Oklahoma State recognizes Wentz Research Project Scholars
Monday, April 25, 2011
The prestigious Wentz Research Project scholarship of $4,500 per year helps outstanding undergraduates prepare for graduate study or national competitions. With this award, students outline a research project and paper that can be completed in one academic year, and work with a faculty mentor. In addition to the research awards, Wentz also sponsors general leadership scholarships worth $2,750 each, music awards, and a special category of awards for non-traditional students who have overcome significant obstacles to work on their degrees.
“OSU has always owed much to the Wentz Foundation for decades of generous programming that has helped countless students,” said Bob Graalman, director of Scholar Development, the office that manages Wentz Research. “Being able to conduct high level research for several years now has made it possible for our best students to compete for major awards, be admitted to the best graduate schools, and acquire excellent jobs. This program shows why.”
At Friday’s event, awards of $250 were presented to three Wentz Scholars for their poster displays. The winners were: Henry Hartmann, Stillwater philosophy senior, “On Polarization of Public Opinion”; Katie Haning, Allen, Texas chemical engineering senior, “Investigating How Drug Properties Play a Role in the Release Characteristics from Drug Delivery Systems”; and Daniel Ede, Broken Arrow civil and environmental engineering senior, “Effects of Stress and Strain on Concrete Blocks Used as Infrastructure in Developing Countries.” Judges for the awards were Assunta Martin of ELI, and Jennifer Garrett, Nelli Kimler, Jamie Sieber, Lee Miller and Brian Strecker from Nomadics.
The Wentz Scholarships were established in 1926 with a $50,000 endowment gift that
was five times larger than the sum of all other student loan funds at what was then
Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College.
Before the poster presentation awards were given out, the OSU Serenity String Quartet,
performed two songs. Two students who played in the quartet were Wentz Music Scholars.
Also on the program were Bob Sternberg, OSU Provost, who spoke on how research can
affect students’ lives, as it did his; and Patricia Houston, Wentz administrator,
who spoke about Mr. Wentz’s life and contributions to society, and how the Wentz fund
got started and is used today in several different areas.
Students who received Wentz General Scholarships, Non-Traditional Scholarships, Music Scholarships, and the Ponca City Scholarship also were recognized.
The Wentz Project Scholars and the subjects of their research were:
- Jamie Andrews, Social Sciences/Education Business, “An Assessment of the Economic Impact of OSU Graduates on the Oklahoma Economy”;
- Evan Booher, Agriculture/Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematic, “Monitoring Microinvertebrate Populations as a Tool to Measure Impacts of Management Practices on Sustainable”;
- Kelsie Brooks, Biololgical/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Effects of Truncations in the Soluble G Protein of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (HRSV) on Infectivity”;
- Shayla Barnett, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Effect of Invasive Tamarix on Soil Salinity in Riparian Areas of Oklahoma”;
- James Caswell, Social Sciences/Education/Business, “ Kinesthetic Experience in Visual Memory Tasks”;
- Patrick Coit, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Genetic variation of the internal transcribed spacer regions of Cytauxzoon felis in domestic cats from Oklahoma”;
- Trey Cole, Engineering/Technology, “Continuous Statistical Data Analysis of an EKG and iPhone Integration”;
- John Cooper, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Cyclization Studies to Prepare Agents to Treat Cancer”;
- Claisissa Craige, Agriculture, “Dietary Effects on Insulin and IGF-l Levels in Growing Horses - new: Dietary Effects on Insulin and Glucose in Growing Horses”;
- Jonathan Crossley, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Special Values of L-Functions”;
- Amanda Curtis, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Mutational Analysis of Deoxycholate Binding Site on IpaD from Shigella flexneri”;
- Cale Darling, Social Sciences/Education Business, “The Influence of Icon Perception on Investment Decision-Making”;
- Jonathan De Los Santos, Social Sciences/Education Business, “Influence of Parenting Behavior on Interpersonal Dysfunction”;
- Daniel Ede, Engineering/Technology, “Effects of Stress and Strain on Concrete Blocks Used as Infrastructure in Devleoping Countries”;
- Connor Ferguson, Agriculture, “Control Methods for Herbicide Resistant Cheat and Itlaian Ryegrass in Winter Wheat”;
- Kody Franklin, Agriculture, “Hormone Regulation of Wnt Pathway Gene Expression in an Ovarian Cancer Cell Line”;
- Michael Gatlin, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Blue Catfish (i. furcatus) Gut Passage as a Vector for the Dispersal of Invasive Zebra Mussels (D. ploymorph)”;
- Jared Gipson, Engineering/Technology, “Small Scale Solar Powered Stirling Engine Development”;
- Matthew Grant, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Synthesis of Agents for the Trestment of Brain Disorders”;
- Alesia Hallmark, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Botany is the Modern Age: Creating an Interactive Key to the Asteracea of Oklahoma”;
- Katie Haning, Engineering/Technology, “Investigating How Drug Properties Play a Role in the Release Characteristics from Drug Delivery Systems”;
- Logan Hanni, Agriculture/Engineering/Technology, “Bio-Sand Filtration for Third World Communities”;
- Henry Hartman, Humanities/Arts, “On Polarization of Public Opinion”;
- Kalan Holbrook, Agril/Engr/Tech, “Characteristics of native Oklahoma Mircoalgae in the Removal of Pollutants from Flue Gas”;
- Jacob Keeling, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Effects of Post-Traslational Modifications on the Kar9 Protein”;
- Stephanie Kline, Social Sciences/Education/Business, “Psychopathic Traits, Empahty, and Objective Assessment of Emotion”;
- Katharine Lasley, Biological/ Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “The Effect of Selenium on the Bone Calcium Restoration of Mother Mice After Nursing”;
- Justin Lollman, Social Sciences/Education Business, “Assessing the Race Issue: An Analysis of Jim Crow Politics at Oklahoma's Constitutional Convention”;
- Mikayla Marvin, Agriculture/Engineering/Technology, “Water Contamination Through Macropores”;
- Lydia Meador, Agriculture, “Effect of genetic modifications on antioxidant production in canola seeds”;
- Laura Merriman, Engineering/Technology, “Effectiveness of Riparian Buffer Zones on Subsurface Phosphorus Transport”;
- Amanda Neujahr, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Investigating the Dynamics of the Acute Phase Response in Zebra Finches: an Analysis of Plasma Iron and Zinc”;
- Sarah Oppel, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “The Missing Link in Synechocystis”;
- Qualla Parman, Agriculture/Engineering/Technology, “Physical Modeling of Bioretention Cells”;
- Mrinalini Patil, Social Sciences/Education/Business, “The Effect fo the Age of Acquisition on Trilingual Word Translation”;
- Kevin Roehm, Engineering/Technology, “Examining the Viability of an Antimicrobial Coating for use on Prosthetic Surfaces”;
- Wyatt Sharber, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Morphometric and Molecular Phylogenetic Investigations of Asclepias pringlei (Greenm.) Woodson, a Poorly Understood Subtropical Milkweed”;
- Jaron Soulek, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Regulation of PLGF by shear stress in human vascular cells”;
- Jenifer Van Schuyver, Social Sciences/Education/Business, “Relationaship difficulties in college students with ADHD is mediated by working memory deficits”;
- Markus Vasquez, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “Algebraic Graph Theory”;
- Maria Vera, Engineering/Technology, “Testing the Effect of High Glucose Concentration on Retinal Cell Stability”;
- Stephanie Watkins, Agriculture, “Assessing Genetic Diversity Among Sorghum Germplasm and Breeding”;
- Claire Wilson, Biological/Physical Sciences/Mathematics, “New Phosphate Absorption Blocker for Dialysis Patients”;
- Amelia Wilson, Engineering/Technology, “Ultrasonic frost breaker for compact microchannel heat exchangers”;
Current Wentz board members are OSU President Burns Hargis, chair; Stan Lybarger, president and CEO, Bank of Oklahoma; James C. Orbison, chair of the Oklahoma Lottery Commission and a senior shareholder in one of Oklahoma’s largest law firms; and Tom Muchmore, Ponca City News publisher. Trish Houston, CPA of Houston Wealth Management, serves as administrator.
Pictures from the event and winners located at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ostatenews/5654033262/in/set-72157626574908576.