Lincoln Andreasen

 

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Hometown
Springfield, Illinois

 

Major
Biology

Department/College
Biology/Science

 

Project Title
The Effect of Age on the Egg-Laying Capacity of Onion Thrips

 

Description

Onion Thrips, Thrips tabaci, are a common insect pest of onion and other plants in North America. Thrips can reduce biomass, especially bulb size, by feeding on leaves of onions. They are especially effective pests because of their ability to reproduce quickly in large numbers via parthenogenesis. Eggs are laid within the tissues of the plant host, and once hatched, larval and adults stages feed on and injure the plant. With much still to learn about onion thrips, any research shedding light on the life history of thrips will help to better understand and combat their destructive tendencies. My research focused on how the factor of age affects the egg-laying capability of onion thrips. I predicted that one-week old adults would laid more eggs than newly emerged adults.

 

Faculty Mentor
Dr. Diane Alston

 

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Katie Brown

 

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Hometown
Ogden, Utah

 

Major
Dietetics

Department/College
Nutrition and Food Science/ College of Agriculture

 

Project Title
Changes in Behavior among USU Freshmen resulting from nutritional intervention

 

Description
As a freshman I began working with Dr. Heidi Wengreen on the Freshman Health Study which tracked changes in diet, weight, and behavior changes among USU freshmen. Recently I spearheaded efforts to continue work among first year students by introducing an education intervention in which incoming freshmen were taught a brief workshop entitled “Healthy Eating 101”during the freshman orientation course, Connections. With the help of two of my student colleagues, and under the supervision of Dr. Wengreen, I designed and taught this curriculum to more than 500 students during two weeks in August of 2007. In addition, Dr. Wengreen’s research team and I are working to track changes in weight, diet, and other behaviors among the group who received the nutrition education intervention as well as a group who did not receive nutrition education. We plan to analyze these results and to present this information at the annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo of the American Dietetic Association in fall of 2008. 

Faculty Mentor
Dr. Heidi Wengreen

 

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Kevin Cope & Kyle Heywood

 

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Hometown
Kevin - Salem, Utah
Kyle - Morgan, Utah
 

Major
Crop Science & Biology

 

Department/College
Plants, Soils, & Climate/Agriculture

 

Project Title
Differential Gene Expression in Ovules of Apomictic and Sexual Boechera

 

Description
Apomixis is a type of asexual reproduction which produces gametes (sex cells) with an unreduced chromosome number, eliminating the need for fertilization.  We wanted to know which genes coded for the proteins that regulate apomixis.  We have been analyzing the genes found in ovules (where the modified gametes are produced) of three species of Boechera (two apomicts and one sexual).  We have found many genes that are differentially regulated and expressed between these closely related species.  We continue to gain a better understanding of these genes and hope to use them in agricultural practices.

 

Mentor
Dr. John Carmen

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Scarlet Fronk

 
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Hometown
Providence, Utah
 

Major
English

 

Department/College
English/HASS

 

Project Title
Studying medieval illuminated manuscript and writing a Medieval Musical

 

Description
Translating the flyleaf of a fifteenth-century prayer book from French to English and researching the origins of the family who owned the book. Also, writing a musical that is set in the Middle Ages.

 

 

Mentor
Dr. Christine Cooper Rompato

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Christopher Hall

 

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Hometown
Logan, Utah

 

Major
Electrical Engineering

 

Department/College
Electrical and Computer Engineering/College of Engineering

 

Project Title
Open Source Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

 

Description

As an undergraduate student I have been able to work amongst graduate students for the Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems, which conducts research into robotics. In the past year my research has been related to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) – planes that can be preprogrammed to fly around by themselves and take aerial images of the ground. This research has provided me with a variety of opportunities, as I have been involved in most every aspect of the Center’s UAV work: I have learned to fly remote control planes, built remote control airplanes, written programs that use sensor data from the UAVs to process aerial imagery to be used for real-world applications, played with and learned about cameras, near infrared cameras, and thermal cameras, designed and built my own a Micro Aerial Vehicle – a smaller version of our UAVs, while presenting my research in a variety of places.

 

Mentor
Dr. Yangquan Chen

 

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Jeremiah Harris

 

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Hometown
Ogden, Utah

 

Major
Economics & Finance

 

Department/College
Economics/Jon M. Huntsman School of Business

 

Project Title

 

Description
For my project, I work with Dr. Bartkus and the Research Group within the Jon M. Huntsman College of Business. The project deals with risk management techniques using probability distributions and Monte Carlo simulations. Essentially we are diving into the cash flow statements for a project and attaching a probability distribution to all the variables in the calculations. This allows us to repeat the scenario thousands of times with a computer simulation. The output will provide the company with a reliable chance of loss. From a company’s perspective it allows them to know what chance the projects has of success.

 

Mentor
Dr. Kenneth Bartkus

 

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Aubree Nielson

 

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Hometown
Nephi, Utah

 

Major
Elementary Education

 

Department/College
School of Teacher Education and Leadership / Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services

 

Project Title
Advanced Readers At Risk

 

Description

 

Mentor
Dr. Scott Hunsaker

 

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Rebecca Tanner

 

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Hometown
Spanish Fork, Utah

Major
Music Therapy

Department/College
Music/Humanities, Arts, and Social Services

  

Project Title
Stress Reduction Through Vibration

Description
A man named Inge Bohoeme from Germany designs and markets huge wooden chairs with strings strung across the back. When these strings are played, it sends vibrations through the body of the person sitting in the chair. He sent one of his chairs to Professor Hearns in hopes that I could help do some research with it . This semester I have been collecting baseline data from fellow college students sitting in the chair. I have them sit in the chair while I play the strings on the back, and they tell me about the experience. I have found that the majority of the times, these vibrations cause the subject’s anxiety level to go down. Along with these sessions, I have been doing research with acoustical vibrating bodies, and how vibro-acoustics have an impact in healing and wellness. I have also been researching other acoustic vibratory instruments and what use they’ve had in therapeutic situations. My goal is to connect the vibrations and acoustics of the chair to stress reduction in college students.

Mentor
Dr. Maureen Hearns

 

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