Biology student George Todd talks to faculty members and another graduate student about his research last Friday during the annual Graduate Research Fair in the Millennium Student Center. Todd won first place for his research in the “Math, Computer Science and Natural Sciences” category for his research on pollinator behavior and visitation rates at urban orchards in St. Louis. (Photos courtesy of James O’Brien)
A group of 36 students from across campus gave poster presentations highlighting their work in the annual Graduate Research Fair held last Friday in the Century Rooms of the Millennium Student Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.
The students came from the departments of biology, chemistry and biochemistry, criminology and criminal justice, computer science, political science, public policy administration and psychological sciences, as well as the College of Education and School of Social Work, and they presented their work to a panel of faculty judges.
Top, (from left) Oana Coman, George Todd and Palak Sondhi hold up their certificates for placing in the top three in the Graduate Research Fair’s “Math, Computer Science and Natural Sciences” category. Below, (from left) Caitlyn Harriman, Ian McNamara and Kanila Brown hold up their certificates for placing in the top three in the Graduate Research Fair’s “Social Sciences, Humanities, Business and Education” category.
“We are delighted to have such broad participation by our graduate students in this year’s Graduate Research Fair, including many master’s students,” said Teresa Thiel, senior director of the Graduate School. “The quality of the research by our graduate students is outstanding.”
This fair is meant to allow graduate students from all degree programs to display the research that they have been working on throughout their time as an UMSL student. It provides an opportunity to receive feedback from their peers as well as from faculty members.
The judges gave awards in two broad categories – “Math, Computer Science and Natural Science” and “Social Sciences, Humanities, Business and Education.”
In the “Math, Computer Science and Natural Science” category, biology PhD student George Todd took home first place for his research on pollinator behavior and visitation rates at urban orchards in St. Louis. Computer Science nondegree student Oana Coman placed second for her work on “Change Detection Visualization for Sentinel-1 SAR Imagery in Google Earth Engine.” Chemistry PhD student Palak Sondhi received third place for her project on “Hierarchical Bimodal Nanoporous Gold (hb-NPG) electrode for the sensitive and specific detection of glycoprotein biomarkers.”
Psychology PhD student Ian McNamara took first in the “Social Sciences, Humanities, Business and Education” category for his research on “Drinking too fast? Impulsive factors in drinking rates during daily life.” Psychology master’s student Caitlyn Harriman received the second-place prize for “A Research Proposal: Addicted to the Beloved? A Comparison of Craving for and Attention to Beloved and Vape Stimuli.” Psychology PhD student Kanila Brown placed third for her research on “Opioid- and Stimulant-involved Overdose Deaths Among Black People in St. Louis, MO: Examining Social Determinants of Health.”
