Elon College to host annual meeting of N.C. Academy of Science

ELON COLLEGE – Elon College will host the annual meeting of the North Carolina Academy of Science March 26-28. More than 200 scientists, college faculty and graduate and undergraduate students from more than 25 colleges and universities are expected to attend.

Dr. James R. Zimbelman, planetary geologist at the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, is the featured speaker on Saturday, March 27. He will review the highlights of spacecraft exploration and discoveries in our solar system over the past 30 years.

The meeting, which is being held for the first time at Elon, also features presentations by students in the areas of botany, biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, health sciences, ecology, physical sciences and zoology. Elon students Kristen Danzo and Kimberlee Hicks will be among those presenting papers.

This year’s meeting theme of exploration and discovery mirrors Elon’s approach to science education, which is based on discovery-based learning and interdisciplinary research. The college houses its science programs in the Dalton L. McMichael Dr. Science Center, a new 81,000-square building that opened last August.

“Elon College has devoted substantial intellectual, financial and physical investment in the sciences,” said Mike Kingston, assistant professor of biology and the meeting’s coordinator.

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