SLU Sigma Xi Research Symposium Awards Announcement

04/14/2021

SLU Chapter Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society held its annual research symposium on Friday, April 9. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group organized a virtual flash talk platform in lieu of posters and received over 70 abstracts from various disciplines.

More than 40 faculty volunteers from across campus served as judges for the presentations. The first and second places for each division received a cash prize.

The winners are below: 

Graduate Physical Sciences and Engineering

• First Place: Modulation of Flavin Reduction Potential by RNA Aptamers, Jack Samuelian (presenter), Thomas Gremminger, Raghav Poudyal, Seth Staller, Maddie Willis, David Porciani, Johan Carballo, Xiao Heng, Donald Burke, and Dana Baum (advisor)
• Second Place: Development of Nanosilicate-Hydrogel Composites for Sustained Delivery of Charged Biopharmaceutics, Samuel Stealey (presenter), Akhilesh Gaharwar, Nicola Pozzi, and Silviya Zustiak (advisor)

Undergraduate Physical Sciences and Engineering

• First Place: Programming Flight Control Software for Innovative Flight Vehicles and Specific Mission Profiles, Cody Powers (presenter) and Srikanth Gururajan (advisor)
• Second Place: Synthesis and Evaluation of SAE-14 Analogs, Dietrich Olibrice (presenter), Nick Latzo, Christopher Arnatt (advisor), and Daniela Salvemini

Graduate Biological and Life Sciences

• First Place: Oxidative Stress Inhibits High Osmolarity-induced Hog1 Phosphorylation, Fangli Weng (presenter) and Yuqi Wang (advisor)
• Second Place: Obese mice have a higher mortality rate and aberrant immune responses following viral infection when compared to wild type mice, Elizabeth Geerling (presenter), Mariah Hassert, E Taylor Stone, Tara L Steffen, and Amelia Pinto (advisor)

Undergraduate Biological and Life Sciences

• First Place: Reduced brain network functional connectivity associated with blood neurofilament light chain in autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease, Katie Mansfield (presenter), Muriah D. Wheelock (advisor), Jeremy F. Strain, Beau M. Ances, Oliver Preische, Anne Fagan, John C. Morris, Randall Bateman, Mathias Jucker, Tammie L.S. Benzinger, Adam T. Eggebrecht, and Brian A. Gordon
• Second Place (tie): Phosphorylation of Akt Substrate 160 (AS160) by ULK1, Kazimir Bagdady (presenter), Jonathan Fisher (advisor), Allie Herron, Cass Dedert, Maggie Hagen, and Christian Vanhooser
• Second Place (tie): Generation of phosphomimetic mutants of human eIF6 by site-directed mutagenesis, Peyton High (presenter) and Sofia Origanti (advisor)

Graduate Social and Behavioral Sciences

• First Place: Rumination style, sense of control, and trauma centrality across trauma anniversary reactions catalyzed by different events, Madeline Bruce (presenter), Alexander Chang, Luke Evans, Lindsay Thomas, and Paul Handal (advisor)
• Second Place: Interview Study with the Medical Providers involved in Music Therapy in Imaging, Sarah Frye (presenter), Medhat M. Osman, and Hisako Matsuo (advisor)

Undergraduate Social and Behavioral Sciences

• First Place: The effect of personal relevance and news format on affect, Sophia McMorrow (presenter), Hannah Hood-Johnson, Brianna Scandell, Grace Fink, and Matthew Newman: Kristin Kiddoo (advisor)

New members to Sigma Xi also were recognized and participated in an induction ceremony. SLU Sigma Xi thanked all those who participated in the event and thanked the Office of Vice President for Research and Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology for financial support.

Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society is the world’s largest multidisciplinary honor society for scientists and engineers. Its mission is to enhance the health of the research enterprise, foster integrity in science and engineering, and promote the public understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition. Sigma Xi chapters can be found at colleges and universities, government laboratories, and industry research centers around the world. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members. Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society was founded in 1886, and it has over 500 chapters in the world. SLU Chapter was founded in 1944. If interested in becoming a member, contact sigmaxi@slu.edu.