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Grad Expo

About Grad Expo

The Grad Expo is an all day event where Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences graduate students from a variety of disciplines present papers and posters to their fellow students, faculty, and other members of the Pitt community. This event provides the opportunity for graduate students to gain experience in presenting their research as well as fostering interdisciplinary communication amongst the departments and programs within the School of Arts and Sciences. It is an opportunity for students from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines to be exposed to practices and concepts which, while possibly foreign to their field, might nevertheless enrich their work and certainly their academic experience at The University of Pittsburgh.

Time and Location

This year's Grad Expo took place throughput the day on Thursday, March 21, 2013 in the William Pitt Union. We thank everyone who was involved in this year's Grad Expo! It was a huge success thanks to the work of many people, presenters and volunteers alike.

Grad Expo 2013 Outstanding Presenters

Outstanding presenters are listed in alphabetical order by first name. This year's outstanding presenters were:

  • Poster Session A:
    • Aniruddha Sasmal, Chemistry: Development of Novel Synthetic Methodology towards Automated Oligosaccharide Synthesis
    • Christine Cucinotta, Biological Sciences: Investigating the Role of the Nucleosome in Determining Chromatin Modifications
    • Christopher Amrich, Biological Sciences: Structure of the Cdc73 C-domain and its Role in Paf1 Complex Recruitment
    • Patrick Straney, Chemistry: Robust, Bottom-Up Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles for Scalable Manufacturing
  • Poster Session B:
    • Daniel Kwak, Chemistry: Novel Chemical Effectors in Regulating Acinetobacter baumannii Pathogenesis
    • Lisa Limeri, Biological Sciences: Sensory Biases and the Maintenance of Color Polymorphisms: Viewing the Colias ‘Alba’ Polymorphism through the Male Visual System co-Author: Dr. Nathan Morehouse
    • Matthew Schell, Physics & Astronomy: Are the Remnants of Historical Type Ia Supernovae Consistent with Sub-Chandrasekhar Mass Explosions?
    • Susan VanDerhei, Psychology: Risky Business: The Relation Between Time Spent with Peers and Risky Behaviors in Impulsive Teens
  • Poster Session C:
    • Danielle Joel, Psychology: Gender Differences in Risk Perceptions of Very Low Nicotine Content Cigarettes
    • Debamitra Das, Biological Sciences: Investigating the Molecular Mechanism of Neural Tube Closure Defects in ENU Mutant Mice and the Role of Shroom:Rock Signaling Module in it.
    • Laura Samuelsson, Psychology: Self-Reported Snoring and C-Reactive Protein among Midlife Women
    • Tao Li, Chemistry: Systematic Pore Expansion in Mesoporous Bio-MOFs
  • Panel 1:
    1. Bobak Karimi, Geology and Planetary Science: Using a Geophysical Model to Estimate the Static Coefficient of Friction and Cohesion on a Central Portion of the North Anatolian Fault East of the Marmara Sea
    2. Elay Shech, History and Philosophy of Science: Is Death Harmful to the Person Who Dies?
    3. Gumilang Aryo Sahadewo, Economics: Eliminating the Fuel Subsidy in Indonesia: Designing Alternative Policies and A Behavioral Approach of Assessing Households Preferences Among Them
    4. Jonathan Shold, Music: Why Listen to Animals? The Human-Animal Limit in Blended New Age Nature Recordings
  • Panel 2:
    1. Adeetee Bhide, Psychology: Vowel Awareness in Marathi-English Bilinguals
    2. Sara Gulgas, Music: “Summertime”: A Critical Analysis of Pluralism, Appropriation, and Signifying in Janis Joplin’s Lullaby
    3. Woden Kusner, Mathematics: Packing Cylinders With High Aspect Ratio
  • Panel 3:
    1. Christiana Molldrem Harkulich, Theatre Arts: I Say "Look Left" So You Don't Look Right: Guiding Gaze in the Sensually Subversive City
    2. Dave Bauer, Molecular Biophysics & Structural Biology: Herpes Virus Genome, The Pressure is On
    3. George Meindl, Biological Sciences: Floral Metal Accumulation Alters Plant-Pollinator Interactions
  • Panel 4:
    1. Ariel Nereson, Theatre Arts: Revising a History of Subjection in Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company’s The Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin/The Promised Land
    2. Jason Ng, Asian Studies: How Social Media Handled the Chinese Communist Party's 18th National Congress: A Statistical Analysis of Internet Censorship on Sina Weibo before and after the 2012 Election
    3. Michal De-Medonsa, History and Philosophy of Science: A Defense of Reduction to Physical Science: Why Fodor's Multiple Realizability Fails
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