Foundations of Tropical Geometry Classification of Polynomials

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Nathan Manwaring and Dr. Tyler Jarvis, Mathematics Tropical Mathematics is a relatively new field of mathematics that is getting a lot of attention recently. It is applicable in the field of Combinatorics as well as Phylogenetics, and more uses are being found each day. Our goal was to find a way to classify Tropical Polynomials […]

Removal of Abundant Non-Informative Proteins from Blood Serum for Biomarker Discovery

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Nathan Lewis and Dr. Craig D. Thulin, Department of Chemisty and Biochemistry Biomarkers play a key role in disease diagnosis and in guiding physicians in treatment selection. Blood serum is potentially the best tissue for biomarker discovery and detection for several reasons. First, blood is already routinely drawn for tests. Second, serum preparation is highly […]

Biomimetic and Amino-Retinoid Compounds: Potential Applications in Cancer and Age-Related Macular Degeneration

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Kam Lau and Dr. Heidi Vollmer-Snarr, Chemsitry and Biochemistry Department Introduction Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, about half of all men and one-third of all women in the US will develop cancer during their lifetimes. Today, millions of people are living with […]

Antibiotic Thin Films

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Timothy Jennings, Jason Nielsen, Brian Ratcliff, Nina Wallace, Xin Zhong Lai, Paul B. Savage, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Abstract Nosocomial infections lead to septicemia, a severe problem in the United States. The Savage group has developed a novel class of antibiotics (CSAs) that can be attached to polymers. Invasive medical equipment can be coated […]

Use of 2 MeV Proton-Based PIXE in Compositional Analysis of Paint Pigments

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Benjamin Hall and Dr. Lawrence Rees, Physics And Astronomy Using the resources provided by this grant, Dr. Rees and I set out to classify the pigments used in artistic oil painting according to their elemental composition. This we did using proton-based Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) spectroscopy. Our goal in this portion of the research was […]

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy to Examine Molecular Composition

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Amy Grigg and Dr. Steve Turley, Department of Physics and Astronomy Abstract The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrum is becoming increasingly important. Its most promising applications include lithography for integrated circuits, space-based astronomy, and medical microscopes. Unfortunately, the optical constants of materials, particularly heavy metals, in this range are not well known. This work examines the […]

Content-Based Classification and Retrieval of Digital Images

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Ethan Garofolo and Dr. William Barrett, Computer Science Purpose As digital image libraries continue to grow in size, classifying the content of such a large volume continues to grow in difficulty. At present, human users catalog images by giving descriptive filenames and/or labels in image header files, hoping that the given names will make sense […]

X-ray Powder-diffraction Simulations of Large-scale Defect-structure Models

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Jared Dickson and Dr. Branton Campbell, Physics and Astronomy Open-framework compounds, most notably the aluminosilicate zeolites, play a critical role in modern technology. Their robust crystalline structures contain large cavities and channels of molecular dimensions which make them useful as molecular sieves (desiccants, membrane filters, gas-separators), ion-exchangers (soaps, detergents, water softeners, radioactive waste sequestering agents), […]

Finding a Galois Representation Corresponding to a Hecke Eigenclass

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Meghan De Witt and Dr. Darrin Doud, Mathematics Department My project was to finish a thirteen year old unsolved problem that provided an important computational example of a conjecture in the field of Algebraic Number Theory. Originally, we worked with the techniques of elliptic curves and class field theory to try and isolate the objects […]

Genetic Analysis of Protein Folding

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Daniel Chan and Dr. Allen Buskirk, Chemistry and Biochemistry Proteins are of the utmost physiological importance in their roles as enzymes, structural elements, and antibodies. Correctly formed proteins catalyze biochemical reactions, initiate proper immune system response, and even promote the development of hair, bones, skin, muscles, and blood. Likewise, incorrectly formed proteins cause Alzheimer’s disease, […]