Dr. Nancy Buschhaus, interim dean of the college of engineering and natural sciences at the University of Tennessee Martin, will present “Listening to Bats – An Odyssey of Experiential Learning and Undergraduate Research” at 6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 10, in Room 206 of the Boling University Center.
The event is part of a series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi on the UT Martin campus. As the nation’s oldest and most selective multidisciplinary collegiate honor society, Phi Kappa Phi initiates more than 25,000 students, graduate students, faculty and staff each year on more than 325 campuses across the United States, its territories and the Philippines.
Buschhaus joined the UT Martin faculty in 1997, and her most recent research interests have focused on bat populations and variations, with multiple projects regularly involving undergraduate student researchers. She is a member of Bat Conservation International, the Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest and the Western Bat Working Groups, and has received numerous grants in support of this work.
“Bats are awesomely cool,” Buschhaus said. “While studying them can be a little tricky since they are active at night, they work very well as a model research organism for undergraduate research projects.”
In addition to her role as interim dean, she continues as professor and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences where she teaches courses in introductory biology, behavioral ecology, evolutionary biology, mammalogy and developmental biology. She was selected as the UT Martin Featured Faculty Scholar in fall 2016 and is an alumnus of the University of Tennessee Executive Leadership Institute program.
Concurrent with the lecture, student members of the American Chemical Society will provide a free, on-site science center for children 12 years old and under to attend.
The event is open to the public, and free parking is available in the Boiling University Center parking lot on Wayne Fisher Drive off Mt. Pelia Road. Parking permits are available online at www.utm.edu/departments/publicsafety by selecting the “Online Visitor Parking Permit” link.
For more information, contact Dr. Abigail Shelton, president of Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 127, at 731-881-7462.
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