Michelle Clinesmith Presents at Buena Vista University's Thirteenth Annual Scholars Day

2017 May 1

Buena Vista University's (BVU) thirteenth annual Scholars Day was held Saturday, April 29. The event provided students from all disciplines an opportunity to present their best original research, academic posters, artistic creations and performances to their peers, professors and the public.

This year's Scholars Day event featured 63 presentations from 120 students, exploring topics from literature and business to science and history.

Michelle Clinesmith, a senior biology major from Lake View , was one of the students who participated. Clinesmith's presentation was titled "The potential effects of glyphosate on soil CO2 levels," and the project's abstract is as follows:

Understanding soil health in relationship to microbial abundance is important to ecosystem sustainability, especially within agricultural regions. Microbial activity is one of the most important determiners of soil health, and glyphosates, the most heavily-applied agricultural herbicide, may have a negative effect on the activity of soil microbes. This research project compared the potential effects of glyphosates on microbial activity among soil samples taken from glyphosate-treated and non-glyphosate-treated farmland. Data collection included the use of a LI-COR LI-6400XT, which can be used to measure mmol CO2mol-1 levels in soils. Three CO2 levels were measured at each site; one site which had not been treated with glyphosate and one which was routinely treated with glyphosate. Results showed an average of 429.5 mmol CO2mol-1 for the non-treated sites and 477.4 mmol CO2mol-1 for the treated sites. Excel Student t-test results reported a p value of 0.04 (a = 0.05), indicating a statistically significant difference between the non-treated and treated soils. Although a significant difference resulted, this study found higher average CO2 levels in the treated sites when compared to the non-treated sites. Larger sample sizes would need to be analyzed to support these findings.

The keynote speaker for the event was Adrienne B. Haynes, a 2010 BVU graduate, who is an attorney and business woman who specializes in helping entrepreneurs develop sustainable infrastructure and business practices. Haynes is the managing partner of SEED Law, a business law firm, and owner of SEED Collective, a consultancy. She is the founder of the nonprofit, the Construction Business Institute, and is active in both the Multicultural Business Coalition and Black Female Attorneys network. Haynes is also a member of the BVU National Alumni Association Board of Directors.

"This is a special event because it gives students' a real-life platform where they can showcase their success beyond exams and grades," said Dr. Steven Mills, assistant professor of Spanish and chair of the events committee who organized the event. "With a Scholars Day presentation, students take their hard work and form it into a new medium or method for discussion. They become experts on their topic and then stand in front of peers and become teachers about what they have done and how it adds to the greater corpus of knowledge in their field."

This year marked the first time Scholars Day and the annual Student Recognition Dinner - which was held later that evening - were combined.

"For the first time, those who presented as part of Scholars Day received an invitation to the dinner and were recognized alongside all the others receiving honors and awards for academic excellence," added Mills. "They deserved to be a part of the celebration of hard work and dedication."