2002 Student Research Conference Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Julia Reed, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society; jreed@sigmaxi.org; (919) 549-4691

Local Students Win Awards at National Student Research Conference

An accomplished group of undergraduate and high school students from 26 states presented research posters at the Sigma Xi, Student Research Conference in Galveston, Texas on Saturday, November 16, 2002. Students listed below were awarded prizes for their research poster presentations. The event featured career development workshops, lectures, panel discussions, judged presentations and an awards reception in the Moody Gardens Rainforest Pyramid. The conference was sponsored by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, and supported, in part, by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit membership society of nearly 75,000 scientists and engineers who were elected to the Society because of their research achievements or potential. The organization has more than 500 chapters at universities and colleges, government laboratories and industry research centers. In addition to publishing American Scientist magazine, Sigma Xi awards grants annually to promising young researchers, holds forums on critical issues at the intersection of science and society and sponsors a variety of programs supporting honor in science and engineering, science education, science policy and the public understanding of science.

List of Students Who Received Awards for Research Presentations (Alphabetically listed by geographic area)

California
Ute Lehmann, Moraga, California, Honorable Mention, Category: Chemistry
Saint Mary's College of California, Presentation Title: "Investigating an Environmentally Friendly Synthesis of C-Aryl Glycosides"
Nabil Dagher, Irvine, California, 2nd Place, Category: Cellular Biology
University of California Irvine, Presentation Title: "Calcium Signaling Pathways Modulate Beta-amyloid Production"
Haivan Ngo, Santa Cruz, California, 3rd Place, Category: General Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz, Presentation Title: "Is the Reduced Number of Seeds in ERCC1 Mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana the Result of a Subtle Defect in Meiotic Recombination?"

Connecticut
Srinivas Viswanathan, New Haven, Connecticut, 2nd Place, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
Yale University, Presentation Title: "N-linked glycosylation required for optimal function of Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus encoded IL-6"

District of Columbia
Moses Ukaoma, Washington, DC, Honorable Mention, Category: Engineering
Howard University, Presentation Title: "Charaterization of Polymer Electrolytes for Electric Vehicle Batteries"

Florida
Babette Peruche, Crystal River, Florida, 2nd Place, Category: Psychology
Florida State University, Presentation Title: "Racial Biases in Decisions to Shoot Criminal Suspects"

Iowa
Corinne Glynn, West Des Moines, Iowa, 1st Place, Category: General Biology
Iowa State University, Presentation Title: "Conservation of the Second Codon Position and its Correlation with the Thermodynamic Environments of Related Protein Families"
Wesley Even, Gilbertville, Iowa, 3rd Place, Category: Physics
University of Northern Iowa, Presentation Title: "A computational study of the spectrum of endohedral hydrogen and magnesium" Justin Smith, Cedar Falls, Iowa, 3rd Place, Category: Physics
University of Northern Iowa, Presentation Title: "Determination of Viscosity from the Dispersion Relation of Capillary Waves"

Illinois
Jennifer Marcus, Carbondale, Illinois, 3rd Place, Category: Psychology
Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Presentation Title: "Effects of Preschool Temperament on Late Elementary School Performance: A Longitudinal Study"

Kansas
Michael Klein, North Newton, Kansas, 1st Place, Category: Psychology
Bethel College, Presentation Title: "Psychophysiological and Emotional Dynamic Responses to Music: An Exploration of a Two-Dimensional Model"
Nathan Foose, Manhattan, Kansas, 2nd Place, Category: Psychology
Kansas State University, Presentation Title: "The Effect of Trust on Cooperative Behavior"

Kentucky
Christopher Albritton, Murray, Kentucky, 1st Place, Category: Ecology & Geosciences
Murray State University, Presentation Title: "Hatching of Rotifer Eggs from Reservoir Sediment"
Stephen Compton, Murray, Kentucky, Honorable Mention, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
Murray State University, Presentation Title: "Energetic costs of maintaining immune function and mounting immune response"

Louisiana
Kathryn Breaux and Jesse Ranney, New Iberia, Louisiana, 1st, Category: High School
Catholic High School, Presentation Title: "Medicinal Properties of Sambucus canadensis and Achillea millefolium: Plants native to Louisiana"

Massachusetts
Adria Updike, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1st Place, Category: Physics
Smith College, Presentation Title: "Solar Explosive Events"

Maryland
Stacey Roundtree, Bowie, Maryland, 2nd Place, Category: Ecology & Geosciences
Bowie State University, Presentation Title: "Antimicrobial Factors in the Midgut of Manduca sexta During Metamorphosis"
Allana Roach, Mt. Rainier, Maryland, 3rd Place, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
Howard University, Presentation Title: "The Hematopoietic Stem Cell Therapy To Countermeasure Astronauts' Immunodeficiency In Space"

North Carolina
Amber Gaither, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1st Place, Category: High School
William G. Enloe High School, Presentation Title: "The Effect of Argobacterium tumefaciens and acetosyringone on Magnaporthe grisea"
Charles Tuck II, Durham, North Carolina, Honorable Mention, Category: High School
C. E. Jordan Senior High School, Presentation Title: "Observing the Fluorescence Labeling of RNase P Protein A70C"
Tiffany Williams, Durham, North Carolina, Honorable Mention, Category: High School
In conjunction with Duke University, Presentation Title: "Investigation of L-rhamnose Producing Enzymes: RmlA, RmlB, RmlC, and RmlD"

New Mexico
Francisco DeMaria, and Raven Rotsaert Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2nd Place, Category: Math
University of New Mexico, Presentation Title: "Got XML?"

New York
Michael Kahn, Great Neck, New York, 1st Place, Category: Chemistry
State University of New York at Stony Brook, Presentation Title: "Solubilization of Oxidized Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes in Organic and Aqueous Solvents through Organic Derivatization"
Anna Nichols, Morrisonville, New York, Honorable Mention, Category: General Biology
State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Presentation Title: "Depressed Paramecium: The effects of nitric oxide synthase inhibitors on Ca2+ regulation using Paramecium tetraurelia as a model system"
Sharon Clarke, Plattsburgh, New York, 2nd Place, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
State University of New York at Plattsburgh, Presentation Title: "Determination and Characterization of Plasma Membrane Calcium Pump Isoforms in Rana pipiens"
David Senft, Bedford, New York, 2nd Place, Category: High School
Fox Lane High School, Presentation Title: "Permutation Ladders"
Jennifer Finke, New York, New York, 3rd Place, Category: Cellular Biology
Rockefeller University, Presentation Title: "Cell type dependent retention and transmission of HIV by DC-SIGN"

Ohio
Liesel Holloway, Dayton, Ohio, 2nd Place, Category: Chemistry
University of Dayton, Presentation Title: "Synthesis of Methoxy-TEMPO Substituted Nucleoside Analogs"

Oklahoma
Darius Donohue, Stillwater, Oklahoma, Honorable Mention, Category: Psychology
Oklahoma State University, Presentation Title: "The development of a Social Model of Alcoholism III: The responses of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) to imported and domestic spirits."

Pennsylvania
David Conners and Katherine Penrose, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Second Place (Shared Connors and Penrose), Category: Physics
Swarthmore College, Presentation Title: "Radiation, Hydrodynamics, and Spectral Modeling of Indirect-Drive Fusion"

Texas
Jason James, Sour Lake, Texas, 1st Place, Category: Math
Lamar University, Presentation Title: "A Sharp Form of the Chang-Marshall Inequality"
Kris Rakowitz, College Station, Texas, 1st Place, Category: Genetics
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Fine Mapping POLL: The Elusive Gene for Cattle Horns"
Iris Royal, San Antonio, Texas, 1st Place, Category: Math
University of the Incarnate Word, Presentation Title: "Sputnik 1957 and TIMSS Report 1999: Danger or Opportunity?"
Arpan Satsangi, San Antonio, Texas, 1st Place, Category: High School
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (and Health Careers High School), Presentation Title: "Osteoblast Response to Phospholipid Modified Titanium Surface (A second year study on bone regeneration biomaterials)"
Stephanie Swanson, Texas, 1st Place, Category: Cellular Biology
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Crystallization of diaminopimelate decarboxylase from Mycobacterium Tuberculosis"
Hannah Wilner, College Station, Texas, 1st Place, Category: Engineering
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Correlation of Oil-Degrading Microbial Populations and Oil Concentrations in Samples from the Texas Coast"
Daniel Zeve, College Station, Texas, 1st Place, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "The expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase during postnatal development in the leaner mouse cerebellum"
Stephen Anthony, Houston, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Physics
Rice University, Presentation Title: "Isomeric Effects in the Photophysics of Fullerene Derivatives: [5,6]-open vs. [6,6]-closed C60CH2"
Sarah Dunlap, Bryan, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "The Expression and Purification of H2-O and H2-O His-tagged Fusion Proteins"
Miranda Ha, Plano, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: High School
Plano Senior High School, Presentation Title: "From Visible to Invisible: A Closer Look at the Infrared Spectrum"
Jonathan Huang, Bellaire, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: High School
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Presentation Title: "Tumor target assessment using nuclear imaging technique"
William Knobles, Austin, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Engineering
University of Texas at Austin, Presentation Title: "Sparks Will Fly"
Wonshill Koh, College Station, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Engineering
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Polarized Light Propagation in Highly Scattering Turbid Media with a Distribution of the Particle Size: A Monte Carlo Study"
Denine Ledyard, Ft. Worth, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Cellular Biology
University of Texas at Arlington, Presentation Title: "A Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Local Inflammatory Processes Maybe Regulated by the Chocolate We Crave"
Selene Mena-Fernandez, San Antonio, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Chemistry
University of the Incarnate Word, Presentation Title: "Redox State in Aging Process"
Michael Navarre, Plano, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: High School
Williams High School, Presentation Title: "The Olfactory Response of Drosophila to Catnip"
Tamara Robertson, Grand Prairie, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
University of Texas at Arlington, Presentation Title: "Central Post-Stroke Pain Syndrome Exhibited in a Rat Model"
Vedangi Sample, Katy, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Chemistry
University of Houston-Downtown, Presentation Title: "Measuring the isotopic enrichment of L-alanine in the form of its n-Heptafluorobutyric Anhydride derivative using the negative chemical ionization mode on the Gas -Chromatograph and Mass spectrometer"
Brett Snider, Plano, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: High School
Plano Senior High School, Presentation Title: "The Effect of Different Pressures of Nitrogen Gas on Hydrogen Production in Chlamydomonas reinhdartii"
John Stewart, College Station, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: Physics
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Efficient Fiber Amplifier at 1064 nm Without Polarization Fluctuations" Simeen Zubairy, Austin, Texas, Honorable Mention, Category: General Biology
University of Texas at Austin, Presentation Title: "Analysis of reversion frequency in three point mutations essential for an interaction between the Bright and Ubc9 proteins"
Larry Bellot, Houston, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: Cellular Biology
University of Houston-Downtown in collaboration with UTMB, Presentation Title: "Signaling pathways mediating growth and anti-apoptotic effects of progastrin on rat epithelial cell lines"
Todd Blumberg, Plano, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: High School
Plano Senior High School, Presentation Title: "The Antimicrobial Properties of Human Milk"
Jeniece Carter, Prairie View, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: General Biology
Prairie View A&M University, Presentation Title: "Osteoporosis Smoking and Alcohol: Dose Response of Smoking and Alcohol on the Growing Male Skeleton"
Kathryn Connell, College Station, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: Ecology & Geosciences
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Mitochondrial-DNA Variation in the Northwestern Deer Mouse: Implications for a Pleistocene Refugium"
Bret Evers, College Station, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: Genetics
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Reprogramming Capacity of Cloned Bovine Fetuses by Determining the Nature of Imprinted Genes"
Julian Hong, San Antonio, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: High School
Ronald Reagan High School, Presentation Title: "Restraining Restenois: A Two Year Investigation of Heart Disease"
Megan Lambert, College Station, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: Genetics
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Genetic Variation and Population Structure: Using the mtDNA hypervariable control region to study the eastern and western stocks of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus)"
Phuong-Thu Pham, Plano, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: High School
Plano Senior High School, Presentation Title: "Cleaning Nature Naturally"
James Senter, College Station, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: Engineering
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Transient Response of Finite Mass-Spring Systems"
Jonathan Tydlacka, College Station, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: Engineering
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Micro-Simulation Analysis Of Intersections Near Highway-Railroad Grade Crossings"
Risheng Xu, Sugar Land, Texas, 2nd Place, Category: High School
William P. Clements, Presentation Title: "Characterization of Live Oak Pollen Allergens"
Erin Jennings, Matthew Leonard, and Zachary Parvin Garland, Texas, Third Place, Category: High School, in conjunction with University of Texas at Dallas, and Southern Methodist University Presentation Title: "Magnetoplasmadynamics: Creating Ion Propulsion"
Katherine Bold, Austin, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Math
University of Texas at Austin, Presentation Title: "Canards in the Forced van der Pol Equation"
Erin Campbell, Corpus Christi, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Cellular Biology
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Presentation Title: "Neisseria meningitidis Induced Macrophage Cell Death"
Lisa Cassedy, Houston, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Engineering
Rice University, Presentation Title: "The Development of Hydrologic and Hydraulic Models for the North Main Drain Watershed"
Alice Chai, Plano, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: High School
Plano Senior High School, Presentation Title: "Data Detectives: A Study of 16-bit CRC Generator Polynomials"
Kim Chau, Georgetown, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Genetics
Southwestern University, Presentation Title: "Analysis of Oct-4 gene expression in in vitro cultured bovine blastocysts"
Jannie Dilber, Katy, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Chemistry
University of Houston-Downtown, Presentation Title: "Thiol-Acrylate Model Systems: An Investigation of Reactivity and Shelf-Life Stability"
Raul Grajeda Jr., College Station, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: General Biology
Texas A&M University, Presentation Title: "Behavioral analysis of tottering and tottering/leaner mutant mice"
Marvin Liang, Plano, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: High School
Plano Senior High School, Presentation Title: "Inhibition of HeLa Cell Proliferation by Oligomeric Proanthocyanidin Extracts and Ultraviolet Radiation: A Second Year Tissue Culture Study"
Audrey Nath, Houston, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Engineering
Rice University, Presentation Title: "Effect of Probe Pressure on Cervical Fluorescence Spectroscopy Measurements"
Saujan Sivaram, Houston, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: High School
University of Texas at Austin, Presentation Title: "Study of Single Crystal Carbon Nanotubes"
Crystal Smith, Corpus Christi, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Ecology & Geosciences
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Presentation Title: "Have Radionuclides Released from the South Texas Uranium Mines Affected Lake Corpus Christi?"
Derrick Smith, Houston, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Chemistry
Texas Southern University, Presentation Title: "The Effects of Ceria Interlayer Density on Cathodic Performance"
Joe Taube, Waco, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Genetics
Baylor University, Presentation Title: "Adaptive Mutation"
Joshua Udoetuk, Houston, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: Immunology & Neuroscience
University of Houston, Presentation Title: "From To Myelin"
Daniel Wang, Austin, Texas, 3rd Place, Category: High School
University of Texas at Austin, Presentation Title: "Changes in Heavy Metal Chemistry During Accelerated Organic Matter Mineralization"