Dr. Mark A. Melton, associate professor of biology and dean of the School of Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering, accompanied eight students to Elizabeth City, N.C. to participate in the 7th Annual Virginia-North Carolina Alliance Symposium at Elizabeth City State University. Dr. Daphne Rainey was the keynote speaker at the opening dinner. Currently, Rainey serves as the director of the Integrated Biosciences Ph.D. Program at North Carolina Central University.

The students who attended were Lindsay Baker, Laurian Bashay, Colleen Bramwell, Keniesha Donaldson, Richard Gilliam, Justin Jones and Derrick Williams. Three of the students participated in the poster presentations. Bashay, a senior Forensics Science major, won third place.