Arts - Buffalo State College

22
Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship Program
Elisabeth Gallant, Geology
Faculty Mentor: Professor Bettina Martinez-Hackert, Earth Sciences and Science Education
Abstract Title: Interpreting the Eruptive History of El Salvador’s Santa Ana
(Ilamatepec) Volcano Though Detailed Stratigraphic Analysis of Pre-1904 Deposits
Elisabeth will graduate with her B.A. in Geology in May 2012. Lis plans to obtain her Ph.D. and
pursue a career as a volcanologist.
Elisabeth’s research involved the analysis of volcanic ash deposit samples collected from the
active Santa Ana volcano in El Salvador. She used general and scanning electron microscopy, a laser
particle sizer, and various software programs to produce a detailed stratigraphic column of a section
of this volcano. These data were used to evaluate the origins and eruption styles of volcanic ash and
other eruptive materials. Elisabeth is co-author on a manuscript in preparation for submission to a
volcanology journal. Lis presented her research at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in San
Francisco, CA in December 2011. Elisabeth was invited to present her research at the Council on Undergraduate Research’s “Posters
on the Hill” session held in the Rayburn Senate Building in Washington, D.C. in April 2012. She was among 74 selected students out
of over 850 submitted applications.
Maxwell Hain, Geology
Faculty Mentor: Professor Gary Solar, Earth Sciences and Science Education
Abstract Title: Tourmaline In Relation To the Sebago Pluton Contact Zone In Sebago,
Maine
Maxwell Hain will graduate with a B.A. in Geology in May 2012. He plans to enter a Professional
Science Masters program at the University of Arizona.
Max’s research consisted of both fieldwork on rocks in southern Maine and subsequent laboratory
work on his field data and collected specimens. As a result of his fieldwork, he produced a geological
and specimen map of the northeastern boundary of the Sebago pluton, a 300 million year-old
granite body, and in particular the occurrences of the mineral tourmaline in that context. Alongside
other undergraduate students’ work on geological aspects of this granite pluton, Max’s results will
be incorporated into a manuscript to be submitted in May for publication in the internationally
recognized professional geology periodical the Journal of Petrology.
Jaafar Hamdan, Biology
Faculty Mentor: Professor I. Martha Skerrett, Biology
Abstract Title: Water Permeability of Junctional Proteins In a Non-Junctional
Membrane
Jaafar will graduate with a B.A. in Biology with Departmental Honors in May 2012. He is planning to
pursue a career in the field of medicine.
Jaafar’s project involved the expression and analysis of junctional proteins in oocytes isolated from
Xenopus laevis frogs. After obtaining plasmid DNA containing genes for the junctional proteins Cx26,
Cx31, Cx32 and Cx43, Jaafar prepared RNA that was injected into Xenopus oocytes. Surprisingly, each
protein enhanced water movement across the membrane of single oocytes. For comparison, a known
water channel AQP1 was expressed.