College of Science and Letters Announces 2009 CSL Undergraduate Summer Research Stipend Winners
Eight undergraduates in the College of Science and Letters have been named recipients of a 2009 CSL Undergraduate Summer Research Stipend, which will provide them with $5,000 for 10 weeks of research under faculty guidance. CSL supports research for undergraduates as early as freshman year.
The college initiated the Undergraduate Summer Research program three years ago so that undergraduates could use the summer to concentrate on their research and further enrich their IIT experience.
Focused time allows them to explore their interests, solve problems, work as part of a team, and prepare for their next step after IIT – whether graduate school, medical school, or the workplace.
This year's stipend recipients, faculty mentors, and projects are:
- Aram Apyan (second-year physics), Yagmur Torun, assistant professor of physics, "Detection of Cerenkov photons in liquid He," IIT OUR Fellowship
- Evan Estola (third-year computer science), Doug Cork, professor of biology, "Defining the topology of phylogenetic trees with evolutionary distances generated from W-curves," USA Poultry, Alpharma
- Erik Harpstead (third-year psychology and computer science), Matthew Bauer, senior lecturer, computer science, "Researching and redesigning IIT's CS general education requirement (CS105/ARCH125/CS115)"
- Jaekwan Lee (fourth-year applied mathematics), Jeffrey Duan, professor of applied mathematics, "Perturbation on the invariant manifolds with application to biomedical modeling"
- Ryan McClure (second-year chemistry), Joy Chong, assistant professor of chemistry, "Synthesis of a macrocyclic bifunctional ligand for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of Gastin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) expressing tumors," National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Jesse Reinhardt (fourth-year biochemistry), Biology Professor Ben Stark, "Development of biocatalysts for the desulfurization of crude oil", Saudi Aramco
- Peter Schemmel (second-year physics), Thomas Irving, professor of biology and physics, "Compound X-ray and laser diffraction studies and the flight muscle of Manduca sexta"
- Andrew Yates (second-year computer science), Wai Gen Yee, assistant professor of computer science, "Designing a Video Annotation and Indexing System"
"We were pleased again with the number and quality of proposals," said Professor Ishaque Khan, associate dean of CSL. "They showcased the high quality of research in CSL and our faculty's eagerness to offer research experience to undergraduates, which is a priority for CSL. Such experience allows our students to explore their interests and prepare for their professional career. The ability to focus on research during the summer allows them to catalyze their productivity and often make significant contributions to IIT research teams."
Winners of the stipend report on their work at the end of the summer. Many go on to present their work at conferences/symposia and/or publish it in scholarly journals. The summer research stipends are funded primarily by CSL's board of overseers and alumni.
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