To mark Earth Day, the university will hold its third annual “OLLU SuSAINTSability” Day today at noon in the Mall Area with an unusual event that will answer this question:
How many cockroaches does it take to cover a professor?
Students will find out by purchasing cockroaches and dumping them in a box which holds Biology professor Adam Bynum. One dollar buys one cockroach, $3 gets five roaches and $5 gets 10 roaches.
Hosted by TexasFast, the proceeds will benefit Sigma Zeta, OLLU’s Math and Science National Honor Society.
The two-hour event will include Environmental Science and Sustainability students playing table bingo for free lunches, TExAS FAST students making seed bombs, Criminal Justice Society students doing waste audit demonstrations and first-generation/McNair Scholars upcycling t-shirts with bleach.
Five students and two faculty members attended the recent Texas Academy of Sciences (TAS) Conference at the University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa.
Briana Salas, PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, presented at the conference March 1-2.
Adam Bynum, MS, Instructor of Biology, also attended with the following students: sophomore Environmental Science major Mia Curiel, sophomore Criminology major Victoria Muniz, freshman Theology major Emilio Gutierrez, freshman Biology major Rodolfo Morales and freshman Chemistry major Ruby Rangel.
OLLU received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) NextGEN program to help build the next generation of food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences (FANH) workforce. The award was announced June 21 during a special ceremony held in Washington, D.C.
OLLU will use the $5 million, five-year grant to support “TExAS FAST: Texas Experiential Learning and Scholarship Program for Food and Agriculture Science Training.” The program will begin in fall 2023.
Incoming OLLU freshmen majoring or minoring in Environmental Science and Sustainability will have the opportunity to apply for academic scholarships of $5,000 per year, and room and board scholarships of $8,619. In addition, they will take part in the new Environmental Science and Sustainability Living Learning Community, summer research projects, and will receive a monthly stipend of $1,000 for 24 months and a paid internship ($4,000) during their senior year.
“I am beyond thrilled to have been awarded this grant,” said Briana Salas, PhD, OLLU Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Project Director. “When I created the Environmental Science and Sustainability program in 2021, I did so in response to student interests in human impacts on the environment and a desire for additional options for STEM degrees. The program has been successful in the last two years, but this opportunity will completely transform the student experience.”
Adam Bynum, OLLU Instructor of Biology, will serve as co-Project Director.
In addition to student scholarships, the grant will fund professional development activities for faculty to revise STEM classes in a CURE format (Classroom based Undergraduate Research Experiences). The CURE format allows students who otherwise might not have the chance to experience “real” research to get those experiences in the classroom setting.
