Biology students win awards at conference

Three University of North Georgia (UNG) students pursuing degrees in biology won poster presentation awards at the Georgia Academy of Science conference hosted by Kennesaw State University this spring.  

María Sanchez Acosta earned the Best Poster Presentation award in Biological Sciences. Jake Gardner won the Best Poster Presentation award in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Alexis Pashkovets secured the Best Poster Presentation award in Biomedical Sciences.  

"Winning an award for a presentation is competitive, and this speaks to the hard work that the students have put into their projects for several months," Dr. Margaret Smith, professor of biology, said. "We are very proud of these students and all of those who presented during this conference season." 

Sanchez Acosta's research explored a regurgitation defense in cabbage loopers. She thrived on the conference experience. 

"I wish I had started research at an earlier stage of my college career. I loved presenting it and getting good feedback from others," Sanchez Acosta said. "People were genuinely interested." 

Gardner, who is pursuing a degree in biology with pre-dental advisement, presented on paleontology research with Dr. David Patterson, associate professor of biology. He said other posters in his division were more detailed, while he aimed to be more straightforward.  

"I tried to make my poster as user-friendly as possible," Gardner said. 

Pashkovets, who is a pre-medical student, presented on her bioinformatics research with Dr. Shane Webb, professor of biology. Their work examined the pathogenicity of an inhibitor that causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and chronic liver disease.

"This was my first time presenting at a conference, and I genuinely had a great experience. I ultimately found myself wishing that it had lasted longer so that I could talk to more people about the research," Pashkovets said. "Within my presentation, I decided to include an interactive model of the normal and variant proteins on a laptop for a more 'real-time' comparison. I believe that this aspect helped the understanding of the research for others as the digital simulations and modeling I primarily used are a relatively newer approach which many were unfamiliar with but intrigued by."