In Search of Turtles
Chemistry Connections
Summer Science Symposium Honors Student & Faculty Research
Werner Wieland (left) and Yoshi Takeda
On Wednesday, July 25, Jepson Hall was home to more than 20 posters and presentations on topics ranging from acid mine drainage to zebrafish as part of the 2012 Summer Science Symposium. UMW’s Summer Science Institute, a 10-week undergraduate research program, started in 1999.
At the symposium’s awards ceremony, Yoshi Takeda won first place for his oral presentation “Turtles in the Fredericksburg Canal: Identifying and Estimating Populations Sizes,” under the direction of Professor Werner Wieland. Robert Higgins won second place for his oral presentation “Pegylation of Guanyl Pyrazole to Provide a Guanidinylation Reagent,” under the
Janet Asper (left) and Robert Higgins
direction of Professor Janet Asper.
In the poster category, Robert Clark won first place for his project “Spatial and Isotopic Analysis of Soil Erosion and Sediment Fluxes in Three Rappahannock River Tributaries, Stafford County, Virginia,” under the direction of Professor Ben Kisila. Sarah Marzec won second place in the poster category for her project “Phylogenetic Classification of Nematodes,” under the direction of Professor Theresa Grana.
Robert Clark
The symposium program lists abstracts of all 22 presentations and posters.
Theresa Grana (left) and Sarah Marzec
Faculty and Students Showcase Research at Summer Science Institute Symposium, 7/25
Yoshi Takeda, shown on the Fredericksburg Canal, is one of 22 students who will participate in the Summer Science Institute Symposium on July 25.
More than 20 UMW students will present their research during the Summer Science Institute’s Symposium on Wednesday, July 25. Eleven students will give 20-minute oral presentations throughout the day and another 11 students will display poster presentations. An awards ceremony will begin at 4:30 p.m. All presentations and activities will take place in Jepson Hall, Room 100, with the posters on display in the atrium.
UMW’s Summer Science Institute, a 10-week undergraduate research program, started in 1999. This year’s projects are collaborations between the students and professors Dianne Baker, Theresa Grana, Werner Wieland, Janet Asper, Nicole Crowder, Stephen Davies, Jennifer Polack-Wahl, Ben Kisila, Melanie Szulczewski, Charles Whipkey, Julian Esunge, Leo Lee and Hai Nguyen.
The tentative schedule is as follows:
- 9 – 9:20 a.m. Elyse Clark
- 9:20 – 9:40 a.m. Yoshi Takeda
- 9:40 – 10 a.m. Eric Johnson
- 10 – 10:20 a.m. BREAK
- 10:20 – 10:40 a.m. Michael Crawford
- 10:40 – 11 a.m. KB Brobbey
- 11 – 11:20 a.m. Morgan Brown
- 11:20 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. LUNCH
- 12:30 – 1 p.m. Posters
- 1 – 1:20 p.m. Dan Browne
- 1:20 – 1:40 p.m. Sarah Eubanks
- 1:40 – 2 p.m. Robert Higgins
- 2 – 2:20 p.m. BREAK
- 2:20 – 2:40 p.m. Sam duBusc
- 2:40 – 3 p.m. Darren Getts
- 3 – 4 p.m. Posters
- 4:30 p.m. Awards Ceremony
Students Robert Clark, Lindsay Raulston, Lauren Nelson, Rebecca Brown, Benjamin Tuxbury, Peter Slattery, Susanna Kirschner, Jenna Stockton, Erin Stewart, Karmel James and Sarah Marzec will present posters from 12:30 to 1 p.m. and from 3 to 4 p.m.
Mathematics Students Present at Regional Meeting
Three UMW students presented results of their research projects at the fall regional meeting of the Mathematical Association of America held at Christopher Newport University in November. Catherine O’Doherty presented “Explanation of the Matrix Exponential,” a work based on her project under the direction of Dr. Julius Esunge. Ryan Vaughn’s presentation, titled “On the Contractibility of Finite coH-Spaces” extends his work with Dr. Randall Helmstutler which began during the Summer Science Institute of 2011. Finally, Kelly Scott presented “Anti-Blocking Sets” based on her honors project currently in progress under the direction of Dr. Keith Mellinger.
Mathematics Student Wins Award at Regional Conference
UMW mathematics major Kathryn Dillinger won second place for her poster presentation at the Shenandoah Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics (SUMS) conference held at James Madison University on Saturday, October 29. Her poster, titled Profiting with Options Using the Black-Scholes Equation, details her work completed during the Summer Science Institute of 2011 under the guidance of Dr. Leo Lee.
