- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock student studies microplastics in Little Rock wetlands

Fri, 24 May 2019 12:56:12 +0000

Nearly 73 percent of all water in the Little Rock metropolitan area drains into a watershed located in the Fourche Creek wetlands. Harmful objects are often found within it, including small plastics that often go unnoticed but can have a major impact on the environment. Juliann Fiallos, a junior geology/biology double major from Ansonia, Connecticut, spent several months this spring examining the levels and impact of microplastics in the Fourche Creek wetlands. Microplastics are microscopic pieces of plastic that are released into the environment as plastic products slowly begin to break down. “Plastics are a modern product that take a significantly long time, longer than our own lifetimes, to break down,” Fiallos said. “Even though microplastics are so small, we’ve had plastics for long enough now that it begins to build up. We want to know how much we’re dealing with now.” During her research, Fiallos collected monthly samples of water and sediment from the wetlands to gain a better understanding of the overall water quality as well as the amount of microplastics present in both. As microplastics are increasingly used in everyday products, it’s expected that they will be found in increased levels in the wetlands. Because they break down so slowly, buildup occurs, which in turn can cause a myriad of issues for the environment as well as human health, Fiallos said. Dr. Laura Ruhl, associate professor in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Department of Earth Sciences, served as the faculty mentor for Fiallos, who gained invaluable field research experience. “I’ve learned that you definitely want to question,” Fiallos said. “The first part of finding an answer is knowing that you’re asking the right questions. You might be wrong and that’s okay. Our question in this case is whether these microplastics are being filtered through the wetlands, or if they’re staying and building up in them.” Aside from analyzing the level of plastics in the wetlands, Fiallos also studied other environmental forces. In particular, she looked at how storm systems affect water flow and trash build-up. Fiallos presented her research at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Works Expo on April 18, where she placed first in the physical science category. She offers the following advice for students who also want to become involved in the research process. “Don’t ever doubt yourself,” she said. “My parents never even graduated high school, and college seemed impossible to me for a long time. You know so much more than you think you know.”

2019 Research and Creative Works Expo Winners Announced

Tue, 14 May 2019 15:41:52 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock recently announced the winners of the 2019 Research and Creative Works Expo. Students presented more than 150 research and creative works April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center during the premiere student research event. Student projects were judged on the novelty and clarity of their research, the soundness of their methodology, the potential application of their findings, and the student’s ability to explain their project to an expert and lay audience. “This year’s expo was bigger and better than ever before, and was part of the first ever Research and Creativity in the Rock (RCR),” said Dr. Abhijit Bhattacharyya, interim vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School. “The RCR was an ensemble of four different college events and the expo. The presentations – posters, demonstrations and performance – were spectacular. Faculty, family, and friends turned out to celebrate the undergraduate and graduate winners of the expo in a wonderful ceremony on May 2.” The student winners, their faculty mentors, and projects include: UNDERGRAD��Vlog��ýTE WINNERS Computer Science/Information Science (Mariofanna Milanova, mentor for all awardees in this category)

1st Kajal Shukla, “Prediction of Coronary Heart Disease Using Machine Learning Models”
2nd Sam Willis, “Computer Vision System for Identifying and Quantifying Waste”
3rd Lamarcus Coleman, “Human Interaction with Multivariate Sentiment Distributions of Stocks Intraday”

Creative Work

1st Thomas Jackson (William Marshall), “Scenic Design for The Fringe Festival 2019”
2nd Jess Brasher (Stacy Pendergraft), “Performing Gender Queer”
3rd Emily Moore (Stephanie Thibeault), “Ephemeral”

Economics and Social Work

1st Emilia Rak (David Namir), “Change Your Days”
2nd Maximilian Holzmueller (Moiz Bhai), “Scaling a Small Business – The Use Case of Agrowponics”

Education

1st Krista Hancock (Kristina McAbee), “Poetry and Loss: a Unit Plan for High School”

Engineering/Engineering Technology/Construction Management

3-way tie for 1st
- Kassandra Castrillo, Parker Little, Caleb Renfroe, Garrett Wallace, and Isaac Martinez (Nick Jovanovich), “ASCE Deep South Environmental Event”
- Pablo Centeno (Srikanth B. Pidugu and Ashokkumar Sharma), “Pick and Place Robot”
- Li Morrow (Ashokkumar Sharma), “Design and Development of a Unique Transparent Fishing Tackle Box”

Health Science

1st Carol Bowerman (Nawab Ali), “Targeting Breast Cancer Cells Using Silver-Coated Gold Nanorods”
2nd Jessica L. Swatzel (Dana Moser), “Effects of Applying Brain Stimulation During Language Intervention”
3rd Elizabeth Jarrott, Michelle Henderson, Darleene Rua, and Christopher Tate (Leigh Snead), “Students’ Perceptions and Performance in Student-led Simulations”

Humanities

1st Cassandra Christ (Floyd Martin), “A Century of Violence: William Hogarth’s The Four Stages of Cruelty and the Cyclical Nature of Violence in Eighteenth-Century London”
2nd Nicole Ursin (Juliana Flinn), “The Collision of National Identity and National Archive Policy in Third Republic France”
3rd Emma Williams (Jana McAuliffe), “An Axiology of Public Philosophy: A Study in Public Intellectualism”

Interdisciplinary

1st Lauren Pafford and Cory Watson (Robin Neveu Brown), “Dancer of the Future”
Tied for 2nd ��
- 2nd Emelie Blennow (Casey Carder Rockwell), “Powdered Alcohol: The Ambiguous Nature of the Law Creates Barriers of Entry and Restricts Competitive Advantage for New Innovations”
- 2nd Grace Lytle (Floyd Martin), “Images of Empathy: Käthe Kollwitz’s Krieg Series”

Life Science

Tied 1st
- 1st Tyler Maxwell (Qingfang He), “De novo Biosynthesis of Resveratrol in Metabolically Engineered Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803”
- 1st Jessica L. Morris (Scott Woolbright), “Evaluating Variation in Soil Composition Among Habitats at the Little Rock Zoo”
2nd Paloma Salazar (Lisa Brents), “The Effects of P-glycoprotein inhibition on norbuprenorphine-induced neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)”

Physical Science

1st Juliann Fiallos (Laura Ruhl), “Microplastics in Fourche Creek Wetlands”
2nd Mandolin Harris (Laura Ruhl), “Evolution of Karst Spring Water in the Ozark Mountains: Impacts on Water Quality”
3rd Thuy Le (Noureen Siraj), “A Portable Nanosensor for Nitroaromatic Detection”

Service Work/Professional Application

Tied 1st
- 1st Madison Brown (Jeffrey Condran), “Presenting the 2019 Equinox Literary Magazine at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Portland, Oregon, March 2019”
- 1st Brandy Mimms (Stephanie Thibeault), “Deaf Can Dance”
2nd Kathryn Bates (Jeffrey Condran), “Funding Undergraduate Literary Magazines: An Investigation at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Portland, Oregon, March 2019”

Social Science

Tied 1st
- 1st Robin Freeman (Avinash Thombre), “Understanding Communication Strategies for Women Without Children”
- 1st Alex Palmer (John Hendon), “Medical Marijuana and Federalism”
Tied 2nd ��
- 2nd Noah Currey (Krista Lewis), “Aerial Archeology: Identifying the Mosques at Al Baleed”
- 2nd Solomon Davis (Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm), “Making Human Lives Better: How Material and Symbolic Reparations Improve Post Civil War Peace”

GRAD��Vlog��ýTE WINNERS Computer Science/Information Science

1st Coenrad de Jager and Marinda Huisamen (John Talburt), “Using Hadoop to Solve Diverse Big Data Challenges in the Industry”
2nd Tuja Khaund, Billy Spann, and Richard Young (Nitin Agarwall), “Blog Farm Detection Using Social Network Analysis and Social Cyber Forensics Informed Methodologies”
3rd Zachary Stine (Nitin Agarwal), “Machine Learning and the Legislative Evolution of Ukraine”

Education

1st Marcus Johnson (Ibrahim Duyar), “Examining Determinants of Teachers’ Collaboration: A Closer Look at the Influence of Principal Leadership and Teacher Work Attitudes”

Engineering/Engineering Technology/Construction Management

1st Trigun Maroo (Andrew Wright), “A Novel Gripping System for Corrugated Box Grasping and Manipulation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”
2nd Abbas Al-Wahhamy (Hussain Al-Rizzo), “Efficient Evaluation of Massive MIMO Channel Capacity”
3rd Gregory Riley (Hirak Patangia), “Extending Life of Electric Vehicle Batteries Using a Novel Battery Voltage Equalization Technique”

Humanities

1st Mary Melissa Miller (Floyd Martin), “Marriage Rituals in a Renaissance Italy and the Significance of the Cassone”

Interdisciplinary

1st Kalyca Spinler (Rene Shroat Lewis), “Improving Student Outcomes in Introductory Earth Science Courses Using Active Learning Strategies”
2nd Quinshell Smith, Nawzat Saadi, Khulud Alotaibi, and Laylan Hassan (Tansel Karabacak), “Enhancing the Antibacterial Efficacy of Aluminum Foil by Nanostructuring its Surface Using Hot Water Treatment”

Life Science

1st Emilie Darrigues (Alexandru Biris) “Interaction of Drug pH-Responsive Gold Nanorods in ‘Big’ 3D Pancreatic Microtumors Using Fluorescence, Photoacoustic and Photothermal Microscopies”
Tied 2nd
- 2nd Molly White and Bryan White (Alexandru Biris), “Selectively Targeting Cancer Cells Using Nanotechnology”
- 2nd Ilham Kadhim (Fusheng Tang), “Osh6 Controls Membrane Trafficking Through its ORD Domain”

Physical Science

1st Amanda Jalihal (Noureen Siraj), “Highly Thermal Stable and Photostable Ionic Materials and Nanomaterials for Solar Cell Applications”
2nd Anil Parameswaran Thankam (Anindya Ghosh), “Synthesis of Guar Bean-Based Thermo-responsive and Injectable Hydrogels for Drug Delivery and Bone Cell Growth”
3rd Hind Jawad (Alexandru Biris), “Low-Cost, Portable, Pulsed Diode Laser Based Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry for Early Detection of Circulating Clots to Prevent Stroke Disease”

Social Science

1st Sajni Kumpuris (April Chatham-Carpenter), “Combating the Opioid Crisis: A Comparative Study of Opioid Education for Older Adults in Medically Underserved Communities”

Rak promotes mental health, suicide prevention with inspirational mugs, website

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 19:36:42 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock student is promoting mental health awareness with one inspirational smiley-faced mug at a time.�� Emilia Rak, a junior social work major, knows what it’s like to live with mental health disorders and the challenges and stigma that can come from people who don’t understand. “I’ve struggled with mental health issues for several years, and I would become severely depressed,” Rak said. “I had a very good friend, Renee. Her mother passed away a few years ago. She loved coffee, so at her funeral they had a coffee bar. Often, when I was feeling depressed, Renee told me that I had to have a coffee date with her mom in the morning. It was my promise not to harm myself until morning. For many years, my promise to my good friend was the only thing that kept me alive.” Years later, when Rak’s friend continued to struggle with her mother’s death, she began making mugs for her friends who needed a boost to their spirits. The mugs, which she makes at The Painted Pig in Little Rock, are hand-painted with bright colors, smiley faces, and inspirational phrases. “I just started making mugs and giving them to friends of mine who I thought were having a hard time. I love making presents for people,” she said. “While I was doing this, I was engaged in my own art therapy. The mugs take between 2-6 hours a piece to paint. While I was making mugs, there was no room for dark thoughts or to question my own self-worth.” When Rak received a Signature Experience Award from ��Vlog��ý Little Rock last fall, she was grateful for the opportunity to take her project further. “People gave me feedback that my gift saved them from having a bad day or that this simple gift really had an impact in my life,” she said. “The opportunity came up to get the award, and I wanted to really make a difference with the award. I created the website () and started providing content for my website and social media.” Rak was one of more than 100 ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students who received a $1,000 grant to conduct original research, creative works, and community service projects this semester as part of the Signature Experience Award program. Her faculty mentor is Dr. David Namir, professor of social work. She will present her research at the Research and Creativity in the Rock event on April 18 in the Jack Stephens Center. Along with her website, Rak began making more mugs with the goal of delivering them to places that promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. She gave mugs to the Auxiliary to Arkansas State Hospital, Inc. to support their art therapy program, Creative Expressions, as well as the electroconvulsive therapy suite at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Psychiatric Research Institute. She also presented mugs to her classmates in her social work classes and asked them to please “pay it forward” by either gifting the mug to someone who was struggling or to keep the gift and “pay it forward” by having a positive, productive day that started with a smile.

Emilia Rak creates these inspirational mugs to raise awareness for mental health issues and suicide prevention.

Rak feels the mugs will especially help people with depression and other mental health disorders as well as people who have suffered a major loss in life. “When you wake up, you feel like you have nothing to keep you motivated,” she said. “All you have to do is look at this mug to make you feel better. People have told me that the mugs make them smile and laugh. It’s been proven that if you physically smile, you feel better. This is a simple way for me to address a serious health problem.” Rak will continue to provide mugs and is accepting orders from anyone who would like a mug, but she would like to prioritize organizations that promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention. “I truly enjoy making people happy,” Rak said. “This is something that is simple and effective. I’ve opened a for anyone who would like to donate, and I’d like to keep doing this for as long as I can.” Rak is on track to graduate in May 2020. She hopes to give back by working as a social worker and eventually an art therapist. “This started out as art therapy, and this is why I am enthused about my future career because I know it works,” Rak said. “I want to make an impact in any way I can. Who knows? I might be painting mugs until I’m 110 years old.” In the upper right photo,��Emilia Rak pets her service dog, Rooster The King of the Universe. Photo by Benjamin Krain.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock to showcase Student Research And Creative Works

Janea Snyder — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 19:59:42 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will showcase the best of its students’ research and creative works on Thursday, April 18, at the 2019 Student Research and Creative Works Expo from noon – 3 p.m. in the Jack Stephens Center. The 2019 expo is part of the university’s Research and Creativity in the Rock event, which includes the expo as well as individual showcases and demonstrations within the university’s colleges. At the expo, more than 200 undergraduate and graduate students will display��projects spanning research in computer science/information science, creative work, economics, education, engineering/engineering technology/construction management, health science, humanities, interdisciplinary, life science, physical science, service work/professional application, social science, and social work. Recipients of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Signature Experience Awards and Student Undergraduate Research Fellowships from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education are among the students showcasing their work. The event is free and open to the public. “The Student Research and Creative Works Expo really captures the diversity, breadth, and calibre of our students and is a testament to the expertise and engagement of their faculty mentors,” said Lawrence Smith, assistant professor in ��Vlog��ý Little Rock’s Theatre Arts and Dance Department and co-chair of��the Student Research and Creative Works Committee. “It gives you a great insight to the creativity and intellectual rigor that is the heart of our work at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.” Students from every college within the university are participating this year. “Each year, students’ research projects affirm the difference they and their mentors make on a wide range of relevant world issues, such as pollution, breast cancer, and social injustice,” said Elizabeth Ann Lee, assistant professor of nursing, who is also co-chair of the event committee. “Likewise, students’ amazing creative works enrich the arts, and their professional activities make our community a better place to live.” In addition to the expo, individual colleges within the university will showcases their programs, research, and resources as part of Research and Creativity in the Rock. The College of Social Sciences and Communication��will host��a two-day mini-conference beginning Wednesday, April 17, in the Donaghey Student Center that features interdisciplinary panels with faculty, staff, and students. An online schedule of events is available. The College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences will showcase its science laboratories to high school students who��will see science experiments in the Departments of Chemistry, Biology, and Physics and Astronomy and tour campus. Dance and music performances begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall; an Explore the Majors fair begins at 11 a.m. in the Maners-Papas Gallery; and a tour of Windgate Center for Art and Design begins at 11:30 a.m. The College of Education and Health Professions will have an open house from 10 a.m. – noon in the Bailey Alumni Center to showcase faculty and student research as well as information and activities from the STEM Education Center. The George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology will host an open house for visiting high school students from 9-11:30 a.m. “This is a phenomenal showcasing of the work done by ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students, faculty, and staff,” said Dr. Abhijit Bhattacharyya, interim dean of the ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Graduate School. Community members, including high school students, have also been invited to visit the events. Transportation will be provided between the venues for the convenience of visitors. A map of trolley stops is available online. For more information about any of the events, contact Tiffany McFadden-Kidd, Graduate School recruitment and communications coordinator, at tlmcfadden@ualr.edu or 501-569-3088.

Research award application deadline extended to March 29

Janea Snyder — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 20:37:55 +0000

The application deadline for the Karen Russ Memorial Award for Excellence has been extended to March 29. Ottenheimer Library established the $500 award in honor of the late Karen Russ, who served as the government documents librarian for more than 20 years and assisted ��Vlog��ý Little Rock students and faculty with research, specializing in government information, data, and statistics. This award will be given to a ��Vlog��ý Little Rock student who presents at one of the events showcased during the Research and Creativity in the Rock on April 18. Applications are due on March 29.For additional information, contact Carol Macheak at cimacheak@ualr.edu. Photo of Karen Russ

��Vlog��ý Little Rock accepting applications for expanded Student Research and Creative Works Expo

Ajani Oyindamola — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 18:03:13 +0000

Registration is open, and applications are being accepted for the expanded Student Research and Creative Works Showcase on Thursday, April 18.�� The 2019 Student Research and Creative Works Expo will be part of a campus-wide research event, “Research and Creativity in the Rock,” that will include the College of Social Sciences and Communication Research Showcase as well open houses at the College of Engineering and Information Technology, College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences, and College of Education and Health Professions. This year’s showcase will be in the Jack Stephens Center from noon to 3 p.m. All currently registered ��Vlog��ý Little Rock graduate and undergraduate students are eligible to present their research or creative work as posters, exhibits, installations, performances, or oral presentations individually or as a group. Students may register their project for inclusion in the 2019 showcase here. Priority registration is March 8.��Students who submit a finalized poster by this date will have their printing costs covered through the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. Once their proposal has been approved by the SRCW committee for presentation at the Expo, students will receive instructions for submission of the electronic copy of their poster. This event is an opportunity for students to showcase their research and creative efforts. Students can submit their project to one of 13 categories: computer science/information science, creative work, economics, education, engineering, health science, humanities, interdisciplinary, life science, physical science, service work/professional application, social science, and social work. Applicable submissions include, but are not limited to, theses and dissertations, honors and capstone projects, independent study projects, and course-related work. Questions or comments should be directed to the Student Research and Creative Works Committee Co-chairs Elizabeth Ann Lee at ealee@ualr.edu or Larry Smith at ldsmith11@ualr.edu. In the upper right photo, applied science doctoral students, from left, Diamond McGehee, Zoya Faruqui, Kamal Pandey and Sudha Shanmugam, with Dr. Mariya Khodakovskaya, right, are researching the heat tolerance of rice. Photo by Benjamin Krain.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock student studies microplastics in Little Rock wetlands