Winners at the 8th Sigma Xi Columbia-Willamette Student Research Symposium
06 April 2012
1) Behavioral and medical sciences
First place, graduate: Valeria Ursu OHSU
Tooth micro-hardness changes after applying bioactive glass-containing, anti-microbial sealants.
First place, undergraduate (tie): Masis Isikbay, PSU
Molecular characterization of ovine beta-galactosidase in a unique model of GM1-gangliosidosis.
First place, undergraduate (tie): Rick Rollins, PSU, OHSU
A predisposition to obesity and metabolic syndrome in the absence of the 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase.
2) Biological science
First place, graduate (tie): Sally Rogers, PSU
Testing inter-sexual competition along a phosphorus gradient in a dioecious grass.
First place, graduate (tie): Amy Truitt, PSU
Investigating the effects of endosymbiotic bacteria on the population declines of a threatened butterfly species.
Second place, graduate: Kiley Hicks, PSU
Natural variation in Caenorhabditis briggsae mitochondrial form and function reveals novel subcellular dynamics.
First place, undergraduate: Spencer Degerstedt, University of Portland
Levels of aggression among intertidal crabs.
3) Chemistry
First place, graduate: Jessica Yeates, PSU
Self-assembling RNA in a heterogeneous environment.
First place, undergraduate (tie): Thai Tran, PSU
Oxyhalogen-sulfur chemistry: kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of captopril by aqueous bromine and acidified bromate.
First place, undergraduate (tie): Estella Yee, Willamette University
Investigation of a phase diagram anomaly in the o-toluidine + n-hexane binary liquid-liquid system.
4) Earth and environmental sciences
First place, graduate: Ellynne Kutschera, PSU
Transport of methane through trees.
Second place, graduate: Randall Smith, PSU
Environmental microscopy from wetland environments: the air-water interface and metallic oxide surface films, a test of structure and habitat.
Third place, graduate: Doaa Teama, PSU
A 20-year record of the isotopic composition of atmospheric methane from Cape Meares, Oregon.
First place, undergraduate: Candice Armijo, PSU
Origin of a large “bulls eye” lake in the Lower Columbia river flood plain: Vancouver Lake, Washington.
Second place, undergraduate: Kyle Motola, PSU
Entrainment forces measured on the largest boulder transported by the last Cascadia earthquake paleotsunami (1700 CE), Nehalem Spit, Manzanita, Oregon, USA.
5) Engineering, mathematics and computer science
First place, undergraduate: John Wehland, PSU
Optimal mappings of applications onto Networks-on-Chip using genetic algorithms.
First place, high school: Joseph Venetucci, PSU
Finding optimal wire lengths in a nanowire drop model.
6) Physics
First place, graduate: Philip Witham, PSU
Reflection-mode neutral-atom microscopy.
Second place, graduate: J.P.S. Fitzgerald, PSU
Aberration corrections and characteristics for accelerating lenses for electron microscopy.
Third place, graduate: Rich Swinford, PSU
Design and fabrication of a combination scanning probe / mass spectrometer imaging system with nanometer scale precision.
First place, undergraduate: Noah Brummer, PSU
Fabrication of near-field scanning microscope probes using electron beam induced deposition.
Second place, undergraduate: Allan Dunham, PSU
High-temperature furnace customized for crystal growth.