A total of 19 West Virginia University students will take part in the 10th-annual Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol in Charleston on Thursday (Feb. 28).

A total of 15 institutions will be represented at Undergraduate Research Day, which runs from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in the Capitol Rotunda. In all, more than 100 students will participate.

Undergraduate Research Day allows students to present their discoveries in poster format and talk to legislators about their findings. The projects are original research, and the posters have been designed for a general audience.

Students mentored by faculty from the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will present their posters in the areas of agricultural science, astronomy, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, engineering, geosciences, physics and psychology.

In addition to WVU, other institutions represented are Alderson-Broaddus College, Bluefield State College, Concord University, Fairmont State University, Glenville State College, Marshall University, Ohio Valley University, Shepherd University, University of Charleston, West Liberty University, West Virginia State University, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Wheeling Jesuit University and the WVU Institute of Technology.

“Research of the kind conducted by these students is the basis of our economic future, and this event offers a great opportunity for members of the State Legislature to interact with students who will be the innovators of the future,” said Keith Garbutt, family professor and dean of the Honors College at WVU. “It also highlights the importance WVU places on the one-on-one academic activities that take place between students and faculty.”

Garbutt, chair of the event’s organizational committee, said legislators have shown a lot of interest in the students and their projects in the previous years.

“The students really appreciate the interest shown by members of the State Legislature.” Garbutt said. “Visits with the students have increased each year. We feel this is a clear indication of the interest legislators have in higher education in West Virginia.”

The following are participants from WVU:

Caitlin Ahrens of Fairmont (geosciences), “Primary Shadow Ring Analysis for Forecasting Earthquakes”

Alexandra Bay from Princeton (agricultural science), “Parasites in Beef Cattle”

Michael Carlise of Morgantown (biology), “Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Sorghum and the determination of evolutionary relationships in Poaceae using low-copy nuclear gene sequences”

Jessica Carr of Fairmont (chemistry), “Computational Simulations of Gold Nanoparticles for Cancer Imaging”

Loren Clevenger from Clarksburg (biochemistry), “Expression of transcription factors involved in lipid metabolism in mice fed algae, yeast, or fish oil”

Guy Jabob Cordonier from Parkersburg, Samantha Dolin from Madison and Nicholas Underwood from Beckley (engineering), “Variable Gravity Liquid Spray Coolant Optimization”

Katie Hackney from Charleston (psychology), “Psychometric Properties of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale”

Amanda Hanrahan from Wauwatosa, Wisc. (psychology), “Associations between adolescents’ alcohol-related secrecy and disclosure with alcohol consumption”

Areej Kuzmar from Morgantown (engineering), “Performance of Direct Carbon Fuel Cells Using Bio-Derived Fuels”

Tessa Maynard from Fort Gay (physics/astronomy), “Pulsar Science: Arecibo 327 MHz Drift Scan Processing”

Anna McClung from Morgantown (engineering), “Performance of Direct Carbon Fuel Cells Using Bio-Derived Fuels”

Christopher Oldaker of Cross Lanes (biochemistry), “Different dietary sources of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids influences renal fatty acid composition, gene expression, and risk of nephrocalcinosis in female rats”

Brittany Szafran from Moundsville (agricultural science), “Protein supplementation mitigates effects of parasitism on lambs raised organically”

Nathan Tehrani from Morgantown (physics/astronomy), “Pulsar Science: Arecibo 327 MHz Drift Scan Processing”

Jonathan Tucker from Morgantown (physics/astronomy), “Characterization of the Physical Properties for Solid Granular Materials”

Megan Villers from Morgantown (agricultural science), Protein supplementation mitigates effects of parasitism on lambs raised organically”

Zachary Willison-Headley of Vienna Wood (biology), “Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Sorghum and the determination of evolutionary relationships in Poaceae using low-copy nuclear gene sequences”

-WVU-

td/02/25/13

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