UW McNair Scholars Undergraduate Research Symposium July 29

Fifteen McNair Scholars Program students will present individual work that is the culmination of their internships during the 27th annual research symposium Monday, July 29, in the University of Wyoming Union Family Room.

The symposium begins at 8:30 a.m. with welcoming remarks from Fredrick Dixon, visiting assistant professor in the UW School of Culture, Gender and Social Justice, followed by lunch at 11:30 a.m.  Presentations are scheduled throughout the day until 4 p.m. The event, as well as lunch, is free and open to the public.

The symposium is an opportunity for McNair Scholars to share the progress and findings from their undergraduate research internships with the broader community of scholars, says Susan Stoddard, McNair Scholars Program assistant director. The program schedule is available on the McNair homepage at www.uwyo.edu/seo/mcnair-scholars-program.

Student presentations are from a diverse range of academic programs in geology, physics and astronomy, pharmacy, molecular biology, music, theater and dance, sociology, political science, psychology and the American Indian Studies program.

UW’s McNair Scholars Program encourages undergraduate students from groups traditionally underrepresented in postbaccalaureate degree programs to pursue graduate studies by providing opportunities to define goals, engage in research, and develop the skills and student/faculty mentor relationships critical to success at the doctoral level.

Since the inception of the symposium in 1992, 65 socioeconomically disadvantaged and underrepresented UW students have earned doctoral degrees through participation in the McNair Scholars Program.

For more information, call Stoddard at (307) 766-6525 or email sjs@uwyo.edu.

McNair Scholars presenting work, listed by time, hometowns, titles of their projects and UW mentors, are:

8:40 a.m. -- Garrett Shepherd, Tulsa, Okla., “Geochemical Analysis of Fossil Shells from Sokolowia buhsil (Class Bivalvia) as a proxy for Late Eocene Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction in the Tajik Basic, Tajikistan,” with Mark Clementz and Susannah Wright.

9 a.m. -- Dax Galloway, Omaha, Neb., “Installation and Trial of Light Diffusers at the University of Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) for Exoplanet Characterization,” with Hannah Jang-Condell and Cristilyn Gardner.

9:20 a.m. -- Isaiah De La Torre, Cheyenne, “Field Effect Properties of Two Dimensional Tellirium,” with Piumi Samarawickrama and Jifa Tian.

9:40 a.m. -- Shannon Linch, Riverton, “Red Shifted Flavin for Optogenetics,” with Karen Mruk and Maha Paracha.

10:10 a.m. -- Carrie Anglemeyer, Millersburg, Ind., “High through-put screen of protein interactions of a bacterial polar organizing protein,” with Grant Bowman and Nikolai Mushnikov.

10:30 a.m. -- Isabel Noyes, Laramie, “A Screen for Binding Sequence Determinants between Polar Organizing Protein PopZ and Chromosome Segregation Proteins in Bacteria,” with Grant Bowman and Jacob Guidry.

11:10 a.m. -- Cortney Johnson, Hulett, “Evaluating Peripheral Sensitization of Chemically Induced Neuro-inflammatory Pain to Determine the Regulatory Role of Innate Immune Signaling,” with Yohannes Estifanos and Guanglong He.

12:30 p.m. -- Rebecca Dulaney, Sundance, “Chance Sounds: Are They Music?,” with Anne Guzzo and Veronica Hanway.

12:50 p.m. -- Carlos Gonzales, Buffalo, “Measurement of Gender and Sexualities in National Surveys: An Exploration into Hidden Attitudes and Messages,” with Clarissa Nord and Jennifer Tabler.

1:10 p.m. -- Katherine Greenwell, Cheyenne, “Examining Food Insecurity and the Need for Food Sharing Cabinets at the University of Wyoming,” with Clarissa Nord and Gabel Taggart.

1:30 p.m. -- Kyriessa Lane, Littleton, Colo., “The Madness in the Method: Mental Health of Students and Faculty in Academic Theatre,” with Alexandra Bitter and Patrick Konesko.

2 p.m. -- Brian Hinman, Laramie, “Adjusting for Depression: How the Presence and Severity of Depressive Symptomology Affects Expected Utility Regarding Normative Decision-Making About Social Situations,” with Emilio Rivera and Benjamin Wilkowski.

2:20 p.m. -- Alexandra Quinn, Fort Laramie, “The evaluation of the degree to which emotional intelligence predicts bystander behaviors,” with Kendal Binion and Matt Gray.

2:40 p.m. -- Christie Wildcat, Riverton, “A Case Study of a Culturally Rich Environment for Native Youth, their Life Choices and Opportunities,” with Angela Jaime and Taylar Stagner.

3 p.m. -- Eric Bennett, Fort Washakie, “Human Rights and American Indian Education,” with Angela Jaime and Taylar Stagner.