Students receive top prizes at virtual honors society convention

^{Top award winners from the Tennessee Delta chapter of the Alpha Chi Honor Society during this year’s virtual National Convention included Rachel Langley, a senior biochemistry and music major, of Bethpage, and Paden Duke, a senior biochemistry major, of Memphis.}

(May 5, 2020) JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — Carson-Newman University students in the Tennessee Delta chapter of the Alpha Chi Honor Society attended this year’s National Convention virtually, achieving top prizes for their presentations.

Each year, Alpha Chi (AX) awards scholarships to juniors, seniors and graduate students. Carson-Newman’s students compete against contestants from 300 Alpha Chi chapters across the nation for these prizes.

“Our Alpha Chi students at Carson-Newman University are tremendously active and involved,” said Dr. Kip Wheeler, associate professor of English and the University’s Alpha Chi sponsor. “I am not surprised that they have once again brought back national honors this year.”

Senior Rachel Langley, of Bethpage, won a Robert W. Sledge Fellowship of $4,000 for her senior honors project, “Leaching of Di-(2-Ethylhexyl)phthalate from IV Bags into Saline Solution,” which was supervised by Dr. Christine Dalton. It is the highest award AX gives for undergraduate work.

Senior Paden Duke, of Memphis, was selected as first alternate for the $3,000 H.Y. Benedict Fellowship for his work, “The Use of Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors for Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease,” which was supervised by Dr. Rick Thompson.

“Rachel and Paden are two of the fine students produced by Carson-Newman’s faculty in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department,” Wheeler said. “They both plan on attending graduate school in the fall, where I know they will be well prepared from their experiences in our program.”

Carson-Newman was also well represented by three students in the Collaborative Research Category: Thomas Fodor, of Talbot, Gracie Keel, of Oakfield, and Luke Patton, of New Market, worked together on an interdisciplinary project, “Weaponizing Whispers: The Seth Rich Conspiracy.”

Founded in 1851, Carson-Newman is a Christian liberal arts-based university affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. The University is located in Jefferson City, Tennessee, among the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and has over 2,700 students. Carson-Newman offers 50 undergraduate majors, as well as associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.