How does acid rain affect plants? Can wetlands purify water? How does development affect water quality? These are just some of the questions that WV Wesleyan students addressed at the WV Academy of Science annual meeting in Morgantown last Saturday.

Seven students, all of whom are junior or senior Environmental Science majors, presented posters at this prestigious state conference alongside graduate students and faculty from colleges and universities across the state. Each student spent many hours designing an original research project, collecting and analyzing samples, and interpreting the results statistically. The conference was the culmination of their research and a chance to show fellow scientists what they had discovered.

Dr. Jeffrey Simmons, Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Wesleyan, supervised the students' projects and also presented his own research at the conference. "I'm very proud of these students. They had to explain and defend their results in front of peers and PhD's. That takes a great deal of conviction and confidence."

Junior Zach Dragan compared the water quality of Glady Run, which is in a mostly forested watershed with Fink Run, which is in a more developed watershed. He found that Fink Run had more turbidity (sediment) than Glady Run, especially after a rain. "I enjoyed working on the project, especially the field work, sample collection, and sample analysis." About the conference, Zach commented, "I gained experience interacting with others in my field, saw how other scientists presented their projects and learned some new ways that I can present results in the future."

Next year's Annual Meeting will be held at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

The West Virginia Academy of Science is an organization to meet and work with professional associates in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Mining, Physics, Psychology and Education, History and Philosophy of Science and Social Science. It is a corporation chartered by the authority of the West Virginia legislature for the advancement of scientific knowledge and the promotion of scientific work in West Virginia.