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New Endowments for STEM
COST
Seven Tarleton physics students research opportunities lined up for the summer. Five
of the students, all undergraduates, were selected in Texas and national competitions for paid external research projects. Graduates Arthur Alvarez and Alec Pfundheller were awarded graduate school fellowships at Texas A&M, Alvarez’s in physics (biophotonics) and Pfundheller’s in nuclear engineering (accelerator physics) “Tarleton’s unique undergraduate research facilities and emphasis on hands-on learning and research often gives students a competitive edge in research competitions and graduate school,” said Dr. Daniel Marble, Professor in Tarleton’s Department of Chemistry, Geoscience and Physics. “This year’s junior and senior classes have been especially active and compare favorably to our better classes in the past whose graduates obtained advanced degrees and are now in academia, national labs, and industry.” Alvarez was selected for a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Notre Dame where he will work under Dr. Graham Peaslee on an accelerator-based PIXE project to identify carcinogens in flame retardants. Due to COVID, Alvarez’s REU at Notre Dame last summer was delayed to this summer. He and fellow physics major Alec Pfundheller built a laser system to determine the efficiency of various mask materials using optical scattering for their senior research project this past year. Juniors Sidney Davis, Ethan Keene, and Jason Pipal, were selected for Texas A&M’s Undergraduate Summer Research Grant Program. Davis has been involved in research in Tarleton’s accelerator lab measuring enhanced nuclear scattering cross section for protons on light elements. He will spend his summer researching materials for next generation reactors in Dr. Lin Shao’s accelerator facility. Keene and Pipal did environmental radioactivity research this past year looking at gamma emitters in soil. They will spend their summer in Dr. Vlad Yakolov’s laser labs working on biophotonics research with Texas A&M graduate students from physics and bioengineering. Sophomore Samuel Garcia-Rodriguez was selected for the Nuclear Forensics Internship program at the University of Texas where he will work on the application of nuclear techniques to problems related to national security. Some junior physics majors who didn’t pursue off-campus research will be doing research in Stephenville this summer with Tarleton faculty. For instance, Taryn Gibbs will be doing research with Dr. Lance Wayley.
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Tarleton State University President Dr. James Hurley, right, and Howard Payne University President Dr. Cory Hines, shake hands after signing a Memorandum of Understanding allowing easier transition for high-achieving HPU students to Tarleton’s masters of environmental science program
COST
PERS Program Awards
The Division of Research, Innovation and Economic Development offered a new program to support faculty and student research at Tarleton. The President’s Excellence in Research Scholars (PERS)
funding opportunity was designed to support faculty who provide innovative learning experiences to undergraduate and graduate students through research, technology, and other resources. The program’s goal is to enhance our students’ (undergraduate and graduate) educational experiences through research and generate preliminary research data for sponsored research. The PERS program made 24 awards to COST faculty for $375,000 to support research through summer salaries for faculty and students as well as materials and supplies. Here are some additional details: Total Projects in COST: 24 Total $ awarded to COST faculty: $375,347 Total Faculty Supported: 24 Total Students Supported: 40 Breakdown by department: • Biology – 8 projects by 7 faculty • Chemistry, Geosciences & Physic – 6 projects by 4 faculty • Engineering & Computer Science – 5 projects by 5 faculty • Engineering Technology – 1 project by 1 faculty member • Mathematics – 4 projects by 7 faculty
PROJECT PI TITLE Tom Faulkenberry REU Site: Computational Mathematics at Tarleton Rajani Srinivasan Evaluation of a novel, plant-based drug delivery system in a Pig Model Dustin Edwards Survey of Coronaviruses in Bats in Texas Philip Sudman Small Mammal Community Ecology at Caprick Canyons State Park Jun Xu Application of Machine Learning Methods to Identity Piezo Ion Channel Kinetics Machine Scott Cook Healthcare Disparities in Medical Insurance Claims Victoria Chraibi Evaluating Diatom Entry into Bone Marrow Post-mortem as Forensic Evidence Ryan Morgan Paleoecological Assessment of the Colony Creek Member Lynal Albert Predictive Modeling for Outrage Management in Crisis Situations based on COVID-19 to shape a sustainable, healthy and safe future Janice Speshock Microbiome Comparison of Native and Invasive Grasses of Texas Fei Wang Large-scale Experimental Study of the Use of Biochar to Treat Oil Contaminated Soils William Whaley Improving the delivery of Flavonoids to Target Cancer Cells Bryant Wyatt Supraventricular Tachycardia Study Using a Dynamic Computer Generated Heart Russell Pfau Assessment of Species Status of Potentially Threatened Bumble Bees Hoe-Gil Lee Optimal Design for a Wind Turbine Blade Using Computer Poorya Hajyalikhani Fiber Corrosion Influence on the Beam Kristopher Juntunen Texas Fossils May Shed Light on the Extinction of a Major Class of Animals Ryan Morgan Characterization of a New Dinosaur Track Site Near Crowley, TX Rajani Srinivasan Innovative and Cost-effective Methods of detection and plant derived food grade materials for Eileen Faulkenberry Learning to Notice with High-Impact Practices in STEM Education Allan Nelson Canopy Onset Insect Assemblages of Cedar Elm and Green Ash Tarleton State University President Dr. James Hurley, right, and Howard Payne University President Thejas Gubbi Sadashiva A Hybrid Feature Selection Method for Precise Prediction of Disease Dr. Cory Hines, shake hands after signing a Memorandum of Understanding allowing easier transition Kristin Herrmann Phillips Lights Out: Utilizing Bird Fatalities from building Collisions for high-achieving HPU students to Tarleton’s masters of environmental science programKristin Herrmann Phillips Integrative Taxonomy of Posthodiplosotmum
