Biochemistry
Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited cause of Autism Spectrum Disorder. FXS is caused by transcriptional silencing of the FMR1 gene, which leads to the loss of the translati…
Plant Sciences
Climate change, ocean acidification, and decreased pH are causing detriment to kelp in our marine ecosystems. This decrease in pH is known to change the solubility of essential micronutrient…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy by rewiring their metabolism. In Year-1 of our project, we showed that melphalan-resistant multiple myeloma (MM) cells had higher amounts of m…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a disease that causes extreme memory loss in people and can severely affect their day-to-day life. AB is a molecule that accumulates in the brains of AD patients…
Physics and Astronomy
Second Award
Accurately determining the number of exoplanets in planetary systems is essential for gaining insight into planetary formation, the search for potentially habitable exoplanets, and the desig…
Mathematics
Hampton Roads is located on the east coast of the United States, where it faces the threat of Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. Maximize the evacuation traffic flow is essential when facing s…
Systems Software
American Sign Language is the third most-used language in the United States following English and Spanish. More recent studies on speakers of ASL show that there are around 500,000 who commu…
Biomedical Engineering
Fourth Award
Every year, 124 million women receive Papanicolaou exams; and every year 4,000 die from cervical cancer. The root of this disparity lies in the outdated devices used to collect cervical cell…
Biomedical Engineering
The aim of this project is to develop a mobile app that can detect drug/alcohol intoxication levels in individuals using eye-pupil analysis. The app will utilize computer vision algorithms t…
Microbiology
The intent of this project is to identify the efficacy of antibacterial soap when compared to non-antibacterial soap. In 2016, the FDA banned antibacterial products which contained triclosan…
Microbiology
Fourth Award
Doxorubicin is a globally utilized drug for cancer treatment. This drug has unfortunate cardiotoxic side-effects through drug-induced functional loss of iron-regulatory proteins (IRP1, IRP2)…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a novel therapy for Parkinson's disease, in which an electrode is surgically implanted into the patient's brain and remotely controlled to send an electrical…
Translational Medical Science
Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent seizures and is often treated with anti-seizure medications. However, 30% of patients are refractory to this approach and do not experience seizure fre…
Materials Science
X-ray diffraction is the most common technique for determining atomic structures of crystals (e.g. semiconductors and proteins), and white-beam diffraction is such a powerful method that]pro…
Biochemistry
Third Award
Determining transdermal permeability of compounds facilitates an understanding of drug distribution, improving quality of medical care. The study’s purpose was to analyze transdermal drug ab…
Microbiology
Microplastics have been a significant environmental pollutant that are recently beginning to be studied within the past decade. While their threats have been well-documented among a variety…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Microplastics (MP) are small fragments of plastic less than 5mm in dimension, that have recently received attention due to their high prevalence in the environment, potential to disrupt natu…
Microbiology
This project analyzes the efficacy of osmoadaptation systems in the algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in response to osmotic stress caused by brine dumping cycles from desalination plants. As…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Microplastic pollution was initially identified in 2004 as an issue that originated in the 1960’s. Microplastics are defined as plastics that are five millimeters or less in size, and the gr…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Fourth Award
As a student, and a daughter of a science teacher, I want to know what makes students have difficulty: more specifically if the teaching style - audio, visual, or audio-visual styles - affec…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Severe distances between grocery stores and a lack of transportation restrict residents from making trips for nutritious food, discriminating against poverty-ridden areas. Often trade-offs b…
Systems Software
First Award
Mid-Circuit Measurements (MCMs) are a key component in many quantum information algorithms. As such, ways to characterize their performance are of great interest. Specifically, it is importa…
Translational Medical Science
Alzheimer's Disease is a brain disorder that slowly deteriorates a person's cognitive function, which controls their executive functions and processing speed. Amyloid-Beta plaques & Tau-Aggr…
Materials Science
A substantial amount of plastic has found its way into waters, endangering not only marine life but also people through the human food chain. Most of these plastics are derived from food and…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Plastics are everywhere, and have become one of the most useful, yet harmful products utilized worldwide. Over time, plastics break down into smaller microplastics that pose potential physic…
Microbiology
Fourth Award
Chronic wounds are a significant healthcare threat worldwide, affecting an estimated 6.5 million people in the U.S. and costing the healthcare system an estimated $25 billion annually (10).…
Materials Science
“Microfibers released during washing range from 124 to 308 mg per kg of washed fabric”(de Falco & Di Pace, 2019) The purpose of this project is to decrease the production of micro plastics b…
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Second Award
Since the pandemic, online chess has seen unprecedented growth in its user base. This growth is largely due to players being unable to convene physically in quarantine and wanting to play ga…
Environmental Engineering
There has been a rise in water pollution with nitrates over the past few years. Currently, there is no cost-effective option for the detection or filtration of nitrates in water, since the c…
Biomedical Engineering
During a menstruating person’s lifetime, over 11,000 disposable menstrual products and their packaging are sent to landfills. Recent advances in textiles have made reusable fabric menstrual…