Graves Lecture Series to include topics of botany; graduate school prep
CHADRON – The spring Graves Lecture Series at Chadron State College will begin March 19. The speakers will be Dr. Susan Rolfsmeier and senior Emmanuella Tchona of Benin in West Africa. Both events will be in the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public.
Rolfsmeier’s presentation is titled From the Badlands to Lake Baikal: Unraveling a Botanical Mystery. She will discuss how a simple question about two Great Plains flowering plants in the forget-me-not family led her to remote western landscapes, molecular systematics, and eventually Siberia.
Her presentation will include information about the genus Lappula (stick seeds), a plant group that has tiny blue flowers and spiny nutlets for fruits. Rolfsmeier has a bachelor’s degree in biology, a master’s degree in museum studies, and a doctorate in plant systematics. She is a part-time academic advisor with Project Strive TRiO.
On April 2, Tchona will present A Path to Graduate School: Research Opportunities offered at CSC. Tchona is a senior who plans to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.
Tchona is an Nebraska Institutional Development Award Program (IDeA) Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) scholar. As such, she had the opportunity for field research ranging from medicinal and organic chemistry to biochemistry and cancer biology. After graduate school she plans to pursue a career in scientific research.
She is also a tutor in math and science, speaks fluent French, and enjoys cooking. She has been the President of the International Club for three years.
Category: Campus News, Graves Lecture Series