16th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium

The 16th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was held on Friday, October 18, 2013, to coincide with events of Parents Weekend. It was the largest Symposium yet, with over 260 students presenting posters. We estimate that the event was attended by upwards of 600 people, including faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, parents and relatives. Some pictures from the event can be found below and more on our Facebook page.

Based on the comments of a panel of judges, Dr. Tom Gilmore, the UROP Director, presented four students with awards for outstanding presentations – a difficult task, considering the high caliber of work displayed. Student awards were as follows:

1st Place Poster – Nicole Snyder, CAS Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Kilachand Honors College
Mentor: Sibaji Sarkar, MED Cancer Research Center
Mechanism of CpG DNA Methylation by DNMT1 in Cancer Cells

2nd Place Poster – Sydney Shea, CAS Classics
Mentor: Jeffrey Henderson, CAS Classics
Alexandria’s Influence: The Culture of Editing Homeric Manuscripts

3rd Place Poster – Emma Rosenfeld, CAS Math, Physics
Mentor: Steven Ahlen, CAS Physics
Evaluation of a MicroMegas Muon Detector and Development of an Electronics Testing System for Multi-Channel Detectors

Audience Award – Natasha Dilwali, SMG, Business Administration and Management
Mentor: Asish Saha, MED Endocrinology
Branched-chain Amino Acids-Associated Alterations in Malonyl CoA and its Associations with Mitochondrial Function and Dysregulated Intracellular Lipid Metabolism

The Symposium Cover Design Award was presented to Andrew Garcia, an NSF-SURF student from San Francisco State University, who performed summer research with Dr. Howard Eichenbaum, CAS Psychology