Inaugural Research Symposium Highlights Students Projects

SOCORRO, N.M. April 10, 2012 – The inaugural Student Research Symposium at New Mexico Tech features a wide range of innovative projects, including 24 posters and 15 oral presentations.

The event is all day in the third floor ballrooms of the Fidel Center on Friday, April 13. The poster session is from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Oral presentations are from noon to 4:30 p.m.

“This is incredibly exciting for our first event,” organizer Dr. Mary Dezember said. “We didn’t know what to expect. This is a tremendous response from every department – both undergraduates and graduates.”

Student Elizabeth Barteau, a double major in technical communication and civil engineering, is assisting Dezember with the Symposium.

She said, “This high level of participation shows the investment Tech students have in their research and design and in the future of their fields."

Dr. Peter Gerity, Vice President of Academic Affairs, said “I am delighted to see the overwhelming response to this initiative. Not only is this engaging New Mexico Tech students in critical areas of science and engineering research, but it has also attracted interest from more than 50 high school students from around the state who will also be attending the event. This project was proposed as a part of our new accreditation process and has already achieved much more than our earliest visions and expectations. I plan to participate as a reviewer and intend to visit each of the projects during the day of the event.”

The event proposed to students that they present their research and design projects for a multi-disciplinary audience. The presentations are supposed to be accessible and understandable to the wider Tech audience, not just experts in the respective fields, Dezember said.

“This event is such a great fit for New Mexico Tech,” Dezember said. “Tech students are doing amazing work and this Symposium will shine a spotlight on some of the ambitious and innovative work that is going on in our labs and classrooms.”

Faculty, staff, alumni  and graduate students will review each project, providing feedback on presentation skills and quality of work. The Symposium is non-competitive, so the feedback is to support and guide students.

All who attend the event will be asked to provide anonymous feedback via iClickers for oral presentations and QR Codes for poster presentations, regarding whether each presentation – both oral and poster – is understandable. Again, that feedback will only be available to the presenters.

“A goal of this event is to help students improve their communication skills, which is a crucial skill for success in the work place,” Dezember said. “Our twofold goal is to improve communication and foster community.”

Everyone on campus – and community members – are invited to attend not only the presentations, but also a special keynote address by Dr. Terry Wallace, a Tech graduate who is now in charge of global security at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

“Dr. Wallace is an example of how a Tech student can learn the skills necessary to reach the top of his or her field,” Dezember said.

– NMT –

By Thomas Guengerich/New Mexico Tech

 

Student Research Symposium

Poster Presentations

Fidel Ballroom A & B   9:00 – 11:30 a.m.

Registration # 1

Presentation:  Reduced-Cost Heliostat

Presenters:  Megan Tribble and Harry Hupman, Team Co-Leaders

Nick Alvarez, Niall Norton, Jastin Paul, Tim Rushenberg

Research Advisor:  Warren Ostergren

 

Registration # 2

Presentation:  Design of an Intrusion Detecting Security Door

Presenters:  Jared Kuker, Team Leader

Shannon Hussan, Sean Martinez, Calvin Santistevan, Zachary Taylor

Research Advisor:  David Grow

 

Registration # 3

Presentation:  StopWatcher: Using Smart Phones to Prevent Accidents, Rather Than Cause Them

Presenters:  Carl Tucker, Team Leader; Rachel Roach

Research Advisor:  Jun Zheng

 

Registration # 4

Presentation:  Capabilities of the Continuous Sampling Broadband Digital Interferometer at Langmuir Laboratory

Presenter:  Michael Stock

Research Advisor:  Paul Krehbiel

 

Registration # 6

Presentation:  Carbon Monoxide Isotopologues in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 253

Presenters:  Mark McCoy

Research Advisor:  David Meier

 

Registration # 7

Presentation:  Region Duplication Forgery Detection with Color Information

Presenters:  Kaitlyn Gurulé (Team Leader); Jacqueline Wise

Research Advisor:  Jun Zheng

 

Registration # 8

Presentation:  Ecologically Important Tradeoffs in Two Strains of the Annual Plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Presenters:  Sarah R. Bryant (Team Leader)

Maribel J. Baeza, Lindsay M. Snyder

Research Advisor:  Kevin Kirk

 

Registration # 9

Presentation:  Ethacrynic Acid as a Lead Structure for the Development of Potent Urease Inhibitors

Presenter:  Caitlyn M. Vortolomei

Research Advisor:  Ingo Janser

 

Registration # 10

Presentation:  Hand-drawn Segments into Typeface

Presenter:  Daniel Godfrey

Research Advisor:  Oleg Makhnin

 

Registration # 13

Presentation:  Screening Novel Anti-Cancer Compounds and Elucidating

Modes of Action

Presenter:  Amanda Peretti

Research Advisor:  Snezna Rogelj

 

Registration # 16

Presentation:  Supergene Enrichment Profile at Copper Basin, Nevada

Presenter:  Maureen Moore-Roth

Research Advisor:  Andrew Campbell

 

Registration # 17

Presentation:  Chiral Lanthanide Complexes Based on Amino Acids for

Asymmetric Carbon-Carbon Bond Forming Reactions in Aqueous Media

Presenter:  Nathaniel Martinez

Research Advisor:  Ingo Janser

 

Registration # 20

Presentation:  Small Form Factor Design Team

Presenters:  Brian Stanley, Team Leader

Cameron Fullinwider, Scott Gagan, Nathan Hughes, Ryan Sparks, Shane Werner

Research Advisor:  Warren Ostergren

 

Registration # 22

Presentation:  Combination Antimicrobial Therapy:  In vitro Photodynamic Therapeutic and Synergistic Activity of Novel Drug Candidates

Presenter:  Les Edwards

Research Advisor:  Snezna Rogelj

 

Registration # 23

Presentation:  Biological Evaluation of Marine Alkaloids Rigidins as Potential Anticancer Agents

Presenter:  Anntherese Romero

Research Advisor:  Igor Magedov

 

Registration # 24

Presentation:  Optimization of the Simultaneous Detection of Ammonia and Amino Acids

Presenter:  Kenna Jackson

Research Advisor:  Michael Pullin

 

Registration # 25

Presentation:  Isolation and Biological Activity of Bulbispermine

Presenter:  Cody Champion

Research Advisor:  Snezna Rogelj

 

Registration # 29

Presentation:  Cryo-Treated Steel

Presenter:  George Egert

Research Advisor:  T. David Burleigh

 

Registration # 30

Presentation:  Encapsulation of Yeast Cells in Silica: Steps Toward a Cell-Based Biosensor

Presenter:  Robert Johnston

Research Advisor:  Michaelann Tartis

 

Registration # 32

Presentation:  Design of a Miniaturized Langmuir Plasma Probe for the QuadSat/PnP

Presenters:  Matthew Landavazo (Team Leader)

Daniel Guillette, Alan Huynh, Byron Marohn, Vinayak Ravindran, Chris Yelton

Research Advisor:  Anders M. Jorgensen

 

Registration # 37

Presentation:  SAE MINI BAJA

Presenters:  Raul Reyes, Robert Branam, Weston Lee

Research Advisor: Hollis Dinwiddie

 

Registration # 38

Presentation:  Solar Package Design Team

Presenters:  David Patterson (Team Leader)

Syngen Duncan, Edgar LaJuenesse, Ethan Locke, Phillip I. Martinez, Kyle Pettigrew

Research Advisor:  Michael Hargather

 

Registration # 41

Presentation:  Differentiation in B16 Cells, a Study of a Novel Anticancer Compound

Presenter:  Moaaz Soliman

Research Advisor:  Snezna Rogelj

 

Registration # 44 

Presentation:  Increasing Dimethyl Sulfide Flux Over the Southern Ocean and the Antarctic Coast in Response to the Shifting Westerly Winds: A Possible Positive Feedback

Presenter:   Stephanie Nance

Research Advisor:  Oliver Wingenter

 

Additional Poster Presentations by

New Mexico Science and Engineering Fair Grand Award Winners

 

Oral Presentations

Fidel Ballroom A & B

Panel 1-AB     Noon – 1:15 p.m.

Presentation 1:  Algae Removal at Broadmoor Park Wastewater Treatment Plant

Presenters:  Lynnae Fohrman (Team Leader)

Angela Bacigalupa, Reyes Duran, Marguerite Sheehan, Zachary Wasserman

Research Advisor: Frank Huang

Registration # 42

 

Presentation 2: Beam Tunnel Monitoring Robot

Presenters:  Beryl Marie Wootton (Team Leader)

Aaron Bentley, Byron Marohn, James Mason

Research Advisor:  James Sedillo

Registration # 15

 

Presentation 3: Learning Community Energy Audit

Presenters:  Chris Dang (Team Leader)

Lee Abeyta, Danna Dominguez, Zech Elsey, Eric Hernandez, Omar Hurab

Research Advisor:  Frank Huang

Registration # 39

 

Presentation 4:  Mechanical Design of a Langmuir Probe for a QuadSat PnP Satellite

Presenters:  Jordan Klepper (Team Leader)

Chris Del Barga, Jared Kuker

Research Advisor:  Andrei Zagrai

Registration # 34

 

Panel 2-AB     1:30 – 2:45 p.m.

Presentation 1:  Advanced Control Architecture for EOD Robots

Presenter: Matthew Swanson

Research Advisor: David Grow

Registration # 28

 

Presentation 2:  A Modeling Study of the Binding of Coomassie Blue to Bovine Serum Albumin

Presenter: Moaaz Soliman

Research Advisor:  Jeff Altig

Registration # 40

 

Panel 3-AB     3:00 – 4:15  p.m.

Presentation 1: Six-Degrees-of-Freedom Gyroscopics: A Study in External Ballistics

Presenters: William Roger Frankland, Team Leader

Charles Bernson, Deepak Rai, Vinayak Ravindran

Research Advisor:  Scott Teare

Registration # 11

 

Presentation 2:  Development of an Automated in Situ Sensor to Study the Chemistry of Iron in Freshwater Systems

Presenters:  Asitha T. Cooray (Team Leader); Ryan Schwingle

Research Advisor:  Michael Pullin

Registration # 45

 

Presentation 3:  Modeling the Removal of Hazardous Gases From Buildings Using Lattice Boltzmann Methods

Presenter:  Elias Clark, Cibola High School

Senior Division Place Winner of the 2012 New Mexico Junior Academy of Science Scientific Paper Competition

 

Fidel Ballroom C

Panel 1-C        Noon – 1:15 p.m.

Presentation 1:  Lightning Location Using Acoustic Signals

Presenter:  Elias Badillo Ibarra

Research Advisor:  Rene O. Arechiga

Registration # 21

 

Presentation 2:  Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage Utilizing a Seeded Magnetite System

Presenter:  Andrew Akin

Research Advisor:  Mark Cal

Registration # 31

 

Presentation 3:  Microbial Subsurface Community Profiling in Deep Fracture Water Accessed in South Africa Gold Mines

Presenter: Lindsay Snyder

Research Advisor:  Tom Kieft

Registration # 36

 

Panel 2-C        1:30 – 2:45 p.m.

Presentation 1:  GAn Exploration of the Mechanism of Action and Downstream Effects of the Anti-Cancer Compound Rigidin 8.

Presenter:  Paul Bianchi

Research Advisor:  Snezna Rogelj

Registration # 14

 

Presentation 2: Characterization of Near-Earth Orbital Debris via Lunar Impact Observations

Presenter:  Jed Rembold

Research Advisor:  Eileen Ryan

Registration # 35

 

New Mexico Tech Student Research Symposium

Friday, April 13 - Fidel Ballroom

9:00 – 11:30 a.m.   Fidel Ballroom A & B      Poster Presentations

11:45 a.m.                Fidel Ballroom A & B     Welcome

Dr. Daniel Lopez, President of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Noon – 4:30 p.m.   Fidel Ballrooms                Oral Presentations

5:00 – 6:00 p.m.    Fidel Ballrooms                 

Welcome                     Dr. Peter Gerity, Vice President for Academic Affairs

Introduction of Keynote Speaker           Dr. Van Romero, Vice President for Research and Economic Development

Keynote Speech          Dr. Terry Wallace, Principal Associate,  Director for Global Security, Los Alamos National Laboratory

 

– NMT –