GradExpo Research Poster Winners Announced

The Graduate Student Government has announced the names of winning presenters at last week’s 2011 GradExpo, a showcase of end-of-the-year research summaries and presentations from 128 graduate students this year.

In the intermedia category, winners were:
First place: Pieter Tryzelaar for his piece “Monsanti’Os”
Second place: Carolyn Spies for her piece “Duck and Cover”
Third place: Richard Corey for his piece “The Gorsedd”

The oral presentation division:
First place: Emma Schultz (forest resources) for her presentation “Analyzing Growth Dynamics of Eastern Pine Advance Regeneration”
Second place: Rebecca White (history) for her presentation “Comparative Materialism: Mother’s Pensions in Maine and New Brunswick 1910 – 1945”
Third place: Megan Patterson (ecology and environmental science) for her presentation “Negative Effect of Phostrol on Colorado Potato Beetles”

The PechaKucha division:
First place: Ann Speers (resource economics and policy) for her presentation “Is Knowledge Linked with Action? Evidence from Household Conservation Behavior”
Second place: Megan Wibberly (resource economics and policy) for “Mainer’s Power Up: Tradeoff’s Between Wind and Water”
Third place: Patrick Spinney (electrical engineering) for his presentation “Next Generation DNA Sequencing”

In the Poster presentation division:
First place: Monoj Raja (spatial engineering) for “Indoor Navigation for Low Vision and Blind Users”
Second place: Jeffrey Earles (forest resources) for “Assessing the Environmental Performance of Ethanol, Acetic Acid and Wood Panels Co-Produced in a Forest Biorefinery”
Third place: Yosef Manik (forest resources) for “Attribution Life Cycle Assessment of Palm Bio-Diesel”

Participants included 66 in the poster division, 41 in the oral presentation division, 12 in the Intermedia/Fine Arts division and 9 in PechaKucha. More than 50 faculty members participated as judges, and an estimated 400 faculty, staff and graduate students attended over the two-day period. The expo represented the broad spectrum of research and innovation at UMaine according to Kurt Klappenbach, vice president of the Graduate Student Government and chief expo organizer.

Klappenbach expressed appreciation for major financial sponsors of the GradExpo, which included the Graduate Student Government, President Robert Kennedy’s office, the Offices of Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Vice President for Administration and Finance, the Dean and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and VWR, Lonza, Pierce, KPL and Thermo as business sponsors.

Contact: Kurt Klappenbach at kurt.klappenbach@umit.maine.edu