2024 Discovery Journal Features U of A Arthropod Museum Update, Undergraduate Research

Cover of the Discovery Journal 2024 issue, featuring the research of Bumpers student Baylie Day, an Environmental, Soil, and Water Science major, who created a digital resource to allow greater access to the University of Arkansas Arthropod Museum holdings. (Paden Johnson. Cover design by Gail Halleck. Division of Agriculture Communications)

MEDIA CONTACT

Nick Kordsmeier

U of A System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
(479) 575-6368  |  nkordsme@uark.edu

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For Baylie Day, entomology classes and a fascination with the University of Arkansas Arthropod Museum led her to create a digital database cataloging more than 1,700 of its specimens.

Day’s work is featured in the 2024 issue of Discovery, the undergraduate research journal of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas. She is a May 2024 environmental, soil, and water science honors graduate of the crop, soil and environmental sciences department.

Download a photo of the cover

The project included a total of 1,718 specimens added to the database, including Bombus (bumble bee) and Xylocopa (carpenter bee). As the Arthropod Museum website indicates, this project includes an Excel file with specimen data, an ArcGIS map displaying collection locations, and an Excel sheet template and guidelines for continuing the project. The museum started in 1905 and houses over 750,000 specimens that had not previously been digitized.

As her faculty mentors Ashley Dowling and Austin Jones state, the hope is that others will follow her lead and methods to continue this work beyond the bees to one day make information on the entire museum holdings digitally accessible. Dowling is a professor in the entomology and plant pathology department. Jones is an instructor who also serves as the director of undergraduate education and an entomology outreach coordinator through the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service.

Of her faculty mentors, Day says, “Their knowledge and passion for the subject inspired me. I am fortunate that they were both very supportive of my thesis idea … they gave me the freedom to cultivate my own creative project while assisting me through the process of project devel­opment, timeline creation, and thesis defense … they also helped strengthen my data recording, writing, and communi­cation skills.”

In addition to Day’s project, the latest issue of Discovery contains research and independent creative projects from seven additional students at the University of Arkansas.

Beth Kegley, a professor of animal science for Bumpers College, has been the journal’s faculty editor since 2019. She points out in her letter that “the faculty’s efforts are to be commended, and I hope they realize the often life-altering impact these experiences have on the students.” She continues that “while the input of the mentor is vital, this works in conjunction with each of these student’s own desire to persevere and accomplish these projects.”

Kegley conducts research for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.

The research and creative projects in this issue represent a broad spectrum of topics:

• Evaluating efficiency and accuracy of texture analysis methods for blackberries.
• Exploring the impact of New Orleans Mardi Gras costume traditions on the identity of participants.
• Comparing fast fashion and luxury fashion and their sustainability efforts.
• Understanding the impact of food insecurity among first-generation college students on the University of Arkansas campus.
• Understanding the factors that influence the graduation with honors rate at Bumpers College.
• Evaluating Stream Restoration Effectiveness in Mullins Creek in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
• Exploring the potential of soy-based materials for sustainable textile design and apparel production.

“Looking over this collection of research projects makes me even more proud to be Dean of Bumpers College,” Jeff Edwards said. “This year’s issue of Discovery includes eight projects across four different majors and disciplines, findings from the areas of agricultural business, apparel merchandising and product development, crop science, and environmental, soil and water science.”

Gail Halleck, managing editor of Discovery since 2010, said the latest issue has some great examples of the power of collaboration, which is one of the core values of the Division of Agriculture: collaborative relationships between Bumpers College and the Division and between students and faculty mentors yield this fruitful, relevant research shared with Arkansas and beyond.

​To learn more about the Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website. Follow us on 𝕏 at @ArkAgResearch, subscribe to the Food, Farms and Forests podcast and sign up for our monthly newsletter, the Arkansas Agricultural Research Report. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. Follow us on 𝕏 at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu.

About the Division of Agriculture

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.

The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability, and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policymakers, and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.