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C-SC biology student receives scholarship
Wednesday, April 13, 2011

CANTON, Mo. -- Culver-Stockton College student Gina Osburn, junior biology major from Springfield, Ill., was recently awarded the Adair Research Scholarship from the University of Arkansas.
The scholarship invites Osburn to pursue an independent summer research internship in the department of plant pathology at the University of Arkansas. During the 12-week internship she will work with plant pathology faculty members, Dr. Gene Milus and Dr. Burton Bluhm. Dr. Milus works primarily on the genetics of disease resistance in wheat, as well as population biology of the wheat stripe rust fungus. Dr. Bluhm’s research focuses on molecular interactions between plants and plant pathogens.
Osburn was a member of the inaugural HHMI genomics research course during the 2009-10 school year. Students in that course isolated and purified mycobacteriophage species and subsequently sequenced and annotated the genome of a unique organism. She was selected to represent the 2009-10 genomics class at the 2nd Annual NGRI Symposium at HHMI Headquarters in Washington, DC.

“Gina has taken great advantage of the opportunities afforded her,” noted Dr. Indiren Pillay, associate professor of biology and chairperson of the natural and mathematical science division. “Her award of the Adair Research Scholarship is further testament to the advantage of exposing our undergraduate students to an authentic research environment.”

The Adair Research Scholarship was established to honor geneticist and plant breeder Dr. C. Roy Adair, who was instrumental in developing the Arkansas rice industry.