Biology & Environmental Sciences, Department of

By: Cindy O'DonnellIt’s been there 20 years — off the beaten path, away from the spotlight, in the basement of Herty Hall. It’s not celebrated or revered as much as it should be, except by those privileged to walk through its doors.Yet, it’s one of Georgia College & State University’s biggest outreaches to the public. The William P. Wall Museum of Natural History has given free tours to more than 96,000 visitors since opening in November of 2004. This includes more than 37,000 visits...

Not threatened by a typhoon promising to skirt the country, Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Kristine White led a team of students to study the coral reefs of Okinawa, Japan, this summer.Amid the pristine, blue-green waters were fish and corals of many colors, all part of vibrant reefs full of life.“I love the water, I love the ocean, and so being there was my favorite part,” said senior biology major Kali Holierhoek, who has a concentration in marine biology. “Swimming around and...

For Georgia College & State University senior Sydney Irons, persistence paid off in the form of a summer internship with Red Top Mountain State Park in Acworth, Georgia—part of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. This year was Irons' second with the state park system and her first with a new title: naturalist intern.“I’m responsible for creating public programs and interacting with the public,” Irons, an environmental science major, said. “Whenever someone’s got a question,...

 Since the dawn of time, people have feared, fought and sought to control fire.According to USA Today, fires are currently burning in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Just last week, 5,000 people fled the west Canadian town of Jasper. Before summer began—almost 90,000 acres of Californian grassland burned—15 times more than a year ago.Even in Russia’s far east, a jaw-dropping 12.8 million acres of forest today are being scorched.Fortunately, no wildfires...

Most internships are pretty cool. They give students hands-on experience and a chance to see if a career field really suits them.But John Hollis’ three-part internship was much more than that. It was an adventure. A real expedition—trekking past hot springs; vast fields of spikey purple flowers, forests of towering pines, barren ravines, rocky-cliff beaches and spectacular waterfalls. He even visited the volcanic eruption site that caused the town of Grindavík to be evacuated in Nov...

Not only did Junior Ivan Yuan Chu get offered an REU this summer—a Research Experiences for Undergraduates from the National Science Foundation—he got six.The biology major from Hazelhurst, Georgia, chose the 10-week, 2024 Bio REU Summer Undergraduate Research Program at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana to work on possible pancreatic cancer treatments. He chose Notre Dame, because the atmosphere there was much like his experience at Georgia College & State University—rigorous...

The variety of plants surrounding Athens, Georgia, are well documented and cataloged. This isn’t the case for Baldwin County and Middle Georgia.But students and faculty in the herbarium at Georgia College & State University are working to change that. “The majority of our samples are from Georgia, and mostly Baldwin County,” said Dr. Gretchen Ionta, associate professor of environmental science and current curator of Georgia College’s herbarium. “Around Athens there’s a ton of herbarium...

 Some people love the red-eyed buzzing critters. Others can’t wait for them to go.But for soil ecologists like Dr. Bruce Snyder, these last few weeks are a waning opportunity to learn more about periodical cicadas and the lasting impact they leave behind.The clock is ticking. Soon, millions of cicadas from the Great Southern Brood XIX will go silent. They won’t be back until 2037.“When they’re gone, they’re gone,” said Snyder recently, as he checked multiple wire cages and netted traps...