04/24/2009

Grad Student Poster Winners Named at OARDC Annual Conference

Writer:

Kurt Knebusch
knebusch.1@osu.edu
330-263-3776

Source:

Steve Slack, OARDC Director
oardc@osu.edu
330-263-3701

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) yesterday (April 23) honored seven Ohio State University graduate students, winners of the Graduate Student Poster Competition at the center’s 2009 Annual Research Conference in Columbus.

Ph.D. Category

•  First place: Mijung Kim, Entomology, “RNA Interference (RNAi) of Ribosomal Protein S3a (rpS3a) Suggests a Link Between This Gene and Arrested Ovarian Development During Adult Diapause in Culex pipiens”; David L. Denlinger, advisor.

•  Second place: Rockendra Gupta, Food Science and Technology, “Pressure Assisted Thermal Processing Effects on Lycopene Stability and Isomerization in Tomato Juice”; V.M. Balasubramaniam, advisor.

•  Third place: Gregory Hostetler, Food Science and Technology, “Effects of Juice Processing on Anti-inflammatory Flavonoids in Plant Foods”; Steven Schwartz, advisor.

M.S. Category

• First place: Annemarie Nagle, Plant Pathology, “Potential Association of Phytophthora cinnamomi with White Oak Decline in Southern Ohio”; Pierluigi Bonello, advisor.

• Second place: Christian Chiriboga, “Effects of Imidacloprid (Merit 2F) on Physiology of Woody Plants and Performance of Twospotted Spider Mite, Fall Webworm and Imported Willow Leaf Beetle”; Dan Herms, advisor.

• Third place (tie): Darlene Florence, Environment and Natural Resources, “Removal of Heavy Metal Pollutants (Copper, Chromium and Lead) by a Bi-phasic Rain Garden Ecosystem”; Warren Dick, advisor. Sarrah Hassel, Food Science and Technology, “Application of a Handheld Infrared Sensor for Monitoring the Distribution of Vitamins and Minerals in Fortified Corn-based Snacks”; Luis Rodriguez-Saona, advisor.

The program recognizes outstanding posters — presentations that use text and graphics to summarize research projects — by OARDC-supported master’s-degree and doctoral students.

The first-place winners in both categories received $500; the second-place winners, $300; the third-place winners, $150.

Connie Britton, Linda Lobao, Larry Phelan, Luis Rodriguez-Saona, Gonul Kaletunc, Renukaradhya J. Gourapura and Hua Wang, all OARDC faculty and staff members, were the judges.

OARDC (http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/) is the research arm of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and is the largest university agbioscience research center in the nation.