Celebrating Excellence: Winners of the Graduate Society of Women Engineers Poster Competition

The Graduate Society of Women Engineers recently held its highly anticipated Poster Competition on Friday, April 26, and the results are in! With a fantastic turnout and a display of remarkable talent, the event highlighted the dedication and ingenuity of its participants. Let's delve into the excitement and celebrate the exceptional achievements of the winners. 

Winners

First Place: Aliyah Shell — "A Comparative Study of Cortical Activation During Virtual and Real-World Object Interaction" 

"Virtual reality has been proposed as a training tool for restoration of hand function but is often missing a key component of sensorimotor rehabilitation — the sense of touch. My project aims to understand how neuro-haptic feedback in virtual reality may impact sensorimotor task performance and cortical neural activity compared to what is observed in real-world environments in individuals with and without upper-limb loss. The results of this work may promote the development of more accessible sensorimotor rehabilitation with virtual reality training that is translatable to real-world functional improvements and maximize clinical outcomes." — Aliyah Shell, biomedical engineering

Second Place: Maria Gorret Nabuwembo — "Measuring Agricultural Adaptation Using Remote Sensing: A Study of Pigeon Pea in Malawi" 

"The need to adapt to current climate and soil degradation has been combated by cultivating heat/drought resistant crop varieties such as pigeon peas. My research focuses on measuring agricultural adaptation using remote sensing. It intends to understand the spatiotemporal distribution of pigeon pea and crop productivity across time in Malawi. To identify potential adaptation, it will illustrate the overall crop production increases in conjunction with pigeon pea integration to be able to identify potential adaptation. This will give insights on the efforts of adaptation strategies centered on increasing agricultural production." — Maria Gorret Nabuwembo, environmental dynamics

Third Place: Kaynat Shahzad — "Purification of Rubredoxin Tagged Recombinant Proteins Using the Three Phase Partitioning Technique" 

"Recombinant proteins (RCPs) face production, purification and detection challenges, leading to high costs. Attaching a hyper-thermophilic protein, such as Rubredoxin (RD), to RCPs can help address these issues. The three-phase partitioning (TPP) purification method uses a combination of salt, a denaturant and alcohol to create three layers. Contaminants precipitate into the middle solid layer, leaving pure RD-tagged RCPs in the bottom aqueous layer. Alcohol helps separate these layers, making TPP an efficient and cost-effective purification technique for RCPs." — Kaynat Shahzad, chemistry and biochemistry

Judges

We would also like to extend a heartfelt acknowledgment to the esteemed panel of judges whose expertise and dedication ensured the fair evaluation of the posters: 

Christa Hestekin, chemistry and biochemistry 

Jenn Campbell, mechanical engineering

Wen Zhang, civil engineering

Neelakshi Majumdar, mechanical engineering

Their invaluable contributions and commitment to excellence were pivotal in making the competition a resounding success. 

Looking Ahead 

As we reflect on the success of this event, we eagerly anticipate the future of STEM research and innovation. The Graduate Society of Women Engineers remains committed to fostering a culture of excellence and inclusivity, providing a platform for aspiring researchers to showcase their talents, and we hope to have this event every year. 

Congratulations once again to Shell, Nabuwembo and Shahzad for their outstanding achievements! Let's continue championing diversity and excellence in STEM, inspiring the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. 

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