Outstanding Student Awards

2009 Outstanding Student Research Award Winners

Computer & Information Sciences
Yamani Jana, Ala Harelik
"Congestion Control Algorithms"
Advisor: Christopher King
Engineering and Technology
Martina List, Bing Sun
"In‐Situ Surface Characterization with RHEED‐TRAXS"
Advisor: Katherine S. Ziemer
Health Sciences and Technology
John Brabant, Michael Gallagher, Renee Noel, Rachel Tabak
"The Reliability of the Cyberglove as a Measurement Device for Selected Grasp and Gesture Movements in Healthy Subjects"
Advisor: Maureen K. Holden
Humanities and Arts
Ying Xu
"Urban Housing"
Interdisciplinary Topics, Centers and Institutes
Tom Cinq‐Mars
"Spain and the Genesis of the Cold War"
Advisor: Jeffrey Burds
Physical and Life Sciences
Kostas Papamarkakis, Benjamin Bird, Milos Miljkovic, Jennifer Schubert
"Cytopathology by Optical Methods: Spectral Cytopathology of the Oral Mucosa"
Advisor: Max Diem
Social Sciences, Business and Law
Vanessa Castro
"Perceiving Emotions in Dance: An Analysis of the Differences in Nonverbal Accuracy between Dancers and Non‐Dancers"
Advisor: Judith Hall

Computer and Information Sciences
Laura Pfeifer
"Virtual Nurse Agents for Hospital Discharge"
Advisor: Timothy Bickmore
Engineering and Technology
Selvapraba Selvarasah
"Highly Flexible and Biocompatible SWNT Thin Film Transistor for Wearable and Implant Devices"
Advisor: Mehmet R. Dokmeci
Health Sciences and Technology
Jamie Becker
"VocaliD: Personalizing Text‐to‐Speech Synthesis for Individuals with Severe Speech Disorders"
Advisor: Rupal Patel
Humanities and Arts
Aleta Budd
"Park House"
Advisor: Tiffany Lin
Interdisciplinary Topics, Centers and Institutes
Anthony Westphal
"Controlling a lamprey‐based robot with an electronic nervous system"
Advisor: Joseph Ayers
Physical and Life Sciences
Thayaparan Paramanathan
"Drug DNA interactions – View with Optical Tweezers"
Advisor: Mark C. Williams
Social Sciences, Business and Law
Kristen Hudak
"Political Institutions & Grassroots Development: The Political Economy of Microfinance"
Advisor: Kirsten Rodine‐Hardy

Daniel Cocuzzo
"Depth-dependent resonant target strength analysis of a dense Atlantic Herring school from wide-area OAWRS and localized 3D morphology sensing"
Principal Investigator: Dr. Purnima Ratilal
Jessica La Rosa
"Influence of group size on behavior in Nasutitermes corniger"
Principal Investigator: Rebeca Rosengaus
Patrick Ng
"Microwave Expedited Synthesis of PET Imaging Ligands"
Principal Investigator: Dr. Graham B. Jones
Andrea Quintero
"The brain response to theory of mind inferences generalizes across items and modalities"
Principal Investigator: Jay McLaughlin

Jing Lou
Magnetic and microwave properties of FeGaB thin films and their applications in tunable magnetoelectric microwave devices
Principal Investigator: Nian Sun
Brian Plouffe
Microfluidic depletion of endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts from heterogeneous suspensions
Principal Investigator: Dr. Shashi Murthy
Kathryn Portale
Design of a cell-free biomimetic collagen printer or "nanoloom"
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeffrey Ruberti
Nadya Vasilyeva
Representations of Individual People and Social Groups
Principal Investigator: John D. Coley

Tamara Garcia:
"Addressing the Social Justice Problem for Human Enhancement Technologies"
Principle Investigator: Ronald Sandler
Jared Schwartzer
"Alterations in Anterior Hypothalamic Dopamine and Dopamine D2 Receptor Immunoreactivity Correlates with Aggression in Adolescent, Anabolic Androgenic Steroid Treated Hamsters"
Principle Investigator: Richard Melloni, Jr.

Suman Dandamudi
"Development of Magnetic Cationic Liposome Therapeutics Against Cancer"
Principle Investigator: Robert Campbell
Stefano Gulla
"Electron Spin Labeling Studies of Proteins and Nanodevices"
Principle Investigator: David Budil