Winston-Salem State University News December 10, 2015 Student Earns Best Research Award at National Conference Amari Lewis, a Winston-Salem State University senior majoring in computer science, recently won the best research award in the area of computational biology at the 15th Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) held in Seattle. Lewis, a native of Charlotte, competed with over 1,500 undergraduate students across the nation and other international countries. Her presentation was titled "Visualization and Interaction of Multiple Layers of High Dimensional Biological Data." The project explored the interaction between multiple plant gene networks through gene interaction graphs. Her goal was to study the gene relationships between plants such as rice, maize and Arabidopsis thaliana (a small flowering plant native to Eurasia) to identify the correct in-species gene mixture for crop improvement via natural breeding as an alternative to genetically modified organisms. Lewis is a scholar participant in the Maximizing Access to Research Careers, Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research Program (MARC U*STAR), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Lewis was able to use her computational sciences experience to develop an application tool to explore the relationship between genes across multiple species. She worked with researchers at Clemson University to develop the application tool. Lewis was presented the award during the closing banquet of the conference. "It was a joyous occasion to see one of our MARC U*STAR Scholars walking up the stage in front of over 3500 attendees to receive the best award," said Dr. Azeez Aileru, the director of MARC U*STAR, NIGMS (National Institute of General Medical Sciences) and RISE (Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement) programs at WSSU. The MARC U*STAR, NIGMS, and RISE programs primarily provide training support for academic success and career exploration of WSSU students in STEM disciplines. Lewis was one of nine WSSU MARC U*STAR scholars to present at the conference. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 Like us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance/ 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.