Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium Held at Bloomsburg University

Bloomsburg University hosted the 7th Annual Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium on August 2, 2017. The keynote address, "Murder, Malpractice, and A Really Big Oil Spill: My Strange Academic Career", was given by Bloomsburg University mathematics professor, Dr. Scott Inch.

Students representing Bloomsburg University, Bucknell University, Geisinger Health System, and Susquehanna University presented posters accompanied by two-minute oral discussions. Prior to the symposium, a team of judges evaluated the abstracts and selected the top abstract in each of four categories: (1) social sciences and humanities, (2) natural sciences and engineering, (3) biological sciences, and (4) clinical/translational.

Two Bloomsburg University submissions were selected as top abstracts in their category, and each presented a 10-minute oral presentation at the symposium.  Here are the winners:

"Sublethal Effects of Imidacloprid on Motor Responses in Honey Bees" by Joshua Petersheim, Heather Llewellyn, Dr. Cynthia Surmacz and Dr. John Hranitz

Joshua Petersheim presenting his talk, "Sublethal Effects of Imidacloprid On Motor Responses in Honey Bees"

and "Shedding Red Light on Ultra-Cold Strontium Gases" by Rachel Yenney.

Rachel Yenney presenting her talk "Shedding Red Light on Ultra-Cold Strontium Gases"

Awards were also presented for top poster in each category, as well as an audience favorite. Three Bloomsburg University students received these awards:

Biological Sciences - "Antisense Oligonucleotide Knock-Down of GNG5 and GNG11 in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) Cells" by Glenn Maneval, Jr. and Dr. William Schwindinger

Glenn Maneval, Jr.

Natural Science and Engineering - "Geochemical Assessment of Abandoned Mine Discharges on Wisconisco Creek, Schuykill and Dauphin Counties, Pennsylvania" by Mitchell Lenker and Dr. Cynthia Venn

Mitchell Lenker

Audience Favorite - "Identifying the prevalence of mutations affecting the splicing process in the DiscovEHR cohort and their disease associations" by Dhir Gala, Raghu Metpally, Sarathbaby Krishnamurthy and David Carrey.

Dhir Gala, center, with symposium organizers