ODU graduate student Alexis Kordis wins prestigious ASM travel award

Alexis A. Kordis, Department of Biological Sciences, is one of only 6 students in the nation to be awarded the prestigious 2013 Richard and Mary Finkelstein Student Travel Grant, which funded her travel to the 113th General Meeting of the American Society of Microbiology in Denver, Colorado on May 18-21, 2013.  The most important selection criterion for the award was the scientific quality of the submitted abstract.  The grant also qualified her to present a poster and give a short oral presentation of the abstract, “Evidence for the contribution of toxAvapA to the survival of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae during infection”, authored by Dabin Ren, Alexis A. Kordis and Dayle A. Daines.

Following is a synopsis that Alexis wrote about her experience at the meeting: “When I arrived in Denver for the 2013 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) General Meeting, I was surprised to find that there were over 7,000 attendees, with an overwhelming amount of seminars to attend and posters to read.  It was fascinating to learn about current research in the field and how technology is advancing to help investigators answer life’s most important questions.  The other amazing part of this meeting was the opportunity to talk to other researchers with similar interests.  This served as a seminal learning experience for me and inspired me to look at my work and planned future studies more critically.  One requirement of being awarded the Richard and Mary Finkelstein Student Travel Grant was that I give an oral presentation about the work in our lab.  This was a great opportunity to present our research to the ASM membership.  I was also fortunate to be able to meet Dr. Richard Finkelstein, the scientist who discovered cholera toxin.  This meeting allowed me to experience the entire process of being a researcher, from gathering data to presenting our results at a distinguished conference.  I am very thankful for this experience and encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend an international scientific meeting to do so with enthusiasm."

The work presented by Alexis was conducted in the lab of Dr Dayle Daines, Assistant Professor of Biology.  Ms Kordis is a graduate student in the MS in Biology program. 

Walters lab - awards and more

Eric Walters, Assistant Professor of Biology, and is students had a very eventful year.

Starting in November his Ornithology class students identified a Northern Lapwing, a bird never recorded in Virginia until then (http://www.odu.edu/news/2012/11/northern_lapwing_sig).

Recently, Erin Heller an MS student working under the guidance of Dr Walters got credit for sighting a Dusky Flycatcher at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, another first for the area (http://www.odu.edu/news/2013/3/odu_student_adds_dus).

Dr Walters also mentored LaCheryl Ball in a study of Virginia Zoo Monkeys that won national award from the Charles H. Turner Program of the Animal Behavior Society and the Center for Integrative Study of Animal Behavior (http://www.odu.edu/news/2013/3/_very_special_biolog).  To top this off, LaCheryl  also received the highest honor given to a graduating ODU students, the Kaufman prize (http://www.odu.edu/news/2013/5/kaufman_award).

Yet another of Eric’s students (Jame Kling) a freshman in the CMC LEAP program was recognized as the ODU Student Employee of the Year (http://blue.odu.edu/ao/ia/insideodu/20130425/kudos1.php).

Eric's work shows that the Biology Department attracts the best and brightest, and that we have great faculty who are willing to go the extra distance for their students.