MTSU Mondays: STEM competition, True Blue Give results, photo exhibit

Courtesy of MTSU
·4 min read

Here's the latest news from Middle Tennessee State University.

STEM undergrads present ‘Posters’ research at state Capitol

For 10 undergraduate students and researchers, a recent off-campus trip to Nashville marked not just another opportunity to present their STEM-based research projects, but to also show off their work to state officials and peers and rub elbows with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee at the annual "Posters at the Capitol" event.

The group was joined by 41 other undergraduates from public universities across the state at the Cordell Hull Building to participate in the event, put on by MTSU’s Tennessee STEM Education Center.

Middle Tennessee State University undergraduate student researchers and staff attended the Posters at the Capitol event held at the state Capitol in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, to present their STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) research to state representatives, their peers and others. Standing in the back row, from left, are Jonathan Duke, Isaiah Osborn, Hunter Brady, Jesse Scobee and Jamie Burriss, undergraduate research advisor and coordinator; standing in the middle row, from left, are Matthew Johnson, Marzea Akter and Emaa Elrayah; and standing in the front row, from left, are Lindsey Tran, Lacon Parton and Janna Abou- Rahma.

President Sidney A. McPhee also attended to review research projects in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Lindsey Tran, a junior in the Biochemistry program, said the research opportunities available through the university’s Undergraduate Research Center, or URC, and the support of her faculty mentor, physics professor Daniel Erenso, changed her academic life.

Other participating researchers included biology student Jesse Scobee, general sciences student Hunter Brady, psychology student Marzea Akter, chemistry students Janna Abou-Rahma and Matthew Johnson, engineering students Emaa Elrayah and Jonathan Duke, life sciences student Lacon Parton and math student Isaiah Osborne.

True Blue Give raises $670K to support academics, athletics

The 6th annual True Blue Give campaign raised $671,474 from alumni and university supporters during the three-day drive, Feb. 14-16.

More than 830 alumni, faculty and staff, and friends from all over the country came together to pledge their support, surpassing the campaign goal of $650,000, said Kristen Keene, director of annual giving/special projects for Development and Advancement Services.

Kristen Keene, associate director of annual giving/special projects in MTSU’s Development Office.
Kristen Keene, associate director of annual giving/special projects in MTSU’s Development Office.

The contributions include more than $36,000 toward student-need scholarships and emergency funds, almost $200,000 toward MTSU Athletics and the Blue Raider Athletic Association, and more than $305,000 to academic departments and colleges.

Supporters have now raised almost $3 million for scholarships, emergency funds, the student food pantry, academics and athletics during the past six years.

Regional Science Olympiad challenges 200 STEM students

Sophia Wang and Chetan Yenigalla of Ravenwood High School made their airplane fly. Sisters Claire and Gwen Moser, also from Ravenwood, created a catapult that launched a tennis ball within inches of their intended targets.

In 23 STEM-related events for middle and high school students, 200 teenagers collaborated as teammates to find solutions, answer test questions and create and build gadgets and gizmos to try to make them work during the 28th annual Regional Science Olympiad.

Quinn Elam, left, of Smyrna (Tenn.) Middle School and Jonathan Brown of Siegel Middle School School in Murfreesboro answer questions on a test in the “Forestry” event during the 28th annual Regional Science Olympiad, held Saturday, Feb. 18, at Middle Tennessee State University. Their exam took place in an MTSU Science Building classroom.
Quinn Elam, left, of Smyrna (Tenn.) Middle School and Jonathan Brown of Siegel Middle School School in Murfreesboro answer questions on a test in the “Forestry” event during the 28th annual Regional Science Olympiad, held Saturday, Feb. 18, at Middle Tennessee State University. Their exam took place in an MTSU Science Building classroom.

Science Olympiad is a team competition where students in both divisions compete in 23 events related to various fields of science, including biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and earth science. The teams were vying for berths in the State Science Olympiad tournament, scheduled for Saturday, April 1, at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Honored schools included:

  • Brentwood, 1st place, high school division

  • Murfreesboro Central Magnet, 1st place, middle schools division

  • Runner-up Brentwood High, advancing to the state tournament

  • 3rd place Central Magnet High, advancing to the state tournament

  • 4th place Shelbyville Central, advancing to the state tournament

  • 5th place Rockvale, advancing to the state tournament

  • runner-up, Hendersonville Merrol Hyde Magnet, middle school division

  • 3rd place Page in Williamson County

  • 4th place Rocky Fork in Smyrna

  • 5th place Rossview in Clarksville

  • 6th place Christiana, all advanced to the state tournament.

Documentary photo exhibit features 'The Drake' motel

Visitors to Baldwin Photographic Gallery can learn more about an often-missed side of Nashville’s neon in a new documentary photography exhibit, “The Drake,” featuring alumna Tamara Reynolds’ images of the people of the Drake Motel.

Reynolds’ work in this exhibit includes portraits, still lives, and streetscapes that document the lives of people who live just above survival on a square block in the shadows of the Drake Motel. Images in the gallery of the the historic motel, with its distinctive “Stay Where the Stars Stay” sign motto, focus on the present by capturing the daily life of less-known residents who are live on the margins of society.

Documentary photographer Tamara Reynolds, an MTSU alumna whose collection "The Drake," featuring photos o the residents and neighbors of Nashville's Drake Motel, is on exhibit at MTSU's Baldwin Photographic Gallery through March 4.
Documentary photographer Tamara Reynolds, an MTSU alumna whose collection "The Drake," featuring photos o the residents and neighbors of Nashville's Drake Motel, is on exhibit at MTSU's Baldwin Photographic Gallery through March 4.

“The Drake” is on display weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through Saturday, March 4, in the Baldwin Gallery, located in Room 269 of the university's Bragg Media and Entertainment Building at 1735 Blue Raider Drive. A campus parking map is available at https://bit.ly/MTSUParking. Off-campus gallery visitors can park free in the university’s Rutherford Boulevard Lot and ride the Raider Xpress shuttle to the Bragg building.

MTSU Mondays content is provided by submissions from MTSU News and Media Relations.

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU Mondays: STEM competition, True Blue Give results, photo exhibit