OSU in Tulsa Research Day to showcase array of student, faculty projects

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Determining the effect of food insecurity and household chaos on child development. Seeking ways to improve the quality of research in pediatric oncology. Investigating changes in the DNA sequence length in the Martes Americana animal species since the Pleistocene Epoch. And examining the contributions of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Emergency Volunteer Service) program at Oklahoma A&M College, now known as Oklahoma State University, to the war effort during World War II.

These topics represent more than 50 research projects to be presented at the 2016 OSU in Tulsa Research Day on Feb. 18-19 at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.

The annual two-day event reveals the numerous creative and innovative research projects undertaken by students, faculty and staff at OSU-CHS and OSU-Tulsa. A variety of disciplines are represented at the event, including biomedical sciences, engineering, anatomy and cell biology and more.

“Research Day is an exciting event that enables student and faculty researchers to share the diversity of research that is ongoing at OSU in Tulsa,” said Amanda Benn, OSU-CHS health care administration program manager and Research Day organizer. “Research is a measure of the depth of education and learning that occurs at a university and an indicator of the institution’s commitment to excellence.”

The event also will include a keynote speech by a national expert on prenatal toxin exposure and a Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition.

The Three-Minute Thesis preliminary contest challenges master’s and doctoral students to present a compelling pitch of their thesis or dissertation topic and its significance in just three minutes using only one PowerPoint slide. The winner will compete for the OSU-wide title at the Student Union Little Theater in Stillwater on March 3. The OSU in Tulsa competition will begin at noon on Friday, February 18, in D107.

Rebecca C. Fry, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and expert on prenatal toxic exposure, will be the keynote speaker at noon on Friday, Feb. 19 in D-107.

She will discuss her research on how prenatal exposure to toxins results in detrimental health outcomes in children. She is specifically researching potential genetic alterations in children resulting from exposure to toxins during pregnancy.

The event also will feature oral research presentations and a research poster contest. Posters will be set up both days in Founders Hall.

In addition, high school juniors and seniors who participated in OSU-CHS’ Oklahoma Science Training and Research Students (OKstars) summer internship program also will present research and scientific posters during Research Day. The OSU-CHS OKstars program enables high school students to participate in cutting-edge research in biomedical and forensic sciences with professional researchers.

For more information on OSU in Tulsa Research Day, visit the Research Day website. For more information, contact Benn by email at amanda.benn@okstate.edu or call 918-561-1402.