Spotlights

Lisa Fiedler

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Environmental Sustainability
Research Mentor: 
Dr. Jadwiga Ziolkowska
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Food waste is largely considered one of the greatest paradoxes of today: while millions of people in the world starve, we waste an astonishing amount of the food we produce. One factor that produces a substantial amount of food waste is the consumer misinterpretation of food date labels, which are inconsistent, confusing, and misunderstood. This study is a comprehensive overview of the history of food dates in the United States, the failures of the current system, an analysis of current consumer perceptions of food dates, and concrete recommendations for needed actions to solve this food date labeling crisis.

Awards and/or presentations:

Fiedler, L. (2016, April). Dinner and a Date: the Misguiding Nature of Expiration Dates and Their Influence on Consumer Food Waste Behavior. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Elyse Ellsworth

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Biology
Research Mentor: 
Dr. Cameron Siler
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

In collaboration with Dr. Cameron Siler in the Department of Biology and the Sam N able Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, I describe a new species of skink found on the Palawan Island in the Philippines. This species is nestled in the species complex Lygosoma bowringii. Little is known about the skinks within the genus Lygosoma, due to previously poor sampling efforts. The L. bowringii species complex can be found in Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It is unlikely that a single species would inhabit this vast of a range across oceanic barriers. Lygosoma bowingii is documented to be a ground-dwelling generalist, living under rocks, logs, and leaf-litter; large-scale dispersal across oceans is therefore unlikely. This project began by collecting morphometric data using a caliper to measure many different characters of Lygosoma museum specimens such as: snout-vent length, tail length, and intranasal distance. Scale counts on different regions of the individuals compliment the morphometric data. These physical characteristics can be compared across many closely related species. Most of these museum specimens were also accompanied by tissue samples that can be used to analyze the species' genetic relationships within the Lygosoma genus.

Awards and/or presentations:

Ellsworth, E. (2016, April). A New Species of Writhing Skink within the genus Lygosoma from the Philippines. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Morgan Ederer

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Environmental Sustainability
Research Mentor: 
Dr. Jadwiga Ziolkowska
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Recent droughts have significantly affected many regions in Oklahoma, especially the agricultural sector in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The contributions of the agricultural sector to the total Gross Domestic Product in the state have been declining over years, which might be interpreted as an indicator of changing production patterns. This research presents a closer perspective on trends occurring in the agricultural sector and changing production trends as a result of drought. For the analysis, we evaluated time series data on precipitation and agricultural outputs in 2006-2015 for five main crops grown in Oklahoma: wheat, com, barely, pecans, and hay. The analysis is based on data bases from NOAA National Center for Environmental Information, National Agricultural Statistics Service, and crop enterprise budgets from the Oklahoma State Extension Service. In Oklahoma, the results show regional impacts of extreme drought in main areas of agricultural production from 2011 to 2012 with annual precipitation lows of 16 inches in the Southwest and West Central, and 11 inches in Oklahoma Panhandle. Drought had considerable impacts both on agricultural output and agricultural prices that skyrocketed in 2011-2013 for all the analyzed crops, with 44% increase in wheat prices between 2006 (relatively wet year) and 2011 (dry year).

Awards and/or presentations:

Ederer, M. (2016, April). Impact of Drought on Agricultural Production in Oklahoma. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Melissa Doan

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Biology
Research Mentor: 
Richard Broughton
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

In general terms, the theory of evolution is the natural process of observable changes of heritable characteristics over many successive generations. It provides a way of understanding the similarities seen across all life forms as well as the remarkable diversity oflife. Hypotheses about the forces that maintain similarity among organisms and cause diversification can be tested with the large amounts of data produced via modem DNA sequencing technology. Physiological processes provide a fundamental link between genotypes and organismal phenotypes. Natural selection acting at the molecular level may influence physiological processes that facilitate the evolution of diverse organismal phenotypes. I propose to investigate the influence of natural selection on the system that produces cellular energy (oxidative phosphorylation) and examine the relationship between evolution of this system with evolution of energetically demanding organismallifestyles.

Awards and/or presentations:

Doan, M. (2016, April). Coordinated Evolution of OXPHOS. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Joseph Dal Santo

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Mechanical Engineering
Research Mentor: 
Janet K. Allen, Farrokh Mistree
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Decision-making is an integral part of the design process, and as such is the primary role of any designer. While decision-making can be as simple when comparing a small number of alternatives or a single attribute, it can quickly become difficult and complex as more alternatives and attributes are considered. The large number of potentially unrelated alternatives and attributes that a designer may need to consider when making a decision can introduce large amounts of uncertainty and error into the design process, so a framework to help designers make these decisions is critical to design success. One framework that can be employed to assist designers is called a selection Decision Support Problem (sDSP), which can simplify decisions by allowing the comparison of multiple alternatives with various attributes at once. This framework can be further enhanced by modifying the selection Decision Support Problem to a utility-selection Decision Support Problem (u-sDSP). u-SDSPs combine the sDSP's ability to frame and bound decisions with a high level of mathematical rigor, which counteracts the sDSP's tendency to generate inconsistent results. The effectiveness ofu-SDSPs in the design process is clearly demonstrated through an example problem, which analyzes the design of a snap-fit light fixture constructed out of rapid prototyping (RP) materials.

Awards and/or presentations:

Dal Santo, J. (2016, April). Solution Space Exploration of a Rapid-Prototyping Snap-Fit Light Fixture. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Hiep Chuong

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Mechanical Engineering
Research Mentor: 
Kuang-Hua Chang
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

I am conducting research about impact energy mitigation. Most energy absorption materials such as a helmet, uses energy dissipation techniques to spread the impact waves away from the brain. However, several recent studies using nanofluidic energy capture systems reported that the mechanical energy of an impact stress wave could be temporarily captured and stored in tiny nanopores within the material. This energy capture methods works better than the conventional approach because it requires a small force to activate the system, whereas regular energy absorption method requires a high impact force before any energy is dissipated. The nanofluidic system works by initially being too small for water molecules to enter under atmospheric pressure. But once under impact force, the water molecule pressure exceeds the nanopores threshold pressure and rushes into the pores. Once entered, it is considered captured. The water molecules that are captured in the pores carry some of the force from the initial impact and is isolated from the rest of the system. By using a molecular dynamic simulations program, called LAMMPS, I was able to make 3D models at the atomic level and prove whether or not the concept ofnanopores material worked.

Awards and/or presentations:

Chuong, H. (2016, April). Impact Mitigation Research. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Emily Campbell

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Environmental Sustainability
Research Mentor: 
Kirsten De Beurs
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

As a developing country, India has been facing rapid socio-economic growth which, among others, manifests through large-scale urban development and urban population growth in major cities. Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore, is one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city has grown in area over ten times since 1949, and it is leading the expansion of information technology and service-based industries in India. Already the most populous city in the state of Karnataka, of which it is the capital, Bengaluru's population is also rapidly rising. The process of urbanization has a significant impact on land cover and land use change. The growing number of people causes an increasing demand of living space and natural resources. Monitoring land cover change using remote sensing images has great potential to detect this rapid shift and the effects it has on the environment. Calculating and visualizing land cover can help urban planners and policy makers in their efforts to plan a more sustainable city and to mitigate the negative effects of rapid urban sprawl. Using remote sensing data from Landsat 5 TM satellite images I performed a supervised classification of the land cover types over a 10 year period (1999-2009) using remote sensing software (ENVI). The results of the classification are land cover and land use maps for Bengaluru and calculated statistics for the land cover change over time.

Awards and/or presentations:

Campbell, E. (2016, April). Monitoring Land Cover Changes in Bengaluru, India Using Landsat Satellite Data. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Casey Cai

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Biology /Mathematics
Research Mentor: 
Dr. Anthony Burgett
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Autophagy is a regulated cellular mechanism that allows for the orderly degradation of cellular components. During autophagy, the components are isolated in vesicles that then fuse with a lysosome to digest the contents and produce energy. Cellular stress-caused by cancer therapy, for example - can result in the formation of autophagic vessels as a coping mechanism for the cells to maintain a source of energy. Preliminary imaging studies have shown the presence of autophagic vesicles prior to cell death in cultured human colon cancer cells that were treated with OSW-1, a natural product with anticancer activity. Traditionally, the intracellular processes that occur during this autophagy would be analyzed by creating celllysates using thousands of cells. This gives a big picture of what is happening, but the heterogeneity of the cells is destroyed when the lysate is made. Although tumor cells are traditionally thought to be quite similar to one another, they have recently been found to vary in genetic makeup, gene expression, phenotypic profile, and response to treatment- even within an individual patient. However, our lab, in collaboration with the Yang lab, has developed a new mass spectrometry technology- Single-probe Mass Spectrometry- that allows for real-time metabolomic analysis of individual living cells. This will not only measure the cellular metabolites, but it will also allow for us to see the differences between individual cells that undergo the same treatment.

Awards and/or presentations:

Cai, C. (2016, April). Metabolomic Analysis of OSW-1 Treated HeLa Cells using Single-Probe Mass Spectrometry. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Tom Buckman

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Biology
Research Mentor: 
J. P. Masly
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

Understanding the mechanisms that drive the evolutionary process is important, as these mechanisms explain how life evolves, how species interact, and what gives rise to structures with species-specific morphologies. The Masly lab contributes to this endeavor by studying the evolution and development of sexual reproductive structures in the Drosophila fruit fly model. Males of the D. melanogaster species complex possess two external reproductive structures called posterior lobes, located on either side of the male fly's genitalia. These closely-related species show striking variability in the shape and size of their posterior lobes, indicating that this structure has evolved rapidly. However, the genetics that control the development of these reproductive structures remain completely unknown. Other members of our lab have identified a candidate gene, CGJ4567. We compared the expression of this gene in two species with differently-sized posterior lobes: D. mauritiana and D. sechellia. We found that in D. mauritiana, which has larger lobes, expression of this gene is low, while expression is high in the species with smaller lobes, D. sechellia. This observation indicates that CG 14567likely plays an important role in specifying posterior lobe size. The next step is to identify which cells are expressing this gene throughout development. I will test the hypothesis that CG14567 is expressed in the developing posterior lobes throughout the developmental process.

Awards and/or presentations:

Buckman, T. (2016, April). Localizing gene expression of CG14567 in Drosophila pupae. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

Kimberly Brooks

Undergraduate Spotlight

OU Major: 
Biology
Research Mentor: 
Heather Ketchum
Describe your undergraduate research or creative project:

This study will determine the effects of fresh, frozen, and refrozen carrion. Many studies have been done looking at fresh and frozen carrion. One study looked at a difference in overall decomposition rate of frozen and never frozen pig carrion and found that there were significant differences in decomposition rates (Roberts and Dobbs 2015). Another study compared blow fly and beetle activity on frozen and refrigerated pig carrion and found no significant differences (Bugajski et al. 2011). There are however, no published studies on fresh, frozen, frozen then thawed then refrozen and the effects these scenarios may have on PMI estimations using fly development and insect succession. These scenarios have occurred in actual homicide cases. A woman reportedly killed her two children and put their bodies in a freezer with the intent to dispose of them later (Brand-Williams and Williams 2015). In a different case, a woman was found dead in a freezer she had gone missing three years earlier, the freezer prevented decomposition from occurring (1994). Perpetrators put their victims in a freezer because they do not know what they want to do with the body or they want to try and alter the PMI estimation.

Awards and/or presentations:

Brooks, K. (2016, April). Effects of Fresh, Frozen and Refrozen Carrion on PMI determination. Poster session presented at the University of Oklahoma's Undergraduate Research Day, Norman, OK.

Published Work:

n/a

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