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![Book: Problem Plants of Ohio by Megan E. Griffiths-Ward, Melissa A. Davis, and David Ward](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/huge_thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/Griffiths-fc_0.jpg?VersionId=uks9ATs0L71z3qVBRkkIJu.XthH5XUAn&h=d3ef1f40&itok=eo0wbV-W)
![Book: Problem Plants of Ohio by Megan E. Griffiths-Ward, Melissa A. Davis, and David Ward](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/Griffiths-fc_0.jpg?VersionId=Y3hbDS.YU2XOMEpE8enRF1K8dyMwYRKh&h=d3ef1f40&itok=W-nta750)
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![Asiatic Bittersweet, photo credit to Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org Asiatic Bittersweet, photo credit to Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/87-CELORB-5-fruit_0.jpg?VersionId=F1WwJVgHZuWqU14.QhOj85_9rO6a8laP)
Three faculty members in Kent State University's Department of Biological Sciences recently co-authored a 384-page hardcover book, “Problem Plants of Ohio,” published by the Kent State University Press.
![Andrea Fitzgibbon (PhD student) and Nick Johnson (research technician)](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/huge_thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/Costello2.jpg?VersionId=tIFI4sLLC8_9wTprkwLTC6GY54MA2Qvi&h=0e14babd&itok=xCUuZmz0)
![Andrea Fitzgibbon (PhD student) and Nick Johnson (research technician)](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/Costello2.jpg?VersionId=QJACWpqU_UtYZe3UIWuEcIS.g_vji1sU&h=0e14babd&itok=z3_ZAWYX)
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![Dave Costello, Ph.D., (left), associate professor in Kent State University’s Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Devan Mathie (right), an undergraduate honors student, stand in Wahoo Ditch in Ravenna, Ohio.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/01.10.19%2520Photo%2520of%2520Dr.%2520Dave%2520Costello%2520and%2520student.jpg?VersionId=AQ85zg7qaGWAoK7vEV.CnYOUWekftMTK)
Kent State’s David Costello is passionate about identifying what trace metals lie within Northeast Ohio’s streams and what the effects of these metals are on the surrounding environment. Costello, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, received a $718,…
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![Old Woman Creek: one of the wetlands that is part of H2Ohio Initiative Wetland Monitoring Program. Researchers will assess how effective wetland restoration, construction, and management projects are at removing polluting nutrients from inflowing water. Old Woman Creek: one of the wetlands that is part of H2Ohio Initiative Wetland Monitoring Program. Researchers will assess how effective wetland restoration, construction, and management projects are at removing polluting nutrients from inflowing water.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/OldWomanCreek_1500w_0.jpg?VersionId=mUp6CFKpbQZ5Jc9ZVm.DCzJ0gDorCCi_)
Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program Lead for Lake Erie and Aquatic Research Network (LEARN). The group will assess the effectiveness…
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![Chelsea Smith (left) and Jordyn Stoll (right) were selected for a Department of Energy Graduate Student Research Program Chelsea Smith (left) and Jordyn Stoll (right) were selected for a Department of Energy Graduate Student Research Program](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/stollandsmith_1500w_0.jpg?VersionId=SFIFIPlG9wfv1bwSrtHbNQU0.ImpWBuC)
Two Kent State University students, in the College of Arts and Sciences, were among 62 students from 50 different U.S. universities recently selected for funding by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program.
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![Autism Research is represented by an image of the brain](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/brain_0.jpg?VersionId=ixZ4VhSwfw4P3TIw.fRfqViXRhX7sjYi)
April’s observance as Autism Awareness Month is coming to a close, but research into the whys and hows of autism is always ongoing at Kent State University.
Michael N. Lehman, Ph.D., director of the Brain Health Research Institute at Kent State, said the university supports…
![BioBlack tests a swatch in a beaker filled with tannins](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/huge_thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/BioBlackPhoto1.jpeg?VersionId=jtjOtJkY5mCbUYAD7.HRvcRUCAU1yi5F&h=648d34f5&itok=WN_aCT4F)
![BioBlack tests a swatch in a beaker filled with tannins](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/BioBlackPhoto1.jpeg?VersionId=fNv8vBoHmrn1uKhLpLg2Xll7i8Q6fdFL&h=648d34f5&itok=pUs5QoyG)
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![BioBlack Team Poses with their bacteria-dyed tote bad and dress dyed with bacterium](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/BioBlackHeader.jpg?VersionId=9qRiJTRoJPi809il3k4Tiord666rTi4q)
The words “biology” and “design” might not typically intertwine; however, Kent State University’s Biodesign Challenge course was created to challenge the idea that the two separate disciplines could not collaborate.
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![Gemma Casadesus Smith, Ph.D. (right), professor of biological sciences at Kent State University, works with a student in her lab.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/gemma3.jpg?VersionId=Eig_PgJr7waYKcFG_6rN6rW4YsF2GIX2)
Once it begins, Alzheimer’s disease progresses systematically and aggressively, attacking victims on multiple fronts. But scientists studying the disease operate the same way – like Kent State University’s own Gemma Casadesus Smith, Ph.D.
![](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/huge_thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/David%20Ward.jpg?VersionId=lV3HSz._r7_SuuXdh83joX3HECmoXxeb&h=9c1fd6af&itok=YkjMrlsk)
![](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/thumbnail/public/article_thumbnail/David%20Ward.jpg?VersionId=nooAZBMJMgiTjt3HzbDc3Og9eiRgZuYb&h=9c1fd6af&itok=fMH-0K5N)
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![Close up image of an Eastern Red Cedar branch with berries. (Photo by Sheila Brown, publicdomainpictures.net)](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/juniper-berries-close-up.jpg?VersionId=xhxK0P0ymPkHEqfn7olElGRk9.0z3Xih)
The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year, $914,000 grant to Kent State University to lead a collaborative research project to study how and at what rate the geographically most widespread native conifer in the eastern United States, the Eastern Red Cedar tree…
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![Gracen Gerbig (left) and Hayley Shasteen (right), both Kent State University students in the College of Arts and Sciences, recently received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship Gracen Gerbig (left) and Hayley Shasteen (right), both Kent State University students in the College of Arts and Sciences, recently received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/Gerbig_Shasteen_1500w.jpg?VersionId=C3AGcQ5tUV9Dp3cgTgFZBXZHC7Jyz_Sq)
Gracen Gerbig and Hayley Shasteen, both Kent State University students in the College of Arts and Sciences, recently received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, considered the nation’s premier undergraduate award in the natural sciences, math and engineering. They were…
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![Raissa Mendonca gets a sample of the water at West Branch State Park as part of a biogeochemistry project at Kent State University. (Photo taken by Jim Maxwell) Raissa Mendonca gets a sample of the water at West Branch State Park as part of a biogeochemistry project at Kent State University. (Photo taken by Jim Maxwell)](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/Raissa_watersample_1500w.jpg?VersionId=mTdo37lRdV4LPK_z6DM75jCiyKPZZdOV)
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…