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The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

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2014

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Micro-Mechanics Simulation Tool Optimization, Ruixuan Ren, Marisol Koslowski Aug 2014

Micro-Mechanics Simulation Tool Optimization, Ruixuan Ren, Marisol Koslowski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Crystalline films grown epitaxially on substrates consisting of a different crystalline material are of considerable interest in optoelectronic devices and the semiconductor industry. One way to progress in this field is to develop simulation tools based on specially designed numerical method. A nanoHUB simulation tool was developed based on the phase field theory, which considers the propagation of dislocations inside the crystalline film. However, the current tool needs several improvements to be more realistic and user-friendly. First, the inputs of the simulation tool are adjusted so that the user can use this tool directly without any additional calculation. The output …


Determining The Binding Between Saga Subunits And Spliceosomal Components, Peyton J. Spreacker, Rachel L. Stegeman, Vikki M. Weake Aug 2014

Determining The Binding Between Saga Subunits And Spliceosomal Components, Peyton J. Spreacker, Rachel L. Stegeman, Vikki M. Weake

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Proper gene regulation is vital to the health and development of an organism. Determining the relationship between splicing, transcription, and chromatin structure is vital for understanding gene regulation as a whole. There have been previous studies linking these elements pairwise; however, no evidence exists for a direct link between all three. Recent data shows that splicing components of the U2 small nuclear ribonucleic protein (snRNP) co-purify with Spt-Ada-Gcn5-acetyltransferase (SAGA), a highly conserved transcriptional co-activator and chromatin modifier. We hypothesize that SAGA binds with splicing components through a multi-protein binding surface with certain core components based on preliminary yeast two-hybrid data. …


Double-Pulse Nd:Yag-Co2 Libs Excitation For Bulk And Trace Analytes, Jason R. Becker, Patrick Skrodzki, Prasoon Diwakar, Sivanandan Harilal, Ahmed Hassanein Aug 2014

Double-Pulse Nd:Yag-Co2 Libs Excitation For Bulk And Trace Analytes, Jason R. Becker, Patrick Skrodzki, Prasoon Diwakar, Sivanandan Harilal, Ahmed Hassanein

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy [LIBS] is a commonly used technique for multi-element analyses for various applications such as space exploration, nuclear forensics, environmental analysis, process monitoring. The advantages of the LIBS technique include robustness, ease of use, field portability, and real-time, non-invasive multi-element analyses. However, in comparison to other lab based analytical techniques, it suffers from low precision and low sensitivity. In order to overcome these drawbacks, various approaches have been used, including double-pulse LIBS [DPLIBS]. Typically, various wavelength combinations of two Nd: yttrium aluminum garnet [YAG] lasers have been used for DPLIBS. However, the use of long wavelength (CO2 …


Preliminary Testing Of Plasma-Induced Combustion, Ahmed Thalib Razi, Carson Slabaugh, Robert Lucht Aug 2014

Preliminary Testing Of Plasma-Induced Combustion, Ahmed Thalib Razi, Carson Slabaugh, Robert Lucht

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Plasma-induced combustion (PIC) has been shown to improve the reliability, efficiency, and delay time of ignition in flight systems like augmentors and scramjets. These high-velocity systems are mostly used in military applications, and improvement may help commercial viability. To understand this chemical process, the concentration of radicals, particularly H radicals, must be tracked through the flame using laser diagnostics. This requires a steady source of plasma-assisted combustion to be secured and well-understood. A plasma torch flowing partially premixed air and methane was installed and successfully operated, and preliminary testing was carried out. Primarily it was observed that PIC created stable …


Vast 2014, Challenge One: Event Analysis Within Big Data, Isaac C. Sheeley, Jieqiong Zhao, Jing Xia, Shehzad Afzal, Joseph Christopher, David Ebert Dr. Aug 2014

Vast 2014, Challenge One: Event Analysis Within Big Data, Isaac C. Sheeley, Jieqiong Zhao, Jing Xia, Shehzad Afzal, Joseph Christopher, David Ebert Dr.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

News articles and email conversation data could be very useful in the analysis of developing and ongoing events, such as preventing a potential threat or possibly even locating a missing person. There is currently no “one-size-fits-all” solution to visualizing diverse forms of datasets and their sheer sizes are far too great to efficiently analyze by brute force methods. However, using principles of Visual Analytics, it is possible to take this information overload and transform it into a useful tool to help increase the efficiency of event analysis. A visualization system was developed for email conversation networks using web technologies. An …


The Influence Of Lightweight Aggregate On Internal Curing And Its Impact On Autogenous Shrinkage Of High-Performance Concrete, Neil J. Hartman, Timothy J. Barrett, Jason Weiss Aug 2014

The Influence Of Lightweight Aggregate On Internal Curing And Its Impact On Autogenous Shrinkage Of High-Performance Concrete, Neil J. Hartman, Timothy J. Barrett, Jason Weiss

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In bridge deck construction high performance concrete is often desirable, however in practice it is generally susceptible to early-age shrinkage cracking resulting in an overall reduction in service life. This research seeks to assess the potential for reducing early-age shrinkage in new bridge deck construction through the use of internal curing, a process in which internal reservoirs supply water to the hydrating cement paste during the early stages of cement hydration. In North America, internal curing is typically achieved by replacing a portion of the normal fine aggregate with an expanded fine lightweight aggregate (LWA). For this study, the free …


Precipitation Variability And Nitrogen Deposition Alter Root Distribution In A Tallgrass Prairie, Emmalyn P. Terracciano, Michael Schuster, Jeffrey Dukes Aug 2014

Precipitation Variability And Nitrogen Deposition Alter Root Distribution In A Tallgrass Prairie, Emmalyn P. Terracciano, Michael Schuster, Jeffrey Dukes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Climate change and increases in nitrogen deposition impact ecosystems globally. Projected atmospheric warming allows rain to fall in larger events with longer dry periods in between, increasing rainfall variability in many regions. Concurrently, the combustion of fossil fuels and the heavy use of nitrogen fertilizers continue to increase the availability of nitrogen globally. However, not much is known about how these global change factors, increased rainfall variability and nitrogen deposition, interact with each other to affect ecosystem functions, particularly belowground where root production contributes to soil carbon pools- an important component in regulating climate. In order to study these factors, …


Chronological And Pedagogical Analysis Of Global Real-Time Assessment Tool For Teaching Enhancement (G-Rate), Syafiah Mahfuzah Johari, Monica Cox, Nikitha Sambamurthy Aug 2014

Chronological And Pedagogical Analysis Of Global Real-Time Assessment Tool For Teaching Enhancement (G-Rate), Syafiah Mahfuzah Johari, Monica Cox, Nikitha Sambamurthy

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Global Real-Time Assessment Tool for Teaching Enhancement (G-RATE) serves as a pedagogical feedback tool to assess teaching performance in learning environments. This tool is developed based on How People Learn (HPL) framework, which specifically identifies four dimensions which are essential elements of an effective learning environment which are community-centeredness, learner-centeredness, assessment-centeredness and knowledge-centeredness. However, there are no succinct and meaningful representations for frequency and chronological observational data and no interpretation has been made from the collected observation data so far. This study addresses two different methods to observe the patterns from the observation data. First, observation data is compared …


He+ Ion Irradiation On Tungsten Surface In Extreme Conditions, George I. Joseph, Jitendra Tripathi, Sivanandan S. Harilal, Ahmed Hassanein Aug 2014

He+ Ion Irradiation On Tungsten Surface In Extreme Conditions, George I. Joseph, Jitendra Tripathi, Sivanandan S. Harilal, Ahmed Hassanein

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Higher melting point (3695K), lower sputtering yield and most importantly, lower in-bulk, and co-deposit retention at elevated temperature makes tungsten (W) as a potential candidate for plasma-facing component (PFC) in the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER)-divertor. Helium ion (He+) bombardment on W can cause wide variety of microstructural evolution, such as dislocation loops, helium holes/bubbles and fibre-form nanostructures (Fuzz) etc. In this work, 100 eV He+ ion irradiation, at temperature ranges from 500°C to 1000°C, will be performed on mechanically polished mirror like W surfaces. The surface modification and compositional analysis, due to ion irradiation, will be …


A Wind-Derived Upwelling Index For Lake Michigan, Stephen B. Davis, Rebecca Essig, Cary Troy Aug 2014

A Wind-Derived Upwelling Index For Lake Michigan, Stephen B. Davis, Rebecca Essig, Cary Troy

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Coastal upwelling is a phenomenon that occurs along coastlines throughout the world, and has been shown to be strongly correlated with large fish populations in these areas. Coastal upwelling occurs when strong coastal winds drive water transport away from the coast, causing colder, often nutrient-rich water to upwell in its place. While coastal upwellings can be detected with satellite imagery or in situ temperature measurements, these datasets are neither continuous nor long-term. A wind-derived upwelling index was created for Lake Michigan to continuously quantify upwellings over multiple decades, and to allow for further understanding of the impact of upwelling in …


Investigation Of Fracture And Healing Behavior Of Thermoreversible Gels Via Oscillation Rheology, Krithika Subramaniam, Travis Thornell, Kendra Erk Aug 2014

Investigation Of Fracture And Healing Behavior Of Thermoreversible Gels Via Oscillation Rheology, Krithika Subramaniam, Travis Thornell, Kendra Erk

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Thermoreversible gels have the unique ability to self-heal, or repair themselves, once they are fractured. They are physically cross-linked, thus providing them with the capability to reform their broken bonds as a function of temperature. The objective of this project is to determine the extent of the gels’ recovery. If self-healing does in fact occur, these gels can be applied in various industries, including medicine for drug delivery or paints and coatings. The tri-block polymer poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(n-butyl acrylate)-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA-PnBA-PMMA) was heated and stirred with 2-ethyl-1-hexanol to create a polymer gel. Through the use of a rheometer, a shear stress …


Synthesis And Thermoelectric Properties Of Cusbs2, Tianyue Gao, Haiyu Fang, Yue Wu Aug 2014

Synthesis And Thermoelectric Properties Of Cusbs2, Tianyue Gao, Haiyu Fang, Yue Wu

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Copper antimony sulfide, CuSbS2 nanoparticles have a large potential of being a good thermoelectric material because they are made up of earth abundant elements. Thermoelectric materials can convert thermal energy into electricity, so that the wasted energy can be saved. Also, by using this earth abundant material, we can make thermoelectric materials much cheaper. The hypothesis of this study is that CuSbS2 could have a large Seebeck coefficient, one of the most important factors of thermoelectric materials, because of the complexity of its band structure. The other hypothesis is that thermal transport could be significantly suppressed through nanostructuring. There are …


Seedling Uptake And Fate Of Soil-Applied Capsaicin, A Potential Browse Deterrent, Carmen K. Dobbs, Joshua L Sloan, Douglass F. Jacobs Aug 2014

Seedling Uptake And Fate Of Soil-Applied Capsaicin, A Potential Browse Deterrent, Carmen K. Dobbs, Joshua L Sloan, Douglass F. Jacobs

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Seedling damage due to browse constitutes a major challenge to afforestation and reforestation efforts in the Central Hardwood Forest region of the USA. Many efforts have been made to deter herbivores, but the costs, implementation methods, and relative ineffectiveness of existing mitigation options often preclude operational implementation. An alternate means of deterring wildlife browse is capsaicin, a hot pepper concentrate, which has been reported to decrease herbivory of tree seedlings and is available in a controlled-release form designed to act systemically following application to the soil and subsequent plant uptake. However, the degree to which seedlings are capable of absorbing …


Development Of Combined Dual-Pump Vibrational And Pure-Rotational Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (Dpvcars And Prcars) System, Shenli Yuan, Aman Satija, Robert Lucht Aug 2014

Development Of Combined Dual-Pump Vibrational And Pure-Rotational Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (Dpvcars And Prcars) System, Shenli Yuan, Aman Satija, Robert Lucht

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) [1,2] is a spatially-resolved, time-resolved spectroscopic technique for quantitative measurements in reacting flows [3 – 6]. This work demonstrates a combination of N2/O2/CO2 dual-pump vibrational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (DPVCARS) system and two-beam pure-rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (PRCARS) system. It is based on the previous development of combined VCARS and PRCARS system which was used to obtain temperature measurements in non-premixed H2-air flames. The new combined system will be used to measure the temperature profiles and major species concentrations such as N2/O2/CO2 …


Measurement Of Zeta Potential Of Polysaccharides And Fabricating Polysaccharide-Polysaccharide Nanotubes, Sandra Chough, Jozef L. Kokini, Luis Maldonado Aug 2014

Measurement Of Zeta Potential Of Polysaccharides And Fabricating Polysaccharide-Polysaccharide Nanotubes, Sandra Chough, Jozef L. Kokini, Luis Maldonado

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Biopolymer nanotubes (BNTs) are two-open ended cylindrical structures which can be used for nanodevices, medicine, and biology. Especially, fabricating BNTs using proteins is suitable for biological and biomedical applications due to their safety and biocompatibility. This study has been focused on fabricating BNTs using polysaccharides which have been proved to be safe by the FDA and used in food applications. The zeta-potential, surface charge, of different polysaccharides was measured to find the region of stability and isoelectric point from pH 4 to 11 by DLS. Next, xanthan and chitosan have been selected for fabricating BNTs because of their stability and …


Using Stable Isotopes To Quantify Nitrogen Fates In Container Plants, Sam Raimann, Greg Michalski, Michael V. Mickelbart Aug 2014

Using Stable Isotopes To Quantify Nitrogen Fates In Container Plants, Sam Raimann, Greg Michalski, Michael V. Mickelbart

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Currently, in the agriculture field, it is not yet known the accurate amount of Nitrogen in fertilizer that plants take up. This statistic, known as the Nitrogen Use Efficiency is currently known to be within the 30-50% range (Lea-Cox and Ross, 2001). This is very important figure to know and it is a figure that can be improved, and therefore much time, energy, and resources can be saved. This research project will use concepts involving stable isotopes to examine red maple plant material and the soilless media that the plants were grown in. Three different isotope-labelled fertilizer treatments will be …


Using Collagen Binding Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Nanoparticles To Prevent Intravascular Platelet Adhesion And Activation, Anna E. Searle, Alyssa Panitch, James Mcmasters Aug 2014

Using Collagen Binding Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Nanoparticles To Prevent Intravascular Platelet Adhesion And Activation, Anna E. Searle, Alyssa Panitch, James Mcmasters

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Balloon angioplasty, the most prevalent non-surgical treatment for Atherosclerosis, damages the endothelial layer of the artery, baring an underlying collagenous layer, which causes platelet adhesion and activation and eventual thrombosis and intimal hyperplasia. Previous work in our lab has used a collagen-binding peptidoglycan, dermatan-sulfate-SILY (DS-SILY), that has been shown to bind to type I collagen and prevent platelet adhesion and activation. Our goal is to fabricate nanoparticle-SILY by cross-linking SILY to a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (NIPAm) nanoparticle instead of a DS backbone, while retaining the SILY’s high collagen binding affinity and platelet inhibition capacity observed in DS-SILY. Using a biotin-streptavidin assay, we …


Finite Element Analysis Of Bolted Connections Under Fire, Ke Liu, Qiaqia Zhu, Amit H. Varma Aug 2014

Finite Element Analysis Of Bolted Connections Under Fire, Ke Liu, Qiaqia Zhu, Amit H. Varma

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Over the course of human history, fire disasters are one of the major catastrophes that causes loss of lives and properties. In order to ensure building safety against fire, civil engineers seek to understand the behavior of structures at high temperatures. Moreover, they need to study the behavior of bolted connections, given the important role it plays in steel structures. Sarraj (2007) proposed a plate-bearing computational model used to describe this behavior; however, it has never been experimentally verified. Prior to this specific project, a series of single-bolted connection tests at 400°C and 600°C were conducted in the Bowen Laboratory …


Development Of Transgenic North American White Ash (Fraxinus Americana) Expressing A Bacillus Thuringiensis Protein For Management Of The Emerald Ash Borer, Eric A. Dean, Paula M. Pijut Phd., Micah E. Stevens Aug 2014

Development Of Transgenic North American White Ash (Fraxinus Americana) Expressing A Bacillus Thuringiensis Protein For Management Of The Emerald Ash Borer, Eric A. Dean, Paula M. Pijut Phd., Micah E. Stevens

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

White ash (WA), Fraxinus americana, is an integral part of the hardwood forest ecosystem. Economically, WA provides wood for important products such as baseball bats, tool handles, and hardwood flooring. Ecologically WA provides cover and mast to support wildlife. The emerald ash borer (EAB) is a significant threat to all ash species because of a lack of native resistance in North American ash trees, its rapid spread, and the ineffectiveness and expense of control measures. EAB is a non-native beetle that consumes tree vascular tissue while in the larval stage. The development of an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocol may …


Thin-Film Sol-Gel As Controlled Delivery Platform For Neural Microelectrodes, Margaret A. Harden, Matthew D. Mcdermott, Kevin J. Otto Aug 2014

Thin-Film Sol-Gel As Controlled Delivery Platform For Neural Microelectrodes, Margaret A. Harden, Matthew D. Mcdermott, Kevin J. Otto

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Long-term efficacy of neural implantation devices is a persisting challenge in neural engineering and rehabilitation. Upon implantation of a neural device, the foreign body response (FBR) is triggered and glial cells form a sheath around the electrode array. This sheath isolates the array from the rest of the brain both mechanically and electrically. Tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS), a thin-film polymer, has been shown to not negatively impact the impedance and charge-carrying capacity, as well as offer a controlled delivery method to deliver pharmaceuticals to mitigate inflammation without significant effect to device design. Using an in vitro protein delivery model to analyze …


Graphical User Interface On Analysis Of Mechanics And Dynamics Of Biopolymers In Living Cells, Peter D. Russel, Shubham Agrawal, Taeyoon Kim, Abdel-Rahman Hassan Aug 2014

Graphical User Interface On Analysis Of Mechanics And Dynamics Of Biopolymers In Living Cells, Peter D. Russel, Shubham Agrawal, Taeyoon Kim, Abdel-Rahman Hassan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The mechanical properties of cells depend on the qualities of filamentous-actin (f-actin for short), among other cytoskeletal polymers. The ability to quickly determine f-actin qualities in a sample will help cellular biologists with cytoskeletal protein research. The goal of this project is to create a Matlab program which would allow researchers to determine, with limited manual input, the average filament length and persistence lengths of selected filaments. Through the graphical user interface, the user loads the image stack and can optimize the tracking result by altering several expectations of the program such as the expected contrast between the filament and …


The Effect Of Transient Hmg-Coa Reductase And 1-Deoxy-D-Xylulose-5-Phosphate Synthase Overexpression On Terpene Production In Transgenic Tomato Fruits, Scott A. Gentry, Michael Gutensohn, Laura Henry, Natalia Dudareva Aug 2014

The Effect Of Transient Hmg-Coa Reductase And 1-Deoxy-D-Xylulose-5-Phosphate Synthase Overexpression On Terpene Production In Transgenic Tomato Fruits, Scott A. Gentry, Michael Gutensohn, Laura Henry, Natalia Dudareva

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Isoprenoids are secondary metabolites that control numerous plant functions including signaling, growth, photosynthesis, and membrane structure. The bioengineering of isoprenoid synthesis could produce plants with a variety of beneficial traits. Plants form isoprenoids using two different pathways, the mevalonate (MVA) pathway and the methylerithritol phosphate (MEP) pathway, which cooperate via metabolic cross-talk. Transgenic tomato lines expressing both the plastidic and cytosolic forms of the snapdragon nerolidol/linalool terpene synthase under a fruit ripening specific promoter were transiently transformed to overexpress key enzymes in the two isoprenoid pathways. Hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) is the rate limiting enzyme in the MVA pathway that …


Designing Constructed Wetlands For Water Purification In Tanzania, Danielle Mcneely, Michael Sheehan, John Lumkes Aug 2014

Designing Constructed Wetlands For Water Purification In Tanzania, Danielle Mcneely, Michael Sheehan, John Lumkes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In Tanzania half of households have unsafe drinking water (Nkonya, 2010) and many diseases arise from poor water quality, including meningitis, hepatitis A and E, and salmonella (Kusiluka et al., 2004). One cost-effective way of cleaning water is by passing it through a wetland. This research is focused on simplifying the process of horizontal subsurface flow wetland construction for the villagers of Endallah. The outcome is an Excel tool that standardizes methodology for building wetlands that can then be applied to Endallah. Rainfall data from the Arusha region of Tanzania was used to make a rainfall estimation grid. From this …


Polymer-Based Thermoelectric Devices, Stuart W. Hilsmier, Edward P. Tomlinson, Bryan Boudouris Aug 2014

Polymer-Based Thermoelectric Devices, Stuart W. Hilsmier, Edward P. Tomlinson, Bryan Boudouris

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Currently, over 50% of all energy generated in the US is lost as waste heat, and thermoelectric generators offer a promising means to recoup some of this energy, if their efficiency is improved. While organic thermoelectric materials lack the efficiency of their inorganic counterparts, they are composed of highly abundant resources and have low temperature processing conditions. Recently, a new class of redox-active polymers, radical polymers, has exhibited high electrical conductivity in an entirely amorphous medium. In addition, these radical polymers have a simple synthetic scheme and can be highly tunable to provide desired electrical properties. In this study, the …


Chronic Brain Stimulation Using Micro-Ecog Devices, Hayden C. Carney, Roy Lycke, Kevin J. Otto, Amelia A. Schendel, Justin Williams Aug 2014

Chronic Brain Stimulation Using Micro-Ecog Devices, Hayden C. Carney, Roy Lycke, Kevin J. Otto, Amelia A. Schendel, Justin Williams

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Recording and stimulating brain activity has had great success both as a research tool and as a clinical technique. Neural prosthetics can replace limbs, restore hearing, and treat disorders like Parkinson’s and epilepsy, but are relatively crude. Current neural prosthetic systems use penetrating electrodes to achieve high precision, but the invasive nature of these devices provoke a strong immune response that limits chronic use. (Polikov et al) In our study we evaluate micro-electrocortiographic (micro-ECoG) devices which sit under the skull and on the surface of the brain for stimulation over chronic timescales. We anticipate these devices with their less invasive …


Characterization Of Mechanical Properties Displayed In Body Armor Ballistic Fibers, Dawei Li, Matthew Hudspeth, Weinong Wayne Chen Aug 2014

Characterization Of Mechanical Properties Displayed In Body Armor Ballistic Fibers, Dawei Li, Matthew Hudspeth, Weinong Wayne Chen

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The current body armor systems manufactured using ballistic fibers are not performing as theoretical results predict and are causing injuries. The actual maximum projectile penetration speed that the body armor can endure is significantly lower than the theoretical maximum speed, thus causing a costly build-test relationship that is not aided with modeling design efforts. The main aim of this research is to determine the maximum penetration speeds for ballistic yarns and fabrics. Secondary aim is to examine the common assumption that during transverse impact, single fiber is under pure tension and shear stress is negligible. To examine aforementioned assumption, fibers …


Rheo-Piv Investigation Of Fracture And Self-Healing In A Triblock Copolymer Gel, Benjamin A. Helfrecht, Travis L. Thornell, Kendra A. Erk Aug 2014

Rheo-Piv Investigation Of Fracture And Self-Healing In A Triblock Copolymer Gel, Benjamin A. Helfrecht, Travis L. Thornell, Kendra A. Erk

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Physically associating polymer gels have shown the ability to heal after failure, making them promising candidates for various medical applications or consumer products. However, the processes by which these materials self-heal is not well-understood. This study seeks to explain the self-healing behavior of the triblock copolymer poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(n-butyl acrylate)-poly(methyl methacrylate), or PMMA-PnBA-PMMA, by probing the material’s post-fracture behavior with rheometry and particle image velocimetry (PIV). The self-healing behavior was studied by deforming each gel in shear until failure multiple times with “recovery” periods in-between. PIV was used to verify the occurrence of each fracture in both time and space. Stress …


The Catalysis Of Delayed Petroleum Coking, Anya M. Heinimann, Robert Khakimov, Hyun-Tae Hwang, Enrico N. Martinez Aug 2014

The Catalysis Of Delayed Petroleum Coking, Anya M. Heinimann, Robert Khakimov, Hyun-Tae Hwang, Enrico N. Martinez

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Due to the decreasing crude oil quality (heavier crudes and increasing contaminant concentrations) methods for upgrading residues from the refining process, such as coking, are becoming increasingly important. Delayed coking, a method by which residues are thermally cracked (large heavy molecules broken into smaller lighter molecules), produces liquid products and solid coke which can both be sold for further profit. In order to increase the amount of liquid products produced since they are the most value added product of the coking process catalysts (platinum on 0.5% alumina and nickel (skeletal),molybdenum promoted (1 wt%)) were tested to see how they would …


Cosmogenic Radionuclides In Ice Cores From West Antarctica, Zhijie Chen, Thomas Edward Woodruff, Marc W. Caffee Aug 2014

Cosmogenic Radionuclides In Ice Cores From West Antarctica, Zhijie Chen, Thomas Edward Woodruff, Marc W. Caffee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cosmogenic nuclides such as 10Be and 26Al are formed in the atmosphere by cosmic rays and come down to the ground through snow which became ice in Antarctica. The concentrations of 10Be and 26Al in ice cores can reveal important information about climate change, solar activity and geomagnetic change in the past. They can also be used to date very old ice. Since there is very little 26Al in the ice, its actual concentration is poorly known and the measured results don’t agree with each other. My research is focused on the measurement of the …


The Kinetics Of A Palladium Precursor – Tobacco Mosaic Virus Reaction, Adi Banerjee, Mayo Adigun, Michael T. Harris Aug 2014

The Kinetics Of A Palladium Precursor – Tobacco Mosaic Virus Reaction, Adi Banerjee, Mayo Adigun, Michael T. Harris

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

There have been numerous developments in the field of production of metallic nanoparticles using biotemplates such as the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). Past research has looked at the conditions required to maximise nanoparticle formation. This study of the kinetics of a nanomaterial synthesis reaction using a biotemplate would elucidate the understanding of the controlled growth of nanoparticles, which can be applied in the fabrication of photocatalysts, electrical nanocircuits and solar cells. This study specifically focuses on the reaction between a palladium precursor and the TMV without an external reducing agent, where the palladium ion concentration is measured over time using …