UM Scientist’s Space Seeds Onboard for NASA’s SpaceX-2 Launch

Experiment could lead the way to growing edible crops on Mars, moon in future

OXFORD, Miss. – When NASA launches SpaceX-2 Friday (March 1) at Cape Canaveral, University of Mississippi Graduate School Dean John Z. Kiss will be there observing with great pleasure and high expectations. That’s because Kiss’ seedling growth experiment will be onboard the vessel, which has the International Space Station as its destination. The launch isRead the story …

Farming Mars and the Moon Focus of Study Led By UM Dean

Scientists studying use of plants in spaceflight life-support systems

OXFORD, Miss. – The question of how to grow edible and useable crops on the moon and Mars is being explored by a University of Mississippi administrator directing a cutting-edge research project aboard the International Space Station.   John Z. Kiss, dean of the UM Graduate School and professor of biology, is principal investigator onRead the story …

Farming Mars and the Moon Focus of Study Led By UM Dean

Scientists studying use of plants in spaceflight life-support systems

OXFORD, Miss. – The question of how to grow edible and useable crops on the moon and Mars is being explored by a University of Mississippi administrator directing a cutting-edge research project aboard the International Space Station.   John Z. Kiss, dean of the UM Graduate School and professor of biology, is principal investigator onRead the story …

Love of Snakes Sends UM Student to Ethiopia

Tim Colston named Fulbright Scholar

OXFORD, Miss. – Animals have always fascinated Tim Colston, a doctoral student in biology at the University of Mississippi. As a child, he set up a large screened tent and filled it with butterflies and potted flowers to see which plants they would visit most often. Later, while watching and waiting for toad eggs toRead the story …

Biology Boot Camp Jump-starts College Life for Incoming Freshmen

OXFORD, Miss. – Here’s the question: How can four nucleotides code for 20 amino acids? With that, biology instructor Beckie Symula plunges ahead into her discussion on gene transcription with 87 incoming freshmen participating in a pilot Biology Boot Camp, a new effort to acquaint incoming students with the rigors of life as a scienceRead the story …

Students Surprise Biology Professor with Advising Award Nomination

OXFORD, Miss. – When students describe Jason Hoeksema, they use words like “mentor,” “dedicated” and “enthusiastic.” To Hoeksema’s students, it comes as no surprise that he was awarded the University of Mississippi’s 2012 Academic Advising Network’s Excellence in Advising Award. In fact, they were the ones to nominate the assistant professor of biology. “I wouldRead the story …