Biology Student Receives National Botany Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 14, 2004
CONTACT: Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Biology Student Receives National Botany Award
Matthew B. Brown has received a 2004 Young Botanist Award with a Certificate of Special Achievement from the Botanical Society of America. Brown will graduate in May with a B.S. with honors in biology from California State University, Chico. He was recently initiated into the national honor society Phi Kappa Phi.
The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding graduating seniors in the plant sciences and to encourage their participation in the Botanical Society of America. Brown was one of 25 top nominees to receive the Certificate of Special Achievement and will have his name published in the Plant Science Bulletin.
Brown has taken advanced courses in plant systematics, plant ecology, plant anatomy, and development and conservation of California plants, among others. He has assisted biology faculty James Pushnik, Kristopher Blee and David Wood with research.
His research project on the effects of salicylic acid on the defense response of tomato plants, with Professor Blee as his adviser, was presented at the California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology, 15th annual Biotechnology Symposium, in 2002, and the annual meeting of the American Phytopathological Society in 2003.
“Matt’s diverse interests and skills in botany are, in my opinion, unmatched by any of our other undergraduate students and by very few I have observed over the past 35 years of teaching,” said Professor Ailsie McEnteggart, who taught Brown in general botany and followed his career as a student.
The Botanical Society of America, founded in 1906, is a nonprofit membership society that exists to promote botany, the field of basic science dealing with the study and inquiry into plants and their interactions within the biosphere.
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