Two undergraduate researchers from Florida State University’s Department of Biological Science were recently recognized for research presented during the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society’s biennial national conference, held at Monterey Bay State Park in Asilomar, California, and hosted by California State University.

Biology major Dylan Allen took second place in the oral competition and received the Johnson Award for Cellular and Developmental Biology for his research, titled “Syntaxin3a is Essential for Photoreceptor Survival in Zebrafish. John Wilcox took third place in the same category for his research on “Advancing Diabetes Care: The Optimization of Insulin Pump Medication Delivery.”

Allen and Wilcox were among six FSU undergrads who traveled to the competition with their faculty adviser, Debra Ann Fadool, who is FSU’s Nancy Marcus Professor of Biological Science.

With chapters at more than 600 institutions, the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society seeks to improve the understanding and appreciation of biological sciences, particularly through research. The society is unique in that it is solely for undergraduate students. Fadool says that this catering to undergraduate interests in research and broad biological studies is an important networking tool and platform for FSU and its biology department.

“Students meet other institutions and other professors, so they may gain links to graduate school that way,” she said. “It also has us well represented at the national society and it advertises Florida State as a solid research institution . . . It is a good place to look for where your next career stage would be and we are happy to be supported by the biological sciences, and all the funds that the students raise, but also at the college and university level through the Honors Program. So it is a way to showcase what undergraduate scholars are doing here at FSU.”

The FSU students enjoyed biological diversity in the Pacific Grove area through field activities such as visiting the Monterey Research Institute, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Canary Row. They also hiked the Big Sur coastline to see redwoods and explored the tidal zone outside of the conference center.

“There hasn’t been a year where we’ve taken the students — and we’ve been doing this for the last 14 years — where they haven’t said that this was the best educational experience that they have had at Florida State,” Fadool said. “They really enjoy doing this, and they really get to see the culmination of all of their efforts in the lab, or the field, or wherever they are doing their research. They get to see where it all fits in.”

FSU faculty and students can look forward to the Beta Beta Beta annual poster competition in the fall, where any STEM student can present research and inspire peers to begin conducting their own research. For more information, visit the society page for upcoming events and philanthropy at https://tri-beta.neuro.fsu.edu/ or follow engagements on @FSUTriBeta.

Besides typical chapter work, FSU’s group looks forward to the next national convention in 2020.

Gabriella Paez is a senior English major, with a concentration in editing, writing, and media.