Undergrads showcase work at SUNY research day

Three UB undergraduates joined their peers from across the SUNY system in presenting original research at the Innovative Exploration Forum, a celebration of undergraduate research held April 1 in Albany.

The showcase allowed 125 of SUNY’s most talented undergraduate scholars and more than 40 faculty mentors to introduce more than 90 research projects to New York State legislators and SUNY administrators. Among those attending the forum were Chancellor Nancy Zimpher; H. Carl McCall, chair of the SUNY Board of Trustees; state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer; and Assemblyman Mickey Kearns.

The bi-annual symposium was sponsored by the SUNY Faculty Senate and UB’s Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (CURCA).

“The state-wide research symposium allows each campus to show the success and the return on investment of the state support each receives,” says Timothy Tryjankowski, director of CURCA, and co-chair and architect of the symposium.

“For UB and the UB students, it is an opportunity to show the invention and discovery present here at our flagship university. Students working on their undergraduate degrees at UB showed the audience how prepared they are for careers and further studies,” Tryjankowski says. “It was evident to our state leaders that new discoveries, new businesses and our future leaders are being molded here at UB. A great return on their wise investments in Buffalo.”

The UB student participants and their projects were selected by faculty members and administrators from across UB’s three campuses after a comprehensive review of student proposals.

The student researchers and their projects are:

• Susan Little, a senior environmental geosciences major, who presented “Combined Sewer System Impact on the Integrity of an Urban Waterway.” Her faculty mentor is Chris Lowry, assistant professor of geology.
• Nigel Michki, a sophomore computational physics major and 2014 Barry Goldwater Scholarship recipient, who presented “Method for Electrostatically Aligning Proteins in Solution.” His faculty mentor is Andrea Markelz, professor of physics.
• Phillip Tucciarone, a senior chemical and biological engineering major and 2014 Marshall Scholarship recipient, who presented “Silicon Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Applications.” His faculty mentor is Mark Swihart, professor of chemical and biological engineering.