On July 26th, ten STEM student researchers presented summaries of their efforts performed over 10 weeks of the summer in a variety of laboratories on the Marshall campus. The objective of the SURE program is to enhance the intellectual infrastructure of the state by supporting undergraduates who are interested in performing research in any STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This program has been conducted at Marshall since 2005. SURE awards are determined through a competitive process in which proposals are evaluated by a committee of STEM experts. “We want students to know how strongly Marshall supports learning through undergraduate research. This is the time when these young minds start exercising their research skills in preparation for graduate school” said Dr. Norton, who directs the program. Students receive stipends totaling $4,800 each for their research for a period of ten weeks uninterrupted by classes during the summer. Nine of the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Fellowship stipends were funded through the West Virginia Challenge Fund, which is administered by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, Science, Technology and Research Division. One of the SURE stipends was supported by the West Virginia Space Grant Consortium.
The names of the students, the titles of their projects, the names of their mentor and their departments are listed below:
- Aaron Grimmett, Site-Specific Reactive-Oxygen Species Production in Relation to Tardigrade Cryptobiosis, Dr. Kolling, Chemistry
- Adam Cunningham, Pyruvate dehydrogenase lipoamide kinase isozyme 4 as a biomarker of hydrocephalus, Dr. Shim, Biomedical Engineering
- Alexis Bowles, The Identification of Pyrolysis Products of 3-chloro-3-methylpentane using Matrix Isolation Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Dr. McCunn, Chemistry
- Cade Parlato, Calculating Above Ground Forest Biomass using Machine Learning with Image Segmentation, Dr. Narman, Computer Science.
- Colby Perry, VR Active Shooting Preparedness Training, Dr. Chowdhury, Computer Science
- Colton Bowers, The analysis of telomere length stability in plants during bacterial infection, Dr. Bogomolnaya, Biological Sciences.
- Eugene Kim, Molecular mechanism of the cyanobacterial circadian clock, Dr. Kim, Chemistry
- Hunter Mitchell, Synthesis Expansion and Limitations of Pyridoimidazolium Cation Formation using Vilsmeier Hack Reagent, Dr. Markiewicz, Chemistry
- Kaylee Babbitt, Does AgNP Exposure Induce Tau Aggregation in Neurons? Dr. Spitzer, Biological Sciences
- Nicholas Parker, The impact of natural telomere length variation on plant vegetative and reproductive fitness, Dr. Shakirov, Biological Science
More details about the program and the competition, which opens annually in March, can be found on the SURE Program web page.