2017 Undergraduate Research Symposium

US symposium judges — John Schnake, BS ’89, Corey Correnti, BS ’85, OXE President Byeongjin Kang, and John Bassett, BS ’72.

On Friday, thirteen students participated in the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Thanks to our symposium judges this year: John Schnake, BS ’89, who is corporate director of process analyzers at Endress+Hauser Group; Corey Correnti, BS ’85, retired executive from BP and currently consultant to energy companies; and John Bassett, BS ’72, also retired, having worked in petroleum refining and the mining industry, most recently as Vice President of Operations for Molycorp and president of Seadrift Coke.

US symposium 1 — Edwin Zen discusses his work with the judges.

First place winner was Edwin Zen of the Rao Group with his presentation, “Selection for enhanced growth yield strains of Escherichia coli in xylose via emulsion-based encapsulation.”

Second place went to Moeen Meigooni of the Shukla Group with, “Molecular Perspectives on Agrochemical Control of Drought Resistance.”

Third place was a tie. Those winners included the team of Omotola Okesanjo and Robert Schneider of the Guironnet Group with “Topology Control of Bottlebrush Polymers” and Zaid Al-Bardan of the Yang Group with “High performance oxygen evolution catalysts for water splitting in acidic electrolytes.”