2008 Graduate Research Achievement Day Winners
Engineering Division
1st Place
Nayef Alsindi, Ph.D., Electrical & Computer Engineering, "Cooperative Localization Bounds for Indoor Ultra Wideband Wireless Sensor Networks," advised and co-authored by Kaveh Pahlavan
1st Place
Saurabh A. Vilekar, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, "Fabrication of High Performance Membrane-Electrode-Assembly (MEA) for Proton-Exchange-Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells," advised by Ravindra Datta and co-authored by Quincy Elias, Deep Khatri-Chhetri, Ravindra Datta
2nd Place (tie)
Adam C. Broders, Master's, Electrical & Computer Engineering, "Combining Renewable Energy Plants to Improve Energy Production Stability," advised by Alexander E. Emanuel
2nd Place (tie)
Natalie L. Pomerantz, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, "Characterization of the H2S Poisoning of Electroless Deposited Layers of Pd for Hydrogen Separation in Coal Gasification," advised by Yi Hua Ma and co-authored by Elizabeth Shaw
Life Sciences & Bioengineering Division
1st Place
Katie A. Bush, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, "Improving Bioengineered Skin Substitutes: Controlling the Extracellular Matrix to Direct Epithelialization," advised and co-authored by George D. Pins
2nd Place
Joshua A. Strauss, Master's, Chemical Engineering, "Measuring the Binding of E. coli to Antimicrobial Peptides with Applications for Water and Food Safety," advised by Terri A. Camesano and co-authored by Andrea L. Kadilak, Christine Cronin
3rd Place
Piyush R. Ramuka, Master's, Biomedical Engineering, "Adaptive Noise Cancellation in Pulse Oximetry: Feasibility for Real-time Applications.," advised and co-authored by Yitzhak Mendelson
Science Division
1st Place
Emily J. Evans, Ph.D., Mathematical Sciences, "Numerical and Analytical Results for Fractal Boundary Value Problems," advised by Umberto Mosco
2nd Place
Karen E. Works, Ph.D., Computer Science, "An Efficient Multi-Route Approach to Query Processing," advised by Elke A. Rundensteiner and co-authored by Rimma V. Nehme, Elisa Bertino
3rd Place
Rudra P. Kafle, Ph.D., Physics, "Theoretical Analysis of Single and Double Reflection Atom Interferometers in a Weakly-confining Magnetic Trap," advised by Alex A. Zozulya and co-authored by James A. Stickney, Dana Z. Anderson
2007 Graduate Research Achievement Day Winners
Engineering
1st Place
Chiara Silvestri, Civil and Environmental Engineering, “Development of a Finite Element Model of the Knee-Thigh-Hip of a 50th Percentile Male, Including Ligaments and Muscles,” advised and co-authored by Malcolm Ray
2nd Place
Saurabh A. Vilekar, Chemical Engineering, “Electrochemical Preferential Oxidation (ECPrOx): A Novel Approach to Enhance Kinetics and Thermodynamics of CO Oxidation,” advised by Ravindra Datta
3rd Place
M. Engin Ayturk, Chemical Engineering, “A Novel Characterization of Pd/Ag Alloy Phase Nucleation and Growth Kinetics via in-situ Time-Resolved High-Temperature X-Ray Diffraction Analysis,” advised by Yi Hua Ma and co-authored by Andrew E. Payzant, Scott A. Speakman, and Yi Hua Ma
Life Sciences and Bioengineering
1st Place
Jason R. Cox, Chemistry and Biochemistry, “Drug Polymorphs A La Carte: Selective Crystal Growth of Stable and Less Stable Forms,” advised by Venkat R. Thalladi
2nd Place (Tie)
Harita Haridas, Biology and Biotechnology, “The Bone Morphogenetic Protein Network and Kekkon5: How Does This Marriage Work?” advised by Joseph B. Duffy and co-authored by Timothy A. Evans
2nd Place (Tie)
Ally Hunter, Biology and Biotechnology, “Indole-3-acetic Acid: a Quorum Sensing Molecule in S. cerevisiae?” advised and co-authored by Reeta Prusty Rao
Science
1st Place
Rebecca Wasyk, Mathematical Sciences, “Numerical Approximation of a Transmission Problem with a Prefractal Layer,” advised by Umberto X. Mosco
2nd Place
James A. Stickney, Physics, “Transistor-like Behavior of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in a Triple-well Potential,” advised by Alex A. Zozulya and co-authored by Alex A. Zozulya and Dana Z. Anderson
3rd Place
Casey L. Richardson, Mathematical Sciences, “Modeling and Analysis of Fracture Trajectories Based on Crack Fronts,” advised by Christopher J. Larsen and co-authored by Michael X. Ortiz
2006 Graduate Research Achievement Day Winners
Engineering
1st place:
Alexandra Levshin, "Performance of Hydrofoils with Humpback Whale-like Leading Edge Protuberances," advised by Hamid Johari and Charles Henoch
2nd place (tie):
Nikhil Jalani, "Development of Composite Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Higher Temperature PEM Fuel Cells,” advised and co-authored by Ravindra Datta
2nd place (tie):
Souheil Benzerrouk, "Feasibility Study of Infrared Defects Detection in Green-State and Sintered PM Compacts,” advised by Reinhold Ludwig and Diran Apelian
Life Sciences and Bioengineering
1st place:
Yatao Liu, "Investigation of Molecular Scale Mechanisms of Cranberry on Escherichia coli Leading to Prevention of Urinary Tract Infections," co-authored by Amparo M. Gallardo-Moreno and Terri A. Camesano, advised by Terri A. Camesano
2nd place (tie):
Nantanit Wanichacheva, "Novel Ionophores and Fluoroionophores for Selective Detection of Lithium and Ammonium Ions," advised by W. Grant McGimpsey
2nd place (tie):
Kevin Cornwell, "Collagen and Fibrin Microthreads in a Discrete Thread Model of In Vitro ACL Scaffold Regeneration," advised and co-authored by George D. Pins
Science
1st place:
John Hayward, "Mining Oncology Data: Knowledge Discovery in Clinical Performance of Cancer Patients," co-authored by Carolina Ruiz and Giles Whalen, advised by Carolina Ruiz
2nd place:
Fan Wu, "Wavelet-Based Multiresolution for Mobile Graphics," co-authored by Emmanuel Agu and Matthew Ward, advised by Emmanuel Agu
3rd place:
Eugene Douglass, "Synthesis of Fluoroionophores and Ionophores for the Detection of Cationic Components of Human Blood," advised by W. Grant McGimpsey