Summary of Research Day 2001
In Spring 2001, the Graduate School hosted Duke's First Annual Graduate Student Research Day. The purpose of Research Day is to acknowledge and show appreciation for the scholarly contributions of graduate students to the university by giving them an opportunity to present their research to a broad audience. The event was held on Tuesday, April 3, 2001 in the Bryan Center as part of Graduate Student Appreciation Week. Graduate students were invited to give oral and poster presentations based on research done in any of the broad discipline areas (i.e., biological sciences, engineering, humanities, physical sciences, and social sciences). All of the presenters received feedback from faculty, certificates of recognition, and gift certificates for their participation.
Twenty-six students from nineteen of Duke's graduate departments came out to share their research. A large number of students, faculty, and family members of the participating graduate students were in attendance. The presentations were diverse and wide-ranging and covered topics such as the fiber optic stethoscope, the rise in nitrogen levels in the Neuse River during Hurricane Floyd, religion and spirituality in HIV/AIDS communities, Jacob Lawrence's artistic response to Jim Crow, and Latin parodies of Proust.
The students' reactions to Research Day were extremely positive. Several participants benefited from the presentation practice and faculty feedback, and said that the Research Day provided an excellent "dress rehearsal" for future presentations. One student remarked enthusiastically, "I thought it was a wonderful event! I felt very honored and appreciated. Thank you for letting me know how valuable I am to Duke!"
The names of this year's Research Day presenters are listed here, along with the titles of their presentations. Next year's Research Day is scheduled to take place Wednesday, March 20. We urge all graduate students to take part in this opportunity to share your accomplishments with the Duke community.
"The research in which you have engaged, and for which today you are being honored, is the major aspect of graduate school, in my view. It is sometimes easy to forget, in the rush of daily life, the deadlines to meet, the little political and personal dramas that go on among your fellow students and professors, that what graduate school is really 'about' is the research you learn to do and to write about in the style of your respective disciplines. Whether you spend your professional careers inside or outside of academia, the research skills and interests you have developed here at Duke should carry you far."
Elizabeth Clark
John Carlisle Kilgo Professor of Religion
PARTICIPANTS IN THE FIRST ANNUAL GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH DAY
(View the abstracts in PDF format by clicking on the names highlighted. These documents are saved in PDF format. Download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. With this program, you can view and print PDF documents that you have downloaded.)
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Biology
Renée A. Duckworth, Mary T. Mendonça, & Geoffrey E. Hill
Condition-dependence of testosterone may explain its opposite effects on disease in captive and free-living male house finches.
Cell Biology
Ryan M. Anderson & John Klingensmith
The organizer factors Chordin and Noggin promote anterior development in mouse.
Christine Campbell & Haifan Lin
PIWI is involved in both somatic and germline development in the early drosophila embryo.
Elizabeth A. Carroll & John Klingensmith
Characterization of a novel mouse gene, cordon-bleu, expressed in embryonic axial and organizing structures.
Neurobiology
Merri J. Rosen & Richard Mooney
Refinement of selectivity by local inhibitory circuits in the zebra finch song nucleus HVc.
Pathology
Justin P. Hart & S.V. Pizzo
Investigating the Role of alpha-2 macroglobulin in Antigen Processing and Presentation: Does alpha-2 macroglobulin mediate intracellular antigen trafficking?
Pharmacology and Molecular Cancer Biology
Ann M. Winter-Vann, Barton A. Kamen, & Patrick J. Casey
A novel pathway for cell growth inhibition by antifolates: the role of isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferase.
HUMANITIES
Art History
LaNitra Walker
The longest inning: Jim Crow strikes out with Jacob Lawrence.
Music
Marc Faris
"The Chicago sound": genrefication of "place" in underground rock music.
James Harkins
Brightening: a quartet for saxophones with electronics.
Religion
Esther Chung
Sensory Experience: Function of Memory in Augustine's Eucharistic Doctrine.
Romance Studies
Mariana Past
Proustian parody in El Recurso del Metodo: Carpentier and the question of exorcism.
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
Biomedical Engineering
Anja Brau, L.W. Hedlund, & G.A. Johnson
The Fiber Optic Stethoscope: An MR-Compatible Cardiac Monitoring and Gating System.
Thomas E. Lynn, M.D.
Interactive clinical practice guidelines for handheld devices.
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Ross M. Tabachow
Hurricane-loaded soil: effects on nitric oxide emissions from soil.
Computer Science
Michail G. Lagoudakis
"Do the Right Thing": Algorithm Selection Using Reinforcement Learning.
Mathematics
David Ambrose
Well-posedness of vortex sheets with surface tension.
Mechanical Engineering
Yufeng Zhou
Modification on dornier hm-3 lithotripter to reduce tissue injury.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Business Administration
Ilia Tsetlin, Aleksandar Pekec, & Ronald M. Harstad
Commitment to demand tracking in IPO and similar auctions.
Cultural Anthropology
Margot Weiss
Queering race and sex/uality: SM and the possibilities of queer anthropology.
International Development Policy
Sheikh Morshed Jahan
Privatization: Reconciling Economics with Dynamics.
Anupam Sircar
Reform in the electric power supply industry in India: 1991-2001.
Psychology
Angela L.H. Buffington & Francis J. Keefe
Coping with cognitive difficulties among persons with fibromyalgia syndrome.
Stacie Craft & Nancy E. Hill, Ph.D.
Parent-school involvement, school behavior, and children's school preformance: mediated relationships and the role of ethnicity.
Elizabeth D. Krause, Tamar Mendelson, & Thomas R. Lynch
Relation of childhood emotion invalidation and adult psychological distress: the mediating role of experiential avoidance.
Sociology
R. Corey Remle
Religion and Spirituality in HIV/AIDS Communities: A Literature Review.
Please note that in each of the preceding author citations, the student presenter's name is listed first. This ordering is intended to aid in student name recognition and does not necessarily reflect the order of authorship.
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Last updated: 08/04/2005