Undergraduate Research & Creative Activities Fair

Penn State Altoona held its 2016 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Fair April 16 on campus. Sixty-four students participated, marking more than a twenty-person increase over the previous year’s participation.

First held in 2003, the goal of the fair is to showcase to the entire college community the exciting research and creative activities that students undertake. It also prepares students to speak articulately about their projects, a skill that will help them as they continue their academic careers or enter their vocations.

The fair features poster presentations, oral presentations, and performance and exhibition entries. Submission categories include arts and humanities, health and life sciences, business, physical sciences, behavioral sciences, engineering, computing/information technology, mathematics, social sciences, and visual and performing arts.

Winners in each category are listed below. Penn State Altoona faculty Todd Batzel, Chris Black, Victor Brunsden, Lara LaDage, Jessica DeGol, Lauren Jacobsen, Toni Kroko, Phillip Lightner, Kelly Munly, Chris Oliver, Caitlin Osborne, Lee Peterson, Hayley Russell, Carl Sell, Jordan Sell, Beth Seymour, Samantha Tornello, Mike Weiner, Alessia Zanin-Yost, Li Zhang, and Yimin Zhu served as judges.

Performance

  • First Place: Carmina Rogelio – “The First All-Nighter,” a visual art study
  • Second Place: Xiaoyu Xie – “Organ Purse,” a sculpture
  • Third Place: Erin Becker, Matthew Potts, accompanist – “Here Alone,” a voice performance

Oral Presentations

Computing and Information Technology

  • First Place: Joshua Clark – “Learn This! (IBM Smarter Planet Security Elearning App)”
  • Second Place: John Willet, Tyler Vasbinder, and Donte Perino – “Hybrid Security System”
  • Third Place: Whitney Hernandez, Kelly Bennett, and Jessica Seifer – “A Hybrid Repackaged Application Detection System”

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

  • First Place: Meghan Delsite – “Memory as a Foundation of an Oral Culture”
  • Second Place: Diana Fackler – “Winston Churchill: The Forgotten Author and Laureate”
  • Third Place: Kallie Sheets – “Sisters in Steel”

Posters

Engineering and Computing and Information Technology

  • First Place: Chris Latsios “Solar Assisted Electric Garden Tractor”
  • Second Place: David Leberfinger – “Surface Tension of Conventional Hydrocarbon Fuels with Gellation and Suspension of Particles”
  • Third Place: Gabriel Labrador, Jeremy Savan, and Matt Guyan – “Advocating for Hybrid Intrusion Detection Prevention System and Framework Improvement”

Physical and Life Sciences

  • First Place: Angie Spagnoli – “Adsorption of Methylene Blue by Zinc Chloride Activated Carbon from Cashew Nut Shells”
  • Second Place: Mason McGinnis and Ben Borst – “Antennas for Light”
  • Third Place: Greg Ingalsbe – “A Bioinformatic Approach to Understanding RNA Thermometers in Psychrobacter Bacteria”

Social Sciences

  • First Place: John Leri – “Social Distance, Psychotropic Medication, & Mental Illness Exposure”
  • Second Place: Tiffani Walk – “The Importance of Play During Early Childhood”
  • Third Place: Kayleigh Nelson – “True Violence in Video Games: ‘… he’d rather be called ‘birdetta.'”

Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities, and Business

  • First Place: Meghan Delsite – “Historic Hollidaysburg Interactive Map”
  • Second Place: Shannon Weber, Aneri Patel, Henry Bradley, Christian Lucia, and Chandler Condo – “Helicopter Parenting in College Housing Markets”
  • Third Place: Luke Hallman – “Logo Design and Development Method”

The University Libraries Award for Information Literacy

Kelsey Karpinski – “Novel Architecture of Self-Organized Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks”

 

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