Kennesaw State University

Kennesaw State University National Association of Home Builders Student Chapter recently swept the competition at the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla. The team placed first in the nation at the 2017 NAHB Student Chapters Residential Construction Management Competition for four-year programs.

Nine Kennesaw State students were honored recently for their outstanding research at the STEM Innovators Conference in Savannah. The students are Peach State Louis Stokes Alliance Minority Participation (LSAMP) Scholars.

Kennesaw State University's new Dance Theater will open to the public March 24, with the premiere of "Metamorphosis," an original work choreographed by Ivan Pulinkala, founding director of the Department of Dance at KSU.

More than 2,450 students graduated from Kennesaw State University, Dec. 13 - 14, 2016 in three fall commencement ceremonies.

As part of their first-year seminar course, three students did research projects on factors associated with academic success. These research projects included everything from hypothesis creation to literature review to data collection and analysis, and finally, the writing of a formal research paper.

As a biology undergraduate, Reuben Hilliard conducted research in the Paula Jackson lab. He has continued to work with Dr. Jackson during his graduate studies by analyzing data from their research while currently enrolled in the Masters of Science in Applied Statistics program. Reuben presented part of the results from the research at the 2016 SAS Day competition at KSU, where he won top poster award. Hilliard is a 2015 Clendenin Scholar and received the CarMax Academic Scholarship consecutively in spring 2016 and 2015. His research intersects the disciplines of biology and statistics, focusing on environmental sciences. He is also employed as a data analyst at an Atlanta-based health care provider.

Kennesaw State University Masters in Integrative Biology student Brandy Riekert's passion for conservation biology translated into two major wins recently, which provide a combined $5,000 in grant and award monies. Both reward her research on the Harper's Dodder, a rare and endangered native plant vine known to grow only in Georgia and Alabama. Riekert was awarded a $4,500 Catherine H. Beattie Fellowship award from the Garden Club of America and Center for Plant Conservation, and the Jeane Reeves Research Grant from the Georgia Native Plant Societyfor $500, according to Professor of Biology Susan M. E. Smith, coordinator of the master's program in integrative biology. Full story here.

Kennesaw State University recently named students to the President's List, in recognition of their academic excellence in the Summer 2016 semester. The Kennesaw State students were honored by Interim President Houston D. Davis for earning top marks.

The College of Science and Mathematics officially recognized 10 new 2016 Birla Carbon Scholars at the Birla Carbon Symposium. Nearly 100 students, faculty, staff and Birla Carbon executives reviewed posters at the symposium in August 2016. Katerina Slavicinska's research project won the Top Poster Award at the symposium. This year's scholars are: Jonathon Ard, physics; David Axford, biology; Graeme Bettler, chemistry; Soprinye Dappa-Fombo, biology; Rebecca Hyche, biology; Elena Ninova, biology; Katerina Slavicinska, chemistry; Omar Ugarte Trejo, chemistry; Danielle Varljen, biology; and Courtney Willett, biology. The scholars program was developed in April 2014 with a $250,000 pledge from Birla Carbon for a five-year annual gift of $50,000 to support research opportunities for students in Kennesaw State's College of Science and Mathematics. The program has awarded 30 Kennesaw State students each a $4,000 stipend since 2014.