Two students from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College recently claimed the top prize in a national research grant competition from the Beta Beta Beta Biological Society Research Foundation.
 
Michele Moncrief, a senior biology major from Bogart, and Corey Brooke, a senior biology major from Sycamore, won the national competition open to TriBeta students conducting mentored research from all participating chapters.  Their research proposal was titled, “The effects of nicotine and niacin on chemoreception in fall army worms, a major pest of sweet corn in the Southeastern United States.”
 
Dr. Joanna Gress, an assistant professor of biology at ABAC and the advisor for the TriBeta Biological Honor Society, mentored the two students.
 
“This is the first time that ABAC students entered this competition, and we won,” Gress said.  “They will be presenting the results of this project at the TriBeta Regional Convention at the Association of Southeastern Biologists conference in Memphis in April.”