Earth and Environmental Sciences
The amount of land burned every year in Washington has increased about ten times over the last half century making the need for improved detection and identification of trends linked to wild…
Physics and Astronomy
Fourth Award
When exploring the potential for life in the Universe, a star system’s habitability depends on both its internal structure, which sets up the building blocks for life, and its external envir…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
The 2019 coronavirus has proven to have a devastating global effect. With symptoms ranging from those of the common cold to pneumonia, it is evident that scientists must decipher the point a…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the cause of the global pandemic known as coronavirus disease-2019 or COVID-19 for short. SARS-CoV-2 is a zoonotonic disease,…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Rapid Intensification (RI), a 30+ kt increase in a storm’s 1-minute maximum sustained winds, is a potentially catastrophic event occurring within tropical cyclones. The leading current RI mo…
Animal Sciences
Continuous reduction in the population of pollinators has motivated scientists and scholars to search for new research methods of effectiveness determined largely by proper selection of the…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) can efficiently convert hydrogen energy into electrical energy for easy use. The high cost of imported Pt/C catalysts used in the fuel cell restr…
Microbiology
Lycorma delicatula (Spotted Lanternfly) has become prominent in the United States causing environmental and economic damages. It damages trees, including peach and apple trees, and crops, su…
Chemistry
Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination is an outstanding environmental issue that causes damage to ecosystems and public health. Activation of carbon-hydrogen (C-H) bonds is central to the chem…
Embedded Systems
Energy efficient homes, offices, and schools often have limited or non-existent means to bring in fresh air, resulting in high carbon dioxide levels. This can inhibit decision making skills…
Embedded Systems
Third Award
Every summer, children and pets suffer needless deaths because they are unintentionally left in hot cars. Young children are placed in the back seat and are easily forgotten. My project prov…
Plant Sciences
Mealybugs are a detriment to greenhouse, commercial farms, and residential gardens. Observing informally for a year the mealybugs behavior towards Solanum melongena, Abelmoschus esculentus,…
Microbiology
Second Award
Annually in the U.S., over 1 million hospitalized patients acquire surgical site infections (SSIs), urinary tract infections (UTIs), or central line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI…
Microbiology
The purpose of this project was to analyze and screen culturable bacteria associated with corals of the Florida Keys for antimicrobial properties and determine the phylogenetic characterizat…
Biomedical Engineering
Artificial skin is a synthetic membrane structure that mimics the flexibility and sensory functions of biological skin. Similar to receptors in biological skin sending signals to neurons in…
Environmental Engineering
First Award
Produced water generated during oil and gas production is primarily disposed of through deep-well injection, which is costly, has limited receiving capacity, and induces seismicity. Produced…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Pisaster ochraceus is an integral component of rocky intertidal ecosystems. As a keystone species (Gashler, 2014), it has the ability to completely transform environments, controlling mussel…
Engineering Mechanics
This project was developed to find a way to charge autonomous aerial vehicles by the use of wireless charging. The project, codenamed Aeolus, intended to eliminate the need for human interac…
Embedded Systems
Second Award
Sensors empower the modern world as we know it: from automobilism to weather forecasts to aviation to temperature controlled homes. Some of these applications require precision geospatial in…
Environmental Engineering
As climate change transforms the world, it is essential to identify and counter global threats to the environment and its people - especially in the case of wildfires. On the rise over the p…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Prolonged opioid use after surgery causes substnce abuse and opioid use disorders. Physicans are prescribing opioids at high dosages and for longer durations of time than reccommended amount…
Engineering Mechanics
Shrouds are used with many modern day propellers, and my prior experience with underwater robotics has led me to apply this passive method to improve motor performance. This project looked a…
Microbiology
SARS-CoV-2 has struck as a major global pandemic causing COVID19, infecting over 109 million. Infection and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 is mediated through the key proteins; Spike Protein and…
Mathematics
The crossing number cr(G) of a graph G is the least number of edge crossings of a plane drawing of G. Determining the exact crossing number of a graph is NP-Complete. In this project, we pre…
Engineering Mechanics
Fourth Award
Research and crash data show that rear-end crashes in which heavy-duty vehicles are involved frequently cause severe injuries and deaths in cars and light commercial vehicles. Therefore, a b…
Animal Sciences
This project consists on the development of a running machine that increases the sensitivity of dog paws who have lost its legs movements as a consequence of Intervertebral Disc Herniation.…
Translational Medical Science
Blood testing for target protein concentrations remains the number one way to diagnose and monitor chronic diseases like arthritis, heart failure, and thyroid-related conditions. However, bl…
Environmental Engineering
Second Award
Fishing is one the most significant drivers of declines in ocean wildlife populations. Overfished stock numbers have nearly tripled in half a century and a third of the world's assessed fish…
Biochemistry
Third Award
Protein secondary structure is defined by the local interactions between amino acid residues and it is widely used in protein structure and function analysis. Secondary structure information…
Engineering Mechanics
Second Award
Most modern aircraft have an elliptical lift distribution (ELD) that results in induced drag across its entire wingspan. Induced drag leads to adverse yaw, the undesirable tendency for an ai…