News

Four Appalachian State University faculty members in the Walker College of Business have received the college’s 2012 Sywassink Award for Excellence.

The bacterium that causes cholera has been a bit of a mystery to scientists since it was first identified in the mid-1800s. Dr. Ece Karatan, an associate professor in Appalachian State University’s Department of Biology, hopes to unravel some of those mysteries, and in the process find ways to help mitigate the effects of the potentially deadly disease most common in Third World countries and areas with poor sanitation.

Dr. Timothy J. Smith’s project grew out of a Fulbright grant Smith received in 2001 to conduct dissertation field work in Sololá, where he studied the customs, traditions and practices of the town’s indigenous government.

Ground-penetrating radar and an electrical resistivity system are being used to confirm the location of African-American graves in the Boone Cemetery.

This past summer, 16 students from Appalachian State University traveled to Ecuador to study indigenous activism and language in the Upper Amazon for three weeks. They came away with a greater appreciation of the impact of oil in the Amazon and its affect on the lives of the indigenous people.

Fifteen secondary-level biology teachers were selected by the Fulbright Commission to attend a six-week training program at Appalachian in July and August of 2007. They spent four weeks strengthening their skills in science, educational technology, teaching and English. Then, they spent two weeks applying what they learned by team teaching in Watauga County Schools. While in the public schools, they also shared information about their native culture with children in social studies and other non-science classes.

Appalachian State University has received a $124,782 grant from the U.S. Department of State through the International Institute of the USDA Graduate School to conduct a six-week training program for Pakistani secondary-level biology teachers.