Congratulations to Dr. Len Frey, executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer, on his recognition by the Jonesboro Economic Development Corp. (JEDC) during his final meeting as president of the organization. He was commended for his outstanding service, leadership, and helping advance Jonesboro’s economic growth. Frey, who remains on the JEDC board, has worked with the group since 2009, serving as president the past two years.

Dr. Chiqian Zhang, assistant professor of civil engineering, is the corresponding author for research published in Environmental Pollution. The study by Zhang and two co-authors demonstrates that the hydraulic retention time of membrane bioreactors cultivating diatoms controls the three-dimensional micro/nanostructures of titanium-incorporated diatoms. They concluded adjusting the hydraulic retention time can yield diatoms with desired photocatalytic properties. The article is available online.

Dr. Argelia Lorence, professor of metabolic engineering, holder of the Vaughn Endowed Professorship, and director of the A-State Phenomics Facility, has been selected as the 2023 Outstanding Associate Editor of The Plant Phenome Journal. As a member of the journal editorial board, Lorence was recognized for her professionalism, expertise, diligence and conscientious efforts in the oversight of manuscript reviews during the past year.

Dr. Javier Miguelena, assistant professor of biological sciences, Campus Querétaro, co-authored an article in Oikos Journal. The researchers studied ant communities biodiversity in a state park over a 10-year period. They compared an oak forest environment with a grassland area created by deforestation, finding that diversity parameters were not significantly different although the number of ant species, their functional roles, and relative abundance varied greatly.

Congratulations to Dr. Anthony Eldridge, instructor in psychology, who recently successfully defended his dissertation, titled “Psychometric Analysis of the GESES,” to complete his Ph.D. in educational research in psychology at the University of Memphis. Eldridge analyzed the psychometric properties of the Graduate Education Self-Efficacy Scale (GESES) to earn the dissertation committee's unanimous approval. A faculty member since 2021, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from A-State.