Twenty-four students at the University of Missouri-Rolla claimed a share of $12,000 in prize money during the campus’ first-annual "Undergraduate Research Day," which was held at UMR April 13.
Seventy students entered poster or oral presentation projects in four different research categories. The categories were engineering, humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, and management and information systems.
The conference was co-sponsored by Brewer Science Inc. of Rolla and the UMR Office of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies. Participants were judged by UMR faculty members on composition, achievement and presentation.
Cash prizes were awarded to oral and poster contestants in each of the four research categories for first place ($750), second place ($500) and third place ($250).
A comprehensive list of winners is available at: http://campus.mst.edu/ugs/URDAwards.pdf. The following UMR students claimed first-place prizes for their projects:
Engineering oral session Peter Cross, a senior in aerospace engineering from Ash Grove, Mo., for a project on the design and development of an unmanned aerial vehicle with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.
Humanities and social sciences oral session Robert Haselwander, a senior in English from Villa Ridge, Mo., for a study on the husband character in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s "The Yellow Wallpaper."
Natural sciences oral session Ryan Parish, a senior in computer science from Webster Groves, Mo., for a presentation titled "New technology does old tricks."
Management and information systems oral session Grant Mabie, a senior in management and information systems from St. Louis, for a presentation about customer service attitude surveys for bus and rail passengers.
Engineering poster session Tessa Russell, a senior in mechanical engineering from Jefferson City, Mo., for her research on solar car tires.
Humanities and social sciences poster session the group of Amy Bone, a senior in psychology from Potosi, Mo.; Rebecca Rose, a senior in history from Chamois, Mo.; Amiee Jenkins, a senior in history from Sullivan, Mo.; Konya Hutsell, a senior in history from St. James, Mo.; and Julian Pearson, a senior in history from Rolla, for a historical look at frontier news in the late 19th century.
Natural sciences poster session David Heeszel, a senior in geology and geophysics from Springfield, Mo., for his research on"proterozoic orgogenic belts" in Southern Africa.
Management and information systems poster session Melissa White, a sophomore in business and management systems from Ottumwa, Iowa, for a presentation about on-board customer attitude surveys.