Two University of the Virgin Islands students won awards at the
Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students
(ABRCMS) held in Orlando, Florida from Nov. 5-8. More than 700
universities participated in the symposium and almost 3,000 people
attended.
Marine biology major Kavita Balkaran won the best oral presentation
award and biology major Howard Forbes won the best poster award in
the physiological sciences category. Both students are from St.
Croix and attend UVI's St. Thomas campus.
Balkaran's research focused on eelgrass, a grass-like underwater
plant that serves as a habitat for marine species. The title of her
presentation was "Newly restored eelgrass has significantly
different number of organisms compared to self-established
eelgrass." Balkaran conducted the research at the Mount Desert
Island Marine Biological Laboratory in Maine, where she was
selected in a competitive application process to conduct research
during the summer. In her first research project outside of the
Virgin Islands, Balkaran and a crew of five, at times spent up to
18 hours a day gathering data. Her research has implications for
the restoration of seagrasses in Maine and in the Virgin Islands.
Balkaran said she was excited at the opportunity to make an oral
presentation at the ABRCMS.
After developing her presentation with mentor and UVI professor Dr.
Paul Jobsis, Balkaran said her preparation was simple. "I just
practiced and practiced," she said. "My friends were so confident
that I would win. The support was really there." Balkaran is
supported by the Minority Biomedical Research Support-Research
Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (MBRS-RISE), a program of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Forbes' research was on red mud, the by-product resulting from the
process of isolating alumina from bauxite. His research was titled
"The influence of red mud and stabilized red mud on seed
germination and plant growth." For his research he worked with
mentor and UVI Professor Dr. Tom Zimmerman to plant and monitor
four types of plants in various concentrations of the red mud and
stabilized red mud. Forbes said that the research suggests that
stabilized red mud is effective in promoting optimal plant growth.
His research is very important to the community of St. Croix, which
was home to an aluminum plant. Forbes said his win was
"unexpected." "It took a while for it to actually set in," Forbes
said.
Forbes' research is supported by the Minority Access to Research
Careers (MARC) program of the NIH.
A total of twenty-three UVI students attended the conference
including two students, Andre'a Dorsey and Victoria Henry, who
wrote applications and were funded by competitive travel awards
from NIH funding. UVI students majoring in chemistry and psychology
also made presentations.
"The students were wonderful--such a great group. They all
supported each other. They brought a Virgin Islands flag to wave at
the awards ceremony, just in case someone won," said Dr. Teresa
Turner MARC, and MBRS-RISE program director. "During the week of
Barack Obama's victory celebrations I can think of nowhere better
to have been than at a conference of the best of the best future
scientists," the UVI professor said.
In late October, UVI student Vanessa Malone won first prize in the
field of chemistry at the Annual Historically Black Colleges and
Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) National Student
Research Conference. Her research project targets a Virgin Islands
sponge species which is known to produce a suite of very
biologically active (anti-cancer) metabolites.
For more information call Dr. Teresa Turner at 693-1382.
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