The twenty-second annual conference, held on April 13, 2013, included 139 presentations, 226 students, and 106 faculty members.
Students either 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.
Awards were given to the following students:
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOLOGY – ECOLOGY
Emily Hyde and Holly Pier with faculty members Beth Potter and Margaret Voss
A Comparison of the Microfloras Found on House Wren and American Kestrel Eggs
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS – BIOLOGY – ECOLOGY
Surafel Mulugeta, Eric Clark, and Christina Vojtek with faculty member Steven Mauro (Mercyhurst University)
The Active Ingredient in Antidepressants Acts Synergistically with Other Chemicals to Influence Levels of the Fecal Indicator Bacteria E.coli in Recreational Freshwaters
Matthew Shadle, Julie DeDionisio, and Noelle Blank with faculty member Greg Andraso (Gannon University)
Evidence of Diet-Related Phenotypic Plasticity in the Pharyngeal Apparatus of Round Gobies (Neogobius melanostomus)
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOLOGY AND GENETICS
Erin Nawrocki with faculty member Tricia Humphreys (Allegheny College)
Biofilm Formation in Wild Type and Mutant Haemophilus ducreyi
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS – BIOLOGY AND GENETICS
Max Hennessy with faculty member Brad Hersh (Allegheny College)
Determining the Roles of Innexin 2 and 5 in the Drosophila melanogaster Immune System
Jedediah Seltzer, Alex Rankin, Daniel Ackerman, Bethany Lashbrook, and Erin Eperthener with faculty member Fred Brenner (Grove City College)
Genetic Analysis of Deer Dispersal Patterns through Mitochondria DNA Sequence
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BIOLOGY – NEUROSCIENCE
Colleen Friel with faculty member Catharina Coenen (Allegheny College)
Auxin Effects on Root Exudation
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS – BIOLOGY – NEUROSCIENCE
Jocelyn Gruskiewicz with faculty member Lee Coates (Allegheny College)
Impaired Olfactory Function Related to Age and Alzheimer’s Disease in Mice
Kelly Smith with faculty member Lauren French (Allegheny College)
Investigation of the Effects of Conus textile Venom on the BK Channel, hSlo1.1
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – BUSINESS
Kai Lu with faculty member Ozgun Demirag
Optimizing Scheduling of Basketball Shootout Tournament at Penn State Behrend
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – BUSINESS
Jinghua Liu with faculty member John Fizel
Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – CHEMISTRY, MATHEMATICS, AND PHYSICS
Omar Benlamhidi with faculty member Joseph Previte
Partial Entrainment in Chains of Coupled-Phase Oscillators
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS – CHEMISTRY, MATHEMATICS, AND PHYSICS
Nicholas Barr with faculty member G. William Baxter
Contributing Factors in the Jamming of Cylindrical Grains in a Vertical Channel
Fiona Steel with faculty member Blair Tuttle
The Effects of Strain on the Electronic Properties of Silicon Carbide
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – ENGINEERING
Abram Pleta and Matthew Krugh with faculty members Chetan Nikhare and John Roth
Modification of Anisotropic Behavior of 5083 Aluminum Alloy Using Electric Current
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – COMPUTER SCIENCE
Anthony Caratelli with faculty member John Bonomo (Westminster College)
Casino Solitaire
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – COMPUTER SCIENCE
Daniel Solomon with faculty member C. David Shaffer (Westminster College)
Improving upon Previous Movie Database Programs
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – HISTORY AND WOMEN’S STUDIES
Ava Carvour with faculty member Barbara Shaw (Allegheny College)
Spit it Out: Women Rejecting Animal Products and Feminism Serving Veganism
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATION – HISTORY AND WOMEN’S STUDIES
Ryan Richards, Garrick Dickson, and Tyler Payne with faculty member John Rossi
The Military Blunders of the War of 1812
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY I
Kimberly Cook, Alyson Eagle, and Jennifer Slane with faculty member Charisse Nixon
“Sticks and Stone Can Break Your Bones…”
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS – PSYCHOLOGY I
Kaitlyn Swanseger and Kayla Hoover with faculty member Victoria Kazmerski
The Influence of Film Music on Character Empathy and Plot Foreshadowing
Maria Helton with faculty member Jonathan Ivy (Mercyhurst University)
A Preliminary Evaluation of a Vocal Conditioned Generalized Reinforcer
BEST ORAL PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY II
Meghan Nee, Natalie Corso, and Christina Anthony with faculty member Dawn Blasko
Pill Popping for Performance: Changing Attitudes towards Psychostimulants
RUNNER-UP ORAL PRESENTATIONS – PSYCHOLOGY II
Erica Anderson and Yun Park with faculty member Victoria Kazmerski
The Relationship between Bullying and Exercise Motivation
Matthew Yaw with faculty member Melissa Heerboth (Mercyhurst University)
Phylogeny and the Monty Hall Dilemma: A Comparative Approach to Probability Matching
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – BIOLOGY
Jeff Fleming with faculty member Lee Coates (Allegheny College)
Effects of Chronic CO2 Exposure on Olfactory Receptor Response to CO2
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – BIOLOGY
Katrina Gazsi with faculty members Milt Ostrofsky and Ron Mumme (Allegheny College)
The Relationship between Stomach pH and Lead Concentration Found in Bone Matter and Feathers of Some Raptor Species
Dan Hoang, Mary Sperry, Adam Mobley, Bryan Bailey, and Sean Weaver with faculty members Beth Potter and Margaret Voss
Tracking the Bacterial Diversity on Individual House Wren Eggs
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – BIOCHEMISTRY I
Nicole McAllister and Jasmine Shinko with faculty members Michael Ganger and Sarah Ewing (Gannon University)
Isolation of a Diverse Group of Soil Bacteria for Future use in Studying their Effect on Gender Determination in Ceratopteris richardii
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – BIOCHEMISTRY I
Nicholas Choy, Jingyi Zhang, and Jonathan Franks with faculty member Om Singh (University of Pittsburgh at Bradford)
Biosynthesis and Toxicity of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles from Cave Microorganisms
Marcelo Lob, Emily Schmitt, and Rachel Mercaldo with faculty member Beth Potter
Determining the Antimicrobial Effectiveness of Agion Silver Technology on Door Handles across the Penn State Behrend Campus
Jay Patel with faculty member John Steffen
Anatomical Basis to UV Reflectance in Brown Anole Dewlaps
BEST POSTER PRESENTATIONS – BIOCHEMISTRY II AND GENETICS
Dylan McCreary with faculty member Lauren French (Allegheny College)
Development of the Xenopus laevis Oocyte Expression Model for Studies on Ion Channel Trafficking
Doug Youngdahl with faculty members Mike Ganger and Sarah Ewing (Gannon University)
Development of a Screening Protocol to Assess the Potential for a Gender-Bending Effect of Soil Bacteria on Ceratopteris richardii
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATION – BIOCHEMISTRY II AND GENETICS
Hannah Smith and Julia Girouard with faculty members Mike Ganger and Sarah Ewing (Gannon University)
ANI1 Expression is Influenced by Antheridiogen and Abscisic Acid during Conversion in Ceratopteris richardii
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
Jennifer Hoobler and Alyssa Blake with faculty member Amy Danowitz (Mercyhurst University)
Efforts towards Synthesizing Diversity Functionalized Enamides via Cycloadditions with Alienamide Dienophiles
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
Jonathan Fifer with faculty member Martin Kociolek
Novel Benzisoxazole 2-Oxides as Metal-Coordinating Ligands
Nicholas Friedl and Seth Weible with faculty member G. William Baxter
Low-Aspect Granular Material and the Improvements on Static Discharge
BEST POSTER PRESENTATIONS – EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Ashley Baronner with faculty member Caryl Waggett (Allegheny College)
Passport to a Healthier You: A Pilot Intervention Program to Prevent Childhood Obesity in Crawford County
Paul Lukasik, Lydia Maharg, Stephen Galdo, and Franchesca Fee with faculty member Ann Quinn
Penn State Behrend Energy Management Team 2013 Energy Challenge
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATION – EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Nathan Myers with faculty member Robert Edwards
Thermoelectric Cooler Activity for K-12 Outreach
BEST POSTER PRESENTATIONS – ENGINEERING
James Bimber and Garrett LoVerde with faculty member Robert Weissbach
Cellular Phone Control Application as an Undergraduate Research Project
Pat Scullion and Pat Mannella with faculty member Jonathan Meckley
Deformation from Ejection for Autodesk Moldflow
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY I
Katherine Hoffman, Abigail Dudzic, Ashley Turner, and Kimberly Cook with faculty member Victoria Kazmerski
Environmental Conditions Relationship to Academic Achievement and Attitudes
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – PSYCHOLOGY I
Bilge Erdem, Miri Ohashi, Megan Harris, Callie Keating, and Christine Winkelbauer with faculty members Dawn Blasko and Heather Lum
Perspective Taking in Our VIZual World
Holli LeVan, Katherine Pope, and Sheila Ziems with faculty member Victoria Kazmerski
College Students’ Acceptance of People with Disabilities
Christie Leslie, Rob Fogle, Bryan Fleeson, Kayleigh Adamson, Ashley Kerr, Erica Edwards, and Alicia McAllister with faculty members Victoria Kazmerski and Dawn Blasko
Embodied Metaphor and Interference: Comprehension vs. Confusion
BEST POSTER PRESENTATION – PSYCHOLOGY II
Katey Marsh, Margaret Eimers, and Wei Wang with faculty members Victoria Kazmerski, Dawn Blasko, and Shariffah Sheik Dawood
Sarcasm in the Workplace
RUNNER-UP POSTER PRESENTATIONS – PSYCHOLOGY II
Alicia Carrol, Jessica Salley, and Lindsey Fuller with faculty member Carol Wilson
Attachment and Pain Memory
Kristen Robson with faculty member Melissa Heerboth (Mercyhurst University)
Gender Stereotyping: How Group Compositions Influence the Judgment of Others