15 UAH students receive summer awards for research
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Solidifying itself as one of the top research schools in the southeast, the University of Alabama in Huntsville had 15 students earn awards for Summer Community of Scholars research.
The summer research posters were selected for top Deans and Space Grant Award honors at the end-of-program Summer Community of Scholars poster session held Sept. 14 at UAH.
Some stiff competition
There were 36 SCS undergraduates who spent the summer working with faculty and research staff on cutting-edge projects covering a wide variety of disciplines from physics to animation and everything in between, he says.
The SCS is composed of the Research or Creative Experience for Undergraduates and the Honors Capstone Research Summer Program. Its purpose is to support research or creative experiences for undergraduate participants in all fields of study.
“The students’ work is impressive, and we are extremely grateful for the mentorship provided by our faculty and research staff on these projects. Their willingness to work with undergraduates over the summer leads to some really exciting possibilities for everyone involved.”
Dave Cook, UAH director of undergraduate research
The overall vision of the program is to sustain a vibrant culture of research and creative activities for undergraduates at UAH. Participants undertake activities within a project of research or creative works.
The winners
The award winners from the program represented multiple departments at UAH.
The winners are:
From the College of Humanities and Science
First Place
- Ben Hornyak, Art: “Music Videos Done Backwards: Creating Video to Shape Song”
- Mentor: Vinny Argentina
Second Place
- Sean Berry, Art: “The Jewish Experience in Huntsville”
- Mentor: Reagan Grimsley
Third Place
- Alyssa Harmon, Psychology: “‘A life of ambiguity’: LGBTQIA mixed-race experiences of (in)visibility”
- Mentor: Jennifer Sims
Alabama Space Grant Winners
First Place
- Christopher San Miguel, Biology: “Large Scale Overexpression and Purification of Taq DNA Polymerase in Escherichia Coli”
Second Place
- Lily Compher, Electrical Engineering: “Developing a Self-Navigating Robot to Map Disaster Regions”
Third Place
- Audra Carver, Physics & Astronomy: “Using neural network to search for isolated Hα clouds in the Virgo cluster”
From the College of Engineering
First Place
- Hayden Hitt, Aerospace Engineering: “Mitigation of the Laminar Separation Bubble using Active Vortex Generators”
Second Place
- Cameron Clarke, Mechanical Engineering: “Creation and Development of an Obstacle Database for UAS Pathfinding”
Third Place
- David Tipton, Civil Engineering: “Numerical Simulation on the Fire Performance of Reinforced Concrete Flat Slab”
From the College of Science
First Place
- Harrison Knox, Physics: “Polarization Switching in Gold Nanostructure Array”
Second Place
- Layla Jeries, Biology-Chemistry: “Developing Methods for Testing Inhibition of E. coli Strains by Urinary Lactobacilli”
Third Place
- Hayden Estes, Computer Science: “Algorithm-Based Fault Tolerance at Scale”
From the Honors College
First Place
- Lauren Richardson, Chemistry: “Assessing Undergraduate Expression of Biochemical Mechanisms”
Second Place
- Eliana Carter, Earth System Science: “Characteristics of Wet Downburst Wind Events using MRMS Radar Products”
Third Place
- Mary K. Long, Mechanical Engineering: “A New Method for Triggering Lithium-Ion Cell Internal Short Circuit (ISC) While Monitoring the ISC Current”
UAH students’ presentations are available through the LOUIS Student Works repository in the UAH Salmon Library.
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