By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Several Washington State University Tri-Cities students got to see first-hand how top-tier university research can impact their local community through the ���سԹ� Chancellor’s Summer Scholar Program supported by Washington River Protection Solutions.

Throughout the summer, selected students worked one-on-one with a university professor and graduate students to perform research pertaining to their degree interest. Each student receives funds to support their summer research projects from WRPS.

“Through the Chancellor’s Summer Scholar program, students pursuing a bachelor’s degree get the opportunity to be a part of intensive research that could positively influence the Tri-Cities community,” said Kate McAteer, vice chancellor for academic affairs at ���سԹ�. “Ranging from engineering, to the arts, to the sciences, there are a variety of opportunities for students to apply their skills in a real-world setting, which only further sets them up for success in their future career.”

This year, 10 students were selected for the program in the areas of computer science, the arts, materials engineering, bioengineering, environmental science, electrical engineering, and biological sciences.

Students were provided with $2,250 in funding to support their summer project, with the exception of one student group, who received $2,000 as a team. Many students also continue to work with their faculty mentors during the regular school year.

Willow of the Waste – Jared Johnson and Aaron Van Morris

Students Jared Johnson and Aaron Van Morris worked with Sena Clara Creston, clinical assistant professor of fine arts, to refine and re-engineer a robotic sculpture known as “The Willow of the Waste.”

The project is an designed to look like a tree, incorporating mechanical and electrical components. The tree is animated and interactive, with the branches slowly opening, closing and pulsating light to give the appearance of a living, breathing plant. Once the viewer approaches the tree, the branches open, inviting the viewer inside. The students are applying skills in circuit design, power distribution and coding from different inputs and outputs to improve upon an existing design. The interdisciplinary project combines engineering, computer science and the arts to create an interactive sculpture that also speaks to plastic waste, as it is made from discarded plastics like water bottles and shopping bags.

Flexible sensors for robotics – Mikaela Matkowski

Student Mikaela Matkowski worked with Amir Ameli, former assistant professor of engineering, to investigate the sensing behavior of 3d-printed sensors that can be used in a range of robotics.

She used a material called thermoplastic polyurethane with various weights of multiwalled carbon nanotubes to produce a material that has excellent conductive properties and reacts well to compression and stretching. She analyzed the pressure and touch sensing abilities, as well as the electrical resistance behaviors of the printed sensors. The sensors have potential application in robotics hands that, when used to touch a surface, have the ability to appropriately register contact of the hand to the object.

Refining a waste material for commercial bioproducts production – Yesenia Che

Student Yesenia Che worked with Bin Yang, associate professor of biological systems engineering and doctoral student Xiaolu Li to find a seamless and cheaper way to refine a high-value product in the biofuels creation process that is used for many commercial products.

Lignin, a primary material comprised in the cell wall of plants, is a large waste product in the biofuels creation process. Vallinin is a valuable product derived from lignin that can be used for a range of bioproducts. It is currently used in various fields, including food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. The price for the material, however, tends to be unstable due to cost and complicated procedures required for producing the material from lignin. Che worked with Yang to use a bacteria that degrades lignin and allows for the easier refinement and production of vallinin that doesn’t require the use of the whole plant cell for extraction – a process known as a cell free system. This process may lead to an effective technique for the production of natural vanillin at low cost.

Identifying nutrient limitations in Cascade Mountain Range for understanding nitrogen fixation – Jeannette Lilly

Student Jeannette Lilly worked with Sarah Roley, assistant professor of environmental science, and graduate student Erica Bakker to analyze nutrient limitation in the Cascade Range that could lead to better understanding of where nitrogen fixation occurs in freshwater streams in the Pacific Northwest.

Nitrogen fixation converts nitrogen gas into a nutrient that is essential for all life. While there has been extensive research on nitrogen fixation in the open ocean, estuaries and lakes, comparatively little research has been done on nitrogen fixation in freshwater streams. Nitrogen fixation typically occurs in nutrient-poor streams like those in the Cascades. It may be critical to supporting the food web, including insects and fish, in Cascadian streams. Jeanette established the nutrient status of the study streams, which helps to predict where this process is important.

Finding ways to reduce methane production using bioengineering – Tina Tran

Student Tina��Tran��is working with Birgitte Ahring, professor of biological systems and chemical engineering, and doctoral student Supriya Karekar on the bioengineering of cow rumen microbiota by bio-augmentation with selected microorganisms to reduce methane production from the rumen.

Ruminants such as cows and sheep are major contributors of greenhouse gas coming from the methanogens inhabiting the rumen. Methane is more than 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas compared to carbon dioxide. In the laboratory, they are working with rumen model systems and are trying to find ways to mitigate the problems of methane release by substituting methanogens with other and potentially more beneficial microorganisms. The specific focus is on homo-acetogenic bacteria, which potentially could replace methanogens in the rumen while producing beneficial products, which can promote livestock production.

Improving efficiencies of home heating and cooling systems – Arturo Gutierrez Larios

Student Arturo Gutierrez Larios worked with Mohamed Osman, professor of electrical engineering, to identify ways to increase the efficiency of home heating and cooling systems through the implementation of better temperature regulations systems.

Gutierrez Larios developed a concept based on what is known as the Internet of Things, where the internet can be extended to an infinite amount of applications through components like sensors and wireless communication between devices. His system implements multiple temperature sensors that are connected through a network, as opposed to utilizing a single temperature sensor as is common in homes today. A temperature controller receives information from the sensors in each room, and the controller sends commands to the network to adjust the airflow of each register based on comparisons made on the calculated temperature differentials. Temperature settings are managed through a smartphone app. The system helps minimize wasted energy in homes.

Studying jaw protusion in fish for insights into evolutionary changes in organisms – Ellie Barber and Danielle Ringo

Students Ellie Barber and Danielle Ringo are working with Jim Cooper, instructor of biology, to study why jaw protrusion does or does not occur during the development in fish that could lead to insights into how organisms evolve and when.

Fish develop different feeding biomechanics in their lifespan that determines their economic feeding niche and where they fall on the food chain. Using high-speed filming techniques, the team is working to pinpoint the precise phase during metamorphosis in which the feeding biomechanics of young fish begin to resemble that of adult fish with protrusile jaws. By using gene expression labelling and transcriptome comparative analysis, they hope to gain a clearer insight as to exactly how and why these morphological changes occur in the wild.

Determining impact of fungi on tomato plants – Javier Chavez Lara

Javier Chavez Lara is working with Tanya Cheeke, assistant professor of biology, to determine the impact of a type of fungi on the growth of tomato plants, specifically comparing highly-bred tomato plants with less-domesticated wild type varieties.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi forms symbiotic relationships with most plant species by colonizing plant roots to provide the plants with nutrients and water in exchange for carbon. Plants grown in conditions of high fertilization and other agricultural practices reduce the ability of the fungi to colonize their roots. Chavez Lara hypothesizes that the less-domesticated wild-type varieties will have a greater growth response with the fungi than the highly-bred tomato plants. The project will allow for the development of a model system to test mechanisms that regulate the level of the fungi colonization in plant roots.

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Six student projects were presented with $3,000 as part of the Chancellor’s Summer Scholars program to pursue research in academic fields including environmental and biological sciences, viticulture and enology, mechanical and electrical engineering and fine arts.

The Chancellor’s Summer Scholars Program offers students the opportunity to work collaboratively with a faculty mentor, developing skills to prepare them for a career in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) or STEM-related fields. The projects are funded by Washington River Protection Solutions, with Atkins also providing funding for an engineering heat transfer project that is indicated below.

Addressing nutrient pollution in the Yakima River watershed

Student Rhenton Brimberry is working with Sarah Roley, assistant professor of environmental sciences, to study the effects of seasonal irrigation flows on microbes and algae in the Yakima River watershed. Microbes and algae can mitigate nutrient pollution by removing and processing excess nutrients, but most of these assessments have occurred in the non-irrigated midwestern United States. In the irrigated West, seasonal irrigation flows influence nutrient quantity and quality, and so may influence microbial nutrient uptake, as well. By examining algal and microbial responses to nutrient inputs, this project can inform management of nutrient pollution in irrigated agricultural watersheds.

A new method to quantifying mycorrhizal fungi to assist in rebuilding damaged ecosystems

Student Megan Brauner is working with Tanya Cheeke, assistant professor of biology, to develop and test a new molecular technique for quantifying mycorrhizal fungi in roots and soil. The fungi, known as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, form symbiotic relationships with most plant species, and have been shown to improve native plant growth in disturbed ecosystems. However, quantifying mycorrhizal fungi from environmental samples remains difficult. Development of this technique will be useful for other fungal researchers and will allow further investigation into the effectiveness of mycorrhizal inoculations in ecological restorations.��

Effects of native and invasive plants on mycorrhizal colonization

Like Brauner, student Ella Krinitsyn, is working with assistant professor Cheeke on research pertaining to the use of mycorrhizal fungi to restore native plant populations. Her research focuses on on evaluating the correlation between the percentage of mycorrhizal fungi colonization and the percentage of native or invasive plants within sites they are hoping to restore at the Meyer’s Point Environmental Field Station in Olympia, Washington. The project will provide valuable information needed to find effective restoration strategies to improve the growth of native plants and mycorrhizal fungi in landscapes impacted by disturbances.

Manipulation of grape cluster thinning toward improving quality of wine grapes

Student Vince Hewett is working with Bhaskar Bondada, associate professor of wine science, to determine the effects of grape cluster thinning (tipping), removal of flowers and berries at different stages of grapevine development on fruit quality. Cluster thinning is a routine vineyard management practice intended to produce high-quality fruits by optimizing crop load, however, grape growers and wine makers are often not content with the fruit quality results of cluster thinning. The issue of poor fruit quality, despite taking thinning measure to improve berry composition, can be resolved by fine-tuning the cluster-thinning strategy.

Investigating heat transfer on a surface subject to nanoparticle coating

Student Abraham Martinez is working with Mohammed Noor-A-Alam, clinical assistant professor of mechanical engineering, to determine the effect that nanoparticles have on a standard heat transfer surface that can be applied to technology ranging from central processing units in computers to turbine systems where temperatures need to be maintained within a specific range. With the ongoing surge of nanoparticle research in various applications, there is little literature on the effect that nanoparticles have on heat transfer surfaces. The cooling of appliances that require heat transfer requires the design of a system that maximizes the amount of heat transfer between the components of interest and surrounding environment. Nanoparticle coatings on heat transfer surfaces can be used to enhance heat transfer.

Incorporating mechanical, electrical and artistic components to create “The Plastic Garden”

Students Amy Alvarado, Adriana Iturbe, Jared Johnson and Marsobyn Salalila are working with Sena Clara Creston, clinical assistant professor of fine arts and digital technology and culture, to blend their expertise in engineering and the arts to create a moveable and engaging “Plastic Garden” that responds to its environment and aims to evoke emotional expression from its viewers. Specifically, the team will spend the summer using 3D printers, laser cutters and engineering techniques to create the inner mechanics of flowers within the garden, which will open and close as to respond to their environment. Upon end completion, the garden will feature a range of mechanically-based plants and creatures that respond to their environment.