Graduate Research Achievement Days (GRAD)
2011 Winners
Business and Social Science Division
1st Place
Michael A. Sao Pedro, Ph.D., “Assessing and Predicting Systematic Inquiry Skills Within an Intelligent Tutoring System for Middle School Science,” advised by Janice Gobert, coauthored by Ryan Baker and Orlando Montalvo
2nd Place
Ami J. Samani, Masters, School of Business, “Can Managing Heart Rate Variability Improve Decision Making Under Time Pressure?” advised and coauthored by Soussan Djamasbi and Eleanor Loiacono
3rd Place
Juelaila J. Raziuddin, Ph. D., Social Science & Policy Studies, “The Influence of Learner Characteristics on Conducting Scientific Inquiry Within Microworlds,” advised by Janice Gobert, coauthored by Michael Sao Pedro
Engineering Division
1st Place
Ahsan Munir, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, " A Time-Dependent Magnetic Nanoparticle Enhanced Actuation Strategy For Mixing And Tagging Biomolecules In A Point-Of-Care Microfluidic Lab-On-Chip System," advised by Susan Zhou
1st Place
Reyyan Koc, Ph.D, Chemical Engineering, "Economic Assessment of Inherently Safe Membrane Reactor Technology Options Integrated Into IGCC Power Plants," advised by Yi Ma, Nikolaos Kazantzis.
2nd Place
Nakisa (Niki) Alborzfard, Masters, Civil & Environmental Engineering, “Life Cycle Cost Analysis Framework For Sustainable Buildings," advised by Guillermo Salazar.
3rd Place
Cecilia Borgonovo, Masters, Mechanical Engineering, " A Novel Method For Manufacturing Aluminum Nitride Nanocomposites," advised by Makhlouf Maklouf.
Life Sciences & Bioengineering Division
1st Place
Denis Kole, PhD, Biology & Biotechnology, "Effects of FGF2 on Chromatin Remodeling and Stem Cell Gene Activation in Human Dermal Fibroblasts," advised by Tanja Dominko, co-authored by Sakthikumar Ambady and Raymond Page
2nd Place
Molly McShea, Masters, Biology & Biotechnology, "Coming up Short: MIG-10 as a Mediator of Directed Outgrowth in C.elegans" advised by Elizabeth Ryder.
3rd Place
Harita Menon, Ph.D., Biology & Biotechnology, "Inside-Out – Cellular Junctions, Adhesion, Growth and Kek5," advised by Joseph Duffy.
Honorable Mention
John T. Favreau, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, “A Novel Method for Recording Real Time Wall Strain in a Murine Vein Graft Model,” advised by Glenn Gaudette
Science Division
1st Place
Zach A. Pardos, Ph.D., Computer Science, “Using HMMs and Bagged Decision Trees to Leverage Rich Features of User and Skill from an Intelligent Tutoring System Dataset,” Advised by Neil Heffernan
2nd Place
Guillaume Marceau, Ph.D., Computer Science, “Measuring the Effectiveness of Error Messages for Novice Programmers,” advised by Kathi Fisler, coauthored by Shriram Khrisnamurthi
3rd Place
Krishna P. Sigdel, Ph.D., Physics, “Study of Phase Transitions in Bucky Ball (C60)- Liquid Crystal Dispersions,” advised and coauthoried by Germano Iannacchione
2010 Winners
ENGINEERING DIVISION
1st Place
Muhammad Q. Saleem, Ph.D., Manufacturing Engineering, " Helium Assisted Sand Casting of Aluminum Alloys," advised by Makhlouf M. Makhlouf
1st Place
Gregory A. Cole, Master's, Mechanical Engineering, "MRI Compatible Surgical Systems: Analysis of Compatibility Methodologies and System Effectiveness" advised by Gregory S. Fischer.
2nd Place
Reyyan Koc, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, “A Process Dynamic Modeling and Control Framework for Pd-Based Membrane Reactors," advised by Yi Hua Ma and Nikolaos K. Kazantzis.
3rd Place
Paul David Cotnoir, Ph.D., Manufacturing Engineering, " The Attenuation of Potentially Harmful Vibrations Due to Ground Travel in Passenger Compartments of Ambulances," advised by Mustapha Fofana
LIFE SCIENCES & BIOENGINEERING DIVISION
1st Place
Jacques P. Guyette, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, "Conditioning Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Mend the Broken Heart," advised and coauthored by Glenn R. Gaudette
2nd Place
Denis Kole, Ph.D., Biology & Biotechnology, "Reprogramming of Adult Human Fibroblasts by Xenopus Laevis Egg Extract Fractions" advised and coauthored by Tanja Dominko, also coauthored by Sakthikumar Ambady, William F. Holmes and Raymond Page.
3rd Place
Charu Jain, Ph.D., Biology & Biotechnology, " Yaps and Blisters: A Reactive Story," advised and co authored by Reeta Prusty Rao.
MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL SCIENCE DIVISION
1st Place
Ermal Toto, Ph. D., Interdisciplinary Learning Sciences, “Development of Tools to Support Students’ Inquiry,” Advised by Janice D. Gobert, Coauthored by Orlando C. Montalvo
2nd Place
Adam R. Nakama, Master’s, Interdisciplinary Learning Sciences, “Visualizing and Coding Student Inquiry Behaviors in Science Assistments,” Advised by Janice D. Gobert and Ryan S. Baker, Coauthored by Michael A. Sao Pedro and Orlando C. Montalvo
3rd Place
Juelaila J. Raziuddin, Ph. D., Interdisciplinary Learning Sciences, “Characterizing Students’ Inquiry Skills in the Context of a Microworld: Triangulating Evidence from Log Files, Inquiry Skills Surveys and Open Response Questions,” Advised by Janice D. Gobert, Coauthored by Orlando C. Montalvo
SCIENCE DIVISION
1st Place
Aaron G. Holroyd and Brett E. Ponsler, Master’s, Computer Science, “Recognizing and Generating Engagement Behaviors in Human-Robot Interaction,” Advised by Charles Rich
2nd Place
Zachary A. Pardos, Ph.D., Computer Science, “Navigating the Parameter Space of Bayesian Knowledge Tracing models: Visualizations of the Convergence of the Expectation Maximization Algorithm,” Advised by Neil T. Heffernan
3rd Place
Lori R. Pelletier, Ph.D., Manufacturing Engineering, “Physician Performance Modeling in a Healthcare Organization,” Advised by Sharon Johnson, coauthored by Elaine Fontaine, Edward Westrick, Alan Krinsky and Robert Klugman
2009 Winners
Engineering Division
1st Place
NatalieL.Pomerantz, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, "Isothermal Nucleation and Growth Kinetics of Pd/Cu," advised byYiHuaMa and co-authored by AndrewPayzant.
1st Place
LiliYuan, Ph.D., Electrical & Computer Engineering, "Stress Field Calculation for Quantitative Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging," advised by PederC.Pedersen.
2nd Place (tie)
GregoryA.Cole, Master's, Mechanical Engineering, "Design of a Robotic System for MRI-Guided Deep Brain Stimulation Electrode Placement," advised by GregoryS.Fischer.
2nd Place (tie)
VishwanathIyer, Ph.D., Electrical & Computer Engineering,"Wideband Impedance Matching of a Non-Resonant, Electrically Short Dipole or Monopole Antenna Using a Lumped Circuit," advised by SergeyN.Makarov.
Life Sciences & Bioengineering Division
1st Place
PrachiGupta, Ph.D.,Biology & Biotechnology, "Lipid elongases During Development: A Lengthy Tail," advised by JosephB.Duffy and co-authored by ShreelekhaMandal.
2nd Place
PaolaA.Pinzon-Arango, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, "Defeating Anthrax with Germinants and Antimicrobial Peptides: An Atomic Force Microscopy Study on Spore Morphology and Elasticity," advised by TerriA.Camesano and co-authored byEricConnelly and RamanathanNagarajan.
3rd Place
AhsanMunir, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, "Microfluidic Capturing and Detection Dynamics of a Magnetic Nanoparticle Based Lab-on-a-chip Biosystem," advised by Hong SusanZhou.
Science Division
1st Place
RajratanBasu, Ph.D., Physics, "Carbon Nanotube Dispersed Liquid Crystal – A Nano Electromechanical System and a Potential Memory Storage Device," advised and co-authored by GermanoS.Iannacchione.
2nd Place
RudraP.Kafle, Ph.D., Physics, "Theoretical Analysis of a Free Oscillation Atom Michelson Interferometer in a Weakly Confining Magnetic Trap," advised and co-authored by AlexA.Zozulya.
3rd Place
DiYang, Ph.D., Computer Science, "Neighbor-Based Pattern Detection for Windows OverStreaming Data," co-advised by ElkeA.Rundensteiner and MatthewO.Ward.
2008 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 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 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
