Image: On Monday, December 4th, the University of Georgia Plant Biology Department hosted its annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. This symposium highlighted the achievements of our undergraduate Plant Biology students who have either completed or are actively engaged in research projects over the past year. The students presented their findings through poster presentations, covering a myriad of topics from ecology to molecular biology. In conjunction with the Undergraduate Research Symposium, a poster competition with prizes for first ($150), second ($100) and third ($50) place was sponsored by the Plant Biology Department. The posters were judged based on the presented research, the visual appeal of the posters, and how well the students presented their work, including their ability to answer questions. Congratulations to Sophie Caillault who won first place for her poster titled “Fine-mapping sov2, a suppressor of OVATE in tomato.” Caillault conducted this work in collaboration with Yasin Topcu and Esther van der Knaap. Congratulations also to Isabela Tharp who won second place with their poster titled “Characterizing Drought Tolerance in Dark Septate Endophytes.” Tharp conducted this work in collaboration with Neha Vennapusa, Xiomy Janiria, and Anny Chung. Congratulations also to Peyton Ecklund and Jake Ferus, who shared third place. Ecklund’s poster was titled “Bioassay Optimization: How Many Nematodes Are Too Many?” and did this work in collaboration with Kelly Goode and Melissa Mitchum. Ferus’ poster was titled “Assessment of Trillium spp. Coverage by Protected Land in Georgia'' and his work was done in collaboration with Clayton Hale and Megan DeMarche. Congratulations also to all the other researchers, who did a wonderful job presenting their work.
