On Friday, February 7, 2020, Claflin University is serving as the host institution of the National Qualifying Tournament of the 31st annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC), America's premier academic competition for top HBCU students. The fast-paced buzzer competition highlights students' academic prowess and ability to answer questions about history, science, literature, religion, the arts and pop culture. Claflin's HCASC team is also one of 65 teams competing for institutional grants and a spot in the HCASC National Championship Tournament taking place on the American Honda campus in Torrance, Calif., on March 28 - April 1, 2020.

 

Honda Campus All-Star Challenge is a year-round program that centers on academic excellence, community service, leadership, networking opportunities and mentorship. It includes campus engagement, qualifying tournaments and culminates with the National Championship. Since 1989, Honda Campus All-Star Challenge, one of Honda's longest-running philanthropic initiatives in the United States, has celebrated and recognized the academic talents of HBCU students. More than $9 million in grants from Honda have provided support for scholarships, facility upgrades and other investments to improve the HBCU student experience.

 

"This is Claflin's first time hosting the Qualifying Tournament. We are thrilled to host the tournament, and the students are so excited. They have been studying and practicing religiously since August. We're hoping to not only do well, but to bring home a big trophy in April," said Dr. Belinda Wheeler, associate professor of English, and the HCASC coach.

 

The four students representing Claflin are freshmen Otiana Thompson and Jevauni Malcolm, sophomore Travis Armstead II, and junior Mackenzie Brown. Dr. Andre Key, assistant professor of African American studies, is the assistant coach.

 

To help Claflin qualify for the National Championship, the public can vote for our team at bit.ly/HBCUWinner2020 until Monday, February 10. Register and vote up to three times per day. The top three vote-getting HBCUs will automatically advance.

 

The event will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Jonas T. Kennedy Health and Wellness Complex. To see a full list of competing HBCUs, click here. For more information, please contact Dr. Belinda Wheeler at [email protected] or (803) 535-5717.

Claflin University's growing reputation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) continues to attract funding for research, professional development and new technologies. Claflin has secured a grant for more than $470,000 from the U.S. Department of Defense to purchase a Xevo G2-XS Quadruple-Time of Flight mass spectrometer which can measure the accurate mass of molecules in research to detect various diseases and in developing drug targets to cure diseases.  

 

"The recent acquisition of the mass spectrometer is consistent with Claflin's research and STEM agendas," said Claflin University president Dr. Dwaun Warmack . "We want to recruit and retain outstanding STEM students. It is imperative that we offer advanced technology and training that will prepare them for prestigious professional schools, research laboratories and other career opportunities. I applaud Dr. Swinton and his team for developing a comprehensive and compelling proposal that effectively articulated why the mass spectrometer is important to the high-quality research conducted at Claflin. The grant provides a vital resource for preparing Claflin students in STEM disciplines."

According to Dr. Derrick Swinton, interim dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the mass spectrometer has the ability to separate molecules that have similar or the same molecular weight and the ability to find these molecules that may be abundant at low levels. Researchers who are interested in detecting diseases and developing drug targets to cure diseases after detection find different metabolites or proteins that are responsible for certain diseases. 

"The mass spectrometer can detect and identify proteins that are responsible for causing types of diseases," said Swinton. "It can differentiate proteins down to the per million level. The spectrometer allows us to find a needle in the haystack in identifying molecules. It has the ability to analyze blood or tissue samples to determine if any levels of drugs or pesticides exist in molecules with pinpoint accuracy.  This will help us design drugs that will target a  molecule, usually a protein, that is intrinsically associated with a particular disease process,"  Swinton said.

The mass spectrometer will enhance Swinton's research in finding markers for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in African American tobacco users. COPD is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that causes obstructed airflow from the lungs.

"Data shows that drugs on the market now that treat COPD are not as effective in the African American population," Swinton said. "I am looking for targets that can be used to design drugs specifically for African Americans." Although African Americans usually smoke fewer cigarettes and start smoking cigarettes at an older age, they are more likely to die from smoking-related diseases than Whites, according to information on the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention website. 

Swinton's other research priorities include a collaboration with the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and Winthrop University which involves designing shelf-tissue implants from porcine (pig) tissue for transplantation into humans. This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the South Carolina Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (SC EPSCoR), a federal-state-university partnership designed to increase research support for states who have historically received low levels of federal research and development funds.

"This requires analyzing the protein profile of the tissue after it's removed from the pig," Swinton said. "This process also involves removing - as much as possible -  cells and proteins from the tissue to prevent a negative immunological response if it is transplanted into human patients. We will use the mass spectrometer to look at the proteins in the tissue after we prepare it for implantation."

Although African Americans usually smoke fewer cigarettes and start smoking cigarettes at an older age, they are more likely to die from smoking-related diseases than Whites, according to information on the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention website. 

In addition to supporting Swinton's projects, the mass spectrometer will enhance the research and training infrastructure for faculty and students, broaden the participation of women and minorities in STEM disciplines and enable the development of new interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary courses. The spectrometer is one of several state of the art technologies housed at Claflin's  Henry N. Tisdale Molecular  Science Research Center (MSRC), which opened in 2010. This includes the Bruker BioSpin 700 Megahertz Ultrashield Plus, which can completely breakdown the structural outline of any compound. The combination of Claflin's outstanding STEM faculty and access to these innovative technologies will contribute to improving the quality of the University's STEM graduates.   

 

"Claflin students will train on advanced instruments used in industry, thus preparing them for success in the workforce,"  Swinton said.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) grant ( W911NF-18-S-0006) is supported by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory's Historically Black Colleges and the Universities/Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) program. The program's goal is to expand the involvement of HBCU/MIs in ongoing research at ARL.

 

Tickets are on sale now on Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Claflin University cashier's window on the 2nd Floor of Tingley Hall. Please contact the CU Athletics Department at (803) 535-5504 or email [email protected]u for additional information.

 

Ticket packages for the tournament are as follows:

Courtside Tickets - $375 each 

Center Court - $250 each 

General Admission - $200 each 

 

The host hotel for Claflin University is the Doubletree Hilton Hotel Charlotte, N.C. Please click here to reserve your hotel accommodations. You may also call the hotel at (704) 347-0070 and use the group code - CLA. The deadline for hotel reservations is January 31, 2020. 

 

Please contact Tammy McCottry (803-535-5665/ [email protected]) or Zelda M. Lee (803-535-5348/ [email protected]) if you need additional assistance.