THE SYMPOSIUM

http://gs.emory.edu/StemRCSymposium

This event is an exciting new opportunity for your undergraduate and graduate students to present their research, to further their professional development, and to learn about careers in the STEM disciplines. The event consists of:

·                A premier research conference for undergraduates interested in learning about PhD, MD/PhD or postbaccalaureate programs; graduate students contemplating postdoctoral training; and the advisors of these students.

·                Two days of shared research presentations, networking and mentoring. Eight students will present platform talks and the rest will present posters.

·                Professional Development workshops, campus tours, and individual meetings with potential Emory mentors.

·                Extensive interactions with Emory research faculty mentors, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows. Thursday evening will feature a mixer with bowling, pool and stimulating discussion among participants and their hosts.

PARTICIPANTS

We invite participation by research advisors, undergraduates interested in postbaccalaureate, Ph.D, or M.D./Ph.D. studies, and graduate students pursuing postdoctoral training in the STEM disciplines. We are also particularly interested in identifying students from underrepresented groups who are not currently in an organized program such as MARC, REU, RISE, or PREP and who might therefore benefit the most from this conference. 

All student participants will be expected to present a platform talk or a poster on their research. If faculty wish to attend along with their student(s), please let us know and we will inform you when your students have been accepted.  

COSTS

There is no charge for this conference and all meals will be provided. Hotel accommodations are available at the Emory Conference Center (www.emoryconferencecenter.com/)at $129 plus tax per night, double occupancy.  Additional rooms MAY be available at the adjacent Emory Inn (https://bookings.ihotelier.com/Emory-Inn/bookings.jsp?hotelId=75977) for $79 plus tax per night. Because Travel Awards are limited we encourage students to seek funding from their sponsored research program or other sources.

TRAVEL AWARDS

The eight students selected to present a platform talk and their advisors will receive a travel award (if necessary). In addition, a limited number of travel awards are available for students from underrepresented groups (racial minorities, disabled students and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds). These awards will cover travel and accommodations.

APPLICATION

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1071065/Symposium

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. The application deadline is January 15^th January 22^nd for students wishing to apply for travel awards. A committee of Emory training faculty will review abstracts to select participants and travel awardees.  Awardees will be notified by January 31^st. All student participants will be expected to present a platform talk or a poster on their research.

FURTHER INFORMATION

stem.symposia@emory.edu

Beginning January 9, app screenshots will be locked in iTunes Connect once your app has been approved. New screenshots may be uploaded when you submit a binary for an update to an existing app or a new app. For more information on capturing and using screenshots, read the Xcode User Guide.

Baltimore Dance Project returns to UMBC for its 30th year, featuring the creative work of professors Doug Hamby and Carol Hess, with dancer Sandra Lacy, along with music and dance performances by UMBC alumni. The show will be held on February 7 in the proscenium theatre in UMBC’s new Performing Arts and Humanities Building.

Expanding dance with visually stunning, inter-disciplinary and collaborative works, BDP brings together company alumni, new dancers, visual artists and live musicians, and features dances with interactive sound, video and spoken text.

The performance will feature two world premieres:

• “Common Axis 13,” a Hamby/Hess collaboration for ten dancers, blending movement with video images and live video feeds, created and mixed live, with sound performed professor Timothy Nohe, and featuring UMBC alumnae Renee Barger ’99, visual & performing arts, Jen Dobbins ’06, dance, and Desiree Koontz-Nachtrieb ’08, history, ’11, dance.
• “If I Told Him,” by Hamby features student Jeffrey Mensah creating a live soundscape designed by Ferdinand Maisel.

Come see Sandra Lacy perform her solo “Once Again,” and award-winning duet “Out to Play,” with Adrienne Clancy.

Jen Dobbins performs Hess’ “Persona,” with a tiny wireless surveillance camera.

Angel Chinn ’08, dance, returns to BDP to perform Hamby’s “Construction #2,” in honor of American composer, John Cage’s centennial year, performed live by percussionist Tom Goldstein and UMBC Department of Music alumni.

$20 general admission, $10 students and seniors, $7 UMBC students. To order tickets in advance by credit card, purchase online through MissionTix. Patrons who prefer to pay cash or check at will call may make a reservation by calling 410-455-6240.

Making Sense

For his master's thesis, Computer Engineering student Kirit Chatterjee worked with scientists from UMBC's Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST) on an innovative temperature sensor for premature babies.

In hospitals, doctors use a thermistor probe to monitor the temperature of a premature baby. But, the glue used to attach it is harmful for the baby, whose skin is as fragile as tissue paper.

“When the probe is removed, there is a high risk of “epidermal stripping” occurring-i.e. the skin of the baby can tear, leaving it open to infection,” explains Kirit Chatterjee, a Computer Engineering graduate student. For his master’s thesis, Kirit helped develop a new temperature sensing device that avoids this problem.

It wasn’t easy. During research, other obvious options had been shot down one by one: Bluetooth sensors had batteries that leaked toxic chemicals. Wireless sensing devices emitted energy that was harmful for the baby.

The solution, supported by an NIH grant, and later commissioned by General Electric (GE), was the result of the combined brain-power of a group of UMBC scientists led by Dr. Govind Rao, Director of UMBC’s Center for Advanced Sensor Technology (CAST). Dr. Yordan Kostov (CAST), Dr. Hung Lam (CAST), and Dr. Ryan Robucci (CSEE)–Kirit’s advisor for the project–were the team’s key players.

Together they created a patch containing a unique fluorescent orange dye. “The intensity of the orange emission depends on the temperature,” explains Dr. Kostov, the senior scientist on the temperature project who also worked closely with Kirit. When the baby’s temperature rises, he explains, the orange patch becomes brighter.

Recording and translating the patch’s fluorescence into a temperature reading that a doctor could understand was Kirit's job. “My part,” explains Kirit, “was to take care of the Engineering side—namely, to build the sensing apparatus.”

Choosing the right camera to monitor the dye was another challenge. The project was bound to a strict budget since the new sensor system was slated for mass production by GE. Therefore, expensive scientific cameras were out of the question.

Instead, Kirit reverse engineered and manipulated a much more affordable camera to serve his purposes. He used a two megapixel camera–the same camera found inside an iPhone 3–to monitor the dye in the patch.

“The dye is just the target for the Computer Engineer,” he says. “To the engineer, it’s just photons being emitted which translate to analog voltage signals inside the camera which then translate to digital bits inside the FPGA and then are analyzed.”

Next, Kirit used an FPGA in order to tap into the camera and retrieve its data, and MATLAB to translate the data into a traditional temperature reading.

The result is a temperature sensing device that is affordable, accurate, and, most importantly, safe for the baby. Dr. Kostov explains that when the GE contract comes to an end this September, the patch system will undergo clinical trials and toxicology tests. If all goes well, the new system should be found in premature baby incubators across the world in as little as two years.