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During 2007 there were 7 participants in the HARC Scholars program. Select a scholar below to view additional information about what they did during the program.
Not Pictured
- Patrick Reed - Rice University
Linda Bockoven
Mentor: Mary Jane Cunningham - Toxicology
Project: Toxicogenomics Study on Lunar Dust and Simulant
In preparation for the building of a lunar base on the moon, NASA is interested in determining the potential toxicity to humans of lunar dust. Of particular interest are very fine particles (< 3µm) with high silicon, iron and titanium content. The lunar dust has been described as extremely fine, abrasive, and clingy. The concern is whether astronauts breathing the lunar dust could develop silicosis or other health problems.
Dr. Mary Jane Cunningham, head of the Environmental Toxicogenomics Program, has experience in the evaluation of toxicity and gene expression profiling of nano-sized materials on human keratinocytes (skin cells) and bronchial epithelial (lung) cells. These same techniques, developed by Dr. Cunningham, Dr. C. Lema, and Dr. M. Shah, will be used to test for the toxicity of lunar dust.
The last lunar dust samples were collected by the Apollo missions in the 1970's. Since these samples are "priceless" and of limited quantity, simulated samples will also be used in the study. Rock samples have been taken from volcanoes and matched in chemical composition and size to the genuine lunar dust samples. The lunar dust and simulant samples will be obtained and analyzed by NASA and supplied to HARC.
In this preliminary investigation, the viability of normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) and human epidermal keratinocytes (HEK) will be investigated using the XTT cytotoxicity assay. The NHBE and HEK cells will be cultured in 96 well plates and exposed to varying concentrations of lunar dust and lunar dust simulant. Cytotoxicity curves will be generated to establish the optimum treatment level for mRNA gene expression profiling.
AJ Espinosa
Mentor: Robert Harriss & Marilu Hastings
AJ Espinosa is exploring games and new media as means to promote innovative communication and education on the subject of climate change. He has studied a variety of board games and computer games on climate change and has collaborated on how to update the wedge game to make an electronic version. New media which AJ has incorporated into projects include Wikipedia and Second Life. AJ returns to HARC for his second summer internship after having a wonderful first year at Yale University in New Haven, CT.
AJ also gave a brownbag presentation which concluded his work here at HARC this summer as an intern. This summer AJ investigated systems dynamics modeling as an approach to using games and new media to communicate the important issue of global climate change. His presentation focused on using Wikipedia and Second Life as collaborative communication tools. Some of the featured Wikipedia articles include HARC and climate change games such as the Wedge Game. These articles are available for anyone to edit and expand.
His brief PowerPoint presentation on Second Life ( 377 KB), the articles The Scientific Research Potential of Virtual Worlds ( 469 KB) from Science and Second Earth ( 4.44 MB) from Technology Review, and Studying Cooperation and Conflict between Authors with history flow Visualizations ( 871 KB), study conducted by IBM, which he mentioned in his presentation are available for viewing.
Santhosini Gangaji
Mentor: Dan Bullock
Project: SWNT Fiber Resistivity Testing
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon. A single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) can be considered as long wrapped graphene sheets. Nanotubes generally have a length to diameter ratio of about 1000 so they can be considered as nearly one-dimensional structures. Our objective was to test copper wire which has less resistivity initially and compare it with the SWNT fiber. We tested the copper wire in vacuum from liquid nitrogen temperature (-195 °C) to 100 °C, on the test setup build to test the copper wire and our results matched the National Bureau of Standards. Copper wire has a resistance as a function of temperature, thus has a very low resistivity at liquid nitrogen temperature (-195 °C) and its resistivity increases almost linearly with increase in temperature. Later, we tested SWNT's on the same test setup build to test the copper wire with the temperature ranging from -195 °C to 100 °C. The test sample is 6 inches of length and which has a diameter of 0.003 inches and are PVA(Polyvinyl Alcohol) coated and sample test environment having Helium gas at one atmosphere. Our results show that SWNT fiber's have very less affect on its resistivity with change in temperature. It was not predicted before the test was performed that the SWNT fiber when put in vacuum of 10-6 Torr would increase its resistivity with time and reaches a certain value and continue to be at that point. Our next test is to test the SWNT fiber's at higher temperature's of 200 to 350 °C and also in the magnetic field.
George Gunnoe
Mentor: Pris Weeks
Project: Land Conservation & Rural Stakeholders
The Land Conservation and Rural Stakeholders Research Project headed by Dr. Priscilla Weeks seeks to identify and share cultural knowledge about a range of land conservation programs in a variety of landscape settings, in two regions: Maryland's Eastern Shore and the Big Thicket region of East Texas. Texas is rich with natural resources and offers programs to assist landowners who choose to conserve their land. My task was to conduct research on these private landowner programs and their affect on societal values. The focus was on three different methods of conserving land, conservation easements, purchase of development rights, and transfer of development rights. The results of this study showed that although conservation servitudes serve the crucial goal of conserving the environment they may in turn disturb societal values. By giving a private party perpetual control over development rights of land whether it is in exchange for money or not, ties the landowner's hands and disallows both current and future landowners to change land use according to current market preferences. As a result courts are faced with policy issues created by contractual law and free alienability dichotomy.
Jennifer Richards
Mentor: David Hitchcock
Project: Texas Joint Center for Air Quality
Jennifer is currently working as an Intern for the Environmental group on various Joint Center projects including the transportation control measures database and urban heat island studies of both Dallas and Houston.
Zach Toups
School: Texas A&M University
Project: Location-Aware Gaming for Teaching Implicit Coordination
Urban fire emergency response work takes place in dangerous, stressful environments. Implicit coordination, the ability of high-performance teams to synchronize actions without explicitly communicating, is critical for fire emergency responders to efficiently and effectively protect lives and property. This project develops location-aware team games that will utilize global-positioning and wireless technologies to create embodied, safe, stressful experiences in which participants coordinate and communicate in order to succeed. The games are based on fire emergency response work and training practice, and aim to develop implicit coordination skills in participants by mimicking the information needs and team structures utilized by fire emergency responders.
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| Page Updated/Reviewed: 08/23/2007 3:04 PM |
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