WKU students make presentations at Kentucky Academy of Science meeting

Several WKU students made presentations and received awards at the 2011 Kentucky Academy of Science annual meeting.

WKU participants in the 97^th annual KAS meeting, held Nov. 4-5 in Murray, included the following:

Oral Presentations

Agriculture

• Christopher Ferguson, graduate student from Franklin: Effect of Tassel Removal for Baby Corn Production in Kentucky
• Caitlin N. Carter, undergraduate student from Vine Grove: Characteristics of and Reasons why Farmers Choose Off-Farm Work

Botany

• Chandra Pranav, graduate student from Bowling Green: Effect of coconut oil on ulcerative colitis in a murine model

Cellular and Molecular Biology

• Jonathan Howton, graduate student from Dawson Springs: Cryptochrome as the candidate photoreceptor for entrainment of the circadian clock by blue light in Chlamydomonas

Chemistry

• Eric Vanover, graduate student from Utica: Photochemical production of trans-dioxoruthenium(VI) porphyrins
• Kelin Wang, graduate student from China: Greenhouse and Field Studies of Flue Gas Desulphurization By-Products Amended Soil
• Yaowen Cui, graduate student from China: The preparation of copper-based oxygen carriers supported by titanium dioxide
• Lakshmisri M. Vangala, graduate student from India: Size Dependent Antimicrobial Activity of Sugar Encapsulated Gold Nanoparticles
• Dillon S. Pender, undergraduate student from Elizabethtown: Environmentally Friendly Synthesis, Characterization and Bactericidal Activity of Starch Encapsulated Gold Nanoparticles; first place undergraduate presentation

Ecology and Environmental Science

• Jennifer M. Yates, graduate student from Brownsville: Influences of a Cladophora Bloom on the Diets of Elliptio dilatata and Amblema plicata in the Upper Green River, Kentucky
• Brenna E. Tinsley, undergraduate student from Glasgow: The role of Podostemum ceratophyllum in providing habitat for net-spinning caddisflies; second place undergraduate presentation
• Mary Newton, undergraduate student from Owensboro: An Analysis of Call Frequencies Based on Time of Day and Habitat for Seven Species of Anurans; third place undergraduate presentation

Geography

• Austin Boys, undergraduate student from Greeneville, Tenn., and Brian R. Urbancic, undergraduate student from Louisville: Evidence of change in the intensity of wet and dry spells impacting Kentucky; first place undergraduate presentation
• Nicholas Lawhon, graduate student from Gallatin, Tenn.: A spatial statistical correlation of drainage density and surface water quality degradation in Kentucky
• Justin King, undergraduate student from Tompkinsville: Mapping burned area in Huascaran National Park, Peru using remote sensing imagery
• Joshua E. Montgomery, undergraduate student from Auburn: Time Series Vegetation Analysis in Huascaran National Park, Peru; second place undergraduate presentation
• Tommy Woodall, undergraduate student from Bowling Green: Modeling Seasonality of Fire Occurrences in the Cordillera Blanca; third place undergraduate presentation
• Justin Sowers, undergraduate student from Glasgow: Use of remotely sensed data to examine climate variability and vegetation response in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru

Geology

• Jeffrey Molloy, undergraduate student from Bowling Green: Ore Analysis of KY-IL Fluorspar District; third place undergraduate presentation
• Michael R. Powers, undergraduate student from Bowling Green: Mineral characterization of the Macraes mine in New Zealand; first place undergraduate presentation

Health Sciences

• Justin Pile, undergraduate student from Coxs Creek: Plumbagin ameliorates ulcerative colitis in the experimental murine model; third place undergraduate presentation

Physiology and Biochemistry

• Gopinath Rajadinakaran, graduate student from India: Examining Pathways Regulated in Zebrafish Auditory Hair Cell Regeneration using Next Generation Sequencing
• Yajie Wang, graduate student from China: Growth Hormone Promotes Auditory Hair Cell Regeneration in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)
• Gopinath Rajadinakaran, graduate student from India: Next Generation Sequencing Identifies Regulation of Pathways in Zebrafish Auditory Hair Cell Regeneration
• Chad Willis, undergraduate student from Alvaton: Biomass Assisted Synthesis of Antibacterial Nanomaterial; second place undergraduate presentation

Zoology

• Jacob Eldridge, graduate student from Bowling Green: Measuring anuran population dynamics using a combination of automatic call recognition software and conventional field survey methods
• Derek L. Rupert, graduate student from Montoursville, Pa.: Employing Creel Survey Data and Simple Sampling Techniques to Evaluate the Pit-lakes Fisheries of Muhlenberg County
• Bethany N. Coffey, undergraduate student from Columbia: Aggressive Acoustic Behavior in Yasuhikotakia modesta: Does the Lombard Effect Hold Water?; second place undergraduate presentation

Poster Presentations

Chemistry

• Shravan Gavva, graduate student from India: Single Step Synthesis of Antibiotic Kanamycin Embedded Nanoparticles
• Raj Kishore Vakiti, graduate student from India: Hydrothermal synthesis, structural and thermal properties of two calcium based metal-organic frameworks
• Jason Young, graduate student from Owensboro: On- and Off-Metal Synthetic Route to Some Group (VII) Complexes
• Yanfen Li, graduate student from China: A New Metal Organic Framework Containing Ruthenium Polypyridyl Complex
• Virginia Martin, undergraduate student from Bardstown: Synthesis, purification, and characterization of analogs of the anticancer drug oxaliplatin
• Sarah Ward, undergraduate student from Glasgow: Computational Calculations of the Photophysical Properties of Perylenediimide Bridged Silanes
• Amy Poynter, undergraduate student from Mount Vernon: Reactivity of oxaliplatin and derivatives with biologically relevant ligands
• Chris Carmichael, undergraduate student from Bowling Green: Synthesis ad structure of a Novel Layerd Metalloporphyrin coordination polymer
• Zhibo Yuan, undergraduate student from China: Kinetic studies of oxygen atom transfer reaction from trans- dioxoruthenium(VI) porphyrins to sulfides
• Heather Shockley, undergraduate student from Bowling Green: Using confocal Raman spectroscopy to analyze nitrate structure at and near the air-water interface
• Sabina Salkic, graduate student from Bowling Green: Photocatalytic Degradation of the X-Ray Contrast Agent Diatrizoate with Raman Spectroscopy
• Aaron W. Daniel, undergraduate student from Hartford: Development of an Analytical Morse Oscillator Model for Multi- Dimensional Reactive Scattering
• Brittany S. Morgan, undergraduate student from Glasgow: The Reaction of Halogenated Hydrocarbons with Cysteine and DNA
• Mary Spraggs, Gatton Academy student from Danville, and Cheyenne Ullrey, Gatton Academy student from Walton: An examination of atmospheric composition data from Mammoth Cave National Park
• Aaron D. McKee, undergraduate student from Lexington: Donor-Acceptor Functionalized Siloxane Nanohybrids: Synthesis, Characterization and Particle Morphology
• Leslie Wilson, Gatton Academy student from Munfordville: Reactive group functionalized silsesquioxane nanoparticles for drug delivery applications: Synthesis, characterization, and particle morphology
• Swarna Latha Somasani, graduate student from India: Reduction of heavy metals from drinking water by adsorption from limestone with a focus on zinc, copper and lead applications
• Logan Eckler, Gatton Academy student from Covington: Molecular Dynamics Modeling of Aqueous Nitrate Solutions
• Nicholas Wright, undergraduate student from Richmond, and Amar Patel, undergraduate student from Russellville: Poly (3-hexylthiophene)-functionalized silsesquioxane nanoparticles by “grafting-from” method using Grignard Metathesis; first place undergraduate poster
• Brandon Farmer, Gatton Academy student from Lexington: Synthesis of Porous Elastomeric Beads for Solid Phase Micro Extraction

Computer and Information Sciences

• Shrikant Pawar, graduate student from India: Statistical Analysis of Microarray Gene Expression Data from a Mouse Model of Toxoplasmosis

Cellular and Molecular Biology

• Helen Thompson, undergraduate student from Glasgow: Synthesis and Characterization of beta-Lactum Antibiotic Capped Gold Nanoparticles
• Sean Shannon, undergraduate student from Beavercreek, Ohio: Identification of Candidate Basement Membrane Degraders in Drosophila; first place undergraduate poster
• Jordan R. Olberding, undergraduate student from Oceanside, Calif.: A Study of the Unique Potassium Transport of the MDA-MB453 Breast Cancer Cell Line
• Shrikant Pawar, graduate student from India: Elucidation of Mechanism of Anti H.pylori activity of Hesperidin by Determination of Modulated Expression Endogenous Biomarkers in Laboratory Rats

Geography

• Sean Vanderhoff, undergraduate student from Louisville: Multiple Storm Event Impacts on Epikarst Storage and Transportation of Organic Soil Amendments in South-Central Kentucky; second place undergraduate poster
• Victoria Allen, high school student from Auburn: Evolving Tools for the Evaluation of Human/Landscape Interactions in Limestone Karst Terrains; first place undergraduate poster
• Jonathan Oglesby, undergraduate student from Greenville: Using Infographics to Promote Public Awareness of the Water Cycle and the Worldwide Water Crisis; third place undergraduate poster

Microbiology

• Travis W. Beeler, undergraduate student from Bowling Green: Seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi and other vector-borne pathogens in Kentucky canines; first place undergraduate poster

Physics and Astronomy

• John M. Wilson, undergraduate student from Hickman: Spacetime Diagram Approach to Mapping Tachyonic (non)Causality
• Jason J. Leszczewicz, undergraduate student from Bowling Green: Forensic Physics Application: A Stress Analysis on Ballistic Fabrics Using a Large Chamber Scanning Electron Microscope; third place undergraduate poster
• Kristopher Andrew, high school student from Bowling Green: Examination of Fossil Samples from an Electron Backscatter and SEM Survey of Surface Morphology Including the Cambrian Trilobite

Contact: Bruce Kessler, (270) 745-4449