Senior Derek Harnish and sophomore Braden Herman were upperclass and underclass division winners, respectively, at last week鈥檚 Spring STEM Celebration poster show.
Harnish, who performed research under the supervision of Professor , studied the “Neuronal Basis for Aging in Drosophila melanogaster.”
Herman won for his presentation of research on the effect of a high salt and high fructose diet on rats (his research was titled 鈥淭he Effect of a High Salt and High Fructose Diet on the Expression of the NFAT5 Gene in Kidney and Intestine Samples of Sprague-Dawley Rats鈥�). Herman works with Professor in support of her .
Forty projects were presented. Some individuals worked specifically under . Others participated as part of required coursework. Professor 鈥檚 alternative energy class, for example, presented a range of research on the topic.
The poster show, which is held in both spring and , provides undergraduates and graduate students with the opportunity to practice presentation skills in an informal setting. Several students have presented research in the campus setting before moving on to .
Professors (biology, biomedicine) and (physics, engineering) headed the judging panel, which also included Professor (biology), Professor (mathematics) and Professor , a biology professor at James Madison University.
In the upperclass division, Kaylee Ferguson and Jared Fernandez, who also studied changes in gene expression related to dietary changes in rats with Halterman, finished in second place. Ferguson is a junior biology major and Fernandez a second-year MA in Biomedicine graduate student.
Third 鈥媝lace went to Katherine Lehman for her research on Judas beetles. She is a research student with Siderhurst.
In the underclass division, Mason Stoltzfus and Maria Yoder won second place for their general chemistry project on the abilities of English ivy and forsythia to phytoremediate copper.
Phoebe Coffie and Maisie Kirkley won third place for their project on the variation of copper concentrations in contaminated soils between sunflowers and beans.
Both of these projects were for a general chemistry II class taught by Professor .
Quiz show elite win 鈥楾he Romie鈥�
The quiz show team of 鈥淢ind AJAR鈥� were the first recipients of 鈥淭he Romie,鈥� a bobblehead trophy celebrating Professor , for which the annual games are named. Miller retires this spring after 31 years at EMU (read about his long and dedicated career .)
Mind AJAR consisted of Robert Propst, Aubrey Shelly, Ayu Yifru and Jonathan Patterson. All teams must include a senior, junior, sophomore and first-year student.
Second place was Stephan Goertzen, Noah Haglund, Hannah Weaver and Hannah Daley.
Third place went to Hannah Chappel-Dick, Tyler Denlinger, Maria Yoder and Kat Lehman.
Honorable mention went to the team of David Nester, Grayson Mast, Derek Harnish and RJ Ocampo.