Translational Medical Science
Third Award
BACKGROUND: Malaria is a disease that mainly affects the poor, and is caused by a parasite (plasmodium) that cannot reproduce outside of humans. Most malaria patients are asymptomatic until…
Embedded Systems
The white cane has helped the blind for centuries, but how can this basic invention be revolutionized using twenty-first century technologies at an affordable price? This project tackles the…
Energy: Chemical
Global warming is a significant threat to modern society caused by the burning of fossil fuels in order to meet everyday energy requirements. Renewable clean energy solutions such as solar a…
Systems Software
Second Award
While biometrics have become a vital part of user authentication in technological platforms, they suffer from issues like inaccuracy, high costs, and vulnerability to physical damage that ma…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
A number of studies have shown that diversity programs are effective in reducing stereotypes. The purpose of this study was to determine the best age to implement these programs to educate p…
Engineering Mechanics
The purpose of this project was to design and construct a Negative Stiffness Device (NSD) that could be used in buildings to aid with seismic protection. A device such as this offers an alte…
Environmental Engineering
Fourth Award
The Bio-Photovoltaic Fuel Cell (BPFC) is a promising new technology that generates clean electrochemical energy using the photosynthetic activity of organisms. However, existing BPFCs use ex…
Biochemistry
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an epidemic that affects more than 5.4 million Americans and is the sixth leading cause of death. Previous research has suggested that the dysfunction and degener…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Fourth Award
An effective “catch-all” cure for cancer remains elusive, but one promising target that could be used in such a cure is telomerase because it enables replicative immortality, has near ubiqui…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Altruism is the tendency of individuals to behave in ways that benefit the whole at the expense of the individual. Due to the complexity of interactions between living organisms, it is chall…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
The purpose of this experiment was to investigate how distractions affect teen reaction times and awareness on the road. It was hypothesized that both calling and texting on cellular devices…
Energy: Chemical
This research project studied the effects of various contaminants on the products of H2S pyrolysis. The study was conducted at the University of Maryland Combustion Laboratory and examined p…
Animal Sciences
Many smokers believe the concept that e-cigarettes are a healthy alternative for the otherwise prejudicial cigarettes. Although they are not as harsh as traditional cigarettes, these perilou…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Fourth Award
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a locomotor disease characterized by toxic aggregation of the protein a-syn in neurons. In recent research, mice with a PD-causing mutation failed to exhibit dise…
Physics and Astronomy
Our experiment is to measure the correlation between the effects of magnetic fields on Rhizochlonium Algae growth to potentially increase the efficiency of Algae biofuel production. 25 grams…
Plant Sciences
In recent years, the "oil boom" in rural Western North Dakota has caused traffic on unpaved gravel roads to increase dramatically. Road dust is known to cause metabolic and oxidative stress…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Fourth Award
Oceans make up seventy percent of our world, containing the most diverse ecosystems. The ocean also serves as a gigantic carbon ‘sponge’, absorbing humanities excess carbon dioxide. At the c…
Animal Sciences
Currently, there is minimal research published on the use of Controlled Internal Drug Releases, CIDRs, and Progesterone Gonadotrophin 600, P.G. 600, and their effects on reproduction success…
Chemistry
Concrete accounts for up to 8% of worldwide CO2 emissions. Alkali-activated cement (AAC) is an environmentally sustainable alternative to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and can reduce OPC CO…
Animal Sciences
Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are an essential part of agriculture, pollinating 90 commercially grown crops accounting for $15 billion of the US economy in 2014. Honey bee populations are decl…
Animal Sciences
Fourth Award
Honeybees apis mellifera are an essential part of global crop production and are responsible for $200 B annually, but honeybee colonies are suffering major losses. Varroa mites (varroa destr…
Mathematics
Third Award
Purpose: Given a prime p and polynomial f, how many pairs (x,y) are there such that y^a-x^b*f(x) is a multiple of p? Equivalently, how many rational points lie on a superelliptic curve? Answ…
Environmental Engineering
Heavy metal pollution is a pressing global environmental threat and public health concern. In this study, sustainable nanofiber coagulants were synthesized to remove heavy metals lead, cadmi…
Animal Sciences
Elasmobranchs - commonly known as sharks, skates, and rays - are known to possess highly acute olfactory sensitivity, with large variation of the morphological structures across all species.…
Engineering Mechanics
Modern high bypass turbofan jet engines pollute the air and their optimal speed and altitude is fixed because of engine physics and economy. We propose using an electric motor paired with a…
Materials Science
When most people hear the word electromagnets, they instantly think of a magnet created with electricity. This has had practical applications as strong magnets able to be turned on or off wh…
Animal Sciences
In this project, the planaria's actions towards a magnetic field is being tested.I believe that this is very important because this could lead to a discovery in a sensory neuron in aquatic a…
Microbiology
Fourth Award
Escherichia coli O104:H4 is an enteroaggregative/shiga-toxin (Stx) producing strain and the cause of many fatal diseases. Recent literature identified a direct correlation between expression…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
The RE-1 Silencing Transcription Factor (REST) is a central transcriptional repressor that regulates a wide range of neural genes. REST is highly conserved among vertebrates and modulates pr…
Environmental Engineering
Third Award
Fertilizers containing nitrogen continue to be an integral aspect of the farming economy in the Midwest. Excess run-off of nitrates has become an environmental hazard. When the growth of alg…