Florida Tech students took home 20 awards and honors from the 88th annual meeting of the Florida Academy of Sciences convened this spring on the university’s Melbourne campus.
Both graduate and undergraduate students fared well in oral and poster presentations, earning recognition in six of nine categories.
The annual meeting, held at Skurla Hall and the Nelson Health Sciences building, featured a keynote address from 2024 Florida Academy of Sciences Medalist Randy Avent, founding president of Florida Polytechnic University.
Here are the Florida Tech winners along with the names of their winning presentations.
Atmospheric and Oceanographic Sciences
Outstanding Oral Presentation, Graduate Student: Tenzin Yeshi, “Influence of UVC Dose on Marine Biofilm Adhesion Strength and Community Composition.” Tenzin Yeshi, Kelli Hunsucker. Center for Corrosion and Biofouling Control, Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Poster Presentation, Graduate Student: Jessica Lauren Cline, “Benthic Infaunal Responses to Mangrove Restoration.” Jessica Cline. Marine Resources Council; Florida Institute of Technology
Biological Sciences
Honorable Mention Oral Presentation, Graduate Student: Arthur Jones, “A regime shift is reflected in the fish community structure of the Indian River Lagoon (IRL).” Arthur C. Jones, Andrew J. Pyryt, M. Toufiq Reza, Vincent J. Lovko, Ralph G. Turingan. Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Poster Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Lucy Turner, “Analyzing Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains to characterize a potential eukaryotic quorum sensing mechanism.” L. E. Turner(1), K. Cutshaw(1) , E. Soyke(3) , M. Taylor(4) , J. Ahrens(1) , J. Labishak(4) , B. Lee(3) , R. Quick(3), T. Mellow(1) , and A. Palmer(1,4). Florida Institute of Technology
Engineering
Al Hall Memorial Award, Oral Presentation, Graduate Student: Brandon Naumann, “Solvothermal synthesis of carbon quantum dots from waste low-density polyethylene.” Brandon Naumann, M. Toufiq Reza and Jaden Howell. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Oral Presentation, Graduate Student: Laura Fronchetti Guidugli, “Extraction and Separation of Er(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), and Pr(III) from Water Samples Using Hydrophobic Deep Eutectic Solvents.” Laura Fronchetti Guidugli and M. Toufiq Reza. Florida Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention Oral Presentation, Graduate Student: Swarna Saha, “Influence of Zeolite on Hydrothermal Carbonization of Loblolly Pine and Its Role in Carbon Capture.” Swarna Saha and M. Toufiq Reza. Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Poster Presentation, Graduate Student: Corbin Freeland, “Ship speed through the water uncertainty analysis using oceanographic model data.” Corbin Freeland and Travis Hunsucker. Florida Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention Oral Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Savannah Madairy, “Hydrothermal Carbonization of Muck and its Application as a Soil Amendment. Savannah Madairy, Robert Cheatham, M. Toufiq Reza. Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Oral Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Russell Smith, “Sustainable Waste-to-Resource Conversion in Space: Process Modeling of Oxygen and Methane Production.” Russell Smith, Lexi Lueger, Annie Meier. Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Poster Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Russell Smith, “Enhanced Pellet Durability through the Synergistic Blending of Hydrochar with Corn Stover.” Russell Smith, Jordan Klinger, Nepu Saha. Florida Institute of Technology
Environmental Chemistry and Chemical Sciences
Outstanding Oral Presentation, Graduate Student: Bilash Devnath, “Enhancing Carbon Sequestration in Soil: Comparative Analysis of Hydrochar and Biochar from Dairy Manure.” Bilash Devnath, M. Toufiq Reza. Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Poster Presentation, Graduate Student: Rana Abbood,“Study of Fast Switching Metastable State Photoacids.” Rana S. Abbood, Pavithra Liyanage and Yi Liao. Department of Chemistry, Florida Institute of Technology
Medical Sciences
Honorable Mention Oral Presentation, Graduate Student: Nithyashri Muthu Vijayan, “Effects of UVA-Riboflavin crosslinking and silk incorporation on mechanics and printability of collagen hydrogels.” Nithyashri Muthu Vijayan, Beste Caner, Rohin Shyam, Arunkumar Palaniappan, Vipuil Kishore. Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Poster Presentation, Graduate Student: Briannamarie Wallace, “The Effect of Repetitive Blast Exposure on C. elegans Associative Learning.” Briannamarie Wallace, Pia Scarpino, Timothy Crombie. Florida Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention Poster Presentation, Graduate Student: Joseph Mazzaro, “Microtubule Instability Drives Developmental Defects in Tauopathy Model.” Joseph Mazzaro. Florida Institute of Technology
Outstanding Poster Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Rohan Surapaneni, “Natural genetic variation on Chromosome V confers resistance to the widely-used insecticide Chlorfenapyr in C. elegans.” Rohan Gandhi Surapaneni, Michaela Foley, Timothy A. Crombie. Florida Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention Poster Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Anna Grimm, “Chronic treatment with Curcumin modulates the HSP70 ratio and prevents vascular hypercontractility during diabetes.” Anna Grimm, Brooke Biby, Swasti Rastogi. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology
Physics and Space Sciences
Outstanding Oral Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Haley Murphy, “Ecology-Based Life Support Systems in Space: Use of cyanobacteria Anabaena cylindrica to condition extraterrestrial regolith.” Haley Murphy. Florida Institute of Technology
Honorable Mention Oral Presentation, Undergraduate Student: Emily Soucy, “Characterizing carnivorous plants for lunar regolith conditioning.” Emily Soucy (1,3) and Andrew Palmer (1,2). Florida Institute of Technology
