PULLMAN, Wash.Six seniors, a junior and a sophomore took top honors at the second Washington State University Undergraduate Research Symposium on Oct. 17 in Pullman. Four are members of the WSU Honors College.
“We are really quite pleased with quality of work presented by all participants, and the judges had difficult choices to make when it came to the final rankings for awards,” said David F. Bahr, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, a unit of the Office of Undergraduate Education.
“The field of students that participated in the symposium was very diverse this year and the topics of their investigations touched on the categories of what we call ‘undergraduate research’research, scholarship and creative activities. We applaud the efforts of each of these outstanding students and commend the faculty members who take great care in mentoring them.”
Two “crimson” prizes of $500 each and two “gray” prizes of $300 each were awarded to students making oral presentations or poster presentations.
Receiving crimson awards in the oral category were:
– Brittany Navarre, a senior neuroscience major and Honors College member from Cle Elum who is advised by Rebecca Craft, of the Department of Psychology, for her research entitled, “Anhedonia During the Postpartum Period in Rats.”
– Kale Stephenson, a senior materials science and engineering major from Pullman, working with Kip Findley, now of the Colorado School of Mines, for, “Novel Characterization Methods for Ti-6A1-4V Implanted with High Energy Ions.”
Crimson awards in the poster category went to:
– Mandi Hohner, a senior civil engineering/environmental engineering major in the Honors College from Spokane working with Brian Lamb of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, on, “Investigation of Nighttime CO2 fluxes in Complex Terrain.”
– Gianne Souza, a sophomore microbiology major in the Honors College from Edmonds researching with Susan Carpenter and Rebecca Tallmadge, from the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, on, “Mapping Regions of Env Important in the Neutralization of Equine Infectious Anemia Virus.”
Recipients of gray awards in the oral category were:
– Leah Jordan, a junior genetics and cell biology/music major in the Honors College from Spokane researching with Gary Thorgaard and Brian Kemp, from the School of Biological Sciences and the Department of Anthropology, about, “Millimeters and Base Pairs: Do Transverse Diameter and DNA Tell the Same Story?.”
– Christopher Melvin, a senior materials science and engineering major working with David Field, of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME), on, “Formability in Deep Drawing Steel.”
Gray awards in the poster category were presented to:
– Brina Lewis, a senior biology/entomology major from Tacoma researching with Margaret Black, of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, on, “Evaluation of Wild-type and Mutant Human Thymidine Kinases for Suicide Gene Therapy.”
– Jessica Parsons, a senior mechanical engineering major working with Ioannis Mastorakos, of MME, on, “Relaxation of Cu-Ni Composite Nanowires.
Additional work highlighted at the 2008 WSU Undergraduate Research Symposium includes research by the following students:
– Keriann Bennett, a senior general biological sciences/pre-pharmacy major from Pullman researching with Laura Corley Lavine of the Department of Entomology, “Characterization of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Red Flour Beetle Tribolium Castaneun.”
– Citadel Jungco Cabasag, a senior genetics/cell biology major from Honolulu, Hawaii, researching with Eric Shelden of School of Molecular Biosciences, “Evaluating Morphological Defects and Oxidative Stress in an Experimental Model of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.”
– Amy Dole, a senior English education major in the Honors College from Spokane, researching with Barbara Monroe, of the Department of English, “The Role of Gothic Literature in the Classroom.”
– Laurissa Hale, a senior architecture major in the Honors College from Seattle researching with Matthew Cohen, of the College of Engineering and Architecture, “Is Sustainable Urbanism a Viable Solution to Suburban Sprawl? A Critique of Douglas Farr’s ‘Sustainable Urbanism.’”
– Kendra Henry, a senior political science and comparative ethnic studies major from Spanaway researching with Pamela Bettis, of the Department of Teaching and Learning, “Biracial Students’ Understandings of their Lives at a Predominantly White Institution.”
– Alyssa Hesselroth, a senior elementary education major from Othello researching with Patricia Mainella, of the College of Education, “Access and Success for All: An Analysis of Access to Print in Schools of Varying Socioeconomic Status.”
– Keena Mullen, a senior animal sciences/pre-vet major in the Honors College from Alger researching with Wesley Henderson of North Carolina State University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, “Ionic Liquids as Solvents for Lignocellulosic Biomass.”
– Patrick O’Keeffe, a junior civil engineering major researching with Shelley Pressley, Gene Allwine and Brian Lamb of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, “Relaxed Eddy Accumulation Instrumentation for Measuring Ammonia Fluxes.”
– Erika Ottenbreit, senior civil engineering student in the Honors College from Marysville researching with Pressley, Allwine, and Lamb, “Quantifying Methane Emissions from WSU Compost Facility.”
– Amy Van Nortwick, a junior neuroscience major in the Honors College from Mt. Vernon researching with David Rector, of the Department of Neuroscience, “Investigating Neurovascular Coupling Under High Stimulation.;”
– Daniel Widner, a senior sociology major researching with Julie Kmec, of the Department of Sociology, “It’s All in the Name: Employment Discrimination Against Arab/Muslim Americans.”
Abstracts of all participants’ research are available online at https://undergraduateresearch.wsu.edu.
