Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Students and faculty from the School of Science completed an eight week research program with outstanding results during the summer. Almost 40 sophomore, junior and senior students worked with seventeen faculty members on various projects in biology, chemistry, computer science and physics. Each student received a $2,000 stipend and housing.

Small student research groups had the benefit of working side by side their mentors, as well as the opportunity to interact and share facilities with researchers in other departments. Research groups met formally, as well as informally, to report on the progress of their projects throughout the summer. This was done by joint breakfasts and luncheons, which stimulated discussion and fostered interest in continuing research, within TCNJ as well as outside the College, and in graduate study. Each student group presented a summary of its research at the end of the summer program by poster, PowerPoint presentation, or student roundtable.

In biology, research was carried out under the direction of Jim Bricker, Jeff Erickson, Janet Morrison, Dennis Shevlin, Amanda Norvell, Marcia O'Connell, Charles Peterson, and Howard Reinert. In Dr. Bricker’s laboratory, students Elizabeth Janeczko and Tom Hare used a variety of molecular tools, such as PCR and DNA sequencing, to investigate the genetic health status of the corn snake, Elaphe gutatta, an endangered species in New Jersey. Students Amit Shah and Doug Smith performed studies of the neurotransmitter serotonin and the development of breathing behavior in mice with Dr. Erickson. Nicole Gerber, Purak Parikh, and Kevin Tierney looked at mechanisms involved in modulating the osmoregulatory response in crabs under the direction of Dr. Lovett. John Pennisi and Ray Shupak took part in Dr. Morrison and Dr. Shevlin's investigateion of the plant parasitic smut fungus Sporisorium ellisii in order to understand its interaction with an important local plant species, Andropogon virginicus. Tim Jarvela and Jordan Kaplan, students in Dr. Norvell’s lab, initiated a genetic screen in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster in order to identify new genes that are required for the production of correctly formed eggs. Anjali Mone and Kelley Pfieffer worked with Dr. O’Connell to investigate whether specific genes are subjected to translational control during zebrafish embryogenesis. Mike Pesa and Asha Shah, in Dr. Peterson’s lab, investigated the metabolic activity of several species of turtle eggs in order to understand how their physiology and ecology are integrated. Ashley Petit and Mackenzie Esch, the students in Dr. Reinert’s lab, performed a large-scale survey of the water quality and characteristics of potential habitats for the endangered queen snake, Regina septemvittata.

Research in the Chemistry Department was mentored by Donald Hirsh, John Allison, Georgia Arvanitis, and Lynn Bradley. Students Anne Szklarski, Xi Jun Chen, Catherine Campos, Heather Skiff, and Nicholas Vacirca worked with Dr. Hirsh, whose research includes the creation of a model system to study metal complexes and organic radicals that work in tandem to catalyze the production of commercial plastics and to synthesize the essential biochemical building blocks within our bodies. Rene Butler, Lauren Munoz, Erin Sigwart, and Patrick Czekanski participated in projects to determine the authenticity of items such as paper currency and passports and in fingerprint identification with Dr. Allison. Adam Clarke and Meryll Geherty had the opportunity to develop advanced synthetic organic laboratory techniques with Dr. Bradley in the synthesis of aziridine and
azetidine, starting materials for a model study to provide information for the total synthesis of sendaverine, a natural product containing the tetrahydroisoquinoline backbone. Chris Mecoli worked under the guidance of Georgia Arvanitis in modeling studies to help understand how structure influences the interaction of organic compounds or their metal complexes with biological target molecules.

Computer Science research took place within areas of interest of three computer science professors, Deborah Knox, Peter DePasquale and Monisha Pulimood. The unifying theme of information security was investigated in all projects. To support the theme, speakers from Merrill Lynch, ETS, and the NJ Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory provided insight into the approaches of handling information security in the corporate environment. Students Lauren Leonardis and Lester Wolfgang worked with Dr. Knox in the analysis of forensic computing of file systems, including secure file deletion and recovery. Kevin Centofanti and Jason Schramm researched community-based World Wide Web content filtering with Dr. DePasquale, applying Bayesian statistics to design strategies for filtering inappropriate web content. Jason Gionta and Jason Snyder worked with Dr. Pulimood in her research of internet programming languages with supporting applications on the GRID, investigating open source tools to coordinate and share computing, application, data, storage, or network resources across dynamic and geographically dispersed organizations.

Dr. Romulo Ochoa of the Physics Department mentored students Brandon Bentzley and Michael Richman. Their research focused on the use of Raman spectroscopy to obtain, in anon-contact process, the temperature of ZnSe semiconductors and computer modeling to study the fracture precursors in amorphous silica.

Additional information may be found at http://summerresearch.project.tcnj.edu/.

This summer project provided an intense and nurturing environment for scientific research by undergraduates. The project was made possible by the support of the Provost's Office and by funding from TCNJ and external grants, including National Starch & Chemical Company and Merck, and in cooperation with the New Jersey State Police. Housing arrangements were made by the Development Corporation.

Some of the projects resulted in work that will be continued this fall through mentored research and independent study. The School of Science looks forward to the continuation of this valuable project next summer.