UNBC Students Win Research Award

By Submitted Article

Prince George, B.C.-  More glory for  UNBC students.  Research on a  forest pest has earned a UNBC student the top prize in a national research competition.
 
Gareth Hopkins  (in photo at right,  photo courtesy UNBC) has been exploring the feeding preferences of the Warren root collar weevil, which lays its eggs around the base of coniferous trees.

When the eggs hatch, the larvae munch around the root collar, killing young trees. It's feared the weevil's appetite for young trees will thwart reforestation efforts in large areas that have recently been replanted in response to the pine beetle epidemic. Gareth's research demonstrated that the weevil would rather eat pine and Douglas fir than spruce or aspen, implying that planting mixes of these species may help to combat the spread of the weevil. His research, with graduate student Matthew Klingenberg, has been supervised by Brian Aukema, a Natural Resources Canada researcher based at UNBC.
 
Gareth's research won first prize in the "Rising Stars of Research National Undergraduate Research Poster Competition," held at UBC. Almost 500 students applied for participation, but only 90 students – including five from UNBC – were invited to compete. In addition to Gareth's first place finish, fellow UNBC student Eunice Kim, who works with Biochemistry professor Chow Lee, received an honorable mention. Eunice developed a fluorescence-based method to study the activity of a UNBC-discovered enzyme that may help to control the growth of cancer cells. 
 

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us