemical diversity of grain-type industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa), RISE mentor Aruna Weerasooriva, Ph.D.
Faith Isabelle
Lenaye Palmer
A’naya Ware
Ware is also supported by the Faculty-Research and Innovation for Success and Excellence (RISE). Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., PE., MBA, vice president for the Division of Research & Innovation, established the RISE program to strategically invest in the university’s high-priority areas of research and innovation clusters.
“For six PVAMU students to be selected as winners in the Poster Presentation Competition is phenomenal,” said Vice President Rajan. “I am extremely pleased with the performance of the three undergraduates who swept the Agriculture & Natural Resources category. Their awards speak to the awesome mentoring by outstanding research faculty members.”
The Faculty-RISE program enables faculty researchers to expand and sustain their research through external grants and contracts while mentoring students to become the next generation of experts. R&I is funding more than 100 PVAMU students this academic year.
The Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) Office of Graduate Studies funded 24 student researchers to attend and participate in the Pathways.
“I am happy to share that several of our students took home awards for poster and oral presentations,” said Farrah G. Cambrice, Ph.D., associate dean of Graduate Studies. “Our students represented PVAMU proudly and our office is delighted that we were able to support student researchers. The Office of Graduate Studies remains committed to supporting such efforts and we are proud of all the Pathways student research participants.”
Separate categories are available for undergraduate and post-graduate posters and oral presentations.
The three PVAMU graduate students were also winners. Their categories and placements:
Engineering & Computer Science
- 2nd place: Layla Ogletree, Engineering and Computer Science master’s student, Fabrication of Thin Film Nanocomposite Forward Osmosis Membranes for the Treatment of Produced Water.
- 3rd place: Faryal Fatima, Engineering and Computer Science master’s student, Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater Treatment with Membrane Technologies.
Graduate students Faryal Fatima & Layla Ogletree
Humanities
- 3rd place: Quinesha Bentley, Sociology master’s student, Black Trauma: The Impact of Desecrating Black Historical Markers and the Racist Effects on the Black Experience.
For the complete list of TAMUS Pathways winners, click here.
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Karen B. Cotton, Michael Douglas