The Graduate School

Graduate School Research Fair Award Recipients


To celebrate Missouri Graduate Schools Week, the Graduate School and Sigma Xi will co-sponsored the Graduate Research Fair to recognize graduate students’ research. The fair was held on April 16, 2007 in the Millennium Student Center.

This event provided advanced graduate students the opportunity to present their scholarly and creative work to faculty, staff, administrators, students, family members, and community members. The students' research was presented in poster, multimedia or oral format so that visitors could interact with presenters directly. Judges determined which studies deserve awards and special recognition.

2008 Poster Presentations Awardees

Jinfeng Wang - Sigma Xi Award
Ph.D. Physics
"Controlled Synthesis of ZnO Nanostructures"

Aileen Faye G. Bongat - First Place Ph.D. Level Natural Sciences Division
'Synthesis and Evaluation of Structural Analogs of Escherichia Coli Lipid A"

Randi Jo Ulbricht - Second Place Ph.D. Level Natural Sciences Division
"Yeast Puf1 regulates mRNA decay in combination with other Puf proteins"

Maria L. Udan - Third Place Ph.D. Level Natural Sciences Division
"Alzheimer’s Amyloid beta (1-42) stimulation of the innate immune response is mediated by toll-like receptors 2 and 4"

Sarah Hanly - First Place Ph.D. Level Social Sciences Division
"Exploring the Cognitive Underpinnings of Word Retrieval Failures in Dyslexia Using the Tip-Of-the-Tongue Paradigm"

Debra Walker Emery - Second Place Ph.D. Level Social Sciences Division
"A Longitudinal Examination of the Remediation of Learning Disabilities:  IQ, Age of Diagnosis, School SES and Desegregation"

Kimberly L. Casey - Third Place Ph.D. Level Social Sciences Division
"Defining Political Capital:  A Reconsideration of Bourdieu's Interconvertibility Theory"

Tyler Paytas - Master's level poster presentation award
"Can Falsificationists Build Good Bridges?"

2007

Jinfeng Wang - Sigma Xi Award
Ph.D. Physics
“Synthesis and Characterization of Antimony-doped Tin Oxide Nanostructures”

Grigorios A. Papadakos – Second Place
Ph.D. Chemistry
“Active Site Mutation Uncouples Metal IO Binding Sites in Pvull Endonuclease”

Wendy Tori - Second Place
Ph.D. Biology
“A test of the Kin Selection Hypothesis for the Evolution of Lekking Behavior in White-crowned Manakins (Pipra pipra)”

Adriana Rodriguez-Ferraro – Third Place
Ph.D. Biology
“Diversity Patterns of Arid Zone Birds in Northern Venezuela”

2006

Colin White - First Place
Ph.D. Chemistry “Activation of Group 14 Element to Hydrogen Bonds by Platinum-phospine Complexes”

Ngamjit Praingam – Second Place
Ph.D. Chemistry “The Effect of Phospine on SiH Bond Activation Reactions with PT Complexes”

Kurt Kestler – Third Place
M.A. History Graduate School Research Award
“The Imperial Dragon and The Republican Eagle:  Anson Burlingame:  His Treaty, and Sino-American Relations from 1861 to 1880”

2005

Regan Gustafson - First Place, Research Presentation, Graduate School Day
Ph.D. Criminology
"Rurality and Approval of Violence: A Multi-level Examination of Attitudes Regarding the Use of Violence”

S. Sean Houshmandi - Second Place, Research Presentation, Graduate School Day
Ph.D. Biology
“Puf3 Protein Elements Required for Binding and Regulation of Messenger RNA in Yeast”

Michael Hylen - Third Place, Research Presentation, Graduate School Day
Ph.D. Education
"At-Risk Middle School Students’ Perspectives of School Climate and its Impact on Achievement”

2004

Christina Gilliam - First Place, Graduate School Day
Ph.D. Psychology
“Initial Levels of Depression Symptoms in Dementia Caregiving”

Aparna Raghuram - Second Place, Graduate School Day
Ph.D. Physiological Optics
“Speed Discrimination Using Simultaneously Presented Grating Stimuli”

Mehda Kamat and Papapida Pornsuriyasak - Third Place, Graduate School Day
Ph.D. Chemistry
“Oxazolyl and Thiazol Thioglucosides as Novel Versatile Glycosly Donors”