International Students Spend a Semester in Arkansas Studying Slime Molds

Submitted

Steve Stephenson, center, with Shoolini University students Tanya Marbaniang, left, and Pragati Gupta.

Two graduate students from India studying myxomycetes, also called slime molds, have spent the spring semester doing research with Steve Stephenson, a research professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Tanya Marbaniang and Pragati Gupta, both students at Shoolini University in Solan, India, are working on master's theses. Marbaniang is majoring in engineering while Gupta is a science major. They are researching slime molds found on pine bark in five areas of the world: Israel, Costa Rica, India, Australia and Arkansas.

Stephenson, an expert on slime molds who has traveled to all seven continents to study them and published a comprehensive guidebook on the topic, recently visited Shoolini on a Fulbright Specialist Award. The school has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Arkansas to further cooperative research.

Both students report positive experiences in their time in Arkansas. "It is a budding university with very good research," said Marbaniang.

"We've been very happy with our experience here," said Gupta.