The twenty-first annual conference, held on April 14, 2012, included 269 students and 129 faculty members.
Students presented their research and creative accomplishments in the form of oral presentations or as poster displays. The quality and sophistication of the student work increases every year. Unless noted, students are from Penn State Behrend. To view the abstract book, click here.
Awards were given to the following students:
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOCHEMISTRY I
Alexander Berry with faculty member Kristen Webb (Allegheny College)
Whole Genome Analysis Reveals That Conservation and Duplication Gave Rise to the Current V2R Gene Repertoire in Mammals
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOCHEMISTRY I
Megan Silbaugh with faculty member Kristen Webb (Allegheny College)
Building on the Mitochondrial DNA Phylogeography of Haplotypes of Eurosta solidaginis
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOCHEMISTRY II AND NEUROBIOLOGY
Elizabeth Frick with faculty member Catharina Coenen (Allegheny College)
Auxin Influx Carrier Effects on Transport Specificity and Auxin-Induced Gene Expression
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOCHEMISTRY II AND NEUROBIOLOGY
Caitlin Devor with faculty member Bradley Hersh (Allegheny College)
Role of Innexin and Vinnexin Gap Junctions in the Immune Response of Drosophila melanogaster
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOLOGY – GENETICS AND ECOLOGY
Noelle Blank with faculty member Greg Andraso (Gannon University)
Comparison of Pharyngeal Apparatus of Round Gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) from Two Populations in Erie County, Pennsylvania
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOLOGY – GENETICS AND ECOLOGY
Surafel Mulugeta, Eric Clark, Drew Spacht, Gillian Jones, and Irfan Haider with faculty member Steven Mauro (Mercyhurst University)
The Active Ingredient in Antidepressants Can Influence Levels of the Fecal Indicater Bacteria E.coli in Recreational Freshwaters
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BUSINESS AND HUMANITIES
Lindsay Hilldorfer with faculty member Leigh-Ann Bedal
Cave of Wonders: Interpreting a Novel Cave Structure in Petra, Jordan
TWO RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS – BUSINESS AND HUMANITIES
Justin Brunot with faculty member James Kurre
Determinants of Poverty: An Analysis across U.S. Metro Areas
Jerrel Gilliam with faculty member John Rossi
The Kennedy Administration and U.S. Involvement in Indochina
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – CHEMISTRY AND MATHEMATICS
Christopher Wheeler with faculty member Jason Bennett
Electrodeposited Dicyano-Coordinated Ferriprotoporphyrin for the Selective Exodation of H2S Gas
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – CHEMISTRY AND MATHEMATICS
James Pander with faculty member Jason Bennett
Preliminary Investigations on Electrocatalyst Development for Selective Gasotransmitter Detection
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND PHYSICS
Dylan Karas with faculty member C. David Shaffer (Westminster College)
A Puzzle Game Controlled by Live MIDI Input
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND PHYSICS
Timothy Matyas with faculty member C. David Shaffer (Westminster College)
An Autonomous Room-Navigation Robot
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY I – COMMUNICATION
Lauren DeIntinis, Faith Govan, and Brian McElveney with faculty member Dawn Blasko
The Influence of Emoticons on Perception of Message and Sender in Text Messaging
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY I – COMMUNICATION
Dylan Guarisco with faculty members Kenneth Cunningham and Chiara Sabina (Penn State Harrisburg)
Digital Solidarity among Penn State Harrisburg Students
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY II – MEDIA AND LEARNING
Ashley Kerr and Kylie Peters with faculty member Dawn Blasko
The Effects of Unilateral Muscle Contractions on Global and Local Processing Tasks
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY II – MEDIA AND LEARNING
Ashley Brightwell, Paige Rogers, and Jessica Wilson with faculty member Charisse Nixon
The Effect of the Media on College Students’ Body Image
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY III – RELATIONSHIPS
Kyle Thiel with faculty members Victoria Kazmerski, Carol Wilson, and Charisse Nixon
The Relationship of Family and Peer Connectedness and Spirituality with College Adjustment
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY III – RELATIONSHIPS
Kristan Russell and Erin McCreary with faculty member Dawn Blasko
Can Priming the Brain Influence Facial Recognition?
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – BIOCHEMISTRY AND NEUROBIOLOGY
Lindsay Hilldorfer and Leah Wolfe with faculty member Michael Campbell
The Sprout Inhibitor DMN Alters the Expression of the Cell Cycle Genes KRP1 and CYCA3
THREE RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – BIOCHEMISTRY AND NEUROBIOLOGY
James McGivern with faculty members Michael Ganger and Sarah Ewing (Gannon University)
The Effect of Salicylic Acid on the Expression of FT in Arabidopsis thaliana
Monica Scarsella and Elizabeth Paine with faculty members Thomas Corso and Sarah Ewing (Gannon University and Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine)
Preliminary Studies on the Effects of Dopamine on Neuronal Cell Viability
William Sharpnack with faculty member Bradley Hersh (Allegheny College)
Identification of Sequences Important for UBX Regulation of CG13222
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
Brianne Campbell and Emily Hyde with faculty members Anthony Foyle and Beth Potter
Seasonal Water Quality Analysis of Fourmile Creek, Erie, Pennsylvania
TWO RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
Ara Agato, Dixie Courtney, Holly Pier, and Dan Hoang with faculty members Beth Potter and Margaret Voss
Tracking the Bacterial Diversity on Individual House Wren Eggs
Eric Schultz with faculty member Christopher Gee
The Characteristics of Field Resistance of Agrobacterium vitis in Concord Grapevine
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – CHEMISTRY
Jerry Casbohm with faculty member Martin Kociolek
1,2-Benzisoxazole-2-oxides, a New Class of UV-Absorbing Compounds
TWO RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – CHEMISTRY
Rachael Carmichael with faculty member Michael Justik
Divergent Reactivity Towards Nucleophiles in 1H-1-(1-Alkynyl)-5-methyl-1,2,3-benziodoxathiole 3,3-Dioxides
Torin Karsonovich with faculty member Martin Kociolek
Synthesis and Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity of Novel Benzisoxazole 2-Oxide Containing Flavanones
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – ENGINEERING I – COMPUTER, SOFTWARE, AND ELECTRICAL
Andrew Bauer and Walter Kerin with faculty member Dakshina Murthy Bellur
Design and Experimentation of Loosely Coupled Planar Inductors for Wireless Power Transmission Systems
TWO RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – ENGINEERING I – COMPUTER, SOFTWARE, AND ELECTRICAL
Whitney Dewey, Andrew Bauer, and Walter Kerin with faculty member Dakshina Murthy Bellur
Embedded Controller-Based, Multiple-Channel Power Transistor Driver
Daniel Linden with faculty member Xaiocong Fan
A Lightweight Multilayer GIS for Network-Centric Warfare
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – ENGINEERING II – MECHANICAL
Bradley Brandt with faculty member Leigh-Ann Bedal
Ceramic Pipes and the Petra Garden and Pool Complex
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATION – ENGINEERING II – MECHANICAL
Timothy Kaminske with faculty member William Lasher
Modeling Wind Turbine Blades Using Computational Fluid Dynamic Software
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – GAME DESIGN
Joe Grise, Kit Torelli, and Steve Chalker with faculty member Joshua Shaw
Tyrant
THREE RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – GAME DESIGN
Jesse Altmire and Andrew Armstrong with faculty member Joshua Shaw
The Last Hunt
Doug Moore and Kyle Giewont with faculty member Joshua Shaw
Vitrification
Nick Gordon, Trevor Gordon, Garrett Shaw, Kevin Lesniak, and Tyler McGrath with faculty member Joshua Shaw
Hands of Creation
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS
Thomas Boyer and Shehzad Siddique with faculty member Javed Siddique (Penn State York)
Fluid Flow Interactions within a Deformable Arterial Wall
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH
Stephen Galdo and David Nguyen with faculty members Ann Quinn and Dave Causgrove
Penn State Behrend Energy Management Team
TWO RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – PEDAGOGY AND EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH
Catherine Franks and Charles Latchaw with faculty member Melanie Ford
Behrend Land: Amusement Park of Mechanical Engineering Principles
Sarah Dougan with faculty member Sarah Ewing (Gannon University)
Zebrafish in the Classroom
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY
Megan Myers and Stephanie Cattron with faculty member Victoria Kazmerski
Examining Weight Discrimination among Males and Females
TWO RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – PSYCHOLOGY
Ashley Adamson with faculty member Rodney Clark (Allegheny College)
The Effects of Social Interaction and Social Isolation and Handling on Male and Female Sprague-Dawley Rats When Learning to Navigate a Multiple T-Maze
Emily Loker, Christine Harding, Lynzie Black, and Megan Morrow with faculty member Carol Wilson
Money, Memory, and Romantic Relationships