13 students earn top honors at undergraduate research forum
After exploring the growing amount of traumatic brain injuries in athletes, Jordan Knerr determined that physical impact to athletes’ helmets could affect foam padding recovery during gameplay.
The fourth-year mechanical engineering major tested the impact of foam padding recovery in football and lacrosse helmets with a pneumatic ram and anthropomorphic test devices sensors.
Through a course of five, three-minute tests, she was able to measure whether the impacts got worse or whether or not a player could have a brain injury in relation to the padding recovery time.
“There has been a lot of research in football and lacrosse helmets that say padding recovery is a serious problem,” she said. From her research, Knerr concluded that this is a problem that needs to be tackled.
Knerr worked with David Stark, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, on the project, “Analysis of padding recovery time for sports helmets” and said he will continue the work.
Third-year chemical engineering majors Lagnajit Pattanaik and Kory Sherman demonstrated how to take simple sugars found in nature, convert them to value-added products, specifically with HMF (t5-hydroxymethylfurfural), to make renewable diesel fuel from plants.
“We’re close to getting a publication and also recently got funding from the National Science Foundation,” said Pattanaik.
Their project titled “Selective biomass conversion using immobilized solvent effects” will significantly impact the environment and the way we derive our products.
“In terms of graduation, there's always things we could optimize and fix, but it is a consideration to go to graduate school to continue this kind of work,” said Sherman. “Catalysts interests both of us and, as an advocate for the environment, I look forward to improving it.”
Mariel Fink, a fourth-year landscape architecture major, received a grant from the Knowlton School of Architecture in support of her project to study memorial landscapes affected by the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.
Fink used experiential geography to show the feel of Cambodia and present her experiences with maps and multimedia sketches.
“There was a balance between landscapes that were getting a gloried image for the country versus landscapes that were presenting but systematically hiding tragedies that had occurred during the Khmer Rouge regime,” said Fink.
This trip solidified why she wanted to pursue her degree in landscape architecture and she plans to continue studying similar memorial landscapes occurring in other countries with tragedies.
Thirteen College of Engineering students took top honors at the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. Neil Ramirez (mechanical engineering) and Samuel Goldman (biomedical engineering) tied for first place in the engineering category, while Lahiru Wimalasena (biomedical engineering) earned first place in the biological sciences category.
Other winners in the engineering category included Thomas Groseclose (chemical engineering), Genevieve Lee (welding engineering), who placed second, and co-presenters Lagnajit Pattanaik (chemical engineering) and Kory Sherman (chemical engineering).
Ziwei Wang (chemical engineering), Anton Rosi (environmental engineering), Jacob Maddox (mechanical engineering) and Danny Flax (computer science and engineering) tied for third place.
Knowlton students Claire Ronan (architecture) placed third in the arts/architecture category and Kalindi Parikh (city and regional planning) earned third place in the social and behavioral sciences category.
The event was coordinated by the Undergraduate Research Office and generously supported by Mr. and Mrs. Denman, the Office of Research, the Office of Undergraduate Education, and corporate and private donors.
Participating students also had the opportunity to nominate their mentors for awards recognizing their leadership and guidance. A student committee reviews the nominations and selects the winners.
Vishnu Sundaresan, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, received a 2016 Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor Award for excellence in teaching and mentorship.
Sundaresan’s nominators praised his generous contributions to their education and personal growth, including support for exchange program applications, tips and beneficial advice.
“I owe this award to the undergraduate students that have contributed extensively to sponsored research projects through their honors thesis,” Sundaresan said. “I want to also acknowledge the supporting role played by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers and financial support from sponsors—NSF, Honda R&D Americas, HEKA Elektronik GmbH and others for enabling participation of undergraduate students in the research environment.”
Written by Kyjah Coryat
