On March 31, 2014, the
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics held IUP’s ninth annual
Women in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Program, which showcased the
work of female IUP students and faculty.
Prior to a poster session and an awards ceremony, 23 high
school students from the area, including students from Indiana, Marion-Center,
Homer-Center, West Shamokin, and United school districts, participated in a tour
of selected research laboratories before
attending the poster session and awards ceremony. Several student research posters were selected by a panel of judges for awards.
During the awards
ceremony, Estefania Alba-Rodriguez, a Biochemistry major with a minor in Mathematics,
was recognized as recipient of the 2013–2014 Patricia Hilliard-Robertson Memorial
Scholarship.
Congratulations to all
students who presented their work at the 2014 WMST program!
Student Project Awards
Graduate
First place:
- Anna Mayo
(Clinical Psychology; Anson Long, research supervisor), “Investigating
Inside Jokes: A preliminary examination of their defining characteristics”
Second place:
- Kara Schulz
(Psychology ’12), Malgosia Mikula (Clinical Psychology; Krys Kaniasty, research
supervisor), “Disclosure of Life Events and Social Support Exchanges through
Online Social Networks
Undergraduate
First place:
- Savannah Irwin (Geoscience;
John Taylor, research supervisor), “Utility and significance of newly
discovered trilobite faunas from the El Paso Group in New Mexico and west
Texas”
Second place:
- Mary Chey and Kelsey
Hayden (Biology; N. Bharathan, research supervisor), “Real-Time PCR of cDNA
of Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV) RNA”
- Katie Stanko (Psychology;
Tara Johnson, research supervisor), “Utilizing Imagery to Improve
Destination Memory in Younger and Older Adults”
Third place:
- Rebecca Kruise
(Biology; Tom Simmons, research supervisor), “Seasonal Activity and
Abundance of the Blacklegged Tick (Ixodes scapularis) and Infection Prevalence
of the Lyme Disease Bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi) in Mid-Western
Pennsylvania”
- Brittany Martell
(Psychology; Pearl Berman, research supervisor), “The Effects of Family
Violence on the Development of Disorders Among Youth”
High School Poster Award:
- Kylie Horvath
(Indiana Area High School; Tom Simmons, research supervisor), “Nitrite
Induced Methemeglobin formation in Aquatic Larvae of the Midge (Chironomus
dilutus)”
Best Computational Science Poster:
Teresa Dierks (Chemistry;
Justin Fair, research supervisor), “Computational Study of Finkelstein
Reactions in Vacuum and Solvent”
Science Education Student Teaching Assessment award:
Laura Delozier (Biology
Education; Anne Simmons and Holly Travis, supervisors), “Evaluating the
Use of Chapter Packets in a Tenth Grade Biology Classroom”
Natural Sciences and Mathematics