Six Biomedical Engineering labs hosted thirteen high school students over the summer. Every year the BME faculty open their laboratories and participate in this program. They partner the high school students with undergraduate and graduate students and offer the students an opportunity to not only gain knowledge and learn about research but discover the creative and innovative side of engineering. Get the full story here.
Florida International University
Summer Research Internship Symposium
August 9, 2019
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
GL 100
PROGRAM
9:00 am Welcome Remarks
DeEtta Mills, PhD
Program Director, Summer Research Internship
Program Director, MARC U*STAR
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Director, International Forensic Research Institute
Deputy Director, Global Forensic and Justice Center
Umer Rahman
Office of Engagement
Juan Carlos Espinosa, PhD
Dean, Honors College
9:30 am Lucianna Valle De La Rocha and Gabriela Valdes
Mentor: Dr. Anthony McGoron
Department: Biomedical Engineering; College of Engineering and
Computing
Title: The Fabrication of Organically Modified Silica Nanoparticles
for Targeted Chemotherapy
9:45 am Marcos Soto and Ariana Rodriguez
Mentor: Dr. Sharan Ramaswamy
Department: Biomedical Engineering; College of Engineering and
Computing
Title: Methods in Cell Culture for Valve Mechanobiological Studies
10:00 am Kelsea Scott and Shreyanshu Ray
Mentor: Dr. Joshua Hutcheson
Department: Biomedical Engineering; College of Engineering and
Computing
Title: Developing a Method to Quantify the Gross Mechanical
Properties of Mouse Aortic Valve Leaflet Tissues
10:15 am Miguel Perez and Gianni Tipan
Mentor: Dr. Ranu Jung
Department: Biomedical Engineering; College of Engineering and
Computing
Title: Evaluate the Role of Sensorimotor Integration in Executing
Activities of Daily Living Using Functional Near-Infrared
Spectroscopy
10:30 am Rachelle Gomez-Guevera, Alejandro Jackson, and Shania Mair
Mentor: Dr. Ranu Jung
Department: Biomedical Engineering; College of Engineering and
Computing
Title: Construction of a Robotic Hand
10:45 am Refreshment Break
11:00 am Jacob Lopez
Mentor: Dr. Jessica Ramella-Roman
Department: Biomedical Engineering; College of Engineering and
Computing
Title: Ex Vivo Investigation on Correlating Birefringence and Blood
Pressure
11:10 am Daylin Crespo
Mentor: Dr. Anuradha Godavarty
Department: Biomedical Engineering; College of Engineering and
Computing
Title: 3D Model Used to Measure Wound Depths & Validation of a
Portable, Hand-held Non-contact Tissue Oxygenation Measurement
Device
11:20 am Rolando Casas
Mentor: Dr. DeEtta K. Mills
Department: Biological Sciences; International Forensic Research
Institute, College of Arts, Sciences and Education
Title: Collection of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) For Early
Plant Disease Detection: A Comparison Between Passive and
Dynamic Sampling Techniques
11:30 am Elizavetta Stetsenko
Mentor: Dr. DeEtta K. Mills
Department: Biological Sciences, International Forensic Research
Institute, College: Arts, Science, and Education
Title: Exploration of Various DNA Polymerases for Enhanced PCR
Amplification
11:40 am James Cannon
Mentor: Dr. Matthew DeGennaro
Department: Biological Sciences; College of Arts, Sciences, and
Education
Title: Determination of Genes Responsible for Blue Mesogleal
Protein in Cassiopeia xamachana
11:50 am Michelle Proenca
Mentor: Dr. Jamie Theobald
Department: Biological Sciences; College of Arts, Sciences, and
Education
Title: Flies Make More Steering Errors When Flying at Faster
Speeds
12:00 pm Lunch – Sponsored by The American Heart Association
1:00 pm Ana Pereira
Mentor: Dr. Konstantin Bukhryakov
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry; College of Arts, Sciences
and Education
Title: Synthesis and Reactivity of Organometallic Iron Complexes
1:10 pm Aaliyah Fuller
Mentor: Dr. Konstantin Bukhryakov
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry; College of Arts, Sciences
and Education
Title: The Synthesis of XPHOS
1:20 pm Danielle Cooner
Mentor: Dr. Yuan Liu
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry; College of Arts, Sciences
and Education
Title: Genotyping of Friedreich Ataxia Mice Using Polymerase
Chain Reaction
1:30 pm Valentin Mujica
Mentor: Dr. Jaroslava Miksovska
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry; College of Arts, Sciences
and Education.
Title: Zn+2 binding to Neuronal Calcium Sensor (NCS) Downstream
Regulatory Element Antagonist Modulator (DREAM).
1:40 pm Carlos Santana
Mentor: Dr. Joongho Moon
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry; College of Arts, Sciences
and Education
Title: Functionalized PEI as a Nucleic Acid Delivery Agent
1:50 pm Sophia Leng
Mentor: Dr. Francisco Fernandez-Lima
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry; College of Arts, Sciences
and Education
Title: The Investigation of Nucleosome Structure with Ion Mobility
Mass Spectrometry
2:00 pm Refreshment Break
2:15 pm Sophia Calero and Kelly Alvarez
Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Rehage
Department: Earth and Environment; College of Arts, Sciences,
and Education
Title: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Fish: Comparing Two
Standardized Methods for Determining Fish Community
Assemblage
2:30 pm Hannah Aziz
Mentor: Dr. Rene Price
Department: Earth and Environment; College of Arts, Science, and
Education
Title: Chemistry of Surface Water and Groundwater in Dade-
County
2:40 pm Dayana Martinez and Gabriela Villar
Mentor: Dr. Angela Laird
Department: Physics; Center for Imaging Science; College of Arts,
Sciences, and Education
Title: A Meta-Analysis of Aberrant Brain Activity in Psychopaths
2:55 pm Brandon Lara and Alejandro Sandoval
Mentor: Dr. Lorraine Bahrick & Elizabeth Edgar
Department: Psychology; College of Arts, Sciences, and Education
Title: Infant Attention to Audiovisual Synchrony in Speech Predicts
Childhood Working Memory and Visual-Spatial Abilities
3:10 pm Kevin Roman
Mentor: Dr. Anthony Steven Dick
Department: Psychology; College of Arts, Science and Education
Title: Bilateral FAT predicting executive function in 4- to 7-year-
old children
3:20 pm Judges Confer
Alumni Presentations
3:45 pm Closing Remarks & Awards Presentation
Dr. DeEtta Mills, Program Director
Amy Reid, Program Coordinator
Asfa Siddiqui, Program Assistant