Student Research Day at NDSU is an annual event dedicated to giving undergraduate and graduate students a platform to showcase their research and creative works. A collaboration among NDSU EXPLORE, the Graduate Student Council and Gamma Sigma Delta, Student Research Day provides faculty, staff, students and the community a view of the various types of student research at NDSU. This was the second year the three groups collaborated on the event.
Seventy-five undergraduate and 120 graduate student presenters representing disciplines from across the campus took part in the event. Awards were given in both undergraduate and graduate categories recognizing the best oral and poster presentations in each group. More than 50 NDSU faculty and staff members served as judges.
The NDSU Office of Research and Creative Activity hosts NDSU EXPLORE, which is an annual showcase for undergraduate students in all disciplines to present their research and creative projects. This year, NDSU EXPLORE provided awards for undergraduate students for best oral and poster presentation.
The Graduate Student Council serves as a representative body of graduate students from all academic disciplines. GSC presented awards for best graduate oral and poster presentations.
Gamma Sigma Delta is an agricultural honor society that encourages and rewards excellence in agriculture. Gamma Sigma Delta presented awards for best poster and oral presentations for both undergraduate and graduates.
EXPLORE ORAL PRESENTATIONS
FIRST PLACE – Ryan Anderson, Civil Construction and Environmental Engineering
Project: Quantification of Nanoplastics in Landfill Leachate Using Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry
Faculty Mentor: Syeed Iskander
SECOND PLACE – Ashley Goetzfried, Environmental Engineering
Project: Efficient Removal of Organic Micropollutants from Municipal and Agricultural Wastewater by KrCI* Excimer Lamps
Faculty Mentor: Jiale Xu
THIRD PLACE – Kira Eliason, Environmental Engineering
Project: Rare Earth Elements in Sands Collected from Southern California Sea Beaches
Faculty Mentor: Syeed Iskander
HONORABLE MENTION – Shane Corbett, Psychology
Project: Geographic and General Trends in Sleep Manipulation Research: A Bibliometric Analysis
Faculty Mentor: Leah Irish
EXPLORE POSTER PRESENTATIONS
FIRST PLACE – Madison Christenson and Danielle Wright, Microbiology
Project: The Effectiveness of chlorine Dioxide as a Sporicidal Agent against Paenibacillus larvae
Faculty Mentor: Birgit Pruess, Microbiological Sciences
SECOND PLACE (TIE) – Brooke Kohler, Biological Sciences
Project: Effects of Flonicamid on the Locomotion of the Alfalfa Leafcutting Bee
Faculty Mentor: Jacob Pithan, Biological Sciences
SECOND PLACE (TIE) – Koby Pearson-Bortle, Biological Sciences
Project: Wing damage propagation in alfalfa leafcutting bee
Faculty Mentor: Jacob Pithan, Biological Sciences
THIRD PLACE - Drew Jordahl, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Project: Expanding the “Library” of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Enzyme Biomineralization
Faculty Mentor: Zhongyu Yang, Chemistry and Biochemistry
HONORABLE MENTION – Garrett Honzay, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Project: Effect of Surface Mutations on Reactivity of Coproheme Decarboxylase with Hydrogen Peroxide
Faculty Mentor: Kenton Rodgers, Chemistry and Biochemistry
HONORABLE MENTION – Zoe Muccatira, Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences
Project: Environmental Controls on Morphological Diversity: A Case Study on the Late Triassic Monotis
Faculty Mentor: Lydia Tackett, Earth, Environmental, and Geospatial Sciences
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL POSTERS
FIRST PLACE - Heather North - Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Julia Bowsher
Title: Concomitant pesticides in bumble bees: the effects of thiamethoxam and glyphosate on circadian rhythmicity and activity in the Bumblebee, Bombus impatiens
SECOND PLACE - Komila Rasuleva - Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dali Sun
Title: β-sheet Richness of Extracellular Vesicles for Pancreatic Cancer Screening
THIRD PLACE - Muhammad Shahid Iqbal - Environmental and Conservation Science
Faculty Mentor: Stephanie S. Day
Title: Riverbank Instability Analysis of the Red River in Fargo, North Dakota.
FOURTH PLACE - Mankanwal Goraya - Plant Pathology
Faculty Mentor: Guiping Yan
Title: Development of a recombinase polymerase amplification assay for rapid detection of the stubby root nematode, Paratrichodorus allius.
GRADUATE STUDENT COUNCIL ORAL PRESENTATIONS
FIRST PLACE - Justin Clarke - Natural Resources Management
Faculty Mentor: Torre Hovick
Title: Avian Nest Survival in a Heterogeneity-based Rotation Grazing System
SECOND PLACE - Harkamal Kaur - Plant Pathology
Faculty Mentor: Guiping Yan
Title: Reproduction of soybean cyst nematode on commercial cultivars and breeding lines of dry edible bean
THIRD PLACE - Jose Figueroa-Cerna - Plant Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Juan Osorno
Title: Dry Beans: Genomic prediction for resistance to white mold
FOURTH PLACE - Mohammad Irshad Reza - Pharmaceutical Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Sathish Venkatachalem
Title: Arylhydrocarbon Receptor in Airway Smooth Muscle
GAMMA SIGMA DELTA UNDERGRADUATE POSTER
FIRST PLACE - Mia Haugan, Microbiology and Biotechnology
Title: Using a Genomically Diverse Rhizobium leguminosarum Library to Identify Elite Strains for Biological Nitrogen Fixation in Pisum sativum
Advised by Barney Geddes
SECOND PLACE - Mercedes Morin, Biotechnology
Title: Advancing Health Targeted Foods for Glycemic Control and Cognitive Functions from Indigenous Food Systems
Advised by Kalidas Shetty
THIRD PLACE - Natalie Visich, Microbiology and Biotechnology
Title: Characterization and Collection of Rhizobium leguminosarum Strains from North Dakota Soils
Advised by Barney Geddes
HONORABLE MENTION - Ashton Esco, Biotechnology
Title: Prevalence of seedborne transmission of fungal pathogens in commercial sugar beet lots.
Advised by Nathan Wyatt
GAMMA SIGMA DELTA GRADUATE POSTER
FIRST PLACE - TM Shaikh, Plant Sciences
Title: Homozygosity Mapping Identified Loci and Candidate Genes Responsible for Freezing Tolerance in Camelina sativa
Advised by Mukhlesur Rahman
SECOND PLACE - Gagandeep Brar, Biological Sciences
Title: Do pollen-borne microbes benefit juvenile growth and survival in the solitary bee, Megachile rotundata?
Advised by Julia Bowsher
THIRD PLACE - Amanda Pease, Microbiological Sciences
Title: Chemotactic Differences Between Strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae
Advised by Birgit Pruess and Barney Geddes
GAMMA SIGMA DELTA UNDERGRADUATE ORAL
FIRST PLACE - Savannah Rivers, Equine Science and Animal Science
Title: You don’t have to be a work horse to know your horse: A look into the validity of equine personality assessments.
Advised by Carrie Hammer
SECOND PLACE - Katlyn Balstad, Crop and Weed Sciences and Management Communication
Title: Advancing Great Plains Food Crops to Evaluate Glycemic Control and Cognitive Functional Bioactive Compounds
Advised by Kalidas Shetty
THIRD PLACE - Carly George, Biotechnology and Crop and Weed Sciences
Title: Functional Anaylsis of Gene PtrV1_06931 using Crispr-Cas9 Technique
Advised by Zhaohui Liu
GAMMA SIGMA DELTA GRADUATE ORAL
FIRST PLACE - Shivreet Kaur, Plant Pathology
Title: Tapping global wheat diversity for identifying novel sources of genetic resistance against the cereal killer, wheat rust
Advised by Upinder Gill
SECOND PLACE - Grady Gullickson, Animal Science
Title: The effects of replacing dried distillers grains with solubles with a heat-treated soybean meal in forage-based growing cattle diets
Advised by Zachary Carlson
THIRD PLACE - Md Zahangir Alam, Plant Sciences
Title: Resistance of Canola (Brassica napus L.) to Leptoshaeria maculans Infection
Advised by Mukhlesur Rahman
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