UTSA minority scholars present research posters at UT System research conference

At the UT System Annual Statewide Student Research Conference are (from left): Paul Hamilton, UTSA; Andres Salgado, UTPA; Alexis Lubbers, UTEP; Valerie Cano, UTPA and Veronica Salvio, UTSA.

(Oct. 16, 2014) -- The UTSA Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program recently sponsored two UTSA students and three visiting students at the UT System Annual Statewide Student Research Conference at the University of Texas at El Paso. At the conference, the students presented posters outlining their research during the 10-week Summer Research Academy (SRA) and Summer Research Academy Abroad (SRAA).

Two students participated in the inaugural SRAA and presented oral and poster presentations. Paul Hamilton, a UTSA engineering student who conducted his research at the Universita degli Studi di Firenze, in Florence, Italy, presented his research, "Analysis of Potential ALARP Localization Solutions," under the direction of Andrea Bondavalli. Veronica Salvio, a UTSA engineering student who conducted her research at ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, in Basel, Switzerland, under the direction of Jorg Stelling, presented her project, "Statistical Analysis on the Thermodynamics of Template-Primer Hybridization in PCR."

"Being part of the LSAMP SRAA was a life-changing experience," said Salvio. "It was truly an honor and privilege to be a part of this program, which has helped pave the way for my future educational goals. Being surrounded by researchers from my field really was an amazing experience."

In addition to this year's two Summer Research Academy Abroad students, there were three additional visiting students -- two visiting scholars from UT Pan American and one student from UT El Paso. The three visiting students participated in the 10-week Summer Research Academy, where they worked at least 30 hours per week in selected research labs.

"The LSAMP Summer Research Academy provides a unique research experience for undergraduates that not only allows them to apply the concepts they learn in the classroom into a research lab, but also helps to encourage students to purse graduate studies," said Darrell Balderrama, director of retention programs and LSAMP site director in the UTSA Office of P-20 Initiatives.

First-, second- and third-place awards in the poster presentations went to students in the categories of science and engineering. This year, UTSA's LSAMP program took second place in the science poster competition. Valerie Cano, a junior biology major at UT Pan America, presented a poster under the direction of College of Sciences faculty mentor, Carlos D. Garcia, titled, "Development and Characterization of sub-nL arrays by CO2 Laser Engraving."

"I am very happy with the opportunity that I was granted here at UTSA with the LSAMP program, and I would not have wanted to spend it anywhere else," said Cano. "The research and learning experience that I was able to obtain as well as the friends and mentoring figures I was able to meet and befriend are priceless."

The 2014 LSAMP SRA and SRAA cohort presented research on an array of topics, working with faculty mentors in the UTSA College of Sciences.

Students and their faculty research mentors at the conference were:

• SRA second-place winner: Valerie Cano, UT Pan American, Biology (Faculty mentor: Carlos D. Garcia, UTSA professor of chemistry)
• SRA: Alexis Lubbers, UT El Paso, Biochemistry (Faculty mentor: John Zhao, UTSA professor of chemistry)
• SRA: Andres Salgado, UT Pan American, Physics (Faculty mentor: Xochitl Lopez-Lozano, UTSA assistant professor of physics)
• SRAA: Paul Hamilton, UTSA, Engineering (Faculty mentor: Andrea Bondavalli, associate professor of information systems, University of Florence)
• Veronica Salvio, UTSA, Engineering (Faculty mentor: Jorg Stelling, associate professor of computational systems biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)

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The UTSA LSAMP program enrolls new participants each semester and will accept applications beginning Nov. 1 for Summer Research Academy 2015. To learn more, contact Darrell Balderrama at 210-458-4284.

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