Undergraduates Head to State Capitol to Present Research

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 23, 2016) — Twenty-nine undergraduate researchers from the University of Kentucky, along with more than 200 other student representatives from across the state, are taking over the state capitol in Frankfort this Thursday to showcase their research to the state legislature.

Posters-at-the-Capitol is a one-day annual event held to educate the Kentucky state legislators of the importance of undergraduate research and scholarly work. The governor, members of the General Assembly and representatives from students' hometowns are able to engage directly with the scholars on this day.

The event is a collaborative program where students from each of Kentucky's eight public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System present the results of research they have conducted as part of their college experience before the state legislature.

Many different undergraduate disciplinary areas are presented at the event, not only those within the sciences.

The UK students who will participate in Posters-at-the-Capitol this year include:

• Elaisy Gonzalez, senior in UK College of Arts and Sciences: “A Novel Approach to Study Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; a 3-Trimester Model.” Mentor: Susan Barron.
• Charles Conyers Harpole, senior in UK College of Arts and Sciences: “The Mountain Divide: Education Quality Discrepancies between Kentucky and Central Appalachia.” Mentor: Emily Beaulieu.
• Sabita Dumre, junior in UK College of Arts and Sciences: “Screening of a Peptide Library for a Neuroprotective Binding Target.” Mentor: Luke H. Bradley.
• Anna Eastman, junior in UK College of Nursing: “Health Status of Kentucky’s Senior Farmers.” Mentor: Deborah Reed.
• Karl Hempel, senior in UK College of Arts and Sciences: “Producing Reactive Intermediates via Photodriven Electron Transfer.” Mentors: Anne-Frances Miller and John Patrick Hoben.
• Timothy Hoey, senior in UK College of Arts and Sciences: “Role of Circadian Rhythm in Plant-Virus Interaction.” Mentor: Pradeep Kachroo.
• Josephine M. Kim, junior in UK College of Health Sciences: “Enzymatic Evidence for a Revised Congocidine Biosynthetic Pathway.” Mentor: Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova.
• Amir Kucharski, junior in UK College of Arts and Sciences: “Understanding Ion Binding Anity and Selectivity in Beta Parvalbumin Using Molecular Dynamics and Mean Sphere Approximation Theory.” Mentor: Peter Kekenes-Huskey.
• Hannah Maddox, senior in UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment: “Maternal Smoking and Offspring Risk for Developing Obesity.” Mentor: Kevin J. Pearson.
• Courtney McKelphin, junior in UK College of Engineering: “Optimization of Microalgae Lipid Extracts for the Production of Fuels.” Mentor: Mark Crocker.
• Kristin Mulliniks, senior in UK College of Engineering: “Cross-Linking of Polymeric Micelles in Bulk Solution for Regenerative Medicinal Applications.” Mentors: Sundar Authimoolam, David Puleo and Thomas Dziubla.
• Ashley Stevens, junior in UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment: “Alternative Polyadenylation in Sarcocystis Neurona.” Mentors: Arthur Hunt and Daniel Howe.
• Erin Taylor, senior in UK College of Design: “The Translation and Communication of Design Research.” Mentor: Lindsey Fay.
• Ava Vargason, junior in UK College of Engineering: “Quantification of the Internalization of Poly (trolox ester) Nanoparticles.” Mentors: Thomas D. Dziubla, J. Zach Hilt, Kimberly W. Anderson and Carolyn Jordan.
• Cheyenne Davis and Davis Whaley: “Recognition of Dissonance in Simple Science Texts During Reading.” Mentor: Robert Lorch.
• James Donovan, Brenda Vanegas, Robert Neeley and Benjamin Gadbois: “I Didn’t Know This Was Cheating: Differences in Perceptions Between Students and Instructors About Academic Dishonesty.” Mentors: Steven Arthur, Andrea Friedrich and Jacob Case.
• Clay Thornton, Abby Shelton, Scotty Reams and Annah Baykal: “On Jobs, Values, and Misguided Polls: An Analysis of Young Voters ‘Bowling Alone’ in Kentucky’s 2014 Midterm Elections.” Mentor: Buck Ryan.
• Kaelyn M. Short, John Schaller, Hannah Oates, Kylie Drupilski and Sierra Hedrick: “Exploring Health and Health Care: Examining our Health Care Crisis and Potential Solutions for Kentucky and the Nation.” Mentor: Tomas Wallace.

The UK Office of Undergraduate Research is part of the Academy for Undergraduate Excellence within the Division of Undergraduate Education at UK.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jenny Wells, 859-257-5343; jenny.wells@uky.edu