Volume 2. Issue 1
Contents:
[Page] 1 Dean\u27s Message[Page] 2 -3 Awards & Recognition[Page] 4 Student Club Spotlight: BMGSA[Page] 5 Open PRAIRIE Data[Page] 6 Research Spotlight: Dr. Michael Hildreth[Page] 7 Celebrating the Life of Dr. Augerhttps://openprairie.sdstate.edu/consci_pubs/1001/thumbnail.jp

Natural Sciences, College Of

English

Volume 2, Issue 6.
Page 1 Dean\u27s MessagePage 2-6 Remembering the Life of Dr. Pengra and Celebrating His legacy for Entire Generations to Come.https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/consci_pubs/1016/thumbnail.jp

Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange

NEWSLETTERC O L L E G E  O F  N A T U R A L  S C I E N C E S  / /  V O L U M E  2  / /  I S S U E  6Dean's MessageDR. CHARLENE WOLF-HALLWe hope you enjoy this special issue ofour college newsletter featuring the lifeof Dr. Pengra. He was an outstandingProfessor who had profound influenceon the successful career paths of manyformer students.I too was a beneficiary of the Dr. Pengraexperience.  When I first came to SDSUas an undergraduate I knew I wanted tomajor in an area of science, but wasunsure of which way to go.  I wasfortunate to take Dr. Pengra’s generalmicrobiology course, was hooked, anddeclared my major in microbiology.  Dr.Pengra was an outstanding teacher andmade the topic of microbiology sorelevant and interesting. Hisinfluence, along with that of otherwonderful SDSU faculty, led me on mycareer path starting with mymicrobiology degree from SDSU. Now, a few decades later, it is such atremendous honor and pleasure toget to know the amazing alumni andretired faculty who together are TeamPengra. They have created awonderful endowed scholarship. Whatan inspiration for how a group ofprofessionals can come together andleave a lasting legacy that will impactstudents for decades to come. Dr.Pengra’s incredible positive influencecarries on. Are you inspired?Students receive hands-on microbiology training and research opportunities at SDState.       What happens when a passionategroup of alumni reconnect with oldclassmates and rally around theirexperiences with an influentialfaculty member? Something trulyspecial comes together, not only forthe benefit of future students, but alsofor the alumni themselves.     “Team Pengra”, a self-given namefor the cohort of SDState alum, wasborn out of “The Pengra Experience.”You may be asking yourself, “What orwho is ‘Pengra’?” and Team Pengrawould be more than happy toenlighten you! After all, it’s one of theirfavorite topics.   Dr. Robert (Bob) Pengra taughtMicrobiology at SDState from 1957until 1991. During his time here, inaddition to teaching, he mentoredhundreds of students in a deeplyprofound way before retiring as Headof the Bacteriology Department. And,as anyone who saw him aroundcampus would be quick to tell you, hewas well known for his colorful, ever-present bowties. (Most of which hesewed himself!)     “He always wore a bowtie, and hesung in a Brookings choir. He was veryactive in the community,” MyronFalken ’75 recalled. “And he also worea cheese-cutter hat,” Ven Lengkeek ’74added. “Ron Shave ‘71 and I were up atDeer Field Lake, in the middle of theBlack Hills, in a little trailer house inthe middle of this campground, andplaceholderBob was going to come out for theweekend to do some work with us. Wellhe shows up, and he’s got on bluejeans, cowboy boots, a cowboy hat,and a bowtie!”   I sat down (via Zoom, as everyonedoes these days) with some coremembers of Team Pengra to learnabout how they’re hoping to linkgenerations together through thePengra connection. Regarding theirefforts, Lengkeek explained, “It hasbrought this whole group backtogether, and there are others of us outthere someplace. Some we’ve probablykept in touch with, some we haven’t.But I think any of us would get on aZoom like this and it would be likewe’ve never left after 40 or 50 years.Bob Pengra is the heart that wholeconnection, the center part of it.”   The hour-long chat was filled withsmiles, laughs, and crazy stories.(Some of the stories are a little too wildto be published, but I can report thateveryone I talked to still has all thefingers they started with!) Sillinessaside, the recurring theme was a deepsense of gratitude and respect for Dr.Pengra. He was clearly influential.     When they were students at SDState,Steece, Falken, Lengkeek, Shave, andTom Schneeweis ‘75 put their criticalthinking to the test, working out issuestogether.  “I would say that he [Pengra] wasinstructor, and he was also a teacher.An instructor being that he taughtMicrobiology classes which we all took,but he was a teacher in that he taughtus how to use these skills for our futurework,” Lengkeek explained. Pengrataught his students how to research,how to write, how to be better people.“He was also a mentor, meaning thathe gave us advice on how to do thingsand showed us directions to go. I don’tthink he ever pushed us into thesedirections, he just gave us directionsand let us follow wherever life took us.And I think we all have to agree,we’re pretty happy with where lifetook us. If it weren’t for Dr. Pengra, Idon’t think any of us would be wherewe’re at today.”     Bob Todd ‘67 is another Pengra alumwho has joined the project. Pengramentored Todd in both undergraduateand graduate school, and Todd wouldeventually go on to serve as aDepartment Head at SDState from1982 – 1989. “Pengra encouraged hisstudents to reach out and expand theiracademic horizons by participating inlocal, regional, and nationalmicrobiology meetings,” Todd said. Herecalls driving to California in 1966placholderRemembering the Life of Dr. PengraAND CELEBRATING HIS LEGACY FOR GENERATIONS TO COMEPENGRA - PAGE 1"He was really teaching us tobe critical thinkers.  It servedus very well when we gotout, in whatever direction wewent.”  -Rick Steece ’73with Pengra and two other graduatestudents to attend one of thosemeetings.     As this project began to develop, wecontacted Bruce Pengra, Bob’s son.  Regarding mentorship, he said, “Iknow that Dad felt this same wayabout his mentors at SDSU and UWMadison.  In particular, Dr. Berry whowas the head of Bacteriology when dadcame to SDSU.  He told the story,several times, about how ‘Doc Berry’encouraged him to apply to the PhDprogram in Madison when he wasfinishing his master’s degree.  He toldhim, ‘Bob if you get your PhD inMadison there’ll be a job for you hereat SDSU when you’re finished.’ DocBerry gave him the confidence andguidance that later his own graduatestudents got from him.”major to microbiology. Now she’s Deanof your college over there and it justshows how, you know, there’s not verymany students who get this experiencein an introductory class. Well, ithappened to Rick Steece, too!”     Recalling what would be his first ofmany courses with Pengra, Steecesaid, “When he started talking, I reallyhadn’t heard this stuff before aboutmicrobes and bacteria and fungus andparasites.  With all this stuff he wastalking about, a light switch justwent ‘click’, like a big beam comingdown out of the sky, and I said, ‘Thisstuff is cool!  This is for me.’  Thatwas the point where I really knew Iwanted to be a microbiologist. Ididn’t know what or where, I didn’tknow a lot about micro because it wasmy first course in it, but that was BobPengra that did that to me, and hisenthusiasm.”    Here, Bruce Pengra added, “Dadreally liked teaching the Micro 101class, as well as the higher levelclasses. He used the old film slides forhis lectures (this was long beforePowerPoint) and my sisters and Iappeared in several of those slides.The mark from my small poxvaccination was shown to hundreds offirst year microbiology students, aswas my big sister drinking a glass ofpasteurized milk.”   All four alumni are proud of theeducation they received at SDState,and a lot of that had to do with Pengra.“I did my bachelors and masters atplaceholderBrookings, and then went to theUniversity of MN for my MPH and PhD.And I have to say that the education Igot from Brookings and theMicrobiology Department was ahigher quality than the education Ireceived at the University ofMinnesota, which has one of the topPublic Health schools in the nation,”Falken said. “You could put oureducation up against any otherinstitution,” Steece added.  The rigor of education helpedSchneeweis land a job out of gradschool. “When I went from SouthDakota State to North Carolina StateUniversity, the micro courses werenowhere near as good as what I had atSouth Dakota State. Bob introducedme to Dr. Gerald Elkan at NorthCarolina State University, who waswell-known internationally inmicrobiology and nitrogen fixation.The first thing Gerry Elkan said to mewas, ‘I understand that you can isolateRhizobium from the roots of nativelegumes.’ And I could. I guess I thoughteverybody could. But he couldn’t findanybody.”   “His research group was doingmetabolism and genetics but heneeded someone with the experience Ihad learned at South Dakota State,”Schneeweis continued. “So I directlygot a job because Dr. Pengra took meto a meeting and introduced me to mynext mentor. This is one of the manyadvantages of going to a small school.It's not the size of the dog in the fight,placeholder  Remembering the Life of Dr. PengraPENGRA - PAGE 2"It’s safe to say that thecareers of many studentswere heavily swayed by ThePengra Experience. It’s hardto comprehend the extent ofhis influence and the numberof generations he touched."-Tom Schneeweis '75"In fact, I can prove that,” Schneeweiscontinued. “In April, I got a hand-written note from Dean Wolf-Hall. Itsaid that she too was an alum of SouthDakota State University and that shetook Dr. Pengra for generalmicrobiology. And, she switched her  placeholderit's the size of the fight in the dog. One-on-one personal experiences. Thirtyfour years later I retired from NorthCarolina State University.”    I could fill pages and pages withmore quotes from the team aboutPengra’s teaching, but I was intriguedby the non-academic factor as well.Just what made The Pengra Experienceso special, aside from the standouteducation? “He was a friend to all ofus. He was definitely our mentor, butwhen you were no longer in anacademic situation, he was still afriend and we had a lot of funtogether,” Lengkeek explained.and there were no brakes on thetrailer. We went 300 miles with medriving and with him sitting, with twobare wires, and every time we came toan intersection he would put themtogether to put the brakes on thetrailer.”    Todd recalled one day in the labwhen Pengra came up next to him andstomped his feet, before asking Todd ifhe noticed anything. Todd didn’t, andthen Pengra pointed out that he hadnew shoes. The kicker? They wererejects from the manufacturer; onewas size eight and the other size nine.Pengra said he didn’t even notice thedifference!      Pengra had a generous side as well.Todd explained there was a time whenplastic petri dishes began to replaceglass dishes, but Pengra didn’t want tomake the switch because keeping theglass dishes – which needed to bewashed – gave students a job to do andhelped to keep them involved in thelab. Steece also remembered asummer when he needed work andPengra hired him to paint his garageand house, even though they didn’tseem to really need it.      Pengra volunteered with Habitat forHumanity, where he became friendswith Lengkeek’s father-in-law. “Myfather-in-law always said, ‘He wasvery proud of you guys’ and I said,‘Yeah, and I’m very proud of what Dr.Pengra did for us,’” Lengkeek added.“We, as families, made friends as well.We were together all the time duringplaceholderthe school days, but during the afterhours, we had a lot of fun doing thingsthat we did as families. And we’vealways kept in touch, over all theseyears.”      Another piece in this Pengra puzzleis Ron Shave, who was mentionedearlier. Shave managed the generalmicrobiology teaching labs, workingclosely with Pengra and with thestudents. “We were working withRon, and hunting with Ron, andfishing with Ron,” Schneeweis said.“Probably some of the best days ofmy life were spent in Brookings.”      He continued, “After doing researchwith Gerry Elkan for 14 years I becamesupervisor for the generalmicrobiology teaching labs at NCState. I knew how to supervise theselabs because I had watched Ron Shave.Ron knew how to make these labs workevery time in every section. Peopledidn’t know quite how I was doingthings in these teaching labs becauseRon Shave was a magician.”   When Lengkeek first started hisgraduate program at SDState, heshared some space near Shave’s office.   “Ron would always pack his lunches,and it was always amazing to see whatRon had packed, like fried muskrat.One day I can hear him grumping andfumbling around in his office so Ilooked in said, ‘What’s wrong?’ Hesaid, ‘My soup’s cold.’ I said, ‘Hmm,we’ve got Bunsen burners in here,right?’ ‘Yeah, I bet that would heat upmy soup.’  Well, it did.” Remembering the Life of Dr. PengraPENGRA - PAGE 3“As Department Head, he was still ahumble person, and he was quitethrifty,” Falken said. “As an example,we were going out to the AntelopeRange Station to bring the researchtrailer home. So Bob decided we’regoing to hook up with this old truck,placeholder     One thing led to another, and soonthe burners were being used formarshmallows, hotdogs, and burgers.This was of course a secret fromPengra, who taught microbiology overthe noon hour … or so it was, untilclass ended early one day and Pengrawalked in. “His first thing was, ‘Howcome I smell hotdogs?’ Ron said, ‘Youknow, that last Rhizobium you had suresmelled a lot like hotdogs.’ And Iremember the look Pengra would giveus all, that cockeyed kind of look,thinking, ‘I don’t believe this, butmaybe I should?’ type of thing,”Lengkeek said with a smile. “He kind oflooked around, and the Bunsenburners were still out and everythingelse … as he walked out, he said,‘Next time I’ll bring the pie.’”      placeholder Another facet of The PengraExperience which can’t be neglected isgoing green. As Schneeweis explains it,“We were green before it was cool.Now everyone wants to be green,well, we were doing that years ago.”              As a student, he worked with Pengraon symbiotic biological nitrogenfixation in legumes. “Basically, it’sgreen because these plants team up toform a symbiotic relationship withspecific bacteria in soil to provide theirown source of available nitrogen fromair. It’s the alchemy of air.”  And there’s the story of Pengra’selectric car. After running out ofacetylene in the lab, Pengra broughtSchneeweis to his garage to get morefrom home. While there, Schneeweisnoticed a tiny car of Pengra’s; an oldplaceholder Nash Metropolitan. “He said, ‘Let meshow you something,’ and he opensthe hood, and there wasn’t an enginein there. It was all car batteries. He hadmade an electric car. He had gotten aWorld War II surplus motor from abomber … I don’t know where themotor was, maybe under the car or inthe trunk.”     “I was curious about this because itwas the first electric car I’d ever seen,so I asked him about it because I’dnever seen it in the parking lot. And hesaid, ‘Well, it works. The only thing is, ittakes about 3 blocks to come up tospeed, and then I come to a stop sign,and then I gotta come another 3 blocksto get up to speed.’ So he didn’t drive itvery much. But he liked to tinker withstuff like that.”Remembering the Life of Dr. PengraPENGRA - PAGE 4   Since then, the group has beenworking towards getting thescholarship endowed and theyrecently achieved this financial goal.This means that funds will beavailable to students for perpetuity,so that the Pengra Connection canspan the generations. With thegroup’s strong South Dakota ties inmind, the intended beneficiaries arestudents from within the state and, ofcourse, who are majoring inMicrobiology. Currently, the “Robert PengraScholarship in Microbiology” is fundedto a level that awards one scholarshipper year. Team Pengra would love toaward additional scholarships in thefuture, to further honor Dr. Pengra. Ifyou have been touched by the PengraConnection, whether through hisplaceholder     The reminiscing would've continuedanother several hours if time allowed,and this article would certainly bepages longer, if space allowed. TeamPengra had given me a good sense ofwho Dr. Pengra was, but what aboutthe future? What is this team workingon, now?   The answer to that starts in 2013.Schneeweis was back in Brookings,visiting campus and the Department ofBiology & Microbiology, and wassurprised to find out that noscholarships had been set up inPengra’s name; he had been aninfluential part of so many students’lives. At that time, the core group ofSchneeweis, Shave, Lengkeek, Steece,and Falken came together to establisha scholarship, which was first awardedto a student in 2014.classes or his legacy at SDState, youare encouraged to donate here.    Ian Hastings, current undergraduatemajoring in Microbiology andBiotechnology, is the most recentscholarship recipient. "I would like tooffer a heartfelt thank you to thedonors of this scholarship, because oftheir help I'm able to take things instride and continue on towards mygoals," Hastings said. "Having ascholarship takes off some stressregarding the financials of school,allowing me to focus more on mycoursework and perform better inmy field."    Financials aside, Team Pengra is alsoa place for gathering and iscontinuously growing in membership.Dr. John Parsons, who served SDSU for33 years from 1968 - 2001 and was theDepartment Head of the Dairy Sciencebefore retiring, recently joined theTeam's Zoom calls. Dr. Parsons has animpressive track record when it comesto fundraising and leadership and isserving Team Pengra as a trustedadvisor in this effort to grow thePengra scholarship's impact onstudents.      Other alumni have begun joining theeffort, whether through donations orchatting during the monthly Zoomcalls. If you'd also like to join, emailMarissa.Marshall@sdsufoundation.orgto get on the list. Team Pengra wouldlove to reminisce with you and expandthe Pengra Connection!--Layne MansonRemembering the Life of Dr. PengraPENGRA - PAGE 5“When [past Pengra] students see this, hopefully they’regoing to think, ‘You know, I really enjoyed being a student atSouth Dakota State. And I can’t be a student anymore, thosedays are gone. If I can’t be on Main Street on Saturday night,maybe I can give some money to some kid who grew up on afarm somewhere who doesn’t have a lot of money. And theywould be able to go out with their friends down to George’sPizza or whatever is downtown these days and have a couplebeers and socialize,’” Schneeweis said, describing the spirit ofthe scholarship.   “These people that you’re seeing at one of the brewpubsdowntown, you’re going to be seeing those guys 50 yearsfrom now.They’re going to be your friends, forever. And if Ican be a facilitator for that, and make that happen, it’s worthevery cent of it to me.”

College of Natural Sciences Newsletter, June 2021

NEWSLETTERC O L L E G E  O F  N A T U R A L  S C I E N C E S  / /  V O L U M E  2  / /  I S S U E  1Dean's MessageDR. CHARLENE WOLF-HALLHappy New Year!  2021 brings in manychanges, and our college also continuesto change and grow.  Thanks for all youdo for the college.   Congratulations to Associate Dean ofAcademics, Matt Miller, who becamethe Assistant Department Head forChemistry & Biochemistry on January22nd.  Along with that change, GregHeiberger’s role changes from AssociateDean for Student Success to AssociateDean for Academics and StudentSuccess.   Please be sure to check out our newDean’s Office space in Avera 131.  We will have the winning art pieces fromthe Science as Art competition ondisplay soon.  I was amazed by thetalent expressed by allthe submitters for this competition.  We will do it again next year.   Spring semester typically feels verybusy and like it goes by very fast.  Wecontinue to be vigilant to control therisks of COVID-19.  Keep up the greatwork you are doing and know that youare appreciated for your efforts.   Before you know it, we will bepreparing for commencement.  Forthose in their final semester at SDSU,savor those moments that make thisplace special while you can.  Enjoy thebeautiful winter scenery, learn,succeed, experience, and stay warm.By Dr. Ruanbao Zhou1st place faculty/staff entry in the "Science as Art" CompetitionCelebrating WorkAnniversaries---December 2020January 2021Mike Hildreth - 34 yearsFathi Halaweish - 25 yearsTerry McCutcheon - 22 yearsAndrew Ellis - 19 yearsRobert McTaggart - 17 yearsJess Mediger - 14 yearsHeike Bücking - 12 yearsLiping Gu - 12 yearsSamson Smith - 8 yearsFangjun Li - 7 yearsCatherine Lockwood - 6 yearsWilliam Matson - 4 yearsCharlene Wolf-Hall - 2 yearsChen Huang - 2 yearsGrants Awarded in CNS NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2020Parashu Kharel, PI  •  Physics  •  SDSM&T / National Aeronautics &Space Admin  •  Designing Rare-earth Free Nano-Composite MagnetXiaoyang Zhang, PI  •  Geography & Geospatial Sciences  •  SDSM&T/ National Aeronautics & Space Admin  •  Near real-time wildfiresmoke detection and monitoring from satellite imagery usingartificial intelligenceBrian Logue, PI  •  Chemistry & Biochemistry  •  SRI International /National Institutes of Health  •  The analysis of DMTS from rat &swine blood & tissue for evaluation of DMTS as a cyanide antidoteHeike Bücking, PI  •  Biology & Microbiology  •  North Carolina StateUniversity / US Department of Agriculture  •  Impact of thearbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis on the physiological & molecularresponses of mycorrhizal plants to potassium deprivationAwards & RecognitionCongratulations to JaimeLopez-Mosqueda, Biology &Microbiology, for his invitationto serve on an NIH studysection for R01 grants!Congratulations to Matt Miller,Chemistry & Biochemistry, whowas named AssistantDepartment Head! His new rolebegan on January 22nd. 2019-20 OutstandingChapter Award2020-21 ChapterResearch AwardThe Society of PhysicsStudents recently earnedtwo more awards,continuing a highlyproductive winning streak!  See more awardson page 3!Hankui Zhang, Geography &Geospatial Sciences, received thecollege's first-ever WadsworthResearch Endowment Award!  Hewas chosen for his significantcontributions in the field ofremote sensing.Media Coverage of the College SDSU Scientist uses satelliteimages to track growingseasonsScience matters in policydecision-makingSDSU Society of PhysicsStudents chapter repeats asoutstanding chapterRecord-setting wildfireseason drastically increasesemissionsWHAT?  This year, the challenge was to create an originalpiece that's complementary to the USGS EROS printbelow.  The Geography & Geospatial SciencesDepartment generously donated the printing andframing to help kick start the contest and the new office !1st - Ruanbao Zhou2nd - Kevin Cope1st - Sarah Engels2nd - Derek BrandisWHO?  There were two categories,with 1st and 2nd place awarded ineach by popular vote.  Faculty / Staff winners:Student winners:To see all 10 entries and theircaptions, visit the album on ourFacebook page.  WHY?  The College of Natural Sciences is in its secondyear of existence and just moved into a permanent spacein the Avera Health & Science Center!  We needed help todecorate the new, bare walls.  The hope is that the spacewill inspire all who enter to be come scientists.This will become an annual contest, with winning piecesrotating in and out of the Dean's Office.  Those artistschoose whether to have their piece returned to them, orauctioned off as a tax deductible donation at a yearlyHobo Week event for alumni and donors.1st Annual Science as Art CompetitionWelcome, Caleb!Parents:  Karly (Biology & Microbiology)and Jeremiah AckermannWeight:  7lbs, 13ozLength:  20.5 inchesJanuary 5th, 2021Student Club Spotlight: BMGSABIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGY GRADUATE STUDENTS' ASSOCIATIONThe BMGSA was established in 2013 by a group of graduate students whose goalwas to form a bridge among students and create an extraordinary scientificcommunity.  Today, the club is open to all undergraduate and graduate studentsin the Biology & Microbiology Department!  This semester, the club is featuring student presentations every otherWednesday, starting on February 3rd.  These will take place virtually and givestudents an opportunity to present their research project or proposal.  Not onlywill this provide good practice, stipends of $300 each will also be awarded tofour students, dependent upon their evaluation scores!  The money will helpcover travel costs for students to attend and present at an external conference.Club InfoPresident: Bikram KumarDasVP: Katelyn HurleySecretary: BhawandeepKaurTreasurer: AhanaMajumderHistorian & SafetyOfficer: Tahmina HossainSocial Chair: AasthaAcharyaFaculty Advisor: VolkerBrözelWhat:  BMGSAWhere:  ZoomWhen:  11am-12pm, everyother WednesdayWho:  undergraduate andgraduate students in theDepartment of Biology &MicrobiologyClub LeadershipHow to Join:  students canjoin the club by paying anannual fee of $5Seminar ZoomsYou can watch the studentpresentations this semester!Tune in at 11am on 2/3,2/17, 3/3, 3/17, 3/31, 4/7and 4/21.sdstate.zoom.us/j/91545630179 BMGSA participates in outreach activities throughout the year, sometimes toraise funds for the club or sometimes to contribute to the community.  Thispast summer, for example, they volunteered with the Brookings BackpackProgram.  They also have a focus on personal growth for their members,whether it's enhancing leadership skills or networking with other scientists.When they're not doing outreach or professional development, the club alsohas fun!  There will be an ice cream social soon, among other social activitiesthroughout the year.  Contact Bikram Das, club president, to learn more.     Pictured: current executive committee and faculty advisor Open PRAIRIE Data What is "Open PRAIRIE"?The Open  Public ResearchAccess InstitutionalRepository & InformationExchange trackspublications from withinNatural Sciencesthroughout the year,showing where and whenarticles were opened allaround the world. 5,594 downloads at  568 institutions in 134 countries32 new works posted, for a total of  881Monitoring Pollen Counts and Pollen Allergy Index UsingSatellite Observations in East Coast of the United States wasthe most frequently downloaded piece at 492 downloads.This thesis is by past M.S. student Murat Cagatay Kececi,who was an advisee of Dr. Xiaoyang Zhang.   Data across the whole College of Natural Sciences:NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2020YEAR-END MAGAZINE UPDATEThe college's year-end magazine is hosted on Open PRAIRIE aswell, and has been viewed 425+ times in 10 different countriessince it was posted!The countries include France, Germany, Finland, China, CzechRepublic, Ecuador, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, and the US.If you haven't seen it already, you can read it here.  Stop by theDean's Office (Avera, room 131) to pick up a hard copy.Research Spotlight: Dr. Michael HildrethMIKE HILDRETH // PROFESSOR // DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY & MICROBIOLOGYAs a 7-year-old Iowa kid, my family did something unusual for us, we went on a vacation trip to the Black Hills. What Iremember most from that trip was the buffalo herds. They were so amazing and I my obsession with them lasted forseveral months after our return. At that time, I never could have imagined that 48 years later I would be in the middleof a large bison herd collecting fecal samples. This bison obsession came back about 10 years ago with the invitationto use our research experiences associated with cattle and sheep parasite issues on the particular health challengesexperienced while raising bison. Monitoring and treating cattle parasite problems typically involves first immobilizing each animal in a cattle squeezechute which adds stress and creates occasional opportunities for injuries to both cattle and human workers. Workingbison through these squeeze chutes create extreme stress and frequent injuries. As such, most bison producersminimize the use of chutes as much as possible. This is particularly true for tribal herds where there is a desire tomonitor and manage herd health issues with the least amount of human intrusion possible. For this reason, we havefocused most of our research efforts on tribal herds. We have already been monitoring the level of parasitism at theherd level by microscopically counting the parasite’s eggs that are continually released into excreted fecal pat whichwe can pick up from ground and isolate the eggs from. We have found several different types of parasite eggs that canbe identify microscopically, but we have also needed to develop molecular techniques to differentiate the morepathogenic species from among those similar-appearing eggs whose species cause little pathology. While these methods allow us to monitor the overall health of the herd, the bigger challenge is monitoring parasitelevels in each animal. Without using a squeeze chute, it is currently not possible to identify the source for each fecalpat, but emerging technologies such as radiofrequency ID ear tags, facial recognition imaging and DNA fingerprinting,may soon allow us to do just that. Our current focus involves determining if the quality of bison DNA isolated fromfecal samples are good enough to be used with current single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) DNA fingerprinting. It’s taken a long time for me to get back to my “first love”, but maybe this is fitting as I approach retirement from mycurrent faculty appointment. I have enjoyed it all. Throughout the years, I’ve worked on a large variety of parasitologyprojects from shark tapeworms in the Gulf of Mexico as a graduate student to the primary mosquito vector for WestNile virus in South Dakota. My career has been built on efforts to rid ourselves of these unwanted “guests”. One thingthat I have learned for certain is that there is job security in this endeavor because in spite of our best efforts, mostparasitic diseases are here to stay and that the best that we can do is to manage their most serious affects.Pictured left: Dr. Hildreth collecting rectal fecal samples - neitherparticipant is happy!  Pictured below: Graduate student JohnMcKenzie collecting samples from the ground - the bison are happy!Celebrating the Life of Dr. AugerFEBRUARY 4, 1953  ---  JANUARY 7, 2021Dr. Donald Auger, Professor of Genetics, passed away this January after a longbattle against cancer. He is greatly missed here at SDSU, and countless stories are pouring in about his famous Hobo Day lectures, passion for teaching, care forhis students, and his memorable habit of lecturing from table tops! Kindness,wisdom, authenticity, inspiring, knowledge, and enthusiasm are just a few of themany positive adjectives used over and over to describe his legacy. Below are aselect group of comments made by students and friends after his passing.He was a professor with agenuine love of the subjectmatter, and he was able tobreak information down inthe most incredible ways. Hewas always enthusiastic andkept students on their toes.Over 10 years later and I canremember him teaching likeit was yesterday.I’ll never forget one of thefirst days of the semester andseeing Dr. Auger climb uponto a table in front of theclass. He was always such anengaging and caringprofessor, and provided meand my peers with a greateducation on all thingsgenetics. I’ve rarely hadprofessors that care as muchas he did, or have continuedto teach through all of thehardships that he did."The world needs more Dr.Augers.""I won’t forget theoverwhelming kindnessDr. Auger showed me andmy classmates!""He really sparked adesire in me to learn andexplore possibilities."Dr. Auger turned me onto thephrase, “So, that’s cool”which he would soeffortlessly use to tie hispoints together during hislectures. Unforgettable guywith seemingly endlessknowledge of genetics,biology, and SDSU.Dr. Auger always taught withenergy and style. He wasalways jumping on tables tomake his points. He taughtme as much about thehistory of hobo day asgenetics (which is a lot). Healso always sported the besttan in January when the restof us were starting to looksee through. A great teacher,advisor, and jackrabbit.A memorial scholarship hasbeen set up in Don's name. Ifyou are able to donate,please consider making acontribution here.Don's full obituary is here.

College of Natural Sciences Newsletter,  January 2021

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College of Natural Sciences Newsletter, January 2021

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