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  The Penning Lab
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NEWEST UPDATES

2020: The Year of Covid
●   Jeremiah's work has been covered by multiple news stations and he has raised ~$3,500 in funds
●
 
  My lab's work at Kellogg Lake was covered by The Joplin Globe
●   My lab received $2,007.75 from the Kellogg Lake Advisory Board for our herpetofaunal inventory at Kellogg
     Lake in Carthage, Mo

●   Dr. Boman, Ms. Perkins, and I had our work on a new population of Central Newts from Newton
     County, Missouri published in the Collinsorum: The Journal of Kansas Herpetology

●   I have accepted the lead Editor position for "Snakes: Morphology, Function, and Ecology" from Nova
    Publishers

●   Gil was accepted to AT Still University's Medical School
●   Jillian successfully defended her Honors thesis on Borneo python striking and constriction
●
 
  Christian got accepted to the graduate school at The University of Colorado at Boulder
●   Veronica successfully defended her Honors thesis on cottonmouth performance
●   Whitney and Gil had their research in MSSU's Crossroads Magazine

Fall 2019
●   The lab gave five presentations at the Kansas Herpetological Society annual conference
●   Jainee received the Alan H. Kamb grant for research on Kansas Snakes 
●   Penning et al. was published in the Journal of Experimental Zoology
●   The lab participated in the MSSU sponsored Third Thursday in downtown Joplin
●   I received the Research Excellence Award from the Office of Academic Affairs at MSSU
●   Gil and Whitney presented their work at the 19th Congress of the International Federation of Associations of
     Anatomists
in London

        ●   They received the runner up for the Cave Young Investigator Prize
●   Veronica, Nathan, and I started our collaborative work with Brian Greene at MSU
●   The lab participated in the Carver Day Event at George Washington Carver National Park
●   Gil and Whitney presented their work at the American Association of Clinical Anatomists annual conference
      ●   They received the best poster presentation in the educational category 

Spring 2019
●   Our Book Chapter (Moon et al., 2019) was published in Feeding in Vertebrates: Evolution, Morphology,                  Behavior, Biomechanics
●   Ashley started data collection on Alligator Snapping Turtles (a collaboration with Dr. Day Ligon                                 from Missouri State University)
●   I was interviewed by LiveScience about a female Anconda who gave birth via parthenogenesis
●   Nathan, Veronica, and I started collaborative work on cottonmouth venom delivery with Dr. Brian Greene           at Missouri State University
●   I was interviewed by LiveScience about a 3-eyed carpet python caught in Australia
●   Nathan received 2nd place at the MSSU undergraduate research symposium for his work on the strike                 speed and constriction strength of Borneo pythons
●   The lab presented 5 projects at the MSSU undergraduate research symposium
●   I was interviewed by LiveScience about a Burmese Python recently captured in Florida
●   Jeff defended his Master's thesis at Emporia State University
●   I gave an invited seminar presentation at the Ozark Gateway Audubon Society meeting on how snake's work


Fall 2018
●  Nathan, Veronica, Christian, Jillian, and Elva all received MSSU undergraduate research grants
●  I was interviewed by the Southern Broadcaster's Club for their Southern Nights Show
●  I received the Alpha Kappa order professor of the month for my General Ecology class
●  Nathan received the Meshaka Award for Excellence in Ecology from the Kansas Herpetological Society
●  The lab gave 6 presentations at the Kansas Herpetological Society's Annual Meeting
●  The lab presented natural history information at the MSSU sponsored Third Thursday
●  I was interviewed by Fox 14 for #worldsnakeday

June
●  Liz presented our work together at JMIH 2018
●  Liz completed her graduate research in my lab and returned to UL Lafayette
●  I was interviewed by LiveScience about a woman who was consumed by a large python
●  Five members of the lab participated in an Aquatic BioBlitz at George Washington Carver National Park
●  I was interviewed by LiveScience about an envenomation from a decapitated snake

May
●  Teddy received the Excellence in Research Award and Excellence in Service Award from the Department of
    Biology and Environmental Health at MSSU

●  Teddy started our collaboration with Missouri State University measuring the bite force of
    Alligator snapping turtles

●  I received the Stefan Cairns Alumni Award from the University of Central Missouri
●  Jeffery trained on constriction gear here at MSSU and began to collect data at Emporia State University

April
●   Christian, and Teddy presented portions of their research at the MO academy of sciences
●   Ashley, Christian, and Teddy presented portions of their research at the MSSU undergraduate
    research symposium

●   Ashley received 2nd place in the Biological and Physical Sciences category for her presentation at the
    MSSU undergraduate research symposium

●  The lab was slightly expanded to include 15 more cages.  We also expanded our samples to include
    Amazon Tree Boas and Rosy Boas


March   
● 
 Jeffery completed his thesis proposal at Emporia State University

February  
● 
 I gave an invited seminar at Wichita State University's Department of Biological Sciences
●  Ashley's and Christian's research was featured in Crossroads Magazine    
●  Penning (2018) was published in the Journal of Anatomy

January   
●  
I was interviewed for Bordertown Magazine
●  Penning and Moon (2017) was chosen for the Journal of Experimental Biology's 2018 calendar

2017
December
●  I was interviewed by Live Science about a giant python found in Florida 
●  Penning and Moon (2017) was featured in the top 3 most-read research papers in the
    Journal of Experimental Biology


November   
● 
 Ashley received the George Toland award ($200) for Ecological Research on North American Herpetofauna 
    from the Center for North American Herpetology

●  Ashley received the Alan H. Kamb grant ($300) for research on Kansas Snakes from the Kansas
   Herpetological Society

●  Christian and Teddy both received a $600 undergraduate research grant from MSSU
●  Ashley received a $700 undergraduate research grant from MSSU
●  The lab gave seven presentations at the Kansas Herpetological Society's Annual Meeting at Friends                        University in Wichita
●  Our paper (Penning, Micklick, and Neff) was accepted in Herpetological Review 
●  I gave an invited seminar presentation about snake research at Missouri State University in Springfield

October   
●  I participated in a student interview at the KGCS station on campus at MSSU
●  I gave an invited seminar presentation about snakes, science, and student-research at the University of              Central Missouri in Warrensburg
●  The lab gave three presentations at the American Association of Physics Teacher's Missouri conference
●  I gave an invited seminar presentation about the importance and power of undergraduate-driven research         at the ITS Friday series at MSSU

September   
● 
 The lab participated in Prairie Day at George Washington Carver National Monument
●  The lab participated in the MSSU sponsored Third Thursday in downtown Joplin
●  I gave an invited seminar presentation about the importance of undergraduate research to the Joplin
    Noon Rotary


August   
● 
 The lab received funding for a research technician position for @ the next two years
●  Gabriel presented our collaborative work at the VIII Congresso Brasileiro de Herpetologia in Brazil

June - July   
● 
 The lab participated in a BioBlitz event at George Washington Carver National Monument
●  Penning (2017) was featured in the Journal of Zoology Blog
●  I served as a snake predation consultant for the Discovery Channel's Man-Eating Python documentary
●  I gave an invited seminar presentation about reconstructing Titanoboa to the Joplin Daybreak Rotary
●  Levi completed and presented his internship and research seminars to the Department of Biology and 
    Environmental Health at MSSU


May   
● 
 Levi received the Excellence in Service award from the Department of Biology and Environmental Health at         MSSU
●  The labs work was featured in Crossroads Magazine
●  Zadok received the Excellence in Research Award from the Department of Biology and Environmental Health      at MSSU 
● 
 The snake physiology lab has been completed and has passed all inspections.  It is now operational.

April 
●  Zadok received the 1st place research award in the Physical and Biological Sciences at the MSSU Student            Research Symposium ($200)
●  Three student-led projects were presented at the 2017 MSSU's Student Research Symposium
●  Four collaborative projects were presented at the Missouri Academy of Sciences

March
●  Portions of my work were featured on the cover of The Chart, MSSU's student newspaper
● The construction of the ecophysiology lab on the campus of MSSU is underway and due for May completion
● The lab's upcoming field research was awarded a $1,000 grant by The Prairie Biotic Research organization
● Penning (2017) - was published in Integrative Zoology
● Penning and Moon (2017) - was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology

         -This paper has garnered some pretty wide attention.  You can read about it here
● Four collaborative projects were submitted to the Missouri Academy of Sciences

February
● Zadok's research was awarded a Student Research Grant from MSSU for $750
● Some of my work was the focus of a featured article on the Missouri Southern State University's website 

● I served as a consulting scientist for Sierra Magazine and my research was integrated into their recent article    on new field-based strike research
● My research was featured in an article on the amazing abilities of snakes by Mother Nature Network
● Portions of my research was featured in the University of Louisiana's La Louisiane Magazine
● I recently discovered that Bio Web featured my work in their discussion of the major research findings                reported at the World Congress of Herpetology.  
● Portions of my research are being used as education tools in the public school systems of Kentucky

January
● Penning and Moon (2017) - was accepted to the Journal of Experimental Biology
● Four collaborative projects were presented at the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology

​
2016
December
● Penning (2016) - was accepted to the Journal of Zoology

November
● My research was the focus of a radio interview on Australian Broadcasting Coorperations radio special on             animal super powers
● The documentray that I participated in aired in the US on PBS: Graveyard of the Giant Beasts
● I presented both an oral and poster presentation at the 43rd annual meeting of the Kansas Herpetological          Society
● I won the Walter E. Meshaka award for best poster presentation at the 43rd annual meeting of the Kansas          Herpetological Society

September
● I presented an oral presentation at the 29th Annual meeting of the Missouri Herpetological Association
● The documentary that I participated in aired in the UK on channel 4: Prehistoric Megabeasts: Croc vs Snake
​

August
● I start teaching classes Aug 22 at Missouri Southern State University
● I travel to China for the 8th World Congress of Herpetology (Aug7th-Aug18th)
● Penning (2016) - paper submitted to the Journal of Zoology
● Penning and Moon (2016) - paper submitted to the Journal of Experimental Biology

July
● I won the Frederick H. Stoye Award for best oral presentation in physiology/physiological ecology from the         American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists for my presentation at JMIH
● I presented an oral and poster presentation, and was a co-author on two other posters, at the Joint Meeting        of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New Orleans
● The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's graduate school highlighted my research in a program highlight for     graduate research within the biology department

June
● I was interviewed by LiveScience about an Australian python that accidentally got stuck within its own shed      skin
● Penning and Cairns (2016) was just released in the Journal of Herpetology
● I just accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Biology Department at
   Missouri Southern State University

​● My alma mater published an article about my work in the University of Central Missouri Magazine

May
● Penning (2016) was just accepted to Integrative Zoology
● I received a Graduate Student Travel Award from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists        to attend the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New Orleans, LA
● I received the Jay Huner Student Travel Award from UL at Lafayette

April

● I received partial travel support from the Gans Collections and Charitable Fund to present my research
   in Hangzhou, China at the 8th World Congress of Herpetology
● I received honorable mention for my research from the E.E. Williams Grant Committee 

● I received partial travel support from the World Congress of Herpetology to present in Hangzhou, China
● I competed in the 2016 UL at Lafayette Graduate School's Research and Project Showcase
          - I placed 1st in the Three Minute Thesis competition, 1st place Graduate Student Publication,
              and won People's Choice for best oral presentation
● Penning et al (2016) - made the April cover of Biology Letters 


March

● I completed filming a documentary about some of my research for Discovery Channel's Daily Planet
● I wrapped 3 days filming for an upcoming documentary (details coming soon!)
● ​​Penning et al (2016) - our collaboration was just published in Biology Letters
          
-
This paper has garnered some pretty wide attention.  You can read about it here!
​​
February
● Penning (2016) - paper submitted to Integrative Zoology
● Four projects submitted for presentation at 
JMIH New Orleans this summer


January
● Penning et al - ontogeny of strike kinematics - presented at SICB
● ​​Penning and Dartez (2016) was just published in the Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A

● My photo will be featured in The Herpetologists' League Graduate Student Calendar

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