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On May 5, 2017, the 91ֱ����Ƶ held its 18th annual College of Arts and Sciences Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. This year’s symposium featured eight art displays, 60 posters and 30 oral presentations, with a total of 157 students participating.

Charles Tilburg, Ph.D, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, professor in the Department of Marine Sciences, and coordinator of undergraduate research, said that the day of the Spring Research Symposium is one of his favorite days. “The symposium allows our students to truly shine and show their peers, the faculty and the public the amazing work that they have been doing,” he explained. “Our students have worked hard with our faculty to delve deep into their disciplines and seek answers to complicated questions.  The quality of the poster presentations, oral presentations and art displays exceeded my expectations.  I could not be more proud of our students and our faculty.”

First prize in the Art Display category went to Rebecca Sherrier (’19) for her work, “No Butterflies Were Harmed in the Making.”

Primary presenter Dylan Fletcher (’17), along with co-presenters Arnold Kandolo and Ryan Camire (both from Southern Maine Community College) and Lauren Gileau (’17), took first place in the Poster Presentation category for “Lactic acid bacteria reduce infectivity of Salmonella Javiana and modulate host cell inflammatory response,” receiving, for the first time in the history of the symposium, perfect tens from all judges. Runners-up in this category were a poster titled “Tissue turnover rates of bivalves to assess the species interactions linked to aquaculture,” presented by Katie Perry (’18), and “Determining the feasibility of supercritical carbon dioxide + water for extracting organic compounds in extraterrestrial environments: A Monte Carlo simulation study” by Kenneth Mei ('17).

A tie in the Oral Presentation category produced two winners: “Heart of Darkness: White Masks, Black Keys, and Joseph Conrad’s Narrative of Empire” by Kalvin McKinnon (’17) and “Predicting the effects of regional climate change on aggregation behavior in a terrestrial isopod (Armadillidium vulgare) by Kayla Eustace (’17) and co-presenter Jessica Kane (’17). Melissa Klemt (’17) took the runner-up position with her presentation, titled “Place Attachment Theory: The Effect of Social Capital and Aesthetic Beauty on Population Mobility in the Year-Round and Seasonal Residents of the Islands of Maine.”

Winners received certificates and monetary awards.

To learn more about the College of Arts and Sciences, visit www.une.edu/cas

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions