Biology Students Win State Mammalogy Awards

According to a press release Tuesday, two Angelo State University biology students won top prizes at the annual meeting of the Texas Society of Mammalogists (TSM) Feb. 12-13 at the Texas Tech University Center at Junction.

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Graduate student Krysta Demere of Water Valley won the William B. Davis Award for best graduate student presentation in classical mammalogy for her oral presentation “A Molecular Diet Analysis of Parastrellus hesperus.” Also, undergraduate Megan Dory of San Angelo won the student Mammal Challenge, a quiz competition over mammal identification.

Seventeen ASU students attended the TSM meeting, accompanied by biology faculty Drs. Loren Ammerman, Mike Dixon and Robert Dowler, as well as retired professor Dr. Terry Maxwell and Marcy Revelez, manager of the Angelo State Natural History Collections. ASU graduate student Citlally Jimenez of Houston gave an oral presentation of her research, while graduate student Kaitlin Lebrasseur of San Angelo and undergraduate Craig Tipton of Throckmorton made research poster presentations.

On a related note, ASU biology graduate Austin Osmanski of San Angelo, now a graduate student at Texas Tech University, won the Clyde Jones Award for best poster presentation in mammalian molecular biology, evolution and systematics by a graduate student. His project was titled “Genomic Structural Variation within the Genus Myotis.”

Revelez is currently the TSM secretary/treasurer, while Ammerman, Dowler and Maxwell serve on the TSM Executive Committee. More information on the TSM is available at http://texasmammalogy.org.