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The Engineering School Undergraduate Research and Design Symposium is an annual presentation and selection of the best of the Undergraduate Research theses. Each finalist in the competition delivers a 15-minute oral presentation, and three awards are given at the end of the symposium. Listed below are the finalists, the winners, and the members of the selection commmittee.

1st Place - Elizabeth Horahan

2nd Place - Alicia Evangelista

3rd Place - Carlos Sevilla

Design, Development and Testing
of a Thoracic Exoskeletal
Breathing Apparatus (TEBA)
Utilizing Active Cellular Materials


Major: Chemical Engineering
STS 401 and 402 Advisor: Ingrid Townsend
Technical Advisor: Dana Elzey (MSE)

Novel Effects of Nitric Oxide on Cardiac Muscle Myosin: Finding a Mechanism for Heart Disease



Major: Biomedical Engineering
STS 401 and 402 Advisor: Kathryn Neeley
Technical Advisor: William Guilford (BME)

Investigating the use of Gold Nanospheres for the Selective Killing of Cancer Cells by Absorption of Laser Radiation


Major: Biomedical Engineering
STS 401 Advisor: Rosalyne Berne
Technical Advisors: Leonid Zhigilei (MSE) and Edward Botchwey (BME)

Implementation of an Appropriate Household Water Purification System in Tourou, Cameroon

The first-place team consisted of members (majors, technical advisors):

Jason Manto (Biomedical Engineering, Roseanne Ford)
Kate Clopeck (Aerospace Engineering, Dana Elzey)
Carly Krause (Environmental Science, George Hornberger)
Dara Phillips (Civil Engineering, James Smith)
Lauren Foster (Systems Engineering, Garrick Louis)
Brooke Yamakoshi (Civil Engineering, Julie Zimmerman)

STS advisors for this project included: Peter Norton, Catherine Baritaud, Helen Benet-Goodman, Kathryn Neeley and Rosalyn Berne.

2006 Symposium External Judges:
Guy Babineaux, Sperry Marine
Allison Graviss, Lockheed Martin
Terrence Leslie, Micron Technology

2006 Symposium Internal Judges:
Maite Brandt-Pearce, SEAS
Sydney Dorsey, UVA BOV
Erik Fernandez, SEAS
Dean Aylor, SEAS
Dean Johnson, SEAS
John Lack, past chair and URDS Resource Extraordinaire

2006 Selection Committee:
Scott Barker - ECE
Brett Blackman - BME
David Green - ChE
Cornelius Horgan - CE
Richard Kent - MAE
John Lack - ECE
Bryan Pfaffenberger - STS
Paul Reynolds - CS
Preston White - SIE
Rachel Adams - student member
Dexter Galozo - student member

Congratulations to all of the other finalists, whose excellence was clearly recognized by this year's selection committee: Asli Ayverdi, Brandon Babcock, Jeffrey Boyd, Lindsey Brown, Chris Cutrona, Michael Hsu, Steven Jansen, Marc Schwartz, Parker Tresemer, Joseph Wyatt, William Yang

Congratulations to all the faculty advisors who enabled these students to achieve the truly outstanding research and engineering that was on display.

Also, the hard work and support of the following people was greatly appreciated:
Barbara Dudley - responsible for the many behind the scenes miracles
Shayn Peirce and David Green - Symposium Session Chairs