Congratulations to the following students who received awards for their poster projects at this year’s event.
- First Place (Graduate): Emily Bellush (Biology) – Dr. Jeff Larkin, faculty supervisor
- Second Place (Graduate): Melissa Medina (Biology) – Dr. Joe Townsend, faculty supervisor
- First Place (Undergraduate): Joy Kiefer (Geoscience) – Dr. John Taylor, faculty supervisor
- Second Place (Undergraduate): Kellie Kerner (Geoscience) – Dr. Katie Farnsworth, faculty supervisor
- Second Place (Undergraduate): Rebecca Beadling (Chemistry) – Dr. Charles Lake, faculty supervisor
- Third Place (Undergraduate): Breeanne Mintmier (Chemistry) – Dr. John Ford, faculty supervisor
- Third Place (Undergraduate): Samantha Eichelberger (Biology) – Dr. Cuong Diep, faculty supervisor
- Math Education Work Sample award: Megan Labant – Dr. Edel Reilly, faculty supervisor
- Best Computational Science Poster (S-COAM Grant): Breeanna Mintmier (Chemistry) – Dr. John Ford, faculty supervisor
(A Module of the Research Appreciation Week)
April 1, 2013
3:30–6:30 p.m.
First floor of Weyandt Hall
The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is sponsoring a program on April 1, 3:30–6:30 p.m., as part of the Research Appreciation Week highlighting scholarly accomplishments of female undergraduate/graduate students and faculty.
High School Student Visit and Tour
3:30–4:30 p.m., Weyandt and Walsh Halls
Poster Session
4:30–5:30 p.m., Weyandt Hall, first floor
The session will highlight female undergraduate/graduate student and faculty research projects. Posters that have been presented in other contexts are welcomed, including the Undergraduate and Graduate Scholars Forum or from other professional meetings.
If you are interested in displaying your poster, please complete and return the submission form to Jessica Stiles at jstiles@iup.edu by Monday, March 25.
Awards will be given for outstanding undergraduate and graduate student posters.
Deadline
March 25, 2013
Submissions received by the deadline can be printed by the Research Institute. Please follow the printing guidelines for correct format. Three panel display boards may also be used and will be provided for submissions received after the March 25 deadline.
Panel Discussion and Awards Ceremony
5:30 p.m., Weyandt Hall, Room 107
The panel will be moderated by Deanne Snavely, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Panelists include:
Dr. Robin McGovern
Dr. McGovern is a behavioral neuroscientist and currently assistant professor of psychology and coordinator of the neuroscience program at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa. She teaches courses in Introduction to Psychology, Learning and Memory, and Behavioral Neuroscience, and serves as research mentor for numerous senior capstone projects. Her primary research interests are in the area of behavioral pharmacology with an emphasis on the behavioral effects of psychostimulant-depressant interactions. She joined the faculty at Westminster in 2011 following the completion of graduate and post-doctoral training at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C., where she investigated the interactive effects of methylphenidate (Ritalin) and alcohol. Dr. McGovern is also a 2001 alumna of IUP. During her time at IUP, she was a Psychology major and participated in the Psychology Department’s honors program working with Dr. William Meil to investigate place conditioning in self-administered cocaine.
Dr. Avijita Jain
Dr. Jain completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Virginia Tech in 2009, where she focused on investigating electrochemistry and photochemistry of designed complexes using cyclic voltammetry and emission and absorption spectroscopy, respectively, and studied DNA and metal complexes interaction via agarose gel electrophoresis, dialysis, bacterial cell culture, and DNA isolation. During her time at Virginia Tech, Dr. Jain mentored undergraduate students with their research, and assisted them in acquiring analytical and synthetic skills and publishing journal articles. From Virginia Tech, Dr. Jain continued on to post-doctoral work at the Catalyst Division of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., where she designed, synthesized, and characterized hydrogen production electrocatalysts; extensively characterized peptide containing compounds using 1-D and 2-D NMR spectroscopy and circular dichroism; and studied catalytic behavior of bioinspired hydrogen production catalysts using electrochemical experiments. Dr. Jain joined the IUP Chemistry Department faculty this academic year, where she is teaching and continues her research developing photoactive chemical species with biological applications.
