URGO
Summer Research
Conference
th
th
July 25 and 26
“Discovery consists in seeing what
everyone else has seen and thinking what
no one else has thought.”
~Albert Szent-Gyorgy, Hungarian Biochemist,
1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1893-1986
Wednesday, July 25:
All sessions will be held in Kennedy 305
Session 1
9:00-10:30
1. Ingrid Bergland (women’s studies): “Expressing Gender Nonconforming
Identities”
2. Austin Smith (religion): “Devotion to Apple as a New Religious Movement”
*3. Micheale Tesma (sociology): “What are the causes of bicyclist-motorist
conflict (BMC)?”
4. James Mahowald (sociology): “Tattoos: Meaning and Identity Formation”
Session 2
10:45-12:15
1. Ryan Bachman (chemistry): “Preparation, purification and Analysis of
Multifunctional organic hydroxy nitrates”
*2. Robert Morris (chemistry): “R&R Model: RON Predictions Using Simplified
Structure and Entropy”
3. Karleen Stevens (chemistry/mathematics): “Non-periodic Tessellations and
Quasicrystals”
4. Megan Rich (biology): Utilizing Fungal Endophytes as a Biological Control
Agent for Soybean Pathogens”
Lunch
12:15-1:15
Session 3
1:15-3:00
1. Samantha Cantrall (music): “The Influence of Rap Music in the Arab Spring”
*2. Hillary “ Hue” Manning (English/psychology): “Looking Back, That's Not
True: Navigation of Narrative Meaning in Emerging Adulthood”
3. Steven Campbell (sociology): “Examining the Relationship Between Young
Adults and Young Adults in Recovery”
4. Justin Caron (theatre arts/performance): "Chutes and Ladders: Class and
Queer
Performance in American Theatre"
5. Nicolette Albertson (film/English): "On Driving Myself Crazy While
Attempting to Write a Script About Mental Illness."
Session 4
3:10-4:40
*1. Kevin Ehrman-Solberg (history): “Little Untaught Brats”: Ethnic and
Religious Discrimination in the Minnesota State Reform School, 1880-1900”
2. Yemi Melka (chemistry): “Catalytic Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol by
Dendrimer Encapsulated Nanoparticles”
3. Emily Rutten (biopsychology): “Perception of Causality”
4. Ugaso SheikAbdi (economics & math): “Immigrant Health Care:
Recommendations for Increasing Utilization of Health Care Services”
Thursday, July 26: All sessions will be held in SVE Room 206
Session 1:
9:00-10:30
1. Brianna Noland (mathematical economics): "An Economic Analysis of
Financial Factors on Undergraduate Persistence"
2. Ryan Sward (exercise science) “The effects of caffeine during athletic
performance"
*3. Jessica Larkin (exercise science) “Effects of a 6-week high-speed treadmill
running program on ice hockey skating speed and examination of skate
speed predictors”
4. Abbey Ehling (education): “!Stopping "Taco Night"! Creating Bicultural
Curriculum that empowers ALL students”
Session 2:
10:45-12:15
*1. Chad Gilmer (chemistry/education): “Green Chemistry Experiments and
Applications to the Classroom”
2. Eric Dooley (physics/education): "Collecting Dust in the Upper Atmosphere"
3. Lindsey Niederhaus (chemistry/education): “Optimizing Organic
Amidization Reactions Using a Continuous Flow Reactor”
4. James Leonard (biology/education): "Daphnia magna Motion Tracking in 3Dimensional Space"
5. Nora Helf (biology/education): “SCOBY: Bacterial Cellulose and the
Classroom”
Lunch
12:15-1:00
Session 3
1:00-2:30
1. Teryn Coffman (biology): “The Birth of Dopaminergic Neurons in Daphnia
Magna”
2. Rico Barrozo (biology): “Neuropharmacology: Drug-Screening in Daphnia”
3. *Peter Schmit (biology): “Introductions of Sirna to Regulate Gene
Expression in Daphnia Magna”
4. Ashley Waters (chemistry): “A Fool-Proof Method of Synthesizing
Coordination Compounds for Radiopharmaceutical Diagnostics and
Therapeutics”
2:35-2:55
Andrea Sanow’s Open House: (Come dressed as your favorite scholar)
Session 4
3:00-4:15
1. Jessica Willborg (biology): "Human Airway Secretions Promote Growth of
Pseudomonas Aeruginosa"
*2. Anna Weitz (biology): “Human Airway Secretions Inhibit Pseudomonas
aeruginosa Biofilm Formation in vitro: Implications for Cystic Fibrosis
Disease”
3. Charlie Hoy (chemistry): “Tri-t-butoxychlorosilane, A Useful Protecting
Group for Primary Amines”
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called
research, would it?”
~Albert Einstein, Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921