Five Earn Botanical Research Grants at Florida Tech

– Five Florida Tech undergraduate biological sciences majors have earned Vaughn-Jordan Foundation cash prizes of $3,000 each. All are working on different
aspects of botanical research.

Jessica Gilner, a junior from Crystal Falls, Mich.: The pollen of a group of vining plants in the Peruvian Andes

Benoit Mouzon, a junior from Bergeres, France: Extraction and purification of fossil plant DNA

Leiah Slusser Gerling, a senior from Westminster, Col.: The environmental precursors of red tide outbreaks

Megan Wilkinson, a junior from Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. (now living in Cocoa, Fla.): Tissue culture of native orchids

Allison Steele, a junior from Oklahoma City, Okla.: The pollen of neotropical aquatic plants

The students are working in the laboratories of biological sciences faculty Dr. Mark Bush, Dr. David Carroll, Dr. Russell Weigel and Dr. Robert van Woesik.

The Vaughn-Jordan Foundation is a philanthropic organization based in West Palm Beach, Fla. It supports research in conservation, botany and horticulture.