Original research by 218 undergraduates was presented at Rice’s inaugural Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium (NSURS) April 11 in Tudor Fieldhouse.
Hosted by the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, the event featured poster presentations, a reception and awards for top-scoring presenters in five categories. The school plans to host the event annually as part of Inquiry Weeks, a two-week slate of activities organized by Rice’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (OURI).
“Research is an integral part of the undergraduate experience in natural sciences at Rice,” said Tom Killian, dean of the natural sciences. “More than three-quarters of our students experience research before they graduate, either in laboratories at Rice or nearby in the Texas Medical Center.”
Many natural sciences students at Rice begin conducting research as freshmen or sophomores, and each spring’s graduating class typically includes a few who have published papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Killian said the school’s annual undergraduate research symposium will allow the school to highlight and celebrate all of the scholarly contributions of its undergraduates.
The inaugural NSURS featured a special guest, Rice Physics alumnus and Nobel laureate Robert Wilson ’57, who met with students and listened to presentations during the second of three, one-hour poster sessions. Wilson, a radio astronomer, shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of a faint, thermal echo of the big bang called cosmic microwave background radiation.
Natural Sciences’ undergraduate research was also on display in OURI’s annual Shapiro Showcase, an annual universitywide competition featuring eight-minute presentations by undergraduate researchers nominated by faculty in their respective schools. Cell biology and genetics major Hannah Li, a senior from Wiess College, was named a Shapiro Showcase finalist for her presentation, “Characterizing the effects of tumor-resident lactic acid bacteria on cancer cell metabolism.” Natural Sciences’ other Shapiro Showcase nominees were Evelyn Chiu, Anna Hsu, Adam Leff, Caroline Leung, Bibek Samal and Anuska Santra.
NSURS keynote speaker Daniel Wagner, an associate professor in the Department of Biosciences, and Kirsten Siebach, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, were recognized as Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentors at OURI’s Inquiry Weeks awards ceremony April 12.
Students in each NSURS poster session were allowed to present finished or ongoing research at any stage of discovery. Judging was performed by peer presenters and guest judges. Best poster and honorable mention honors in the symposium’s five research categories were:
Human Development, Health, Performance and Disease
Best Poster: Dean Barazi for “The loss of striated muscle preferentially expressed gene (SPEG) kinase, leads to decreased contractility and increased hypertrophy in the heart leading to heart failure.” Mentor: Yuriana Aguilar-Torres
Honorable mention: Seryna Ayala, Jaesang Lim, Alexandra Serrato, Lindsey Vongthavaravat and Jade Xu
The Earth: Geology, Ecology and the Environment
Best Poster: Rohan Palavali and Catherine Stidham for “Chemically-induced dimerization of CRISPR-Cas9 gene activation systems on synergistically activated mediator sites.” Mentor: Tyler Daniel
Honorable mention: Radhiya Bharmal and Maia Figueroa; and Jihra Hill, Rachel Huber, Joy Kim, Megan Phung and Rocky Ren.
Materials: From the Fundamental to the Complex
Best Poster Prize: Carolyn Teng for “Production of carbon nanotubes and H2 from plastic waste using flash-Joule heating.” Mentor: James Tour
Honorable mention: Tanya Jain, Jenny Liu and Gabriel Saenz
Patterns and Origins in Nature
Best Poster: Kumaren Anand, Kaira Seth, Mood Asif, Jackie Ku and Abhishek Tripathi for “Addition of His-tag on C-terminus end of ChiA gene to improve protein purification.” Mentor: Carrie McNeil
Honorable mention: Emma Colaco, Andy Corliss, Jorge Arnez Gonzales, Autumn Hildebrand and Cameron Osterman
Cancer: Biology, Prevention and Therapy
Best Poster: Aishani Gargapati for “The role of neurotransmitters in glioblastoma pathogenesis.” Mentor: Dr. Yuan Pan
Honorable mention: Kayla Bierman, Tiffany Nguyen, Nishita Prasad and Giancarlo Valenzuela
