NSERC program fosters undergraduate research at U of S

U of S Students showed off their research in disciplines ranging from physics and psychology to biology and mathematics and statistics at the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) poster competition on August 15 at Marquis Hall.

By Kris Foster Aug 21, 2013

Forty-eight of the 63 U of S USRA students presented posters this year. The winners are:

1^st place: Trista Friedrich (supervised by Lorin Elias, psychology): "Examining Aesthetic Preference for Movement Direction."

2^nd place: Daniel Gomez (supervised by Alexey Cheviakov, mathematics and statistics): "Mathematical Modeling of Narrow Escape Problems in 3D Domains."

3^rd place: Amelia Hesketh (supervised by Timothy Kelly, chemistry): "Synthesis and Stability of Gold-Coated Silver Nanoprisms."

Other examples included the role of genetics in tooth enamel formation, predicting the behavior of subatomic particles, how the brain handles simple arithmetic and word recognition, and using fungi to make crops more tolerant to salty soils.

The USRA provide financial support to help undergraduate students across Canada gain research work experience during the summer that complements their fields of study, and encourages them to pursue careers in research in natural sciences and engineering.