Students Recognized for Outstanding Scholarship and Creative Works

For the 10^th year, the NSU community gathered in celebration of outstanding student scholarship at the 2011 Undergraduate Student Symposium, hosted by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences on Apr. 8. Symposium projects cover areas of student scholarship ranging from the experimental, applied, and computational to the theoretical, artistic, and literary. The submissions come from class assignments as well as from independent projects. Each student works with an NSU faculty member, who serves as a mentor, adviser, and sponsor for the student’s research.

In addition to the symposium, the college also hosted the fifth annual Undergraduate Film Festival, which featured screenings of student-made short films, each corresponding with this year’s academic theme of “Identity.”

(from left) Aisha Haniff and Luz Gonzalez Reiley stand with Don Rosenblum, Ph.D., dean of the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences at the Undergraduate Student Symposium Awards Luncheon on April 25, 2011. The students earned first place for their research poster titled “Expression of AT1, AT2 Receptors and a Non-AT1, Non-AT2 Angiotensin II Binding Site in Rat Brain After Endothelin-1 Induced Ischemic Stroke” at the symposium on Apr. 8 at NSU.

The college honored those students who received awards for their outstanding research and work at a ceremony and luncheon on Apr. 25. On hand to celebrate the students’ achievements were college leadership members Don Rosenblum, Ph.D., dean of the college; Marlisa Santos, Ph.D., director of the college’s Division of Humanities; Robin Sherman, Ph.D., associate professor and associate director of the college’s Division of Math, Science, and Technology; Michael Caldwell, D.M.A., director of the college’s Division of Performing and Visual Arts; Tom Fagan, Ph.D., director of the college’s Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Students who earned recognition for their scholarship include the following:

Posters

• First Place: Luz Gonzalez Reiley and Aisha Haniff for “Expression of AT1, AT2 Receptors and a Non-AT1, Non-AT2 Angiotensin II Binding Site in Rat Brain After Endothelin-1 Induced Ischemic Stroke;” working with faculty adviser Robert Speth, Ph.D., professor in NSU’s College of Pharmacy
• Second Place: Reena  Parikh for “Synthesis of Porous Organic Materials for Gas Storage Media;” working with faculty adviser Donald Baird, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Third Place: Darshan Solanki and Saamia Shaikh for “The Effectiveness of Various Pesticides on Aphid Infestations;” working with faculty adviser Paul Arena, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Fourth Place: Jennifer Grant for “Transcriptome Analysis of Lagenidium Giganteum;” working with faculty adviser Aurelien Tartar, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Diana Mantilla for “The Effects of an Unrestricted High-Protein/High-Fat Diet Plus Exercise on Body Composition: A Case Report;” working with faculty adviser Jose Antonio, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Shan Desai for “Construction of a Polyphosphate Kinase Gene Deletion in Yersenia spp.;” working with faculty adviser Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Alexa Vyain and Tulsi Patel for “The Study of Lagenidium Giganteum Crinkler Genes;” working with faculty adviser Aurelien Tartar, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Andrew Lister for “Isolating and Characterizing Natural Products from Fruits and Vegetables by Using Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy;” working with faculty advisers Dimitrios Giarikos, Ph.D., associate professor, coordinator of sciences in the college; and Reza Razeghifard, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Brittany Lape for “The Effect of Water Temperature on Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) Abundance in Port Everglades;” working with faculty adviser Edward O. Keith, Ph.D., associate professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Brittney Tamayo for “Improvement of Trauma Symptom in a Male Dual-Diagnosis Outpatient Treatment;” working with faculty adviser Andrew Bunce, Ph.D.
• Honorable Mention: Dean Kalam for “Dipole Moment of Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) Porphyrins and Out of Plane Distortions Quantified by Semiempirical Methods and Compared  to  Thin Layer Chromatography;” working with faculty adviser Maria Ballester, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Emily Nguyen, Fayssa Salomon, Christina Gobin, and Arash Nasajpour for “TMNT: Dynamic Models of Cancer and HIV;” working with faculty adviser Evan Haskell, Ph.D., associate professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Melanie Campbell for “Exploring the Formation of Novel Organic Compounds in Urban Atmosphere;” working with faculty advisers Dimitrios Giarikos, Ph.D., associate professor, coordinator of sciences in the college; and Song Gao, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Honorable Mention: Alexandra Srour for “The Influence of Emotional Regulation on Response Inhibition;” working with faculty advisers Leanne Boucher, Ph.D., assistant professor, and Jaime Tartar, Ph.D., associate professor, coordinator of psychology research
• Honorable Mention: Anam Ismail for “Bystanders to Evil: The Failure of the United States’ Foreign Policy Towards Genocide;” working with faculty adviser Gary Gershman, J.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the college

Papers

• First Place: Tatiana Viena and Isabelle Barbu for “The Impact of Psychological Stress on an Acute Stress Challenge: An Investigation into Biochemical, Social and Personality Correlates;” working with faculty advisers Jaime Tartar, Ph.D., associate professor, coordinator of psychology research; and Allan Schulman, Ph.D., professor in the college
• First Place: Luis Puchi and Reina Miranda for “Standardization of a Technique for Quantification of Glutathione Concentration in Human White Blood Cells: a Biomarker of Autism?;” working with faculty advisers Mark Jaffe, D.P.M., associate professor, and Ana Maria Castejon, Ph.D., associate professor in NSU’s College of Pharmacy
• First Place: Calista Siobhan Ming for “A Tale of African Dust: Cross-Oceanic Transport and Climatic Impact;” working with faculty adviser Song Gao, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• First Place: Christie Rubio for “The Effect of Thimerosal-Containing and Thimerosal-Free Pediatric Flu Vaccine on Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae;” working with faculty adviser Emily Schmitt, Ph.D., associate professor in the college
• First Place: Nergess Taheri for “Artscience: A Study of the Human Arterial and Venous Systems;” working with faculty adviser Deanne Roopnarine, D.P.M., assistant professor in the college
• First Place: Nathaniel Dolan for “On Parmenides’ Reality;” working with faculty advisers Vicki Toscano, Ph.D., assistant professor, and Darren Hibbs, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Second Place: Dan  Abella for “Peace Through Hostility: The Beats’ Call for Equality through Aggressive Poetic Imagery;” working with faculty adviser Lynn Ellen Wolf, Ph.D., associate professor in the college
• Second Place: William Oliver for “Validation of an Alternative Microbiological Method for Nutritional Supplements & OTC Drugs;” working with faculty adviser Joshua Loomis, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• Second Place: Mary-Catherine Fleck for “The Widening Spectrum of Celiac Disease;” working with faculty adviser Robin Sherman, Ph.D., associate professor, associate director of the college’s Division of Math, Science, and Technology
• Second Place: Hannah Bromberg for “The Effects of Sugar Substitutes on Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae;” working with faculty adviser Emily Schmitt, Ph.D., associate professor, coordinator of biological sciences, in the college
• Second Place: Jennifer  Marcelin, Jorge Leal, Lindsey Nowland, and Sagir Patel for “Investigation of a Crime Scene: Applying Biological and Chemical Forensic Techniques; working with faculty advisers Deanne Roopnarine, D.P.M., assistant professor, and Maria Ballester, Ph.D., assistant professor in the college
• American Association of University Women Award: Rajeswari Murugan for “A Cardiac Arrhythmogenesis Model: Spiraling Out of Control;” working with faculty adviser Evan Haskell, Ph.D., associate professor in the college

Films

• First Place: A Perfect Day, directed by Juan Sebastian Gallo, working with faculty advisers Weylin Sternglanz, Ph.D., and Chetachi Egwu, Ph.D., assistant professors in the college
• Second Place: The Universe Divine, directed by Alyiece Moretto, working with faculty advisers Weylin Sternglanz, Ph.D., and Chetachi Egwu, Ph.D., assistant professors in the college

Also recognized at the event were students who received awards for their noteworthy submissions to Say What? Third Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition, on display at NSU Apr. 4 through Apr. 27. The list of Say What? winners is now available online.

The ceremony and luncheon concluded with recognition of those students who submitted award-winning works to the 2011 issue of Digressions, the student-run literary magazine produced by the college’s Division of Humanities. Receiving awards were Ashley Allred, for “Abracadabra” (First Place, short fiction); Victoria Rajkumar, for “From Childhood to Future” (Second Place, short fiction); Daniel King, for “They, Who Are I” (First Place, poetry); Juan Miranda, for “Exile” (Second Place, poetry); Lacrima Nemulescu, for “The Time We Lost Our Way” (First Place, visual art); and Mikaela Myers, for “Hummingbird” (Second Place, visual art).