Penn State University Libraries - Information Literacy Award Winners - 2012

Judges Bonnie Imler (lead judge), Dawn Childress, Kevin Clair, Amanda Clossen (alternate), Kevin Harwell, Jeffrey Knapp, John Meier, Helen Sheehy, and Robert Tolliver, have announced the winners for the  2012 Information Literacy Award Undergraduate Research Exhibition:

1st
342 Amarpreet Ahluwalia
Project: Towards an experimentally determined coupling free energy change in deprotonated guanine This project uses synthetic DNA oligonucleotides to determine the coupling change in free energy on an anionic base in the presence of protonated bases.

2nd
349 Emily Valerio
Project: "The Identification & Characterization of Sufu Interacting Proteins" is a project that was performed in order to discover novel interactions between yet unidentified proteins and Suppressor of Fused (SUFU), a Gli-interacting protein and a major component of the Hedgehog pathway.

3rd
323 Stephen Wellard, Nari Kim, Su Jen Khoo & Qiao Kai Law
Project: Detecting Genomic Elements that Cause Instability Across Replication Cycles in Mammalian Cells. Many are unaware that the mammalian genome consists of repeating nucleotides that mean no harm but, if positioned or structured incorrectly could possibly lead to various mutational events. The focus of this research is narrowed towards studying potential chromosomal instability caused by microsatellites, also termed as short tandem repeats.

Honorable Mention

522 William Crozier
Project: Face Emotion Recognition: The Effect of Changing Emotional Countenance on Witness Memory. The project is designed to analyze the effect of changing emotional countenance of a face (neutral or negative emotional expression) on how well a participant remembers the person viewed.

104 Chelsea Gilliam
Project: Wall Paintings, Wealth and Status in Regio VI, Pompeii. This poster examines the spatial aspects of luxury and demography in regio VI, the richest district of Pompeii.

340 Alexandra Martinson
Project: Functional Characterization of Kv 10,11, and 12 Channels in Nematostella Vectensis. The EAG channels in humans regulate firing patterns through modulation of sub-threshold potassium currents and are relevant in seizure thresholds as they relate to human disease. In order to characterize the fundamental function of these channels, a knock out mouse and an evolutionary approach involving Nematostella vectensis are utilized.

313 Joseph Shields
Project: Enculturation and Suicide Ideation Among Pennsylvania State University Students. This research project is designed to provide the opportunity to better understand the cultural, mental, and developmental dimensions associated with the act of self-destruction, which in turn is intended to offer an enhanced understanding to the mental health practitioner in developing effective strategies for suicide prevention.

523 Alexander Kinney
This research project is designed to provide the opportunity to better understand the cultural, mental, and developmental dimensions associated with the act of self-destruction, which in turn is intended to offer an enhanced understanding to the mental health practitioner in developing effective strategies for suicide prevention.