Four Coker students presented research at the South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (SCICU) Student/Faculty Research Symposium at the Milliken and Company in Greenville, S.C. on Feb. 22, 2024.
This year’s symposium featured 21 student presentations from 14 SCICU member institutions.
Isabella “Tibby” Hessian, under the mentorship of Dr. Gina Bennett, presented a project titled “Literacy, Charity, and Transatlantic Benevolence Societies: Tracing Literateness in the Documents of the St. Andrew’s Society of Charleston.”
Hessian examined the Commons House Assembly records (physical copies and digitized resources) from the 1690s to the 1750s to establish patterns, actions, and relationships between the St. Andrew’s Society of Charleston memberships.
After reviewing the documents and comparing them to secondary sources, Tibby found that women, who were portrayed during this time as fragile objects, proved their agency and literacy during their dealings with the Society.
Izabella “Bella” Dulaney, under the mentorship of Dr. Jen Borgo-Raia, presented a project titled “Evaluation of Biodiversity at Kalmia Gardens Through Observation of Snags.”
Dulaney investigated the relationship between characteristics of standing dead trees (snags) and cavity-dwelling animals inside them. She examined 139 snag trees, of which over half were in a late stage of decomposition, and 11 had viable cavities to support animal inhabitants.
Delaney Eaves and Jerry Reed, under the mentorship of Drs. Gita Mohanty and Joe Flaherty presented “Isolation and Screening of Microbes for Bioremediation Potential.”
Eaves and Reed collected soil samples from local area fuel stations and applied a soil-enrichment method to isolate bacteria that metabolize diesel fuel. They found 21 bacterial isolates in the laboratory that could degrade diesel fuel.
Congratulations to these students and faculty members on being awarded a grant from the SCICU Undergraduate Student/Faculty Research Program in 2023 and for successfully presenting their research at the recent SCICU Student/Faculty Research Symposium.
