PNW Student Research Days Recognize Learning Experiences through Engagement and Discovery at North Central and Calumet Campuses

PNW-Student-Research-Day-2016More than two dozen students earned awards for their research projects during recent Purdue University Northwest Student Research Days, held at PNW’s Calumet and North Central campuses.

Award winners, their academic department, project title and faculty mentors are as follows:

North Central Campus
Poster Presentation: 1st place – Rachel Kunnen, Biology, EHEC Binding Mechanism to Plant Leaf Proteins (faculty mentor: Lindsay Gielda); 2nd place – Rachel L. Kunnen and Nathanael J. Pilla (presenter), Biology, Toward a Checklist of Indiana Fungi (faculty mentors: Scott Bates and Justin Golday); 3rd place – Carle Erne, Biology, Regulations of espA and espB in Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC); (faculty mentor: Lindsay Gielda).

Oral Presentation: 1st place – Nathaniel Kennedy (presenter) and Stefanie Rigg, Biology, Methods in extracting DNA: Using phenol-chloroform on formalin-fixed human brain tissue (faculty mentor: Lindsay Gielda); 2nd place – Stefanie Rigg, Biology, Alterations to Redox Chemistry of Cells Upon Exposure to E-cigarette Vapors Associated with Glutathione Biochemistry (faculty mentor: Lindsay Gielda); 3rd place – Angela Kochan. Biology, Prevalence of the Black Squirrel in Northern Indiana. (faculty mentor: Vanessa Quinn).

Calumet Campus
Undergraduate Poster Presentation: 1st place – Chen-Hsuan Chiu, Biological Sciences, Selection and Preparation of Bacterial Cultures for Self-healing Concrete (faculty mentor: W.T. Evert Ting); 2nd place – Juan F. Hernandez, Le Chen, Hsuan Chiu, Hsin-Wen Liang, Biological Sciences, Analysis of Ready-to-Eat Spinach for General Microbiological Quality and Presence of Pseudomonas and Escherichia coli (faculty mentor: W.T. Evert Ting); 3rd place – Nicholas Trogdon, Thomas Swope, Nicholas Jukes, Mohannad Albuzaid, Mechanical Engineering, Temperature Dependent Crack Tracking (faculty mentor: Hansung Kim).

Graduate Poster Presentation: 1st place – Le Chen, Liang Hsin-wen, Biological Sciences, Inactivation of Salmonella on Fresh-Cut Cantaloupes and Strawberries Using Citric Acid and Ultraviolet-C (faculty mentor: W.T. Evert Ting); 2nd place – Theodore Ndukaife, Mechanical Engineering, Reduction of Energy Consumption in Low Rise Residential Space Conditioning by Retrofitting with Evaporative Condenser (faculty mentor: George Nnanna); 3rd place – Veronica Prieto. Alejandro Alvarado, Biological Sciences, Social immunity response of parents and offspring in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis (faculty mentor: Curtis Creighton).

Undergraduate Oral Presentation: 1st place – Yuchao Chen, Huinan Shao, Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation, Design of a Bottom-Blow Basic-Oxygen Furnace (faculty mentor: Chenn Zhou); 2nd place – Robert Maldonado, Chemistry and Physics, Analysis of YBa2Cu307 Superconductors with the Intent of Enhancing Efficiency (faculty mentor: Robert Kramer); 3rd place (tie) – Nathaniel Kennedy, Biological Sciences, Methods in extracting DNA: Using phenolchloroform on formalin-fixed human brain tissue (faculty mentor: Lindsay Gielda) and 3rd place (tie) – James Gross, History, Political Science and Economics, Enacting Freedom from Slavery and Abuse: A Cross-Cultural Examination of Public Policy and Correlation with Human-Trafficking Victimization (faculty mentor: Tiffany Bohm).

Graduate Oral Presentation: 1st place – Heather Love, Behavioral Sciences, Suicidal Ideation Following the Termination of Romantic Relationships with Consideration of Family-of-Origin Factors and Self-Efficacy (faculty mentor: David Nalbone); 2nd place – Zichao Zhou, Zhiheng Huang, Yu Du, Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation, Design of a Ball Bearing Replacement Simulator for Wind Turbine (faculty mentor: Chenn Zhou); 3rd place – Samuel Ozeh, Mechanical Engineering, Smart Phone-based Device for online monitoring of chemical pollutants in water (faculty mentor: George Nnanna).

Purdue University Northwest
With recent approval by the Higher Learning Commission, Purdue University Calumet and Purdue University North Central have unified to become Purdue University Northwest (PNW), a comprehensive regional university within the Purdue University system. PNW welcomes its first class of students this fall. Current students will complete the spring semester as enrollees of Purdue Calumet in Hammond or Purdue North Central in Westville. Purdue Northwest becomes Indiana’s fifth largest public university, enrolling more than 15,000 students and offering 70+ degree programs.