Tashauna Gilliam is an undergraduate student at East Tennessee State University. As a Kingsport, Tennessee native, she is majoring in biology, minoring in psychology, and planning on pursuing a degree in pharmacy. Tashauna is involved in the biology department as a member of Talent Expansion in Quantitative Biology and an honors research participant. She holds additional campus extracurricular positions as a student tutor and resident advisor.
McKayla Johnson is a second year undergraduate biology major with a biochemistry concentration at East Tennessee State University. She is a student of the Talent Expansion in Quantitative Biology STEP Program at East Tennessee State supported by the National Science Foundation. McKayla is in the Honors in Discipline: Biology program, a member of Golden Key International Honor Society, a member of Tri-Beta, and a member of American Medical Students Association. She is also the secretary of the Honors College Student Council and Vice President of Operations in Kappa Delta Sorority.
Istvan Karsai is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University. He is also the Director of the Institute for Quantitative Biology and responsible to foster interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty and students. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Hungary and moved to USA in 1996. At OSU, UMSL and ETSU he conducted a variety of research on ecology, evolution and behavior of different biological systems focusing on emergent complexity and self-organizing mechanisms. He is also involved in educational research and curriculum development supported by NSF and HHMI.
Bryon Martinez initiated this project during his junior year, and graduated from Elizabethtown College with a B.S. in Biotechnology in 2008. He is currently employed by Morphotek, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company in Exton, PA.
Marcy A. Peteroy-Kelly received her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 2001. She is currently an Associate Professor and Interim Chair in the Department of Biology and Health Sciences at Pace University in New York City. Her research interests include studying the impact of antimicrobial product usage on the emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria and determining pedagogical mechanisms to enhance undergraduate biology teaching and learning.
Lisa Sether graduated from Elizabethtown College with a B.S. in Biology (concentration in premedicine) in 2009. She is currently a student at Ross University, School of Veterinary Medicine. Lisa worked closely with Bryon Martinez on the early aspects of the project.
Candace Shanks received her B. S. in Biology and Health Sciences from Pace University in New York City in 2008. She performed the studies described in this journal as part of her requirements for her Honors Thesis project. She is applying to medical schools.
Elizabeth Sodomin worked on this research project during a 10-week internship over the summer of 2008. She is a junior Biotechnology major at Elizabethtown College.
