Biology Highlights 2021
In 2021, Dr. Teresa Donze-Reiner received a $10,000 Provost’s Research Grant research proposal entitled, “Identification of genetic variants associated with psychiatric and substance use disorders in collegiate young adults"
Dr. Pisciotta presented the following: Pisciotta JM, J. Wheeler and I. Alnahdi. 2021. Electrodiazotrophy: Electrically-driven Biological Nitrogen Fixation. ASM Microbe World Forum. June 22. Online Conference
Dr. Pisciotta presented the following: Allen A. J. Wheeler and JM Pisciotta. 2021. Antibacterial Activity of Electrolytically-formed Metal Nanoparticles. ASM Microbe World Forum. June 22. Online Conference
Dr. Buskirk was awarded an Advanced Certificate from Institute for Cultural Competence & Inclusive Excellence (Capstone Project: “Formation of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee in the Department of Biology”)
Dr. Buskirk received the Triano Award for $4000 for the proposal entitled "“Exploring the impact of genetic background on adaptive evolution”
Dr. Buskirk published the following article: Vignogna RC, Buskirk SW, Lang GI. 2021. Exploring a local genetic interaction using evolutionary replay experiments. Molecular Biology and Evolution. doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.27.428500
Dr. Benjamin Chambers published the following article: Froggatt, H. M., Burke, K. N., Chaparian, R. R., Miranda, H. A., Zhu, X., Chambers, B. S., & Heaton, N. S. (2021). Influenza A virus segments five and six can harbor artificial introns allowing expanded coding capacity. PLoS pathogens, 17(9), e1009951.
Dr. Megan Fork published a manuscript titled "Creating community: A peer-led, adaptable postdoc program to build transferrable career skills and overcome isolation" (2021, Ecosphere). E.C. Anderson, A.A. Castellanos, I.R. Fischhoff, A.M. Matsler, C.L. Nieman, I.A. Oleksy, and M.Y. Wong were co-authors. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3767
Dr. Megan Fork co-authored a manuscript titled "A framework for assessing hydrological and biogeochemical synchrony and asynchrony" (2021, Ecosystems). E.C. Seybold led the manuscript and A.E. Braswell, J.R. Blaszczak, M.R. Fuller, K.E. Kaiser, J.M. Mallard, and M.A. Zimmer were co-authors. DOI: 10.1007/s10021-021-00700-1
Dr. Megan Fork published a manuscript titled "Dosing the coast: Leaking sewage infrastructure
delivers large annual loads and dynamic mixtures of pharmaceuticals to urban rivers"
(2021, Environmental Science & Technology). J.B. Fick, A.J. Reisinger, and E.J. Rosi
were co-authors. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c00379 The paper was covered extensively in
the news - you can read more from Gizmodo, ScienceDaily, E&E News (Politico), U.S.
News & World Report, Baltimore Sun, National Science Foundation, and Eos
Dr. Megan Fork presented an invited seminar titled "Global changes beyond climate
and their impacts on freshwater ecosystems" at the State University of New York at
New Paltz, 23 September 2021.
Dr. Megan Fork was awarded a Research in Mathematics and Science from the College of Science and Mathematics for $3990 to research how spring snowmelt influences the amount of microplastics in Pennsylvania streams.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, was a co-author on the paper “Bio-inspired design, modeling, and control of robotic fish propelled by a double-slider-crank mechanism driven tail” that was published in the Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control 143(12): 121005 (2021).
Ariel Leahy, biology graduate student, published the paper “The role of California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) hindflippers as aquatic control surfaces for maneuverability” in the Journal of Experimental Biology, volume 224 (2021). The paper was co-authored with Dr. Frank Fish, biology, Sarah Kerr, biology graduate student, and Kaitlyn Cardenas, biology undergraduate student.
Dr. Michael Rosario presented an invited seminar "Make do with what you have: studying elasticity as an integrative biologist" at New Mexico State University, Nov 1st, 2021.
Dr. Michael Rosario was awarded at the 2021 Virtual Teaching with Technology Excellence Showcase for use of YouTube livestreaming in the classroom.
Dr. Michael Rosario was invited to speak at the Center for Engineering Mechanobiology Friday Seminar Series.
Dr. Michael Rosario was presented with the Honors College Outstanding Faculty Award.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, published the paper ”The role of the tail or lack thereof in the evolution of tetrapod aquatic propulsion” in Integrative and Comparative Biology, volume 61(2): 398-413 (2021). Co-authors on the paper included former WCU biology graduate student, Christina Duff, Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature, and George Lauder of Harvard University.
Dr. Jessica Sowa presented an invited seminar “Investigating host-virus interactions in C. elegans” to the Penn Worm Group, University of Pennsylvania, April 1st, 2021
Dr. Jessica Sowa presented an invited seminar “Investigating host-virus interactions in C. elegans” to the Molecular Biology Institute, San Diego State University, October 7th, 2021
Dr. Jessica Sowa, along with former undergraduate Katie Byrnes, Barbara Chen, Emily Cooper, and graduate student Nicolas Martinez co-authored the poster “Nematode hunters: a citizen science approach to identifying new systems for the study of host-virus interactions” which was presented at the 23rd International C. elegans Meeting in June 2021
Dr. Jessica Sowa, along with former undergraduates Barbara Chen and Emily Cooper, co-authored the poster “Evaluating the effects of individual Orsay virus proteins on the C. elegans Intracellular Pathogen Response” which was presented at the 23rd International C. elegans Meeting in June 2021
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, was a co-author on the presentation “Bubble PIV technique to measure the velocity field of a free-swimming California sea lion” that was delivered at the 14th International Symposium on Particle Image Velocimetry that was held in Chicago, IL on August 1-4 (2021). The presentation was co-authored with Drs. Megan Leftwich and Gino of George Washington University.
Biology graduate student Sarah Polohovich and Dr. Jessica Schedlbauer presented the poster, Emerging understory dominants in Eastern deciduous forests: quantifying photosynthetic induction and sunfleck responses, at the 106th Virtual Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America in August.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, and biology graduate students, Sarah Kerr and Abigail Downs, co-authored a paper “Tunable stiffness enables fast and efficient swimming in fish-like robots” that was published in Science Robotics Vol. 6, issue 57 (2021). The paper was co-authored with Drs. Dan Quinn and Hilary Bart-Smith of the University of Virginia.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, received a grant from the Office of Naval Research, Locomotor Transitions of an Amphibious System: Biological to Robotic, for $300,000.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, received a grant from the Office of Naval Research, Bio-inspired flexible propulsors for fast, efficient swimming: What physics are we missing?, for $100,000.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, co-authored the paper “Future tail tales: A forward-looking, integrative perspective on tail research” in Integrative and Comparative Biology icab082/6276988 (2021).
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, presented an invited seminar “Bio-inspiration as a driver for an innovative technology from whales” to the Introduction to Soft Robotics class at Yale University, March 23, 2021.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, presented an invited seminar “Biomimetic engineering: Marine Technology from whales” to the Webb Institute, Glen Cove, NY, April 19, 2021.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, presented an invited seminar "Sea lions and submersibles” to the Cape Cod Maritime Museum, Hyannis, MA, May 8, 2021.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, is a coauthor on the research article “Scaling of oscillatory kinematics and Froude efficiency in baleen whales”, which was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, volume 224, jeb237586 (2021).
Dr. John Pisciotta was awarded a Cullen Grant for $3,955.58 to research the "Effect of Metal Containing Nanoparticles on Microbial Communities" (2021).
Dr. Jessica Schedlbauer co-authored the following article, Koyama, A., A.D. Schotzko, J.L. Schedlbauer, R.Pangle, and K. Kavanagh. 2021. Can variation in canopy d13C be attributed to changes in tree height? An investigation of three conifer species. Trees 35:731-748.
In March 2021, Dr. Jessica Schedlbauer presented an invited webinar for the Natural Areas Association, for an audience of forest managers and practitioners. She led a presentation and discussion entitled, Current and future carbon storage capacity in a southeastern Pennsylvania forest.
Dr. Sean Buskirk published the following manuscript: Buskirk SW, Rokes AB, Lang GI. 2021. Adaptive evolution of nontransitive fitness in yeast. eLife. doi: 10.7554/eLife.62238
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, presented and invited seminar "A whale of an idea for an innovative technology from bio-inspired design” which was presented to the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Villanova University on February 5, 2021.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, presented an invited paper “Evolution of the tail and lack thereof for aquatic propulsion in mammals” as part of symposium “The Evolution of Tails and Their Function” at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Washington, D.C., January 3-7, 2021.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, was a co-author on the presentation “Impact force of high diving of animals (dolphins, penguins, frogs) and humans” that was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Washington, D.C., January 3-7, 2021.
Dr. Frank Fish, biology, was a co-author on the presentation “Tuna robotics: Caudal fin kinematics and optimization” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Washington, D.C., January 3-7, 2021.
Ariel Leahy, biology graduate student, and Dr. Frank Fish, biology, presented a paper “Not to be flip: Anatomy and novel tendon morphology of the California sea lion hindflipper” at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Washington, D.C., January 3-7, 2021.
Sarah Kerr, biology graduate student, Dr. Anthony Nicastro, physics, and Dr. Frank Fish, biology, presented a paper “Biomechanical energetics of terrestrial locomotion: California sea lion vs. Northern elephant seal” at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Washington, D.C., January 3-7, 2021.