The public is invited to attend the 10th Annual Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of the Virgin Islands from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday, July 27. The activity, organized by the Emerging Caribbean Scientists program of UVI’s College of Science and Mathematics, will take place in the first-floor conference room of the Administration Conference Center (ACC) on the St. Thomas campus.

Approximately 20 undergraduate students from UVI campuses on St. Thomas and St. Croix will present posters displaying the results of research they have conducted this summer. The symposium is part of UVI's continuing effort to promote excellence in learning by fostering students' research and communication skills in science and mathematics. At the closing of the symposium, 17 participants from Math Behind the Science summer bridge program will receive certificates. Alexia Mintos, UVI Mathematics graduate from 2008 is coordinating the Math Behind the Science program.

The public will have the opportunity to learn about exciting research projects conducted in the region and to interact with the future scientists on a diverse range of topics. Presentations are planned on the following topics:

• Utilizing Eye-tracking to Determine Students’ Comprehension of Chemistry While they Read
• Analysis of 20 Species of the USVI Fishery for Overfishing
• Investigation in the Use of Optical Spectroscopy to Determine Metal-Ligand Binding Constants
• OSSEC Intrusion Detection System’s Ability to Detect Denial-of-Service Attack on the LINUX operating system
• Developing an Automatic Scheduling Program
• Comparative Study to Determine the Water Quality Parameters of Bioluminescent Mangrove Lagoon and Salt River Bay, St. Croix, USVI
• Data Mining: Exploring the association between semantic categories and attributes in Large Databases
• Preliminary Studies on Water Quality Parameters in Bioluminescent Mangrove Lagoon, St. Croix, USVI
• Substrate Type Affects Fragment Survival of Montastraea annularis and Porites porites
• Molecular Diagnostics can Detect and Identify Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Pathogens in Terrestrial and Marine Organisms
• Exploring Participants’ Attitudes Towards Environmental Conservation
• Development of Water Quality Labs for General Chemistry at UVI
• Developing a PCR protocol for the Greater Bulldog Bat (Noctilio leporinus) in the Northern U.S. Virgin Islands
• Damsel Fish Territorial Behaviors on the Spread of Disease in Coral Reefs
• Threats to Our Reefs: Lionfish Invasion in St. Croix, USVI and GIS Mapping of Distribution
• Social Factors Associated With How College Students Select A Major
• Machine Learning to Classify E. coli Promoters into Functional Categories Using Single Nucleotide Positions as Features
• Threats to our Reefs: Establishing Baseline Data for Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) Development

UVI’s Sophomore Science Research Institute and the Science Undergraduate Research Experience programs provide participants with an opportunity to enrich their skills in a wide variety of areas such as information literacy and communication, research process and research ethics, exposure to state-of-the-art instrumentation and computing tools, team work, and data collection and analysis. These skills are essential for a successful career path and are transferable beyond the science laboratory.

The summer training and research programs are supported by grants from many sources, including funding from the National Science Foundation's HBCU-UP program, VI EPSCoR, the MARC and RISE programs of the National Institutes of Health, the United States Geological Survey-Water Resource Research Institute, The Jones, Holloway & Bryan Foundation, and by grants supporting faculty mentors' scientific research. General support is also provided by UVI's College of Science and Mathematics.

Persons interested in attending or sponsoring this event should call (340) 693-1397 or send email to Amanda Wright at awright@uvi.edu. Additional information can be found at the Emerging Caribbean Scientists program web site – http://ecs.uvi.edu.

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