URI Engineering Students to Present Research at SURF Conference

July 23, 2018
Andrew White, Sam Rush
Andrew White, left, is holding a 3D-printed flow channel that holds a substrate used for Surfaced Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). Sam Rush is holding gold nanoparticles that will be tested for detecting water contaminants. Photo by Shaun Kirby.

By Neil Nachbar

Nine URI College of Engineering students will be among the 140-plus undergraduate students to present their summer research projects at the Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) Conference on July 27.

More than 400 faculty, students and administrators from nine of Rhode Island’s institutions are expected to attend the eleventh annual conference, which will be held in Avedisian Hall at the College of Pharmacy.

The conference marks the culmination of the 10-week summer program. Acceptance to the program was based on a competitive application process.

Samuel Rush, a chemical engineering student, has spent the summer researching ways to use gold nanoparticles to detect contaminants in water.

“This conference means a lot to me because this has been my first experience with conducting research, said Rush, a senior from Toldeo, OH.

Rush’s mentor, Distinguished Engineering Professor Arijit Bose, encouraged his student throughout the research process.

“Sam may have never done research before, but he was a pro,” Bose said. “I made it clear to him that research, unlike classes, meant that I didn’t have all the answers, and would try to understand his results along with him. He was often shy to interpret what he was seeing, but with a little encouragement, he became more and more independent and confident.”

The conference is co-sponsored by the Rhode Island Consortium for Coastal Ecology Assessment Innovation & Modeling (RI C-AIM) and the Rhode Island Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI INBRE). Both federally-funded programs are based at URI.

C-AIM funded these six engineering students.

Caroline Rocchio, Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Daniel Roxbury
Project: Optical Detection of Heavy-Metal Accumulations in Plants Using Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Samuel Rush, Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Arijit Bose
Project: Fractal Particle Templated Gold Nanoshells for Contaminant Detection Using SERS

Andrew White, Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Geoffrey Bothun
Project: Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) in Continuous Flow Channel Devices to Detect Low Concentrations of Pollutants

Carlos Barreto
Carlos Barreto hold the sensor buoy he constructed with Dr. Harold ‘Bud’ Vincent for RI C-AIM’s Bay Observatory. Photo by Shaun Kirby.

Carlos Barreto, Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Harold (Bud) Vincent
Project: Design, Construction, Testing and Deployment of CAIM Environmental Monitoring Buoys

Gwendolyn Fall, Ocean Engineering
Mentors: Chris Kincaid/David Ullman (Oceanography)
Project: New Technologies for Monitoring the Health of the Narragansett Bay

Jackson Sugar, Ocean Engineering
Mentor: Melissa Omand (Oceanography)
Project: Imaging of Large (>150um) Marine Plankton and Particles

INBRE funded these three engineering students.

Riley Mather
Riley Mather removes an alginate gel scaffold from a mold and places it into a growth medium to equilibrate overnight. Photo by Shaun Kirby.

Riley Mather, Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Samantha Meenach
Project: Development and Characterization of Air-Grown 3D Lung Tumor Spheroids

Justin Hayes, Chemical Engineering
Mentor: Stephen Kennedy
Project: Enhanced Chemotherapeutic Anticancer Effect via Cell Cycle Synchronization

George Humphries, Biomedical or Electrical Engineering (transferring from CCRI)
Mentor: Kunal Mankodiya
Project: Development of Textile Pressure Sensors

The event will begin at 8 a.m. with a continental breakfast, registration and poster set-up; followed by opening remarks at 9 a.m. and a poster session at 9:30 a.m. Lunch for those who register will begin at 12:30 p.m.