Cognition and neuroscience doctoral student Marisol Moreno placed third in the poster competition for her research on the potential role of an antibody regulating sensory neuron cells in patients reporting chronic neck pain.
Graduate students at The University of Texas at Dallas recently presented their research at the PhD Student Poster Competition and Art Showcase, an annual event that highlights research and provides students with the opportunity to share their scholarly work with the campus community.
The event showcased projects from more than 70 students, and attendees voted for their favorite presenters. Six winners were determined from the nearly 500 votes cast, and cash prizes of $600, $400 and $200 were given to the first-, second- and third-place winners of the both poster competition and the art showcase.
Students from the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, and the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) competed in the event.
The poster competition’s first-place prize was awarded to Rafah Falah, a molecular and cell biology doctoral student, for research on the role of chronic inflammation in patients with breast cancer tumors resistant to a common hormone therapy. Second place went to Waris Khuwaja, a molecular and cell biology doctoral student, for research on the bladder immune mechanisms against uropathogenic E. coli infections. Third place went to Marisol Moreno, a cognition and neuroscience doctoral student, for work researching the potential role of an antibody regulating sensory neuron cells in patients reporting chronic neck pain.
This year also featured an inaugural art showcase, which was added to include more students from different disciplines. First place went to Niyati Arora, a chemistry doctoral student, for a painting in the style of Vincent van Gogh of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the “Harry Potter” series.
“The research office recognizes that UTD is a school where students study a wide variety of subjects,” said DeMia Keppel, associate director of research events and marketing for the Office of Research and Innovation, which helps coordinate the competition. “Our campus thrives on interdisciplinary collaborations in research and the arts. Spotlighting the arts in a unique showcase provided this opportunity.”
Chris Gauthier and Brandon Coffey, both game development graduate students and second-place winners of the art showcase, created a video walk-through using a virtual reality (VR) interface of Clark Hulings’ painting “Woodbearers of Chimayo.”
“When you walk by a painting in a museum, you just see another painting,” Gauthier said. “You don’t necessarily process all the 3D information that’s in it. But once you see it in VR, everything takes on a whole other meaning.”
For Coffey, the immersive experience offers a unique integration of art and science.
“Our degree lets us explore how we can take our research and our artistic skills and put them together to create something that’s meaningful,” he said. “It’s a lot more powerful than if you looked at a pamphlet or a book.”
Soham Raghavendra Jorapur, a chemistry doctoral student, took advantage of the art showcase to practice communicating his research through the power of imagery, earning him the showcase’s third-place prize.
“I wanted to expand my science communications portfolio into a visual medium,” he said. “So, I made an artistic representation of a recent scientific breakthrough that was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.”
Jorapur pulled from his love of watercolor, a hobby of his since the age of 10, and his passion for chemistry to paint Top7, an entirely new protein designed by Nobel laureate Dr. David Baker.
“To make this artwork, I looked into the history of protein design and blended those insights with computational developments that have allowed scientists to venture into previously uncharted protein territory,” he said.
Gabriella Putri attended last year’s poster competition to learn more about her fellow students’ research interests. This year, the geosciences doctoral student showcased her own research in her presentation titled “Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Improve Hessian De-Blurring Operators for Enhanced High-Resolution Earth Science Imaging.”
“Being in the poster competition allowed me to practice my skills as a presenter,” Putri said. “And that’s something that’s very important as a PhD student — not just conducting the research, but also learning how to communicate the research to a broad audience.”
As a mechanical engineering doctoral student, Bernadette Magalindan BS’21 hopes to reduce society’s reliance on the machines it uses to regulate temperature, such as air conditioners, heating units and fans.
“I study eco-friendly methods to synthesize thermal energy storage materials that can passively store and release heat depending on the temperature,” she said. “This can be manipulated to our advantage to sustain more comfortable temperatures in buildings.
“Whenever I’m presenting a poster, especially in the Research Days format, it always reminds me to reflect on the broader impact of my work. It all has to boil down to meeting a specific need for a specific purpose.”