Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Since 2001, actor-critic algorithms have combined “the strong points of actor-only and critic- only methods” (Konda & Tsitsiklis, 1999) to reduce the time needed to train a reinforcement lea…
Materials Science
The high occurrence of fires and explosions worldwide makes fire prevention a top priority to protect people and property. Common fire-fighting materials include water, CO2 gas, fire fightin…
Translational Medical Science
Traditionally, in neurosurgery planning cortical language areas are identified by having individuals actively perform a language task while the magnetic resonance image (MRI) scan is acquire…
Physics and Astronomy
In the early 2000s, NASA sent Cassini to explore the outer reaches of the solar system. Onboard Cassini, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) observed Titan, a moon of Saturn.…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Fourth Award
Pancreatic cancer is among the world's deadliest cancers with a 5-year survival rate below 9%. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) encompasses >90% of all pancreatic cancers, and >95% ar…
Chemistry
What in the world would baking soda and vinegar have to do with a rocket ship? Let me explain! I have always had a love for rockets. So through my natural evolution of thought I somehow land…
Animal Sciences
Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), an aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbon, is an environmental contaminant and carcinogen that causes neurological and developmental effects to children when exposed in pregna…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Fourth Award
??Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible and fatal form of dementia caused by the degeneration of neurons in the brain. This disorder is characterized by the aggregation of tau protein, the…
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
The R.O.T. Slide, R.O.T. standing for “rate of travel” is an original project that was engineered to steady a welder’s arm while cutting metal. I decided to create a solution to a problem th…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
This work presents the first study that examines the runoff of the herbicide, paraquat, and how it flows through the environment. Paraquat is a highly toxic herbicide that is widely used and…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Second Award
The spread and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses can lead to various mutations that cause significant spikes in infections. It is essential for researchers to study virus genome s…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Cardiovascular diseases in minority populations are grossly misunderstood and studies show clear data exemplifying disparities in screenings. Studies largely focus on exhaustively researched…
Biomedical Engineering
First Award
Annually, Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer affects 4.8 million people worldwide, and has 5-year survival rates as low as 8%. However, the survival rate increases to 70% if GI cancers are detecte…
Translational Medical Science
Fucoidans are sulfated polysaccharides that provide structure in brown seaweeds. Medical research has found a substantial amount of evidence for the investigation into fucoidan as an antican…
Plant Sciences
The morphological traits of a plant’s seeds impact how well they are able to disperse over time, which is a crucial mechanism for reproduction, gene flow, and the movement of plant species i…
Translational Medical Science
Second Award
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a physical disruption of brain tissue followed by a cascade of inflammatory responses. The responses result in a transient disruption of the blood-brain barri…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Fourth Award
1 in 44 children in the USA are impacted by autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but only <50% of children received effective early intervention due to delayed diagnosis. This represents a huge m…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Third Award
Myocarditis is a disease in which there is inflammation located within the muscle tissue of the heart, or myocardium. It is characterized by infiltration of mononuclear inflammatory cells in…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Accurate weather predictions are crucial to infrastructure, economic security, and disaster prevention. Short-range hourly temperature forecasting has been the purview of statistical numeric…
Biomedical Engineering
Current dog prosthetics for the foreleg and shoulder are rigid and limiting for canines. These prosthetics do not allow the animal to lay down, sit properly, or traverse harsh terrain withou…
Materials Science
Creating biodegradable materials is imperative as plastic pollution contributes to global warming. A promising biodegradable material is silk because of its strength. To further enhance its…
Materials Science
Following surgery, dogs experience irritation on the skin around the surgical site due to pain, histamines, and the protein IL-31. These factors cause dogs to lick or scratch at their suture…
Physics and Astronomy
Fourth Award
Approximately 80% of the gravitating matter in the universe has been determined to be "dark" (or non-baryonic) matter. Dark matter’s gravitational interactions with baryonic (luminous) matte…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
CARM1 is a methyltransferase that methylates the BAF155 in the SWI/SNF protein complex, leading to cell proliferation and migration via the c-MYC pathway. SKI-73. EZM 2302, and TP-064 are th…
Physics and Astronomy
First Award
Astigmatism is a cylindrical refractive vision defect that affects 30% of the world population. Current subjective optometry of astigmatism is complicated, has low accuracy, and is dependent…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Third Award
Airborne Wind Energy systems (AWEs) are an innovative variant of wind energy technology that harness the power of high-altitude winds. However, conventional AWEs face limitations due to teth…
Environmental Engineering
Third Award
Every year in the US, millions of roadkill accidents occur making wildlife vehicle collisions (WVCs) a significant danger to both animals and humans. In addition, road networks become abioti…
Environmental Engineering
The purpose of this experiment was to determine which color of solar powered water purification device would purify water at the fastest rate. The hypothesis was if the bottom of a water pur…
Biomedical Engineering
Computed tomography (CT) is a three-dimensional imaging modality that uses X- ray beams to produce cross-sectional information of an object or a patient. CT suffers from multiple inherent li…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a disorder that affects brain development and can cause problems with social interaction and communication, is thought to be caused by both genetic and non-ge…