Biology PhD student Danish Gul discusses his research with faculty members Wendy Olivas and Meghann Humphries during the annual Graduate Research Fair on April 19. Gul won first place for his presentation on “Understanding brGDGT production in Acidobacteria through an omics approach.” (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

Twenty-two University of Missouri–St. Louis graduate students from across disciplines took part in the annual Graduate Research Fair on April 19 in the Millennium Student Center.

It was a chance for the students to share their work in poster presentations and receive feedback from faculty members and their peers with two awards presented in each of four categories: biology and biochemistry, chemistry, computer science and social sciences.

Provost Steven J. Berberich and Graduate School Senior Director Teresa Thiel presented certificates to the students who won awards in the annual Graduate Research Fair on April 19. (Photo by Wendy Olivas)

“The posters reflected the breadth of graduate student research at UMSL and the depth and quality of their experiments,” said Teresa Thiel, the senior director of the Graduate School, which hosted the fair. “This event provides students with a forum to share their research experiences with the judges and other graduate students from a broad range of disciplines.”

The participating students represented the Departments of Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Computer Science, Criminology and Criminal Justice, and Psychological Sciences.

Biology PhD student Danish Gul took first prize in biology and biochemistry for his presentation on “Understanding brGDGT production in Acidobacteria through an omics approach.” Chemistry and Biochemistry PhD Cristina Sinobas Pereira received second place for her research on “Application of HEK293T cells to study NLRP3 inflammasome-amyloid-beta interactions.”

In the computer science category, first prize went to master’s student Jon Eman for his research on “Smart Garden approach for water conservation using an Automated Precipitation Aware Irrigation (AuPAIr) system.” Fellow master’s student Ayush Pathak finished second for his research on “Collusion detection in grid computing environments.”

Chemistry and Biochemistry PhD student Mark Eissler received the top award in the chemistry category. Eissler presented research on “Synthesis and characterization of divalent N-heterocyclic carbene early transition complexes.” PhD student Dhanbir Lingden took second for research on “Fabrication and characterization of colloidal nanoporous gold nanoparticles.”

Psychology PhD student Theresa Moore won first place in the social sciences category for her research on “Motherhood under pressure: How stress and child age relate to parenting in Black mothers.” She edged criminology and criminal justice doctoral student Sarah Kirk, who won second place for her research on “The effect of marital status on illicit substance use.”