UB STEM Programs 255 Capen Hall University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY 14261 (716) 645-7301 cpmc.buffalo.edu/ubstem
Dr. Letitia Thomas, Director of UB STEM Programs lthomas@buffalo.edu Nancy Campos, UB STEM Graduate Assistant ncampos@buffalo.edu Marcene Robinson, UB STEM Newsletter & Publications Editor marcener@buffalo.edu
Words from the Director Dr. Letitia Thomas The main goal of UB STEM is to provide UB students with the skills necessary to achieve their personal and career goals. Through our various programs, we try to ensure that students are prepared for life after college; whether that means attending graduate school or finding a job in their field of study. We offer unique and transformative experiences to our STEM undergraduate and graduate students, such as, paid research internships and fellowship throughout the academic year, which are extremely beneficial in providing valuable hands-on research experience as well as financial support. We also focus on soft skills, social concepts that cannot Dr. Letitia Thomas Director of UB STEM Programs
be learned in the classroom or lab, including: networking and communication skills, professional attire and proper dining etiquette.
Throughout this publication, you will highlights of our various programs. Most importantly, our publication serves to spotlight our students and their amazing work. It is because of our wonderful students and the dedicated UB faculty that mentor them, that we continue to thrive as a unit. We look forward to offering the types of events and supports necessary for their success.
Dr. Letitia Thomas
Nancy Campos, UB STEM Graduate Assistant (Left) and Dr. Letitia Thomas, Director of UB STEM Programs (Right), posing for photos at the 2013 McNair Summer Research Conference in Niagara Falls, NY.
University at Buffalo STEM Programs LSAMP
S-STEM
UBBD
The SUNY Louis Stokes Alliance for
UB Science, Technology,
The UB Bridge to the Doctorate
Minority Participation (LSAMP)
Engineering and Mathematics
(UBBD) Program seeks to
Program seeks to diversify the
(STEM) Programs seek to
increase the number of
STEM workforce by significantly
increase the number of
historically underrepresented
increasing the numbers of
historically underrepresented
students pursuing doctoral
students successfully completing
students pursuing STEM
studies in STEM disciplines.
high quality degree programs in
disciplines. These programs
UBBD provides new graduate
science, technology, engineering
provide services to improve the
students with funding of $30,00
and mathematics disciplines.
academic performance,
per year for up to two years; full
Particular emphasis is placed on
retention, graduation and
tuition and fee waivers; a
support of groups that have been
graduate school acceptance
support network of
historically underrepresented in
rates of STEM students. This
professionals and faculty
STEM disciplines: African-
program is sponsored by the
mentors; participation in
Americans, Alaskan Natives, Native
National Science Foundation.
workshops and seminars;
Americans, Hispanic Americans,
interdisciplinary research
and Native Pacific Islanders.
opportunities; and paid travel to conferences.
LSAMP Summer Research Program Sponsored by the National Science Foundation
David Levy, Junior, Civil Engineering William LaPorte, Junior, Civil Engineering Algae has a number of environmental benefits, however, dead algae that breaks off is poisonous to water, ruins cattle feed, closes beaches and can even cause deaths. Under Dr. David Blersch, former research assistant professor of environmental and water resources engineering, LaPorte and Levy worked to predict sloughing, or when the algae sheds dead layers. During experiments, the two students grew the algae, determined its maximum strength before sloughing by suspending the algae using a constructed Lego model, and entered the structural data into the engineering software SAP 2000.
Stephen Stomber Sophomore, Chemical Engineering Stomber may be a chemical engineering major, but his passion for the environment drove him to complete research under Dr. Joseph Atkinson, director of the Great Lakes Program and professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering. Under Atkinson, Stomber studied the way water mixes at different speeds. In his experiments, he placed dyes into a two-dimensional open channel flow and measured the concentration of the mixture at set speeds. Stomber’s study will help accurately access water quality, and balance a body of water’s pH after a recent contamination, such as acid rain.
Lauren Coviello, Junior, Industrial Engineering There are over 105,000 accounts of terrorism in the Global Terrorism Database, which records all terrorist attacks from 1970 to 2011. To most, it’s just an alarming statistic, but to Coviello, the data is a chance to save lives. Under Dr. Jun Zhuang, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering, she picked the top 10 tourist nations and studied trends in the types of attacks, target and victim types, terrorist group types and motivation. Through her research, Coviello hopes to forecast what terrorist attacks will look like in those countries.
Tresor Mavinga, Senior, Civil Engineering Nothing lasts forever, not even wires. And while Mavinga knows he cannot stop them from corroding, he wants to search for more efficient ways to test them for decay. Currently, most tests for corrosion are visual, which is sometimes ineffective because a wire could be covered with concrete. But Mavinga is studying a new method of testing the wires using ultrasonic waves. The test involves sending waves from one end of the wire to the other, measuring the signal, and then resending the waves after corroding the sample wire. If the difference in the strength of the waves is significant enough, ultrasonic waves could be a viable alternative to testing corrosion in wires.
Jose Barajas, Sophomore, Chemistry LEDs light our smartphones, tablets and big-screen televisions. But they also come at the price of consuming precious heavy metals, such as platinum and iridium. That’s why Barajas is focused on finding a sustainable, organic light emitting diode (OLED), which would instead use the organic and widely abundant compounds carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Using photo-crystallography, Barajas synthesized several crystals and analyzed them to determine which were the most effective at emitting light. He studied under Dr. Jason Benedict, assistant professor of chemistry.
Maliek Likely, Junior, Chemical Engineering Under the direction of Dr. Sarbajit Banerjee, an associate professor of chemistry, Likely grew banadium oxide nanowires for use in batteries. Unlike current batteries, which use carbon-graphine, the banadium oxide wires could hold a stronger charge, thus lengthening the life of the battery. During his experiments, Likely added lithium to the banadium oxide compound to learn if the wires could withstand the structural changes that resulted from the mixture. Likely adds that banadium oxide could also be used to block heat in smart windows, since the compound reflects light in the infrared spectrum and lets in heat at different temperatures. Ultimately, the windows would reflect heat in summer and absorb heat in winter.
Jasmine Tillery, Sophomore, Civil Engineering Tillery joined the lab of Dr. Mettupalayam Sivaselvan, assistant professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering, to study earthquake simulation. In testing how different size structures respond to earthquakes, she connected an actuator system to a computer and measured displacement during simulated earthquakes on multi-story buildings. The research will help with the design of future structures, because the tests predict how certain buildings respond to displacement.
Kevin Carpio, Sophomore, Aerospace Engineering Ifem Ononye, Sophomore, Aerospace Engineering The budding engineers are building a small satellite equipped with a camera to send into space. The satellite will monitor debris and other foreign objects in space to prevent active satellites from crashing into them. Working under Dr. John Crassidis, professor and director of graduate studies for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, they optimized the camera for the pressures of space and designed a system of reaction wheels and reaction torques to turn the satellite.
Keira Henry Junior, Chemical and Biological Engineering Under Dr. Mark Swihart, professor of chemical and biological engineering and director of UB2020 Initiative in Integrated Nanostructured Systems, Henry synthesized silicon nanoparticles using an aerosol reactor. The particles have several functions, including use in nano-medicine to target cancer cells.
LSAMP Summer Program Events
The 2013 LSAMP Summer Interns take a break from volunteering to pose at The Massachusetts Avenue Project.
Industrial Engineering major Lauren Coviello can’t believe her eyes during the LSAMP trip to Perry’s Ice Cream. Free ice cream!
Aerospace Engineering major Kevin Carpio enjoys a smooch at Anchor Bar.
UB LSAMP students and staff pose with Dr. Julianne Malveaux at the 2013 McNair Conference, a chance for McNair students to present their research to students from across the nation.
UB LSAMP students and staff brave the breeze at Niagara Falls’ Cave of the Winds.
UB LSAMP students and staff visit Ford Gum in Akron, NY, the only manufacturer of gumballs in the United States.
LSAMP Students Test Micropump for NASA NASA welcomed six students from UB to Houston to test how much more effective a pump could be if it used electricity instead of mechanical parts in the low-gravity conditions of space travel. The researchers believe that the experiments were the first to test the Nathan Guterry (left), a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, tests the micropump with NASA astronauts.
effectiveness of electrokinetic micropumps in microgravity. The four-inch pump the team designed moves liquid through a
process called electro-osmosis, which involves applying a voltage across a porous disk. The research team tested its pump on a plane that flew 30 parabolic maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico, providing about 18 seconds of microgravity conditions as the plane starts to nose over the top of the parabola to descend toward Earth. Unlike the costly and heavy mechanical pumps currently employed by NASA, an electrokinetic micropump has no moving parts, which makes it simpler and lighter. Any reduction in weight on space vehicles means less money NASA has to spend on fuel to power them out of orbit. Aside from lowering costs, the pump is compatible with a variety of liquids. It could recycle the space vehicle’s drinking water or drive ammonia solutions to fuel cells for power.
Erika Salem, a mechanical engineering major, enjoys her time aboard the NASA zero gravity plane.
The experiments are a part of the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program at NASA’s Microgravity University. Every summer, the program invites 12 teams of students from across the nation to the Johnson Space Center to propose, design, assemble, fly and evaluate a reduced-gravity experiment of their choice.
LSAMP Students Study Plastic Pollution Andrea Martinez, a senior electrical engineering major at UB, Shayne McKay, a senior mechanical engineering major, and Paul Glenn, a senior mathematical physics major, participated in the first survey for plastic pollution within the open waters of the Great Lakes. Led by Sherri Mason, associate professor of chemistry at Fredonia State Electrical Engineering major Andrea Martinez holds a sample taken on the Sea Dragon.
College, the students searched for the concentration and types of plastics in the water, and the effects the materials
have on the ecosystem. The study was part of a seven-day Environmental Research and Communications Course provided by Pangaea Explorations, an organization dedicated to marine exploration, education and conservation. From Montreal, Quebec, the group boarded the Sea Dragon, the program’s 72-foot yacht, and journeyed down the St. Lawrence Seaway, through the Thousand Islands—a chain of 1,864 islands that straddle the Canada-U.S. border—and across Lake Ontario to Toronto, Ontario. The UB students lived on the boat for seven days among a crew of 11, learning sailing terminology and deckhand duties, such as how to raise a sail. The rare opportunity allowed the UB students to witness firsthand the shocking effects of pollution in the water. On Sugar Island, one of the Thousand Islands, the group sampled water from two locations
Mechanical Engineering major Shayne McKay relaxes aboard the Sea Dragon.
that were 20 feet apart, one adjacent to an area of land inhabited by people and the other not. Despite the short distance, they found drastic differences between each site’s water pH, temperature, quality and wildlife. The students realize they can’t avoid plastic altogether, but each has worked to lower their use of material. Glenn replaced his plastic Tupperware sets with tin containers, which are more easily recycled than plastic. McKay no longer drinks bottled beverages, and asks for paper bags at stores. And Martinez has drafted a letter asking her employer to offer alternatives to the plastic cups and Styrofoam plates used in the food lounge.
UB STEM Community Partners
National Science Foundation
Massachusetts Avenue Project