Honors College Students Participate in WSU REU Program
PULLMAN, Wash.—Seven Honors College students are part of the largest Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in the Northwest this summer at Washington State University.
REU is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which allows students to research with professors for the summer. The goal of REU is to provide undergraduate students in engineering and related fields an opportunity to participate in ongoing active research programs. Working closely with faculty, the participants will gain hands on experience with advanced research techniques in demand in the field today.
Sophomore Gavin Mitchell, a materials science engineering major from Spokane, is working closely with faculty advisors Katie Zhong and Lili Sun to investigate the dielectric properties of polymer/carbon nanofiber nanocomposite materials. The polymer/CNF nanocomposites created by Mitchell could be used to create miniaturized high-performance capacitors, devices critical for the operation of most electronic circuits.
Junior Ngoc Le, a mechanical engineering major from Richland, is under the tutelage of Hussein Zbib and Ioannis Mastorakos to research the interaction mechanisms between defects and dislocations in iron. The goal of her research is to identify the critical parameters (defects size, distance, temperature, etc.) in the dislocation–defects interaction and their role in the deformation behavior of irradiated materials. Le’s research could provide insight into the prevention and correction of defects in iron that are caused by intense radiation.
Junior Kjerste Tangvald, a computer science major from Spokane, is collaborating with advisor Diane Cook to analyze electrical energy data collected from motion sensors in the WSU “smart apartments.” The WSU living units are environments equipped with motion sensors, sensory pads, and video equipment which are all connected to a computer to monitor the activities of inhabitants and to control the environment, i.e. heating and lighting. With this research, Tangvald could predict the activity being performed within the smart environment by analyzing the trends in the energy output.
Junior Ken DeVoe, a materials science engineering major from Arlington, is researching resorbable tricalcium phosphates with advisor Susmita Bose. Tricalcium phosphates (TCP) are used as potential materials for bone implants. The goal of DeVoe’s research is to determine the effect of varying molecular percentages of Srontium Oxide (SrO) dopants has on the mechanical properties of a TCP matrix. His results indicate that an increased amount of SrO dopants serve to improve the mechanical properties of TCP.
Senior Kristen Kopczynski, an engineering major from Spokane, has a different role in WSU’s REU from more than 90 undergraduates participating in the program. This summer, she will help Shane Brown to evaluate the REU’s Laboratory for Atmospheric Research (LAR) program to see if the program is accomplishing set goals. To assess the program, she will be looking at 11 undergraduates’ perceived confidence in a task and if their efficacy changes over time, whether positively or negatively.
Senior Amy Van Nortwick, a neuroscience major from Mt. Vernon, and her advisor David Rector hypothesize that the evoked blood volume response caused by the stimulation of the auditory cortex reaches saturation before the electrical evoked response saturates. To test their hypothesis, Nortwick is using four adult Spague-Dawley rats that are implanted with an LED emitting light and a photodiode that collects changes in light absorption from the somatosensory cortex.
Senior Nicole Sawatzki, a neuroscience major from Walla Walla, is working with her advisor James Krueger to see if the pressence of a functional Mx1 gene in mice will inhibit PR8 influenza at an early stage of replication. In Sawatzki’s study, the levels of minus and plus strand viral RNA will be measured 15 hours after intranasal inoculation of mice. Further studies will be conducted at 48 and 96 hours post-inoculation.
At the end of their summer REU programs at WSU, these undergraduates will present a poster of their work Friday, July 31 at the Smith Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) Atrium, halls, and rooms 512 and 518 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The public is invited.
CONTACT: Merik H. Metos, Office of Undergraduate Education Communications Assistant, mmetos@wsu.edu, 509-335-8070