Visiting undergraduates showcase summer discoveries

BLACKSBURG, Va., July 27, 2007 – Twenty-nine undergraduate students from 14 colleges and universities across the United States who have spent the summer conducting research at Virginia Tech will present their work at a symposium on Thursday, Aug. 2.

The students participated in the 19th Annual Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), a 12-week summer research program sponsored by the National Science Foundation, which pairs undergraduate students with faculty and graduate student mentors in emerging areas of science and engineering.

The SURP offered research experiences in four distinct research pathways:

• A Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates in Field-Responsive Materials, led by Judy Riffle, chemistry professor with the Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute at Virginia Tech;
• Materials and Processes for Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Systems, led by David Dillard, professor of engineering science and mechanics;
• Macromolecular Science and Infrastructure Engineering, which is the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) that Riffle directs; and
• Macromolecules at the Interface of the Life Sciences, another IGERT, of which Susan Duncan, professor of food science and technology is co-principal investigator.

The research symposium will run in two concurrent, faculty-chaired sessions in 1000 and 1050 Torgerson Hall beginning at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 2. Faculty members, students, and visitors are welcome to attend the presentations.

For information, contact Angie Flynn, Macromolecular Science and Engineering program coordinator at (540) 231-6717.

• Susan Trulove
• 540-231-5396
• vtnews@vt.edu