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May 4, 2012

Winners of 12th Annual Student Research Symposium announced

Winners of the 12th Annual Student Research Symposium at the University of Louisiana at Monroe were recently announced.

Used as a vehicle to showcase the outstanding research being conducted by graduate and undergraduate students, the symposium allows the presentation of unique and high quality work of our student family.

Since its inception, the symposium has provided a platform for the presentation of research conducted by over 3,000 student researchers.

Researchers are required to conceptualize a research question, work with a faculty mentor to address the question, design a research method, identify the subjects, correctly and objectively collect data, analyze it, reach conclusions and make recommendations.

Student researchers presented their work either by Presentation Poster or by a Platform Presentation in which they read their research aloud to the audience.

In both cases, student researchers were expected to answer questions from judges who have credentials in the student's research field.

AWARD WINNERS:

College of Arts and Sciences

Undergraduate: Shanae Thomas of Monroe, from the Department of English, presented: "Amy as a Decider in the novel 'Roxana.'" Mentor, Dr. David Nunnery.

Graduate First place:
Andrew Price of Monroe, from the Department of English, presented: "Literary Hoaxes." Mentor, Dr. Mary Adams.

Second place:
Hannah Clifton of Monroe, from the Department of English, presented: "King Arthur in 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.'" Mentor, Dr. Rebecca Stephenson.

Department of Biology Undergraduate
Amanda Scott of Delhi, Juri Thompson of Monroe, M. Weninger of Canada, and B.N. Miller of Monroe, presented: "DNA Master: A Bioinformatics Workflow Scheme for the Complete Functional Annotation of Mycobacteriophage Genomes." Mentors, Dr. Allison Wiedemeier and Dr. Ann Findley.

Graduate Poster Winners:
C. Charles Creech of Monroe, presented: "A Preliminary Survey of Freshwater Snail Shell Microbes from Bayou Bartholomew, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana." Mentors, Dr. Debra W. Jackson, and Dr. Russell L. Minton.

Charles Battaglia of Monroe, presented: "Study of the Herpetofauna of Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern Louisiana." Mentor, John L. Carr.

Oral Winner:
Meghan O'Boyle of Rayville, presented: "The Reproductive Biology of the Feral Pig (Sus scrofa) in Louisiana." Mentor, Dr. Kim Marie Tolson.

Matthew L. Reid of Monroe, presented: "Twenty-seven Years of Secondary Succession in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest." Mentor, Dr. Joydeep Bhattacharjee.

Department of Atmospheric Science, Earth Science, and Physics
Justin I. Pullin of New Iberia, presented: "A Comparison of Significant Tornadoes in the Central and Southeastern United States." Mentor, Dr. Larry Hopper.

Department of Chemistry
Nick Fontaine of Monroe, Jacob Leonard of Sarepta, and Badwi Mouwad, presented: "Lanthanide MOFs Incorporating Various Functional Groups." Mentor, Dr. Ralph Zehnder.

Department of Mathematics
Anton Dudko of the Ukraine, presented: "Stochastic Time Estimation to Visit N points of Attraction by Hitchhiking." Mentor, Dr. Youssef M. Dib.

College of Health Sciences, Department of Speech-Language Pathology
Toni Beavers of Monroe, Toya Daughtrey of Shreveport, Meghan Finley of Ruston, Andrea Gifford of Fort Worth, Texas, Malissa Nappier of Monroe, and Jennifer Riley of Stonewall, presented: "Parental Judgments of Factors Related to Vocabulary Development of Children for Two Schools in Northeast Louisiana." Mentor, Dr. Johanna Boult.



College of Business

Kamal K. Soan of India, presented: "Brand Valuation Of Groupon: Merge Or No-Merge Of Google And Groupon." Mentor, Laurie Babin.



College of Education and Human Development Poster Winner:

Erica Caramillo of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Kelsey Chappetta of Harvey, presented:. "The Effects Of Context On Reasoning In Wason Selection Tasks." Mentor, Dr. Jack A. Palmer.



College of Pharmacy

Graduate Student Poster Presentations

First place: Fathy Behery of Monroe, Mohamed Akl of Monroe, Suryatheja Ananthula of India, and Parash Parajuli of Nepal, presented: "Tocotrienol electrophilic substitution products as breast cancer proliferation and migration inhibitory leads." Mentors, Dr. Paul Sylvester and Dr. Khalid El Sayed.

Second place:
Sridhar Jaligama of Monroe, with Vijay M. Kale and Mitchell S. Wilbanks, presented: "Early Hematological Effects of MNX (Hexahydro-1 nitroso-3,5 dinitro-1,3,5 triazine), Environmental Degradation Product of RDX, Persist to Cause Delayed Bone Marrow Myelosuppression." Mentor, Sharon A. Meyer.

Third place:
Abhita Malaviya of India, presented: "Mechanisms Mediating the Effects of ? Tocotrienol Used in Combination with PPAR? Agonists or Antagonists on MCF 7 and MDA MB 231 Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation." Mentor, Dr. Paul W. Sylvester.

Pharmacy Professional (Pharm.D.) Program/ Undergraduate Poster Presentations
First place: Moustafa El Sayed of Monroe, and Jeremy Harmson of Monroe, presented: "Identification of NR4A nuclear receptor interacting proteins using yeast two-hybrid analysis." Mentor, Dr. Chris R. Gissendanner.

College of Pharmacy Platform (Oral) Presentations
First place:
Baher A. Ibrahim of Egypt, presented: "Estrogen regulates activation of AMPK in caudal hindbrain A2 noradrenergic neurons during pharmacological replication of energy shortage." Mentor, Dr. Karen P. Briski.

First place (tie):
Mohamed R. Akl, and Nehad M. Ayoub of Monroe, Bilal Abuasal of Cinncinatti, Ohio, and Amal Kaddoumi, presented "Sesamin Synergistically Potentiates the Anticancer Effects of ?-Tocotrienol in Mammary Tumor Cells." Mentor, Paul W. Sylvester.

Third place:
Sashikanth Banappagari of India, with Miriam Corti, Seth Pincus and Seetharama D. Satyanarayanajois, presented: "Modulation of HER2 signaling by small peptidomimetics in breast cancer."

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