Biological Sciences

Kent State University students make their way to the Integrated Sciences Building on the Kent Campus.

A research group in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University is searching for potential treatments for men who have suffered spinal cord injuries and hope to regain bladder control and sexual functions.

Asiatic Bittersweet, photo credit to Leslie J. Mehrhoff, University of Connecticut, Bugwood.org

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.

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 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 recognized by President Beverly Warren at the Kent State Board of Trustees meeting on May 9.

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)

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.