Discover 2024 showcases COS students' excellence in research

Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 • Greg Pederson :

The impressive depth and breadth of innovative research being done by UTA College of Science students was on full display during the College’s annual Discover Student Research Symposium.

Discover 2024, held on April 19, provided students with the opportunity to present their research projects to the campus community. A week of online judging was followed by an in-person poster symposium in the Chemistry and Physics Building and oral presentations by finalists in the undergraduate and graduate divisions in the Planetarium. The event culminated with an awards ceremony.

This year’s graduate division winner is Julieta Trejo, psychology. Her project was titled “ECT beyond psychological disorders: the anti-nociceptive effect of high-intensity electrical brain stimulation in the formalin-pain model.”

“The amount of invaluable research that is happening at UTA is amazing to witness and be a part of,” Trejo said. “There were numerous incredible graduate entries for the symposium, and to have my research recognized is an overwhelmingly gratifying experience. Winning the first-place award makes the long hours and many sacrifices entirely worth it.

“There are many individuals who have poured into me over the years, especially those from the Department of Psychology. I would not be the researcher that I am today without their barrage of support.”

This year’s undergraduate winner is Omar Elkassih, biology. His project was titled “Designing, Cloning, and Testing Genetically Engineered Metabolic Pathways to Produce Therapeutics in Gut Bacteria.”

“It felt amazing to win first place, but more than that, it was fantastic to be surrounded by such talented researchers and like-minded students,” Elkassih said. “Also, being able to be judged and receive feedback from scientists and professionals working in healthcare really puts into perspective how our basic science research can help inspire the translational science that affects people’s lives.

“This event has reinforced my love for science and medicine, and I plan to continue working hard to hopefully contribute meaningfully to the field.”

Final results from Discover 2024 include:

Graduate division

1st — Julieta Trejo, psychology, “ECT beyond psychological disorders: the anti-nociceptive effect of high-intensity electrical brain stimulation in the formalin-pain model.” Faculty mentor: Yuan Bo Peng

2nd — Kendall Hendrix, chemistry and biochemistry, “Crosslinking of a commercially available HfC polymeric precursor.” Faculty mentor: Peter Kroll

3rd — Haritha Asokan Sheeja, chemistry and biochemistry, “Synthesis of Peptide-PEG Conjugates for Double Network Hydrogel Formation.” Faculty mentor: He Dong

4th — Karissa Cordero, Earth and environmental sciences, “Cooling Ages of Hydrothermal Explosions in Yellowstone National Park.” Faculty mentor: Nathan Brown

5th — Khitam Zuhair Bader Aqel, mathematics, “Unraveling Rodent Brain Signals During Euthanasia with Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA).” Faculty mentor: Pedro Maia

Undergraduate division

1st — Omar Elkassih, biology, “Designing, Cloning, and Testing Genetically Engineered Metabolic Pathways to Produce Therapeutics in Gut Bacteria.” Faculty mentor: Justyn Jaworski

2nd — Darsh Gandhi, mathematics, “A Computational Framework for Patient-Specific Vascular Modeling.” Faculty mentor: Mette Olufsen, N.C. State University

3rd — Debby Sunday, chemistry and biochemistry, “Light-activated natural product extracts for Photodynamic Inactivation of Bacteria.” Faculty mentor: Sherri McFarland

4th — Ana Ledesma, biology, “Functional study of the testis-specific nuclear transport retrogenes, Ntf-2r and Ran-like, in Drosophila melanogaster.” Faculty mentor: Esther Betrán

5th — Aastha Arora, psychology, “Mindfulness Engagement and its Relationship with Mental Health in College Students.” Faculty mentor: Tracy Greer

“Congratulations to all the award recipients and to all the students who participated in the Discover symposium this year,” College of Science Dean Morteza Khaledi said. “I look forward to this event every year because our students are doing incredible work and Discover is a great way for them to showcase their highly advanced and innovative research. We are immensely proud of them all.”

College faculty and staff served as judges for the online portion of the event. Judges for the finalist presentations included Khaledi; Fred Kashefi, UTA alumnus (M.S., Bioengineering) and former College of Science/College of Engineering faculty member; Kent Krabill, College of Science alumnus (B..A., Psychology) and law partner at Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, LLP; Dr. Ignacio Nuñez, COS distinguished alumnus (B.S., Biology) and retired obstetrician/gynecologist; and Div Sharma, UTA alumnus (M.S., Human Resource Management) and data analytics consultant with Capitalize Consulting.

This year 107 students participated in the symposium – 67 graduate students and 40 undergraduate students.

The Discover website includes results from this year’s event and the full gallery of 2024 student entries, which will be on display until next year’s symposium. All of the 2024 video entries can also be viewed on the College’s YouTube channel, as well as videos from the past three Discover symposia.

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