PULLMAN, Wash. – More than 60 undergraduates, representing 36 universities and colleges from the United States and Europe, will present research posters at the 2013 Summer Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium at Washington State University.
Open to the public 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, in the Smith CUE atrium, the event marks the culmination of 10 weeks of mentored research experiences hosted at WSU. Eight summer research programs will be represented. Light refreshments will be served.
The programs were funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Energy. Students traveled to Pullman from institutions such as Cornell, MIT, Northwestern and the University of South Wales to work with WSU faculty.
The symposium will include representatives from the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) from University of Wisconsin-Madison and Penn State. WSU is a participant in NARA, which is testing the viability of developing biofuels from woody slash.
This goal resulted in a working partnership between WSU and the timber company Weyerhaeuser. Two students have been working with the private organization in Federal Way, Wash. Those students, along with executives from Weyerhaeuser, will fly to Pullman for the poster symposium.
The other seven programs cover topics ranging from reducing drag on marine vehicles to understanding materials under extreme conditions to wiring homes with smart technologies.
The latter includes a project from WSU student Brooks Kindle, who helped develop and program an armband device that monitors physical therapy patients’ movements. That information could lead to treatment adjustments and allow patients to stay at home, rather than make a difficult trip to their healthcare professionals’ office.