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 Folaranmi Fakayode, UB STEM Newsletter & Publications Editor folaranm@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. Undergraduate and graduate students receive several benefits, such as, paid research internships 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 be learned in the classroom or lab, including: networking and Dr. Letitia Thomas Director of UB STEM Programs
communication skills, professional attire and proper dining etiquette, in case students are invited to a lunch or dinner meeting.
Throughout this newsletter you will see highlights of our summer program 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)
University at Buffalo STEM Programs LSAMP
S-STEM
UBBD
The SUNY Louis Stokes Alliance
UB Science, Technology,
The UB Bridge to the
for Minority Participation
Engineering and Mathematics
Doctorate (UBBD) Program
(LSAMP) Program seeks to
(STEM) Programs seek to
seeks to increase the number
diversify the STEM workforce by
increase the number of
of historically
significantly increasing the
historically underrepresented
underrepresented students
numbers of students successfully
students pursuing STEM
pursuing doctoral studies in
completing high quality degree
disciplines. These programs
STEM disciplines. UBBD
programs in science, technology,
provide services to improve
provides new graduate
engineering and mathematics
the academic performance,
students with funding of
(STEM) disciplines. Particular
retention, graduation and
$30,000 per year for up to two
emphasis is placed on support of
graduate school acceptance
years; full tuition and fee
groups that have been
rates of STEM students. This
waivers; a support network of
historically underrepresented in
program is sponsored by the
professionals and faculty
STEM disciplines: African-
National Science Foundation.
mentors; participation in
Americans, Alaskan Natives,
workshops and seminars;
Native Americans, and Hispanic
interdisciplinary research
Americans.
opportunities; and paid travel to conferences.
LSAMP Summer Research Program Sponsored by the National Science Foundation
William Roman Junior, Aerospace Engineering Upon being introduced to orbital space debris by visiting the lab as a freshman, William joined the NANOSAT lab under the supervision of Dr. John Crassidis. Their main goal is to get nanosatellite to space, hoping to track and monitor space debris. Using Arduino, William’s specific focus includes testing photodiode as a sun sensor attached to the satellite to identify the sun’s location. This should prevent damaging the camera attached to the nanosatellite. William has previously built circuits and temperature sensor systems showing a background knowledge in basic electronic computation. The skills have proven useful this summer as he prepares to test his work in real world.
Gabriel Skugor Junior, Mathematics Studies from Thedriven Centerstudent for Disease Control, Lurys, a curiosity has taken up the (CDC) shows that 69% of Americans are either overweight or obese. Under the supervision of Dr. Rachael Hageman Blair, Gabriel is programming in R, a statistical software to find new discoveries and patterns in obesity and diabetes. They find uncommon association in risk factors, by fitting models and derived association rules that predict BMI and diabetes. Upon completion, the lab looks forward to benefiting the public with this research, enlightening people to take early precaution, and decreasing chances of diabetes and obesity.
Leurys Mesa Junior, Aerospace Engineering
Leurys, a curiosity driven student has taken up the challenge to work in conjunction with Dr. Manoranjan Majji on an experiment that includes manipulating the motion of a pendulum in a zero gravity environment by mounting a rotor to a canfield joint. His task requires using BoneAchieving a requires using Beaglebone, a single board computer, and writing code in CBeagle program. successful experiment, the canfield joint can be considered to replace the current satellite attitude control system.
Daniel Giraldo Junior, Biomedical Engineering Tumor growth and cancer are major causes of death. With a passion for clinical research, Daniel joined the lab of Dr. Jonathan Lovell to help develop a new treatment with less damaging side effects. Liposomes are nano vesicles composed of different lipids, including photosensitive pyro-lipid. Cancer differentdrugs lipidsare including photosensitive treating imbedded inside liposomes and placed inside mice as test subjects. The drugs pyro-lipid, this inside the liposome are released on sight of laser lights. Being inside microscopic liposome, the toxicity of the drug should not damage the surrounding organs and tissue; rather it target the tumor. Daniel’s task is to test the balance between release and stability of the drug inside the liposome. Drugs in liposome with the best formulation of quickness and efficiency, can be considered for future tumor treatment.
Falliou Djigal Junior, Environmental Engineering
Organic pollutants are toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that continuously affect human health and the environment around the world. Environmental engineers have used polymeric adsorbents for removal of organic pollutant in gas and aqueous systems. With guidance from Dr. John Atkinson, Falliou’s project focuses on studying the impact of swelling on polymeric adsorbents. According to materialists, swelling is known to occur when solvent extraction is used to extract the adsorbed pollutants. With a better understanding of size changes due to swelling, the reuse potential of polymeric adsorbents can be exploited.
Jess Turner Sophomore, Environmental Engineering
According to UNICEF, in 2014, more than twice the number of people living in the U.S. were without clean drinking water in the world. A safe solution is using UB radiation and high temperatures to kill bacteria that cause illnesses with solar cookers. By constructing handmade solar cookers, Jess is evaluating a method to disinfect contaminated water under advisement of Dr. James Jensen. Limiting themselves to simple resources found anywhere, aluminum, cardboard and tape, they are exploring the efficiency of solar cookers and finding an ideal design to heat water. Different parabolic shapes and orientation of cookers were attempted, however the small parabolic cooker proves to be the most effective shape thus far. Continuing research will show average maximum temperature of a liter of water due to the apparatus.
Maria Camila Lopez Ruiz Sophomore, Civil Engineering
The foundation of a structure is most liable to damage during seismic activity, since it carries the most weight. Segmental columns are used for bridge pier construction and reinforcement. Altering its base to Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is expected to prevent failure during an earthquake. Three combinations of specimens which included standard concrete, rebar and UHPC were tested on different levels of earthquakes. High tensile and compressive strength, self-centering ability, ductility, stiffness, and energy dissipation are mainly considered. Working with Dr. Pinar Okumus, Camila’s main objective is to simply replace imbedded rebar in concrete with UHPC expecting to save budget and time.
Joseph Carleton Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering
Over the years, natural resources like fossil fuels are becoming scarce. Burning them also harms the environment. With a passion for eco-friendly technology, Joseph joined the lab of Dr. John Hall to compare and determine the most productive, effective, and reliable design for High Altitude Wind Engine (HAWE). Online information was gathered, including: performance assessment, cost, and reliability. This information helped to narrow down the search for the best HAWE.
Esteven Tineo Mateo Junior, Geology and Chemistry
Under the supervision of Dr. Alison Graettinger, Esteven is studying the physical diversity of earthly maar craters to investigate the ones on Mars. Young maar craters are formed when groundwater touches magma. Studies have proven the presence of volcanoes and water on Mars, making it a valid location for consideration. Maars have been previously confused and characterized as other types of craters. Using Google Earth for physical feature data and ArcGIS for calculation, Esteven was able to begin to identify maars due to diameter and size, elongation, aspect ratio and other physical properties, making it easier to narrow down the search for these craters.
Normarieli Passalacqua Alvarado Senior, Chemistry University of Puerto Rico at Cayey Carbon dots (C-dots) are types of nanomaterials with biological applications, such as, metal ion sensing, anti-cancer agents, and antioxidants. Many forms of C-dot syntheses are known, including bottom up and top down. In the lab of Dr. Luis Colon, Normarieli focuses on bottom up, using soy sauce and a mixture of citric acid and diethylenetriamine (DETA) as a hydrothermal reaction. The ultimate goal is to test different C-dots to detect metal ions using photoluminescent properties and get fractions of the C-dots using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The detection of metal ions will be beneficial for all biological systems.
Shukree Abdul-Rashed Senior, Chemistry
To produce a library of dyes that can absorb at longer wavelengths, near infrared on the electromagnetic spectrum, Surface Enhanced Resonant Raman Scattering (SERRS) reporters were designed and synthesized. Raman is a type of scattering encountered during photon’s absorption and reradiation in light. Working with Dr. Michael Detty, Shukree’s task required making these reporters which are conducive to greater penetration in biomedical imaging applications. These dyes are intended to be used for possible detection of tumor and disease marker detection.
Tanahiry Escamilla Sophomore, Chemical Engineering
Nanomaterial research interest increased in engineering due to possibilities of application, which include MRI scanning, imaging and enhancement; however, their microscopic property causes complications. Under the guidance of Dr. Mark Swihart, Tanahiry is helping develop a technique to uniformly disperse these nanomaterials to be easily controlled and manipulated for future applications. In the lab, iron is combined with ammonium and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) using the sol-gel process heated at high temperatures. Tanahiry’s task includes making uniform and control nanoparticle properties to produce solar fuel cells. Future plans include working with transitional metal and approaching pico sized particles with hope of rapid manufacturing and generating solar panels.
John Cherry Senior, Computer Science
When Android was being developed, operating systems from Linux desktop computer were incorporated into Android for its basic system functionality. The Phone Lab is currently writing an original system specifically for Android. Under the supervision of Dr. Geoffrey Challen, John’s duty is to redesign mobile device file systems where he writes code to log and monitor syscalls, a form of communication between different layers in the Android system. The main goals is to study the file system patterns and find the areas to potentially increase its performance.
Yanni Correa Junior, Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical engineers are frequently looking for ways to optimize drug release mechanisms in the human body. Polymers are molecules with a large number of repeating units. Biocompatible polymers are biodegradable, meaning the body does not usually reject them. This is mainly due to their similar properties to body tissues, making them suitable for experimentation. Under the supervision of Dr. Debanjan Sarkar, Yanni is characterizing physical and chemical properties of polymers to help determine its effectiveness and constraints in the human body. The medicines are encapsulated to the polymers and mixed with Gelatin and Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as protein, which are photo polymerized by ultraviolet wavelength. Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) with identical pH levels as human blood is used.
LSAMP Summer Research Interns Sponsored by the National Science Foundation
Casterland Fanfan Senior, Geology
A maars-diatreme volcano results from multiple blast explosions when magma rises up the earth and comes in contact with groundwater. Under the supervision of Dr. Alison Graettinger, ten explosions were blasted in gravel filled trenches serving as replica volcanoes. The ejecta were collected, weighed and sampled by Casterland. Observation shows that the trench gets wider and deeper after each explosion, and less sediment comes out. The ultimate objective is to gain understanding of the landed deposit to manage, control and prevent natural hazard in volcano danger zones.
Kevin Turner Senior, Architecture
Data were collected about the Tasmania economy using sense-T, which measures entities, such as, agriculture, aquaculture, tourism, irrigations, and censors. Acquired data were used to design an automatic barn house. Using Rhino 3D, Kevin was able to model this automatic barn house, which has features that allows the building to adapt its interior to farm life suitable to farm animals. This great environment will prevent excess sunlight, allow airflow, ventilation, and even limit the spread of disease. Working with Dr. Laura Garofalo-Khan, the design of this structure will assist farmers by eliminating dangerous human work.
Erikson Duarte Senior, Mechanical Engineering
Pacemakers are small devices that help control the human heartbeat. Under the supervision of Dr. Amin Karami, Erikson worked in the Intelligent Dynamic Energy and Sensing Systems (IDEAS) lab where he put his knowledge on vibrations to the test. The lab had two main focuses: 1. To optimize the power output of a pacemaker where voltage produced by the pacemaker from different locations were gathered and evaluated and 2. To apply voltage to a beam and see how it travels. A virtual code in LabVIEW is currently being developed to successfully allow the beam to travel.
Kelly Camacho Junior, Environmental Studies
Motorola paid a third party to dispose of their chemical waste. Without knowledge of the location, it turned out the chemicals were being dumped on Ischua Creek, home to many plants, trees and animals. Now, Motorola is partnering with the University at Buffalo’s Environmental Engineering department to start a cleanup and restoration project. Under the supervision of Dr. Alan Rabideau, Kelly is writing a pollinator report, which includes information of the creek’s native plants and animals to avoid invasive species. The report will include information on how pollinators are being affected on the site, how to get more native species in the area, and how to overall restore the site to its original habitat.
LSAMP Summer Program Events
The 2015 LSAMP summer students after a tour of the Corning, Inc. facility in Corning, NY.
UB LSAMP and UB STEP students working together to build birdhouses and duck boxes at The Foundry.
All Aboard! UB LSAMP and UB STEP cruising on the Erie Canal learning about the Lockport Locks.
UB LSAMP summer interns stop for a picture after the GM tour in Lockport, NY.
LSAMP guys posing after a day of learning “soft skills.”
LSAMP Summer Interns weeding out invasive species at Tifft Nature preserve.
LSAMP interns goofing off after a trip to UB’s Medical Campus in downtown Buffalo.
LSAMP student uprooting Japanese knotweed at Tifft Nature Preserve.
LSAMP ladies posing after a day of “soft skills.”
A few LSAMP students stop to pose at the GM tour in Lockport, NY.
Excited LSAMP students and staff take a quick selfie on the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls, NY.
UB STEM Community Partners