VINSE will host the 15th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on Thursday, July 30, in the Engineering Science Building. The symposium will feature two poster sessions from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-3:30 p.m.

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The symposium marks the culmination of a 10-week summer research experience and will showcase the work of 98 undergraduate researchers from 91�Թ��� and institutions across the United States and around the world. Students will present posters highlighting innovative research in nanoscience, engineering, biomedical science, materials science, photonics, artificial intelligence, computing, and related disciplines.

This year’s symposium features students from the following summer research programs:

• VINSE NSF-REU
• 91�Թ��� School of Engineering Undergraduate Summer Experience (VUSE)
• 91�Թ��� Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE)
• 91�Թ��� Internship in Biophotonics for Emerging Scholars (VIBES)
• Chemical Biology REU
• VINSE Tech Crew
• 91�Թ��� Immersion
• Wond’ry IMPACT
• SyBBURE Searle Undergraduate Research Program
• 91�Թ��� Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS)

Faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of 91�Թ��� are invited to attend either or both poster sessions to learn about the exciting research taking place across campus and to celebrate the accomplishments of this outstanding group of undergraduate researchers. Light refreshments will be served during both sessions.

We hope you’ll join us in recognizing the hard work and achievements of this year’s summer research cohort.

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This event marks the culmination of a 10-week summer research program and will showcase the work of 70 undergraduate researchers. Students will present posters highlighting the results of their summer projects across a wide range of science and engineering topics.

Featured programs include:

• VINSE NSF-REU

• Chemical Biology/Chemistry NSF-REU

• VINSE Tech Crew

• 91�Թ��� Summer Research Program (VUSRP)

• 91�Թ��� Internship in Biophotonics for Emerging Scholars (VIBES)

• 91�Թ��� Institute for Surgery and Engineering (VISE)

All members of the 91�Թ��� community are encouraged to attend. Your support helps celebrate the dedication and achievements of our student researchers.

The 91�Թ��� Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering will host the Summer Research Poster Session on Thursday, August 3 from 1:30pm-3:30pm in the Engineering and Science Building lobby. Please join us to recognize our undergraduate students’ work as they share the results of their 10-week summer projects. All members of the 91�Թ��� community are encouraged to attend.

1. “Macrophage targeted Polymer-Drug Conjugates for STING Pathway Activation to Improve Cancer Immunotherapy” Jacqueline Anatot, University of Florida (Wilson)
2. “Generality-Driven Catalyst Development: Enantioselective Nitroalkene Reductions for the Selective Synthesis of Diverse α- and β-Chiral Peptidomimetics” Rakel Ang, Pepperdine University (Johnston)
3. “Inducible Gene Expression to Increase Brush Border Differentiation in In Vitro Renal Tubule Cells” Taylor Baugher, Georgia Institute of Technology (Fissell & Love)
4. “Methylation of Selenium and Tellurium S-Adenosyl-Homocysteine Analogs Using Halomethyl Transferases” Aodhan Windler Beattie, Cornell University (Bachmann)
5. “Wirelessly Actuated Soft Robots with Integrated Microfluidic Channels for Drug Delivery” Emily Buckner, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Dong)
6. “Creating More Efficient Solar Cells: A Study on Vanadium Oxide Thin Films” Erin Burgard, Arizona State University (Haglund)
7. “Identifying Optimal Deposition Processes by Application for Thin-Film Materials” Eliam Chang, 91�Թ��� (VINSE Tech Crew)
8. “Site selective sugar functionalization via pradimicin based xanthone catalyst” Kathy Rossy Colin, University of Richmond (Kim)
9. “Design and Characterization Techniques to Advance Integrated Photonics for Space Missions” Andres Miguel Cotto, University of South Florida (Weiss)
10. “Enhancing Material Identification and Precise Temperature Measurements through Multispectral Thermal Imaging and Machine Learning” Feven Mekete Desta, 91�Թ��� (Walker)
11. “Precision Control of Fluid Flow for Microfluidic Devices” Ella Dzialowski, 91�Թ��� (VINSE Tech Crew)
12. “Exploring Alternative Metalation Approaches for Iridium-Catalyzed Borylation” Anna Ermoian, Scripps College (Schley)
13. “Optimizing Surface Preparation and Reactive Ion Etching Techniques for Fabrication Processes” William Ford, 91�Թ��� (VINSE Tech Crew)
14. “Heat Transfer Across Metal/Metal Oxide Interfaces” Anya Kennedy Frazer, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Walker)
15. “Electron Beam Lithography: Mixed Aperture Patterning” Penelope Fries, 91�Թ��� (VINSE Tech Crew)
16. “Scaling Sweet: optimizing the synthetic pathway of bacterial sugar 2-acetamido-4-amino-2,4,5-trideoxy-D-galactopyranose (AAT)” Jana Gaskin, Scripps College (Townsend)
17. “Stimulating Collateral Arterial Growth Using Acellular, Growth-Factor Free Hydrogels for the Treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia” Raey Hunde, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Lippmann)
18. “Standardizing Sample Preparation to Analyze Postmortem Brain Tissue in Alzheimer’s Disease” Alysha Johnson, University of Virginia ( Rena Robinson)
19. “Irradiated Extracellular Matrix Effects on Breast Cancer Cell Invasion” Shereena Johnson, Rice University (Rafat)
20. “Characterizing Effects of Coronavirus nsp2 on Lysosomal Acidification” Delyar Khosroabadi, California State University Channel Islands (Plate)
21. “The Development of both an Electrochemical Sensor for IL-1B and a Fetal Membrane on a Chip” Jackie Martin, Lebanon Valley College (Cliffel)
22. “Rediscovering lost rock art painting techniques” Deborah Oke, Northeastern University (Macdonald)
23. “Nanoparticle Development For siRNA Delivery To Treat Osteoarthritis (OA)” Ellie Okonak, Bucknell University (Duvall)
24. “Crystallization of XPA DBD with a DNA Substrate” Megan Pierce, The University of Alabama (Chazin)
25. “Controlling Infrared Light Propagation at the Nanoscale Using α-MoO3 Geometry” Ethan Ray, Georgia Institute of Technology (Caldwell)
26. “Microtubule-Mediated Behavior of Vinculin Knockout Breast Cancer Cells in Confined Migration.” Jonathan Gonzalez Rodriguez, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (Reinhart-King)
27. “Neutrophil-Mediated Transendothelial Delivery of E-selectin Liposomes for Targeting Inflammatory Sites” Laura Weinstein, University of Delaware (King & Zhang)
28. “Engineering adenylation domain specificity through machine learning methods.” Lindsey Weissman, Binghamton University (Walker)
29. “RT-PCR detection of fragmented tuberculosis DNA in urine” Charlotte Williams, University of Georgia (Haselton)

The symposium, which was held in collaboration with the Chemical Biology/Chemistry NSF-REU, showcased 31 students from the following programs: VINSE NSF-REU, Chemical Biology/Chemistry NSF-REU, VINSE Tech Crew, VUSE Summer Research Program and the Beckman Scholars program.

Posters were evaluated by a panel of judges for an opportunity to win travel grants to support the cost of presenting posters at a National Conference. The winners are:

Best overall – $1,000 travel grant                                                                                                         

�����ܰ��������ܲ������, University of Rhode Island (Wilson) : “Synthesis of Tunable Protein-Polymersome Conjugates for Enhanced Targeting of Cancerous Tissues”

Best overall – $1,000 travel grant

Levi Hoogendoorn, Northwestern University (Caldwell) : “Controlling Light Propagation at the Nanoscale in Confined Molybdenum Trioxide (MoO3) Nanobelts”

NCUR Nomination – $1,000 travel grant

Sarah Shibuya, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (King): “Selective Functualization of Leukocyte Subpopulations with E-Selectin Liposomes”

Best layout

Thiago Arnaud, University of Florida (Caldwell): “Filterless Infrared Chemical Sensing with Narrowband Thermal Emitters”

Best use of graphics                                                                                                                                               

��󾱲��������Բ�����, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Duvall): “Utilizing Microfluidics to Optimize the Formation of Antioxidant Microparticles”

Fan Favorite

Sarah Siman, 91�Թ��� (Macdonald): “Understanding the Durability of Iron Oxide-Silica Bonds in Anishinaabe Rock Paintings”