Environmental Science and Design Research Institute
Though she had an interest in science at an early age, Raissa Mendonca had no idea she would end up over 4,000 miles away from her hometown of Recife, Brazil studying and doing award-winning ecological research in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. She probably did not expect to be wearing a bug net over her head in Manitoba either. Now, while pursuing her Ph.D. at Kent State, Mendonca conducts research in Costello’s lab that focuses on ecotoxicology and biogeochemistry and how environmental disturbances affect aquatic communities and ecological processes. One of her recent projects resulted in her being first author on a peer-reviewed journal article and earned her a $5,000 award to continue pursuing her research.
Kent State University has once again received recognition from Tree Campus USA, an Arbor Day Foundation program, for its commitment to effective urban forest management. This is now the 11th consecutive year that Kent State has been awarded this honor. The university will celebrate the designation along with its annual Arbor Day events on April 25.
Scott Sheridan, Ph.D., professor and chairperson of Kent State University’s Department of Geography, recently conducted a study on abnormal weather patterns published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, a publication of the American Geophysical Union.
City rats are unlikely to be on anyone's list of favorite animals, but researching exactly how they are problematic for public health provided a unique opportunity this past summer for Gracen Gerbig, Kent State junior majoring in Cellular and Molecular Biology.
Kent State University Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Ph.D., confirmed the possibility that increasing amounts of road salt could potentially end up in Ohio’s water supply, but it is very unlikely.
The work of 153 ecological researchers from 40 countries, including Kent State University Assistant Professor Dave Costello, Ph.D., from the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, has revealed new findings on the effect of climatic factors on river-based ecosystems.
