Sigma Xi 2007 Annual Meeting & Student Research Conference

November 2-3, 2007
Rosen Shingle Creek Resort and Golf Club
Orlando, Florida

On November 2nd and 3rd, students from North America and abroad joined distinguished researchers at the Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference for a celebration of research accomplishments. More than 200 students presented their research at this year’s Student Research Conference. Nearly 100 academic institutions were represented, with 25 Posters judged as Superior; receiving a medal and cash awards.

• 2007 Abstracts in Program
• Additional Abstracts

2007 Student Winners

Biochemistry
Danny Krall - Ohio Northern University
Computer Modeling of Glutamate Racemase

Rajvi Patel - Ohio Northern University
Correlation of Docking Energies with Kinetic Assays of Xanthine Oxidase and Potential Inhibitors

Behavioral Science
Nicholas Olivas - University of California-Irvine
Elevated T-Maze Reveals Impaired Fear-based Learning in FMR1-KO Mice

Rebecca Buchta - Bethel College
Emotional and Physiological Responses to Music are Stronger than those to Lyrics Alone

Cellular and Molecular Biology
Aaron Mendez - University of California-Irvine
Multisite Phosphorylation of a Core Component in the Neurospora crassa Circadian Clock

Richard Sando - Rider University
Site-directed Mutagenesis of Mammalian Casein Kinase I Epsilon

Christine Gilling - University of Nebraska at Kearney
Stability of a Foreign Protein in Chimeric CVB3: Potential Vector for Gene Delivery

Melissa Kopp - State University of New York at Plattsburgh
Ancient Mayan DNA: The Tipu Mission

Chemistry
Brian León - University of California-Irvine
Progress Towards the Synthesis of Sieboldine A

Alison Morrison - Santa Barbara City College
Synthesis of Nanoparticles of Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Frameworks Using Hydrothermal & Emulsion Methods

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Brandi Fleshman - University of Alaska Fairbanks
An Update To The Spider Fauna Of Alaska

Amanda Ruiz - University of California-Irvine
The Evolutionary Effect of Bottleneck and Massive Passages on RNA Viral Fitness

Elizabeth Glidewell - California State University-Sacramento
Sexual dimorphism in the Convict Cichlid

Engineering
Meredith Drennan - Saint Louis University and
Allen Flavell - Seattle Pacific University
Psychological Conditioning in Artificial Neural Networks

Jesus Cruz - University of California-Berkeley
Printing High Aspect Ratio Paraffin Wax Molds Using a Pneumatic Dispenser

Environmental Science
Yasmin Maldonado - Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Studying the Antimicrobial Effects of Clematis drummundii

Geosciences
Tiziana Matarazzo - University of Connecticut
Micromorphology of the Occupation Surfaces of the Early Bronze Age Village of Afragola (Southern Italy). Preliminary Study of Hut 8.

Interdisciplinary Research
Martin Adams - Portland State University
Late-Pleistocene and Holocene Climate Change Reconstructed from a Willamette Valley (Oregon) Fossil Beetle Assemblage

Emily Reed - University of California, Merced
Microstructure, Nanostructure, And Properties Of The Wasp Petiole

Nishank Bhalla - State University of New York at Plattsburgh
Isolation, Amplification And Sequencing Of Exon 2 From The Beta-Hemoglobin Gene From Ancient DNA (aDNA) From Maya Skeletons

Shayna Williams - Claremont McKenna College
Anxiety-Related Behavior and sepp1a Expression in the Zebrafish Brain

Math and Computer Science
Ronald Page - University of California-Berkeley
Foreign Animal Diseases and Patterns in Cluster Analysis

Arun Mahendra - Tarleton State University
Autonomous Mobile Robot: Hardware, Software and Artificial Intelligence

Physics and Astronomy
Jess Crossno - Santa Barbara City College
Terahertz Plasmonic Detector

Physiology and Immunology
Kameelah Abdullah - University of California-Irvine
Natural Genetic Polymorphism in the NS3 Protein of the Hepatitis C Virus

Best Visual Display*
Ashley Gravlin-Beman - Florida Atlantic University

* Students at the 2007 Meeting held a special competition to determine the best visual display by a fellow participant. Based on this vote, the District of Columbia Chapter of Sigma Xi awarded a $250 prize and a certificate of recognition.

2007 Oral Presenters

Oral Presentations by Advanced Graduate Students and
Doctoral Candidates

Sushil Adhikari - Mississippi State University
Kier Ancona - Valdosta State University
Jenny Barker-Devine - Iowa State University
Sarah Bodbyl Roels - University of Kansas
Amy Camba - Medical College of Georgia
Cristina Clement - City University of New York-Lehman College
Regina Edziyie - University of North Texas
Sydney Everhart - University of Central Missouri
Claudia Hohn - Mississippi State University
Elizabeth Lehman - University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Jasmine Loveland - Smith College
Simon Menanteau-Ledouble - Mississippi Valley State University
Matthew Niemiller - University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Evan Pannkuk - Appalachian State University
Babette Peruche - Florida State University
Robert Reynolds - University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Veljko Samardzic - New Jersey Institute of Technology
Clifford Sanders - Florida Atlantic University
Angela Vavassis - Concordia University, Montréal Quebec Canada
Angela Winslow - Howard University

E-mail: meeting@sigmaxi.org