More than 200 UGA students will participate in oral presentations, poster sessions and thesis roundtables at the 2010 undergraduate research symposium hosted by the Honors Program’s Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities. The event will be held March 29 at the Classic Center.
UGA anthropology professor Peter Brosius will give the keynote address, “Conservation and the Global Search for Sustainability,” at 4 p.m. in Athena Ballroom E. Presentation of CURO’s undergraduate research mentoring awards will immediately follow.
“Because of the strong institutional and faculty support for undergraduate research on this campus, CURO has tripled the number of participants since the first symposium in 2000,” said Pamela Kleiber, associate director of UGA’s Honors Program. “The CURO Symposium is unique among research universities.”
Sophomore Francisco Marrero, who will be participating for the first time, said the symposium provides a good opportunity to present original work, explain a technical subject and network with peers.
Marrero is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and wants to become a pharmacist. He is working on a project focused on droplet microfluidics, which involves manipulating very small amounts of liquid through a device. His research mentors are chemistry professor Jason Locklin and Faculty of Engineering professor Leidong Mao.
“For young faculty members like me, working with smart and diligent undergraduate students is very rewarding,” Mao said. “For the students, this will give them the chance to work on cutting-edge research projects and learn valuable lessons on how to seek help from faculty, how to collaborate with others and how to present themselves in front of peers.”
Senior Erin Hansen, who is pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology, said her research experience working with patients has helped prepare her for medical school. She is studying rapid eye movements and corresponding brain activity in schizophrenic patients that may lead to new treatments. Her research mentor is psychology professor Jennifer McDowell.
“Working in Dr. McDowell’s lab has allowed me to not only learn about research, but also has given me a faculty mentor who has been able to guide me through college and who has gotten me involved in many projects that I never imagined myself doing, such as the CURO symposium,” Hansen said.
Sophomore Amar Mirza is laying the groundwork for a career as a clinical researcher by working in the biochemistry and molecular biology laboratory of Natarajan Kannan. His project involves studying mutations in tyrosine kinases, a family of proteins commonly mutated in cancer, in a three-dimensional virtual environment to better understand how the mutations alter the structure and function of the proteins.
Mirza also will be exploring his research artistically by presenting an image of one of the crystal structures of a full-length tyrosine kinases that he colorized to resemble the breast cancer awareness ribbon.
“I hope that the art will make the hard science more accessible and allow the presenters to interact with a broader audience,” he said.
