There is a lot of graduate programs to explore at UAB and our 2017 REUs had the opportunity to talk with program representatives in a variety of disciplines at UAB. The Graduate Fair was deemed a success by our REUs and they felt that they learned a great deal about their options (whether here at UAB or elsewhere.
Live From the 2017 Summer Expo
We are so proud of Class of 2017 REUs and the outstanding work that they did in the lab, their PowerPoint presentations, research papers and of course showcasing the culmination of their hard work at the 2017 Summer Expo. A huge part of our program is the experience of presenting their research to a broad audience. The annual Expo gives them just such an opportunity to share that knowledge through being well prepared to explain their work and answer questions posed to them by judges and other Expo attendees.
The Research Experiences for Undergraduates at UAB ended on July 21, 2017, but not without capturing remnants of a successful 10 weeks working along side of UAB faculty mentors and grad student mentors. Take a look at these photos of the REUs in the labs with theri mentors.
Congratulations to Nicolas Merino, Sabrina Siu and Sherilynn Knight. Nicolas, Sabrina and Sherilynn, three of our REU participants won 1st and 2nd place winners in Engineering and Physical and Applied Sciences at this year’s 2017 Summer Expo. Their 10-week research experience at UAB was sponsored by National Science Foundation (Grant Number DMR # DMR 1460392) – Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) award to UAB
First place winner in Physical and Applied Sciences, Nicolas Merino’s presented a poster titled 
“Theranostic Systems of Polymers and Tannic acid for Ultrasound Therapy Drug Release.” Nicolas is a Junior at Georgia College & State University. He spent 10 weeks working in Dr. Eugenia Kharlampieva’s lab in the Chemistry Department along with her graduate student Aaron Alford. As always, special thanks to Dr. Kharlampieva and Aaron for their commitment to the REU program.
Second place winner in Physical and Applied Sciences, Sabrina Siu presented a poster titled “Solid-state Reaction Synthesis of Gd:BaZrO3 for the Production of Pulse Laser Deposited Thin Films for Fuel Cell Applications.” Sabrina is a senior at University of Florida (Gainesville). This year she was mentored by Dr. Renato Camata’s (Physics) lab along with his graduate student Eric Remingtong. Dr. Camata has had a long standing commitment of mentoring participants in our REU program and we certainly thank and appreciate his dedication.
REU participant Sherilynn Knight won 2nd place in Engineering category for her poster 
titled “Retrieval Analyses of Wear and Debris in Oxidized Zirconium Total Knee Arthroplasty.” Sherilynn is a Sophmore at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She worked in Dr. Alan Eberhardt’s (Biomedical Engineering) lab this summer along with graduate student Thomas Ballard. Dr. Eberhardt is among the ranks of our longstanding REU mentors and as with all of our mentors, we value his continued support.
The Physics NSF REU program has been in continually in existence since 1997 and that’s an accomplishment that Program Director, Dr. Yogesh K. Vohra is quite proud. Again, congrats to our winners and much success to all of our 2017 participants.
REUs Aissah Kaba and Sherilynn Knight
The Department of Biomedical Engineering has written a wonderful article highlighting the Department’s research activity during the summer for which Aissah Kaba and Sherilynn Knight play very active roles.
You can check out the article here.
2016 REU Expo Winners
Congratulations are in order for two of our Research Experiences for Undergraduate participants. Both of them placed 2nd in the Expo’s poster session on Thursday, July 21, 2016.
REU Julian Dover placed 2nd in the Engineering category. He won for his research titled Alternative Replacement for Birmingham, Alabama Concrete Storm Drain Covers. His mentors were Dr. Selvum Pillay and Mr. Benjamin Willis (Material Sciences and Engineering). Julian is a Junior at Chicago State University.
REU Jacob Norman placed 2nd in the Physical Sciences category. He won for his
research titled Theranostic Polymer Agents for Ultrasound Therapy and Controlled Drug Release. His mentor for the summer was Dr. Eugenia Kharlampieva (Chemistry). Jacob is a sophomore bioengineering student at the University of California Berkeley.
Both participants were supported by National Science Foundation (Grant Number DMR # DMR 1460392) – Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) award to UAB
Congratulations Julian and Jacob and all of the other Expo w. Great job.
You can see more pictures from the Expo here.
