Students Participate in Undergraduate Research Day
Eight Fairmont State University students participated in Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol in Charleston on March 12.
The event's purpose is to familiarize state legislators with research activities involving undergraduate students on campuses across the state and the educational impact of those activities.
FSU students invited to attend were Samantha Huffman, Celi Oliveto, Jason Young, Amy Davis, Whitnie Highland, Ivan Madolev, C. Shane Poletti and David Wray.
Huffman, Oliveto and Young in the History/Anthropology/Sociology category presented "From Mouth to Memory: Stories from the Farmington Mine Disaster." Their adviser is Dr. Francene Kirk. The focus of the students' ethnographic research is to preserve the stories and memories of survivors, widows, family and community members who were impacted b the Farmington Mine Disaster of 1968. The project will culminate in a devised piece of theatre to be performed in May 2009.
Davis and Highland in the Biology category presented "Effect of Wind Resistance and Assistance While Running on Heart Rate and RPE." Their adviser is Dr. Paul Reneau. The purpose of their study was to examine the effects that wind resistance and wind assistance have on physiological variables for runners.
Madolev in the Computer Science/Information Technology category presented "Autonomous Grasping and Haptic Feedback for Talon Robot Platform." His adviser is Rebecca Giorcelli. The project purpose was to conduct proof-of-concept preliminary studies of haptic technology interfaces for manipulating Talon Robots for Homeland Defense applications. Haptic technology refers to interfacing with users via the sense of touch through forces, vibrations and/or motions.
Poletti in the Physics category presented "Determining the Onset of Amorphization of Crystalline Silicon Due to Hypervelocity Impact." His adviser is Marina E. Bachlechner. in the Physics category presented "Determining the Onset of Amorphization of Crystalline Silicon Due to Hypervelocity Impact." His adviser is Marina E. Bachlechner. When an object in space impacts the protective silicon-nitride layer in solar cells of a satellite, it can cause damage to the solar cell and alter its performance. Poletti's project used data from molecular-dynamics simulations of a silicon/siliconitride system. The project was based on the date produced to calculate how, and to what extent, the structure of the silicon changed due to the impact.
Wray in the Biology category presented "Determining Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Individual HUVEC Samples." His adviser is Sarah Dodson. Homocysteine (Hcy) is a biologically important amino acid occupying a pivotal position in the metabolism of the essential amino acid, methionine. High blood levels of Hcy are known to be a risk factor for coronary artery disease. Several single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified for genes involved in the metabolic pathway of Hcy and evaluated in an effort to assess the effect of genotype on plasma Hcy levels.
