VA, United States of America

Parabolic Equation Impact on Solar Reflector Conversion Efficiency

This research examined the effect of changing the parabolic equation of a parabolic trough solar reflector on its solar conversion efficiency. This research was conducted to advance the impr…

Pressure-Assisted Microwave Sintering for Production of Transparent Polycrystalline Spinel: Experimental Study on Non-Thermal Ponderomotive Effect and Uniaxial Pressure

Microwave sintering is known to provide rapid volumetric heating that reduces processing time compared with conventional furnace sintering methods. With the application of uniaxial pressure,…

Prognostic and Diagnostic Measure for Circuit Disruption in Alzheimer's Disease

Fourth Award

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease known for significant brain atrophy and pathological lesions that are thought to damage synaptic connections between cells. In particu…

Self-assembly and Characterization of Macroscopic Monolayer Films Composed of Ligand Gold Coated Nanospheres

This project’s objective was to build materials with unique optical properties, such as a custom tailored refractive index, with applications in solar cells and fiber-optics. Using self-asse…

Self-Driving Car Intersection

Traffic lights are one of the most dreaded aspects of daily life. They are slow and often inefficient. One possible fix is a self-driving car intersection. Since self-driving cars can drive…

Slaying the "Destructor": The Effectiveness of Alternative Varroa Mite Treatments

Biochemistry

In 1987, the Varroa destructor mite, an apivorous parasite, was introduced to the Western honeybee, Apis mellifera. Mite infestations are detrimental to honeybee hives, and if a colony conta…

Sorting Nexin 27, a Novel Target Gene to Prevent Tumor Metastasis in Highly Aggressive Breast Cancer Cells

Translational Medical Science

Sorting Nexin 27 (SNX27) belongs to a super family of sortin nexins which mediate protein-protein interaction in intracellular trafficking, membrane remodeling, organelle motility, tight jun…

Squashing the Superbug: Discovery of Irreversible SrtA Inhibitors as Potential Antibacterial Drugs using a Novel Computational Drug Design Workflow

Fourth Award

Each year in the United States, at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant infections with 80% of these deaths from gram-positive bacteria. One promising…

Synthesizing an Artificial Biological Leaf Capable of Evolving Oxygen via Photosynthesis

Imagine a world where oxygen availability is not tied to fertile soil or oxygen tanks. The purpose of this project was to design an artificial leaf that can evolve oxygen via photosynthesis…

The Allelopathic Effects of Ailanthus altissima on Nuisance Species

Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven) presents an ecological problem due to its ability to out-compete native species. This project attempted to determine the presence of allelopathic chemica…

The Correlation between Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Thickness

For some time now, it has been known that the ice caps on earth have been melting at unprecedented rates. This can affect the energy in the earths system and be potentially harmful to wildli…

The Determination of Biologically Facilitated Atrazine Removal in Lentic Microcosms

Atrazine is an herbicide that is widely used in industrial agriculture to target broadleaf weeds. It is known to have detrimental effects on nontarget communities. Runoff that contains atraz…

The Effect of an Elevated pCO2 Level on the Protein Expression of the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas

Fourth Award

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effects of elevated pCO2 on the protein expression on the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas. Recently, the rise in anthropogenic CO2 has co…

The Effect of Recycled Micronized Rubber Powder Filler on the Tensile and Tear Properties of Rubber

A previous year's work studied the effect of micronized rubber powder (MRP) on the abrasion resistance of a rubber compound. To further evaluate the impact of MRP usage on a nitrile rubber,…

The Efficacy of the Antioxidants, Ascorbic Acid, Glutathione, and a-Tocopherol, in Treating Fetal Alcohol Syndrome using Danio rerio as a Model Organism

Biomedical Engineering

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a major cause of non-genetic developmental delays and neural and physical abnormalities. Free radicals, highly reactive by-products of ethanol (EtOH) metabolism, ca…

The Mapping of Emotional Dimensions: Toward a Neuro-Thermal Biometric System for the Diagnosis of Emotional Flexibility

Biomedical and Health Sciences

Emotions may become inappropriate, excessive, and even pathological, such as in major depressive disorders, with disabling and costly consequences of emotional dysfunction. The skill to succ…

The Periodic Effect of a Star's Change in Magnitude Due to a Planet's Transit: A Search for Habitable Planets

The original question that was addressed was is an amateur astronomer able to locate and confirm an exoplanet of sufficient quality? If so, based on the calculations of the planet's radius i…

Utilizing a Piezoelectric Crystal Tree to Harvest Electrical Energy from Rain Water

Third Award

This multiphase study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing a piezoelectric crystal tree to harvest electrical energy from rain water to use as a clean, renewable energy sou…

An Analysis of the Feasibility of a Superconducting Maglev Launch System Based on the Meissner Effect

Physics and Astronomy Fourth Award

The purpose of this study was to analyze a superconducting maglev launch system for its feasibility to minimize the loss of launch energy and to efficiently propel a projectile using the Mei…

A Natural Way to Improve Chemotherapy: Investigating the Effect of Biochanin A on the Efficacy of Thapsigargin in a C. elegans Cancer Model

Mathematics Third Award

Multidrug resistance is a major obstacle in the treatment of cancer. One of the major causes of resistance is P-glycoprotein, an ATP binding cassette transporter that binds and removes toxin…

A New Statistical Measure of Effect Size: Rate-Adjusted Standardized Mean Difference (RASMD)

Materials Science

This project developed a new statistical measure of effect size: rate-adjusted standardized mean difference (RASMD). The new measure represents an adjustment to Cohen's measure of standardiz…

A Novel Computational Agent-Based Model for the Outbreak, Spread, and Containment of Tuberculosis

Embedded Systems Second Award

Although tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease, affecting approximately one-third of the world’s population in some way, little is known about TB…

Approaching Anti-Viral Therapeutics via Sequence Analysis of Nucleoprotein and Glycoprotein Precursor Genes of Lassa Virus

Microbiology

The rapid evolution of viral species complicates the management of chronic infections and the control of other emerging microbiological, infectious agents. The accumulation of these polymorp…

Automated American Sign Language Translation: Identifying the Handshape Component of American Sign Language Using a 3D-camera and Handtracking Middleware Library to Create a Basis for an Automated Sign Translator

Earth and Environmental Sciences

The project seeks to build a program that uses the FORTH 3D HandTracking Library (An API for a framework to track hands in 3D) in conjunction with a 3D camera to identify handshape, one of t…

Cadmium Ion Removal from an Aqueous Solution by Dried Water Hyacinth Biomass-Kinetic Studies: Effect Of pH, Time, Hyacinth Dosage, and Cadmium Concentration on Adsorption

Engineering Mechanics Third Award

The purpose of this project was to test the effectiveness of dried Water Hyacinth biomass on the adsorbance of Cadmium within an aquatic medium. Based on popular research it was hypothesized…

Comparing Shroud Design on the Electrical Power Output of a Small-Scale Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine

Engineering Mechanics Fourth Award

This study was conducted to determine if utilizing a shroud around a small-scale horizontal-axis wind turbine can increase its electrical power output. Three shrouds were constructed out of…

Crystal Formation on Collagenous Gelatins: Effects of Carboxylation and pH on Rates and Polymorphs of Calcium Carbonates

Plant Sciences

Organisms synthesize skeletons by growing crystals within specialized tissues to produce structures that are optimized to meet functional needs. An understanding of how macromolecule chemist…

Designing, Prototyping, and Testing Agricultural Drones

Engineering Mechanics

This report details the second phase of a two-year project to design and test cheaper and more efficient aircraft to be used in seeding or fertilizing crops. Because aerial application is pe…

Developing a Unique Model to Predict the Efficacy of a Revolutionary Cancer Therapy

Materials Science

HER2-positive breast cancer is characterized by an overexpression of HER2, a growth receptor protein, on the surface of the cancer cell, which increases the rate of cell growth and replicati…

Diet-based Inhibition of Acetylcholinesterase as a Treatment for Myasthenia Gravis and Alzheimer’s Disease

Plant Sciences

Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is an autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorder characterized by disturbances in nerve-muscle communication caused by auto-immune system complications. Antibodies mist…