Research Experiences for High School Science and Math ...



Research Experiences

for

High School Science

and Math Teachers

Summer 2003

Advanced Research Program/

Advanced Technology Program

Texas Higher Education

Coordinating Board

July 2003

[pic]

Supplemental Grants for High School Science

and Math Teachers - Summer 2003

The Advanced Research Program and Advanced Technology Program (ARP/ATP) were created by the Texas Legislature in 1987 as competitive grants programs for faculty members at Texas institutions of higher education. Approximately 400 research projects are funded each biennium in a number of different disciplines and research areas.

In January 1999, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board extended the programs to provide small supplementary grants to existing grantees who employ high school science and mathematics teachers to work on these projects during the summer. The grants are used by research faculty members primarily to pay for the teachers’ salaries for the four to nine weeks they will work in the university laboratories and to cover costs for laboratory supplies and travel.

This program helps build linkages between high school teachers and university research faculty, gives the teachers experiences that they will carry back to their classrooms, and results in increased interest in science and engineering among high school students.

Forty-seven teachers participated in research projects in summer 2001 and 47 participated in summer 2002. At the end of the summer, almost all of the responding faculty researchers and high school teachers judged the program to be excellent or good.

This document lists the teachers and faculty members participating in the program during summer 2003, and briefly describes the work that each teacher will do.

This summer, teachers are working on projects at 15 different universities, six health-related institutions, and two experiment stations. Teachers are engaged in a wide variety of different activities ... from computer modeling to sample preparation to using various scientific instruments for making measurements.

Projects at ... begin on page ...

Baylor College of Medicine 1

Lamar University 1

Midwestern State University 2

Rice University 2

Southern Methodist University 3

Southwest Texas State University 4

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station 5

Texas A&M University 7

Texas Engineering Experiment Station 8

Texas Tech University 9

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center 10

University of Houston 11

University of North Texas 13

University of North Texas Health Sciences Center 13

The University of Texas at Arlington 14

The University of Texas at Austin 15

The University of Texas at Dallas 17

The University of Texas-Pan American 18

The University of Texas at San Antonio 19

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston 20

The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center 21

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas 22

West Texas A&M University 22

TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD

ADVANCED RESEARCH PROGRAM/ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

SUPPLEMENTARY GRANTS FOR HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE AND MATH TEACHERS

SUMMER 2003

Teachers and Professors Teacher activity as described by grantee

| | |

|Jessica Zenker |Polyethyleneimine-Gene Therapy Given by Aerosol: An Effective Treatment for Pulmonary Metastases |

|Life Science and Algebra teacher | |

|YES College Preparatory School |Ms. Zenker will play an important role in our TDT project aimed at developing aerosol gene delivery technology for clinical application in |

|Houston |the treatment of lung cancer in human pediatric patients. This technology uses a tumor suppressor gene (p53) and/or a cytokine gene (IL-12)|

| |in a unique and patented nonviral formulation which appears to be highly effective in animal tumor models while exhibiting very low |

|Charles Densmore |toxicity. Ms. Zenker has worked with our collaborator on this grant, Dr. Genie Kleinerman of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and is |

|Professor |already familiar with some of the methodology that will be used. She proved to be a valuable addition to our collaborative effort and would|

|Department of Molecular Physiology |therefore be an even more valuable component of our research team this summer. Ms. Zenker has expertise in areas of molecular biology that |

|and Biophysics |will enable her to continue work on redesigning the plasmids we are using in an effort to increase the persistence of gene expression. Such|

|Baylor College of Medicine |an improvement could potentially make the difference between success and failure in our planned pediatric cancer trials. She will also be |

| |involved with animal tumor and tissue culture studies, preclinical toxicity studies and aerosol particle size studies. These studies should |

| |enable Ms. Zenker to transfer her research experience to the classroom. |

| | |

|Bonnie J. Ardoin |Super-Porous Titania/NLO-Coated Fiber Optic Photoreactor for Environmental Applications |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|West Brook High School |Ms. Ardoin will work with two research assistants, under the supervision of the principal investigators, on the coating of aerogel TiO2 |

|Beaumont |mixed with a nonlinear optical crystal (BaTiO3 or LiB3O5) on optical fibers, and measurements of photocatalytic oxidation of butyraldehyde |

| |in air. These research activities need a strong chemistry knowledge and laboratory experience. Ms. Ardoin will have the opportunity to |

|Daniel H. Chen |learn and use analytical instruments such as a Nova surface analyzer, UV-Viz spectrophotometer, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), GC-FID, and GC-MS. |

|Professor |It is estimated that each of these tasks will take four and a half weeks. Ms. Ardoin will learn from the laboratory work, interact with |

|Chemical Engineering Department |research personnel, and have the opportunity to contribute to this emerging technology in air pollution control. Her experiences are |

|Lamar University |expected to have a significant impact on her high school science teaching. |

| | |

|Cerise Wuthrich |Flexible Integrated Caching Approach (FICA) for Efficient Content Delivery in Wireless Internet |

|Algebra and Computer Science | |

|teacher |The research project involves the use of WEB through wireless devices. Ms. Wuthrich participated in this research last summer when she |

|Archer City High School |developed WEB pages based on the new WML mark-up language and studied the applicability of such pages to cell phones. During that period |

|Archer City |she co-authored two papers (one already accepted for a conference). In this new proposed participation, Ms. Wuthrich will study the use of |

| |WML on Palm devices, monitoring the access to those WEB pages, and developing on-line and off-line applications to be used by students. |

|Nelson Luiz Passos |This data will be later added to her previous results in the simulation of WEB caching as described in the main research project. Expected |

|Professor |results include the preparation of the teacher for work with PDAs in complement to her previous training in cell phone applications. Ms. |

|Computer Science Program |Wuthrich will also have direct participation in the main research topic by proposing new applications, algorithms and making observations to|

|Midwestern State University |be used in future papers describing the research results. |

| | |

|Debbie Trahan |Delivering High Perceptual Quality Real-Time Video Over Wireless Networks |

|Mathematics teacher | |

|Mayde Creek High School |The purpose of my ATP project with Ed Knightly at Rice has been to develop technology and a testbed for a new real-time video delivery |

|Houston |system. We have made much progress, and a prototype is currently under test. Our experimentation with real-time video delivery has |

| |convinced us of its great potential in education contexts, such as distance education. In this summer project, I propose that Debbie |

|Richard Baraniuk |Trahan, a teacher at Mayde Creek High School, experiment with this new technology by integrating her teaching materials for advanced |

|Professor |placement high school courses into the Connexions system, a multimedia educational project that I started in 1999. Her work will support |

|Electrical and Computer Engineering |the important goal of testing the efficiency and effectiveness of the new video delivery system in an educational setting (scheduled for |

|Department |Mid-03 in our proposal research time table). |

|Rice University | |

| |Ms. Trahan will be using the Content Commons to create lesson plans for use in pre-advanced placement high school mathematics courses. |

| |Students who take pre-advanced placement mathematics courses generally tend to attempt advance placement calculus courses in high schools. |

| |Advanced placement courses are college-level courses taught in high schools. Ms. Trahan will be able to share these lesson plans with a |

| |larger community of pre-advanced placement and advanced placement teachers through her presentations during the school year. Furthermore, |

| |they will be available over the internet for other teachers to use with their students. |

| | |

|Shonda Majors |Novel Scaffold Design and Evaluation Technique for Engineering Bone Replacement Tissue |

|Anatomy, Physiology, and Biology | |

|teacher |Tissue engineering techniques generally require the use of porous scaffolds, serving as a three-dimensional template and providing the |

|Houston Christians High School |necessary support for cells to attach, proliferate, and maintain their differentiated function. Its architecture defines the ultimate shape|

|Houston |of the new grown tissue. A relationship exists between tissue micro-architecture and mechanical usage in bone tissue. It is however |

| |unknown how this architecture differs between species and how it correlates, i.e., with animal weight and activity level. Knowledge about |

|Michael Liebschner |the evolution of bone micro-architecture could potentially revolutionize the design of engineered bone replacement tissue and give insight |

|Professor |into the importance of bone micro-architecture. |

|Department of Bioengineering | |

|Rice University |Ms. Majors will be involved in characterizing bone micro-architecture from different species by using cored bone specimen in a micro |

| |computed tomography system available in our laboratory and different imaging software packages for analysis. She will also be involved in |

| |making scaled models of those bone specimens using rapid prototyping and subsequent mechanical testing. Because of her training in anatomy,|

| |physiology, and biology, Ms. Majors can translate the knowledge she gains through this study directly into her classroom. Several bone |

| |diseases such as osteoporosis directly modify bone micro-architecture. Osteoporosis affects about 30% of our population over the age of 50 |

| |years and models generated with the rapid prototyping machine can be used in class for demonstration purposes. |

| | |

|Robert B. Croman |Development of Information System for Hybrid Rapid Manufacturing Process |

|Physics teacher | |

|Plano West Senior High School |The goal of this proposal is to develop an information system for the Hybrid Rapid Manufacturing Process. This system will consist of a |

|Plano |number of modules, such as: a solid data exchange module based on a donated ACIS 3D Geometric Modeler package, an on-line slicing module, a|

| |process-planning module, a process-sensing and control module, and a module for automatic generation of welding torch paths and milling head|

|Radovan Kovacevic |paths. The completion of this work will lead toward the first full-scale rapid manufacturing system for building parts with features that |

|Professor |cannot be readily produced by other methods. As the project involves various aspects of engineering science and practice in nontraditional |

|Research Center for Advanced |manufacturing processes, welding, design, computer control systems, interfacing, sensing, signal processing, and control, Dr. Croman will be|

|Manufacturing |exposed to the related concepts, principles, methods, software and hardware, and software development. Dr. Croman will work with a research|

|Southern Methodist University |team that consists of eight Ph.D. students, two post-docs, and a research engineer. The Principal Investigator is motivated to help Dr. |

| |Croman in transferring his research experience to his classroom activities. Dr. Croman has been collaborating with the Principal |

| |Investigator since 2000. |

| | |

|Matt Holmes |Species Recognition Versus Mate-Quality Recognition |

|Biology teacher | |

|Lanier High School |Mr. Matt Holmes will return to continue working on the videotaping and video analysis project that he worked on last summer. Mr. Holmes was|

|Austin |able to video interactions between fish in the water in some of the populations that we tested, but due to the flooding that occurred last |

| |summer, the water was too murky to permit taping in other populations. Mr. Holmes will continue this video process this summer. After the |

|Caitlin Gabor |taping is finished Mr. Holmes will be reviewing the data in the tapes and recording the following information for each focal male: (1) the |

|Professor |male’s size class, (2) the number of specific males in the vicinity, (3) the number of females within two body lengths from the focal male, |

|Department of Biology |(4) the number of mating attempts (thrusting) and (5) aggressive interactions. Mr. Holmes’ previous efforts have already helped this |

|Southwest Texas State University |project significantly and his future efforts will be very valuable to our study and will provide him with an excellent, well-rounded |

| |research experience that he can take back to his classroom. |

| | |

|Teresa A. Taylor |Microarray-Based Neuropathology Studies |

|Biology teacher | |

|Smithson Valley High School |Ms. Taylor will determine the microscopic and molecular changes that occur in animal cells in response to bacteria, with the intent of |

|Spring Branch |learning what signals are sent between host and potential pathogen. This work will support the mail goal of the project, to develop a |

| |cell-based microarray system capable of detecting the presence of neural and other pathologies. Initial investigations will be done in an |

|Joseph R. Koke |earthworm model; earthworms harbor symbiotic bacteria in their nephridia (kidney-like structures). The host (earthworm) somehow selects the|

|Professor |appropriate species of soil bacteria to “infect” its nephridia, rejecting all others. Understanding this selection mechanism and the |

|Department of Biology |signaling behind it will yield fundamental clues about the nature of pathogenesis and what signals to look for with a microarray sensing |

|Southwest Texas State University |device. We expect the structural changes that occur upon infection to educate our search for signals. In addition, because this summer |

| |research is based on earthworms and relatively inexpensive reagents and equipment, it will be easily transferable to the high school science|

| |laboratory. |

| | |

|Leanne Teneyuque-Rios |Biodesulfurization of Recalcitrant Organosulfur Compounds |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|San Marcos High School |The overall goal of Leanne Teneyuque-Rios’ summer research project will be to generate a recombinant library of enzymes with enhanced |

|San Marcos |specificity for one and two ring recalcitrant organosulfur compounds. This coincides with the goal of the Advanced Technology Program |

| |supported project to find engineered bacteria that are able to remove these compounds from crude oil. Using DNA shuffling techniques, Mrs. |

|Linette M. Watkins |Rios will recombine the genes from the IGTS8 bacteria and the genes from the A3H1 bacteria to form a novel library of enzymes. She will |

|Professor |then use a growth-based assay to identify bacteria with enhanced activity toward the one and two ring recalcitrant compounds. She will work|

|Department of Chemistry and |directly with the principal investigator to learn the techniques needed for this project, specifically, DNA shuffling and high-throughput |

|Biochemistry |screening. |

|Southwest Texas State University | |

| |Mrs. Rios has previous experience in an academic research lab and will be able to use her previous knowledge of cell culture and molecular |

| |biology techniques to significantly contribute to the development of this research project. Furthermore, she will be able to take this |

| |knowledge back to her high school classes so that ultimately the students in her Chemistry classes will benefit from this research |

| |experience. |

| | |

|Mary Booth Lyle |Generating Conditional FMDV Resistance in Cattle by Inducible Ribozyme Degradation of IRES RNA. |

|Biology and Chemistry teacher | |

|La Grange High School |Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is the cause of a highly contagious disease of cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals. The FMDV genome |

|La Grange |is a single-stranded RNA that is translated to produce a protease-processed polyprotein in infected tissue. The translation of the viral |

| |genome is directed by a conserved virus sequence termed an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) that guides host ribosomes to express virus |

|Patrick W. Dunne |proteins. To prevent the spread of the disease to animals following initial virus exposure, the goal of this project is to express |

|Professor |catalytically active antisense RNA (ribozymes) that disrupt the FMDV IRES element in livestock. Using an inducible promoter to drive |

|Department of Veterinary |expression of the ribozyme transgene, animals can be protected rapidly by feeding inducer-containing feed. The first step in achieving this|

|Anatomy and Public Health |goal is to synthesize a DNA copy of the IRES element based on published sequence data. Using six 107 base-pair oligonucleotides spanning the|

|Texas Agricultural Experiment |Pan Asia strain IRES element as templates, we have now synthesized de novo the complete IRES fragment by PCR. The complete IRES was then |

|Station |subcloned in-frame to a luciferase reporter gene. Our next step is to synthesize anti-IRES ribozymes and siRNAs using the cloned IRES as |

| |template and test their antiviral activity in cell culture. |

| | |

| |Mary Lyle will participate in the testing of one or more ribozyme and/or siRNA expression cassettes for their efficacy in inhibiting FMDV |

| |IRES-mediated expression of the luciferase reporter. Ms. Lyle will add to her store of knowledge of recombinant DNA techniques as well as |

| |her knowledge of enzyme activity analysis. |

| | |

|Jasson Conner |Conservation of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Open-Lot Cattle Feedyards |

|Chemistry, Wildlife and Agriculture | |

|teacher |Mr. Conner who is supported by this grant will assist graduate students and research staff at the Texas Agricultural Research Center in |

|Amarillo Center for Advanced |Amarillo to conduct a final feeding study that will finalize the data collection, analysis and reporting for this project. Mr. Conner is |

|Learning |responsible for teaching high school animal science and chemistry at the Amarillo Area Center for Advanced Learning, which is part of the |

|Amarillo |Amarillo Independent School District. He will be introduced to environmental problems facing the beef cattle feeding industry in the Texas |

| |panhandle and introduce these problems and solutions to his classes. He will study methods to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus excretion in |

|L. Wayne Greene |concentrated animal feeding operations along with nutritional feeding management techniques to improve water, soil and air quality. His |

|Professor |daily work will consist of assisting existing personnel in completing an experiment designed to reduce the supplemental protein (nitrogen) |

|Amarillo Research Center |in the diet without reducing the economics of animal production. This will be done by dietary treatments that increase the efficiency of |

|Texas Agricultural Experiment |nutrient use, thereby, reducing excess amounts being excreted to the environment. Mr. Conner will be involved with the daily care and |

|Station |management of feedlot animal subjects and collection of samples for laboratory analysis. |

| | |

|Judy Taylor |Sustainable Cultivated Pasture Systems for Texas Meat Goats |

|Anatomy, Physiology and | |

|Biology teacher |Judy Taylor will be invited back to complete her work with previously unstudied native legumes of the Texas Cross Timbers. Utilizing plant |

|Stephenville High School |samples collected in previous years, she will compare in sacco degradability of various beneficial (crude protein and acid detergent fiber) |

|Stephenville |and anti-quality (lignin and condensed tannins) plant components in both a typical browser (goats) and a grazer (steer). Results will |

| |assist us in understanding the dynamics of ruminant digestibility of browsed legumes and how these dynamics can be utilized to protect |

|James P. Muir |native Texas germplasm from extinction from domesticated herbivores. |

|Professor | |

|Stephenville Agricultural Experiment |In addition, Ms. Taylor will run statistical analyses on data collected the previous years and publish these |

|Station |results in the Native Plant Journal. These will likely encompass two articles, one dealing with the seed/foliage trade-off involved in |

|Texas Agricultural Experiment |herbivory of native legumes while the other will focus on herbivore dynamics as indicated from in sacco degradability in rumen-fistulated |

|Station |animals. |

| | |

|Glenda Overfelt |Hydrology and Salinity Monitoring and Modeling Along the Middle Rio Grande |

|Biology and Chemistry teacher | |

|Del Rio High School |The objective of the proposed work by Glenda Overfelt, a science teacher from Del Rio High School, is to separate local climatic influences |

|Del Rio |on the inflows to Lake Amistad. In addition to being meritorious by itself, determining the influence of local variability on the flows and|

| |lake levels will help the Advanced Technology Program project which seeks to determine local and regional influences on flow regimes into |

|Ranjan S. Muttiah |Amistad. Specifically, the following questions will be addressed: 1) how are daily streamflows into Lake Amistad responding to local daily|

|Professor |rainfall variability, and 2) how are the lake levels in Amistad responding to variability of inflows. Lake Amistad receives inflows from |

|Blackland Research & Extension |the Rio Grande, Pecos, and Devils rivers. The primary contributors to Rio Grande and Pecos flows are the snow melt in Colorado, and New |

|Center |Mexico, respectively. Baseflow from the Edwards aquifer is the main contributor to flows of the Devils river. |

|Texas Agricultural Experiment | |

|Station |Rain gauges within a 500 km footprint of the lake will be obtained from the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)-National Weather Service |

| |(NWS) website, and a nominal year of rainfall (50% exceedence probability) and wet year (95% exceedence) will be identified for each rain |

| |gauge. The nearest stream gauge to each NCDC-NWS weather station will be identified using maps such as stream networks, gauge loci, and |

| |Digital Orthophoto Quads (DOQQ) generated in a Geographic Information System (GIS). Stream gauge data are readily available from the |

| |International Boundary Commission (IBWC), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) websites. Daily lake levels are available from the IBWC. |

| |Standard statistical hypothesis tests, and newer variance tests using wavelets will be employed to assign statistical significance between |

| |rainfall, inflow, and lake levels. |

| | |

|Robert E. Richards |Real-Time Drought Assessment and Forecasting System for Texas Using GIS and Remote Sensing |

|Physics, Chemistry and Biology | |

|teacher |Mr. Richards will be assisting with data collection and processing for this project. Also, statistical analysis of data during the |

|Bryan High School – Silver Campus |post-processing phase will be extremely important, and a valuable contribution to the research. |

|Bryan | |

| | |

|Raghavan Srinivasan | |

|Professor | |

|Forest Science | |

|Texas A&M University | |

| | |

|Tami Dudo |Manufacture of Improved Thermoelectric Materials |

|Algebra and Calculus teacher | |

|A&M Consolidated High School |We plan for Ms. Dudo to assist on our TDT project in two areas. In the first case, she will do three-dimensional geometric modeling of |

|College Station |extrusion billet losses after multi-pass equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE). This is important because of industry’s desire to maximize|

| |fully processed material yield. Several different multi-pass extrusion schedules are being considered for industrial processing schedules. |

|K. T. Hartwig |The route that minimizes billet losses and also accomplishes the best micro-structural refinement in the fewest number of passes (least |

|Professor |number of handling steps) will be the most economically attractive. The results of this work will be of practical benefit to the industrial|

|Department of Mechanical |co-sponsors (Marlow Industries, Dallas, Texas) and will be publishable. |

|Engineering | |

|Texas Engineering Experiment |The second area of work will be the preparation and characterization of bulk Bi2Te3 following consolidation of powdered precursor materials.|

|Station |Most Bi2Te3 materials used for thermoelectric devices by Marlow’s competitors are prepared following a powder metallurgy route. It would be|

| |of interest for us to examine the microstructure of such material consolidated via ECAE. As an extension of this powder metallurgy |

| |approach, we plan to prepare a batch of nano-structured starting powders, using high energy ball milling, to see if consolidation of such |

| |materials gives any thermoelectric performance advantages. The results of this second study will hopefully shed light on special benefits |

| |gained from ultra-fine-grained bulk Bi2Te3 alloys. |

| | |

|James Bassett |On the Statistical/Bio-Physical Extraction of Textural Features of Imagery Databases |

|Geometry and Precalculus teacher | |

|A&M Consolidated High School |A major research opportunity for Mr. Bassett to participate in our project is geometric modeling of the 3-D images of living cells, which |

|College Station |are acquired by high resolution imaging systems in the veterinary school. As a part of the effort to create texture-based imagery |

| |databases, the slice-scanned 3-D images need to be reconstructed, so that users can visualize the physical shape, look, and measurement of |

|Jyh-Charn Liu |the cell, from inside to outside. |

|Professor | |

|Computer Science Department |The original research team will work on image processing methods to segment major landmarks of cells, and Mr. Bassett will be asked to use |

|Texas Engineering Experiment |his expertise to create different affine transforms, and their corresponding mappings to a regular display screen. The research team will |

|Station |work with Mr. Bassett to select the proper implementation tools to visualize the cell from different angles, and he can take the resulting |

| |work back to his classroom for teaching purposes, and inspire students to see the values of geometry and other related math to real life |

| |applications. |

| | |

|Sonja Crowell |Enhanced Degradation of Environmental Contaminants Using Pulsed and Heterodyne Sonochemistry |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|Lubbock High School |Ms. Crowell will examine the effects of multifrequency heterodyne sonication on the oxidative degradation of acid orange, a common textile |

|Lubbock |colorant and industrial pollutant. Through the work which Ms. Crowell will perform we will be able to determine the extent to which |

| |multifrequency sonication enhances the production of hydroxyl radicals (a leading oxidant in the sonochemical degradation of environmental |

|Dominick J. Casadonte, Jr. |contaminants in aqueous media), as well as whether or not there is a particular combination of frequencies which leads to optimum heterodyne|

|Professor |sonochemistry. |

|Department of Chemistry and | |

|Biochemistry | |

|Texas Tech University | |

| | |

|Lee Franks |Physical Simulation of Extreme Winds from Thunderstorms |

|Physics, Geology and Astronomy | |

|teacher |Mr. Franks will construct a model house with variable-strength electromagnets simulating fixity of various building components and cladding.|

|Lubbock High School |The model will be tested in the TTU Wind Tunnel to determine failure mechanisms and wind speed that will cause cladding and overall failure.|

|Lubbock | |

| |A parametric study of weak links will be undertaken as a qualitative measure of where fixity strength may be optimized. |

|Chris Letchford | |

|Professor | |

|Department of Civil Engineering | |

|Texas Tech University | |

| | |

|Brett Peikert |Dual Readout Calorimetry for High-Quality Energy Measurements |

|Physical Science and Physics | |

|teacher |In the framework of this project, a large scientific instrument is being constructed at Texas Tech University. This instrument is intended |

|Trinity Christian High School |for detecting high-energy elementary particles such as protons, electrons and pions with high precision. In the summer of 2003, this |

|Lubbock |instrument will be extensively tested in particle beams provided by the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN. |

| | |

|Richard Wigmans |Mr. Peikert will participate in the preparation of the detector for these tests. He will assist in the data taking at the accelerator and |

|Professor |he will also participate in the analysis of these data. |

|Department of Physics | |

|Texas Tech University | |

| | |

|Tobi McMillan |Clinical Trial of Oral Interferon Alpha in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis |

|Anatomy, Physiology and Chemistry | |

|teacher |This project involves a capital phase II clinical trial of an experimental drug for possible treatment of a rare disease that compromises |

|Lubbock-Cooper High School |the exchange of gases in the lungs. Life expectancy after diagnosis is 4.5 years, and there is no objective evidence that any current |

|Lubbock |treatment increases either the time of survival or quality of life. In this study subjects are treated with the study drug and periodic |

| |assessment made of their pulmonary function and progression of their disease. Ms. McMillan, under supervision of the Principal Investigator|

|Lorenz O. Lutherer |and the clinical research nurse, will interview potential subjects, explain the study to them, maintain contact with newly enrolled |

|Professor |subjects, observe the various tests being done, and be involved in data collection and data analysis. |

|Department of Physiology | |

|Texas Tech University Health |During the previous summer, Ms. McMillan had the opportunity to interact with subjects prior to and during the early stages of treatment. |

|Sciences Center |This summer, in addition to working with newly enrolled subjects, she will have the opportunity to work with subjects she interacted with |

| |last summer who have now completed one year of treatment and who are continuing treatment for a second year because they showed no |

| |progression of their disease. In contrast to the very preliminary results that she obtained last summer, she will now be able to describe |

| |in her classroom some full sets of data suggesting efficacy of the treatment as well as the next stage in the process of obtaining FDA |

| |approval. Thus, Ms. McMillan will be able to work on data covering the entire initially projected duration of treatment and participate in |

| |the writing of an initial report on the study. She will also be able to participate in writing grant applications for an additional |

| |multi-center study. Last summer, on days that no subjects were scheduled for clinic visits, she was involved in some ongoing animal studies|

| |exploring the mechanisms for the respiratory responses observed in the subjects in order to compensate for the impaired gas exchange in |

| |their lungs secondary to their disease. Those studies have been completed, and this summer she will have the opportunity to participate in |

| |the next set of experiments designed on the basis of the results of the previous study. Again experience with the animal studies will |

| |enhance her knowledge of physiology and understanding of what she sees in the human subjects. |

| | |

|Gary Fortenberry |Detection of Airborne Mycotoxins Produced by Fungi in “Sick Buildings” |

|Biology and Chemistry teacher | |

|Monterey High School |Research in our laboratory has examined the role of microbial contaminants in buildings reported to have indoor air quality (IAQ) problems. |

|Lubbock |We have shown that in over 95 percent of “sick” buildings, fungi growing on wetted building surfaces have been the principal source of the |

| |problem. Most notably, Penicillium, Aspergillus and Stachybotrys species have been found growing in heating, ventilation and |

|David C. Straus |air-conditioning systems and on building surfaces. These fungal species produce a number of potent mycotoxins. In order to better |

|Professor |understand the role of mycotoxins in “sick” building syndrome, we propose the following objectives that Mr. Fortenberry will learn: 1.) how|

|Department of Microbiology |to work with these fungi; 2.) how to work with these mycotoxins; and, 3.) how to detect their presence. Mr. Fortenberry worked in my |

|and Immunology |laboratory last summer and as a result has his name on a submitted paper “An investigation into techniques for cleaning mold contaminated |

|Texas Tech University Health |home contents” by S.C. Wilson, T. Brasel, C. Carriker, G.D. Fortenberry, M.R. Fogle, J. Martin, C. Wu, L. Andriychuk, E. Karunasena, and |

|Sciences Center |D.C. Straus. |

| | |

|Steven Statt |Nanofabrication and Performance Evaluation of a New Class of Membrane Filters for Water Purification |

|Environmental Science teacher | |

|Alief Elsik High School |Mr. Statt will learn and implement techniques for the cultivation of at least three different microorganisms: Bacilu subtilus, Serratia |

|Houston |marcences, and Brevundimonas dimunita. |

| | |

|Shankar Chellam |Mr. Statt will perform filtration experiments to quantify the microorganism effects on membrane fouling during drinking water filtration. |

|Professor |He will also train on and use a scanning electron microscope, a phase contrast microscope and other tools (including a shaking incubator, |

|Department of Civil and |high speed centrifuge, and generalized sterile laboratory techniques). |

|Environmental Engineering | |

|University of Houston | |

| | |

|Belinda Stanley |Chemoprevention of Skin Cancers by Novel Derivatives of Tempol in Mice and Cultures |

|Biology and Chemistry teacher | |

|St. Thomas’ Episcopal School |There will be two types of experiments that Ms. Stanley will perform with the support of this grant. The first set of experiments involves |

|Houston |the immunohistochemical (IHC) stainings of skin samples harvested from acute short-term UV–irradiated hairless mice. The UV–induced damages|

| |with and without the BE-TOPS treatment will be evaluated comparatively by expression of tumor suppression gene, p53, TUNEL, PCNA, Bcl-2, |

|Diana Chow |Bax, Fas/Fas-ligand, and sunburn cells, using established IHC kits. |

|Professor | |

|Department of Pharmacological and |The second set of experiments involves chronic long-term UV irradiation, three times weekly, in hairless mice. The UV-induced damages in |

|Pharmaceutical Sciences |the skin and the tumor development with and without BE-TOPS treatment will be monitored as a function of time in weeks. The chemopreventive|

|University of Houston |and therapeutic potentials against the tumor development will be assessed with BE-TOPS treatment employed during or after irradiation, |

| |respectively. The above listed IHC studies will be performed on the skin samples harvested at various time points. In addition, the tumor |

| |incidence and multiplicity in each group of 10 mice will be evaluated. |

| | |

|Wiley P. Schuller |Radiation Tolerant and Ultra Efficient Multijunction Quantum Well Solar Cell for Spacecraft |

|Physics and Chemistry teacher | |

|Robert E. Lee High School |Wiley Peyton Schuller will be involved with the fabrication and testing of the advanced solar cell devices for space application. He will |

|Houston |be exposed to a large variety of device processing techniques such as photolithography and vacuum evaporation and will support the |

| |illuminated and dark current voltage and capacitance-voltage analysis effort. The proposed teacher training research work includes the |

|Alex Freundlich |collection of the experimental data. |

|Professor | |

|Texas Center for Superconductivity | |

|and Advanced Materials | |

|University of Houston | |

| | |

|Frank Butcher |Novel High Efficiency Thermophotovoltaic Device for Direct Heat to Electricity Conversion |

|Physics teacher | |

|Deer Park High School – South |Mr. Butcher will be involved with the fabrication and testing of the advanced thermophotovoltaic (TPV) device and will be exposed to a large|

|Deer Park |variety of device processing techniques such as photolithography and vacuum evaporation. The proposed teacher training/research work |

| |includes the synthesis of the experimental data. |

|Charles Horton | |

|Professor | |

|Texas Center for Superconductivity | |

|and Advanced Materials | |

|University of Houston | |

| | |

|Tricia N. Aguas |Thin Film Optical Detector for Retinal Implantations, a “Bionic Eye” |

|Physics and chemistry teacher | |

|John H. Reagan High School |Ms. Aguas will participate in the fabrication process of the detector in the Bionic Eye project as follows: |

|Houston | |

| |Photolithography |

|Alex Ignatiev |Activities in this process include spinning time, pre-baking of the photoresist, uv exposure and |

|Professor |development |

|Texas Center for Superconductivity |Transferring to a polymer carries |

|and Advanced Materials |Activities include wet etching of the fabricated devices for transferring them from the original |

|University of Houston |substrates to a polymer film. |

| |Preparation for implantation |

| |Activities include cutting the polymers with the devices to proper sizes (2 X 1 mm) for |

| |implantation. |

| | |

|Jennifer Kuhl |Redux Properties of Electroactive Porphyrin-Based Components for Molecular Electronics |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|St. John’s School |The goal of this project is to carry out electrochemical and spectroscopic measurements on a series of progressively more and more complex |

|Houston |porphyrin-based molecules that can be used as components in molecular electronics. These studies begin with “simple” mono-porphyrins |

| |containing fused aromatic rings and then progress to systems containing 2,3, 4 or more porphyrin macrocycles linked together by various |

|Karl Kadish |spacer groups. Ms. Kuhl will contribute to the project by helping to make electrochemical and spectroscopic measurements on the different |

|Professor |component species under different solution conditions and in the presence of different complexing ions which may coordinate to the metal |

|Department of Chemistry |centers of the porphyrins being investigated. She should also be able to carry out measurements of equilibrium constants for ligand binding|

|University of Houston |at the metal centers of the compounds and to investigate complexation of different metal ions by the fused phenanthrolene groups on some of |

| |the compounds to be electrochemically characterized. Her assistance in these areas will be a valuable addition to the project and will |

| |provide her knowledge which can be used to enhance her classroom teaching during the following Fall semester. |

| | |

|Clyde A. Price |Self-Aligned Multi-Color Photodetectors Based on III Nitrides for Advanced Flame/Fire Detection |

|Chemistry, Integrated Physics, and | |

|Environmental Systems teacher |Mr. Price has previously worked on several nitride group projects. He is familiar with the group’s goals and has shown excellent hands-on |

|John M. Reagan High School |experience and skills. Mr. Price will continue to work on this project providing design and assembly of small equipment parts for the |

|Houston |processing and characterization of the nitride-based fire/flame detector prototype. This equipment will include the system for deposition |

| |of transparent electrically conductive tin oxide layers by spray pyrolysis and modification of spectral measurement system. |

|David Starikov | |

|Professor | |

|Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center | |

|University of Houston | |

| | |

|Sean Eyre |Self-Assembled Silicide Nanostructures for Integrated Optoelectronics |

|Calculus and Physic teacher | |

|Kaufman High School |Mr. Eyre will work within the Semiconductor Physics Laboratory at the University of North Texas and will become acquainted with the |

|Kaufman |synthesis, processing and characterization of semiconductors. He will also participate in a semiconductor seminar series, and will meet |

| |with researchers from semiconductor industries in the North Texas region. He will use this exposure with both the university and industry |

|Jose Perez |to provide career guidance and enhancement at Kaufman High School. This will also expose the high school students to university and |

|Professor |industry level research and career concepts in the world of physics. |

|Department of Physics | |

|University of North Texas | |

| | |

|Jo-Ann S. Yannazzo |Function and Regulation of Polycystin-2 in C. Elegans – A Model for Polycystic Kidney Disease |

|Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry | |

|and Microbiology teacher |Research will include testing chemicals on the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to observe their effect on intracellular calcium ion |

|North Side High School |channels. Fluorescent techniques will be used to quantitate the amount of calcium ions inside the cells. |

|Fort Worth | |

| | |

|Peter Koulen | |

|Professor | |

|Department of Pharmacology and | |

|Neuroscience | |

|University of North Texas Health | |

|Science Center | |

| | |

|Edward McGinley |Flexible Integrated Caching Approach (FICA) for Efficient Content Delivery in Wireless Internet |

|Anatomy, physiology, gerontology, | |

|and pharmacology teacher |Mr. Edward McGinley is a Health Science Technology teacher as well as a trainer of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). His association in|

|Green B. Trimble Technical High |our Texas ARP-funded project will be extremely useful in validating telemedicine applications of the wireless internet. The ongoing project|

|School |is about efficient content delivery to users of the wireless internet on their handheld devices. EMTs (and of course victims of accidents |

|Fort Worth |and disasters) would benefit greatly if all the required information (such as medical history, traffic scenario, advice from medical |

| |specialists, etc.,) were available on a handheld device via the wireless internet. Through this grant we will be in a position to develop a|

|Sajal K. Das |prototype for telemedicine applications of the wireless internet. More importantly, Mr. McGinley will transfer the knowledge acquired to |

|Professor |his students and this, in turn, will result in the acceptance of technology by future EMTs. |

|Department of Computer Science | |

|and Engineering |During the five weeks of the grant period, it is envisioned that the following objectives will be achieved: |

|The University of Texas at Arlington |Mr. McGinley will be given hands-on experience with wireless internet and content delivery on handheld devices. |

| |Mr. McGinley will talk to us about the issues and challenges of EMTs and how they can benefit from information technology. |

| |The development of a simple prototype on the application of wireless internet. |

| | |

|Jay B. Atman |Newly Discovered Radiation Detector: Nanometer Size Liquid Crystal Droplets in Polymer |

|Physics teacher | |

|James Martin High School |Mr. Atman was the recipient of the “Supplemental High School Teacher Grant” on the same project during the summer of 2002. He did an |

|Arlington |excellent job in learning about the research project, carrying out optical characterization of polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) |

| |cells, and carrying the enthusiasm of his research experience back to his students at the high school. He even got his AP-Physics class |

|Suresh C. Sharma |involved in some aspects of the research in my laboratories. |

|Professor | |

|Department of Physics |Mr. Atman will participate in research (along with one graduate student, one postdoctoral research associate, and one undergraduate) on the |

|The University of Texas at Arlington |optical characterization of the PDLC’s and their development as radiation detectors. He will gain invaluable experience with laser |

| |spectroscopy, physics of radiation-induced phenomena in materials, and data acquisition/analysis techniques. This grant will also provide |

| |an opportunity for Mr. Atman to participate in the preparation of manuscripts that will be submitted with his co-authorship for |

| |publications. |

| | |

|Terry Frentrop |Manufacturing of Affordable Single Use BioMEMS |

|Physics teacher | |

|The Academy of Irving ISD |Mr. Frentrop will be working with a team consisting of two professors, 3 Ph.D.s, 4 Masters, and 3 undergraduate students researching and |

|Irving |developing a hot embossing microfabrication manufacturing system for the fabrication of single-use, inexpensive bio-sensors. |

| | |

|Panayiotis S. Shiakolas |Mr. Frentrop will familiarize himself with the project objectives and the usage of the main equipment: a femtosecond laser with a 3-degree |

|Professor |of freedom moving platform (a laser will be used as a CNC machine tool to generate a mold), and a hot embossing micro-manufacturing system |

|Mechanical and Aerospace |on a material testing machine (to create the part from the mold) and the LabView software for local and internet-based control. A number of|

|Engineering |auxiliary high technology equipment and subsystems (motion, heating, cooling, etc.) will provide a unique environment for Mr. Frentrop to be|

|The University of Texas at Arlington |exposed to and understand these technologies and contribute to the current research being performed. |

| | |

| |Mr. Frentrop will be employed in a research and development environment that emphasizes an ultimate goal of conveying a manufacturing |

| |process to the real-world and will contribute to the project in activities as noted. He will receive hands on experience that can be |

| |transferred back to the physics classroom and lab. He will be able to communicate to students, real-world applications of higher level |

| |research and design. Exposure with LabView will allow the teacher to evaluate the possibility of utilizing LabView at the secondary level, |

| |which allow students to remotely access and control labs of their design. He will be researching the development of a postprocessor based |

| |on mold features to drive the laser for machining the mold. In addition, Mr. Frentrop will participate in the design of experiments to |

| |identify the influence of process parameters on the quality and performance of the biosensor and eventually modify the process parameters to|

| |meet performance requirements. |

| | |

|Dean Mohlman |Probing the Structural Basis for Enzyme Specificity |

|Biology teacher | |

|St. Stephen’s Episcopal School |Mr. Mohlman will carry out experiments involving site-directed mutagenesis to prepare transformants of PLCBC having altered specificity |

|Austin |profiles. He will purify protein and grow crystals for X-ray crystallographic studies of complexes of the mutants with non hydrolysable |

| |substrate analogues to try to obtain insights regarding the structural basis for the specificity of PLCBC. During the course of this work |

|Stephen F. Martin |he will learn and apply standard biochemical techniques involved in mutagenesis, protein expression and purification. |

|Professor | |

|Department of Chemistry and | |

|Biochemistry | |

|The University of Texas at Austin | |

| | |

|Charlotte May |Electronic Nanoparticle-Tissue Composites for Targeted Biomolecular Delivery |

|Calculus and Algebra teacher | |

|Bowie High School |With the rapid development of nanoelectronic fabrication and nanostructure synthetic techniques, there exists a unique opportunity to |

|Austin |interface living cells with electronic materials technologies for potential medical and sensing applications, as well as new fundamental |

| |physiological studies that probe the nanoscale features of cellular processes. This ARP project specifically aims to interface |

|Christine E. Schmidt |semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots with cellular tissues through cell-receptor mediated molecular recognition to surface-functionalized |

|Professor |quantum dots. The goal is to optically induce an electronic response in the nanocrystals that translates into a cellular response, such as |

|Department of Chemical Engineering |the release of a desired chemical. |

|The University of Texas at Austin | |

| |Dr. May, a high school math teacher, will work with Professors Schmidt and Korgel and a graduate student to estimate the quantitative |

| |relationship between the electric field generated within the nanocrystals and the intensity of the cellular response. These calculations |

| |will be very important for optimizing the nanocrystal properties, such as size and surface chemical modification, as well as the binding |

| |location on the cell itself. |

| | |

|Chris Cotter |Dying Stars, Living Planets |

|Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, | |

|Geology, Physical Science, |Chris Cotter will serve as collaborator on this research project. He will carry out observations of white dwarf stars at The University of |

|Environmental Science and Math |Texas’ McDonald Observatory using the Argos CCD prime-focus, high-speed photometer and assist in the reduction, analysis and interpretation |

|teacher |of the data. The goal is to discover new pulsating white dwarf stars and use variations of the pulse arrival times to search for reflex |

|Akins High School |orbital motion as a signature of extrasolar planets. |

|Austin | |

| |This is the first search sensitive enough to detect planetary systems dynamically similar to our own. Mr. Cotter will be a co-author on the|

|Don Winget |research we carry out this summer. He will participate in the full spectrum of scientific research from planning to publication, and |

|Professor |co-author the scientific papers we submit based on our research. |

|Department of Astronomy | |

|The University of Texas at Austin | |

| | |

|Richard Sulfstede |Nanostructured Hybrid Membranes for High Temperature Fuel Cells |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|The Colony High School |As part of a collaborative effort with Los Alamos National Labs to provide fresh concepts in Fuel Cell Technology, we have proposed to |

|The Colony |develop novel, high-temperature, polymer-electrolyte membranes. These next generation fuel cells will perform well at temperatures in the |

| |150-180oC range where CO tolerance is substantially improved, minimize fuel crossover and water transport for direct methanol fuel cells, |

|Kenneth J. Balkus, Jr. |and will be tolerant to impurities in the feed stream. As part of this effort Mr. Sulfstede will conduct the synthesis and characterization|

|Professor |of proton conducting polymers within the pores of functionalized mesoporous molecular sieves. Mr. Sulfstede will be exposed to contemporary|

|Department of Chemistry |organic and inorganic wet chemical methods as well as state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation. These novel materials will be |

|The University of Texas at Dallas |incorporated into a test fuel cell as flat membranes either in the form of polymer composites or as free standing films. A fuel cell test |

| |station will be used to evaluate the membrane conductivity via impedance measurements. |

| | |

|Jay Ingram |Host-plant Interference in Sinorhizobium meliloti Quorum Sensing |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|North Garland High School |In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that many important bacterial activities such as motility, and the synthesis of |

|Garland |exoenzymes, exopolysaccharides, surfactants and antibiotics are regulated in a population density-dependent manner. These activities are |

| |essential for the effective colonization and pathogenesis of animal or plant hosts. Density-dependent regulation of gene expression |

|Juan E. Gonzalez |(“quorum sensing”) involves the production, release and detection of small, extra-cellular signal molecules termed autoinducers. |

|Professor | |

|Department of Molecular and |In our laboratory we study the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis between the leguminous plant Medicago sativa (alfalfa) and the Gram-negative |

|Cell Biology |bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. We have demonstrated that S. meliloti produces a variety of N-Acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) signals, the |

|The University of Texas at Dallas |most common autoinducers produced by Gram-negative bacteria. |

| | |

| |We have obtained strong evidence that alfalfa indeed produces AHL-mimic compounds. These compounds affect the expression of quorum-sensing |

| |regulated genes in two commonly used reporter strains (Chromobacterium violaceum and Agrobacterium tumefaciens). Furthermore, we have |

| |demonstrated that these plant-produced AHL-mimics alter the pattern of autoinducer production in S. meliloti. Ms. Dingrando will examine |

| |(in close collaboration with the Principal Investigator) the effect of alfalfa AHL-mimics on the S. meliloti quorum-sensing systems as well |

| |as their role in overall S. meliloti gene regulation. It is exciting to consider the possibility that many eukaryotic hosts could be |

| |capable of interfering with the quorum-sensing behavior of associated pathogenic/symbiotic bacteria. The proposed study will provide a |

| |better understanding of the symbiotic/pathogenic relationships between prokaryotes and their eukaryotic hosts and could potentially provide |

| |tools for the control and manipulation of such relationships. |

| | |

|Lee R. Silva |MT Contrast Agents: A New Paradigm in Molecular Imaging |

|Biology teacher | |

|Clark High School |The goal of this research is to develop a new type of MRI contrast agent that “responds” to various biological events inside the human body.|

|Plano |We have recently discovered a new class of lanthanide complexes wherein a Ln3+-bound water molecule is in slow exchange with bulk water. |

| |Last summer we designed and began the synthesis of a tetra-amide macrocyclic ligand containing two appended peptides that could form a |

|A. Dean Sherry |compact folded structure above a Ln3+-bound water molecule. The goal of this summer project is to finish the synthesis of this molecule and|

|Professor |begin its characterization, as well as the synthesis of a modified design with a different protein motif attached to the macrocycle. |

|Department of Chemistry |Peptides will be synthesized on an automated peptide synthesizer using standard Fmoc solid phase peptide synthesis protocols. Purification |

|The University of Texas at Dallas |will be carried out using reverse phase HPLC. Circular dichroism will be used to characterize the secondary structure and folding |

| |properties of the purified peptides. We will then test the hypothesis that water exchange with bulk solvent can be altered by enzymatic |

| |cleavage of those peptide chains, thereby exposing bound water to bulk solvent. This will be detected using magnetization transfer NMR |

| |techniques. |

| | |

|Nilda N. Camarena |Biological Activities of Citrus Flavonoids |

|Chemistry and Physics teacher | |

|Nikki Rowe High School |Mrs. Nilda Camarena, a chemistry and physics teacher has an excellent educational background. She has had undergraduate research experience|

|McAllen |and plans to pursue a master’s degree in chemistry. Her knowledge and lab experience will help her assist us in the isolation and |

| |characterization of the gluthathione S-transferase (GST) isoenzymes. The tissues extracted from animals which are administered with citrus |

|Hassan Ahmad |flavonoids will be used to isolate the isoenzymes. A new approach using reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), will be |

|Professor |applied to isolate the closely related and small amounts of GST that may have high carcinogenic activities. The patterns of GST isoenzymes |

|Department of Chemistry |from tissue of control and experimental animals will reveal which of the isoenzymes is specifically induced by the flavonoids. The |

|The University of Texas-Pan |functional and immunological characterization of these isoenzymes will reveal their significance in metabolism of carcinogens. |

|American | |

| |This experience should significantly enhance her ability to convey the importance and realities of chemical and/or biochemical research to |

| |her students at the high school. The research experience will also give her a competitive edge for her future master’s endeavors and |

| |directly benefit the ATP grant. |

| | |

|Abraham Frias |Geochemical Fate and Bioavailability of Arsenic in Pesticide-Applied Soils: Phase 1: In-Vitro Study |

|Physics and Chemistry teacher | |

|Harlandale High School |Years of widespread application of arsenic (As)-based pesticides have increased the background concentrations of As in agricultural soils, |

|San Antonio |such as the cotton fields of Texas. Due to rapid encroachment of suburban development on former agricultural lands, soil ingestion from |

| |incidental hand-to-mouth activity is now an important issue in assessing human health risks associated with exposure to this Group-A |

|Dibyendu Sarker |carcinogen. Studies suggest that arsenic bioavailability in soils is generally significantly less than 100 percent, the default value |

|Professor |currently used for many baseline risk assessments. Apparently, this practice seriously over-estimates the potential risk associated with |

|Department of Earth and |the ingestion of As from soil, thereby elevating the remedial costs. The huge expense associated with conducting case-specific in-vivo |

|Environmental Science |bioavailability studies (animal models) dictates use of this overly-conservative (and unrealistic) approach; if an appropriate in-vitro |

|The University of Texas at |method is identified that simulates the in-vivo data, then it might be possible to inexpensively generate reliable, case-specific risk |

|San Antonio |numbers for As-enriched systems. |

| | |

| |Ongoing research funded by the ARP-2001 program has been instrumental in developing an in-vitro technique that is currently being tested for|

| |a variety of soils. Mr. Abraham Frias, who is a minority (Hispanic) graduate student at UTSA and a high school science teacher in San |

| |Antonio, will work on the cotton soils of Texas, which have been reported to have much higher background concentrations of As due to |

| |repeated applications of As-based pesticides over the years. He will try to dissect the relationship between soil-speciation of As and As |

| |bioavailability in the Houston Black soil series (the State soil of Texas, most commonly used for growing cotton) amended with one inorganic|

| |and one organic arsenical pesticide (as a function of pesticide loading rate) using our in-vitro model. |

| | |

| |This project will start in Summer 2003 when approximately 60 percent of the work will be completed; Mr. Frias will volunteer his time in |

| |December 2003 to finish the remaining work (final analysis after 5 month soil equilibration). This project will contribute towards the M.S.|

| |thesis requirements (in environmental science) of Mr. Frias who will be trained in state-of-the-art analytical techniques available in the |

| |Environmental Geochemistry Lab at UTSA. These activities will also allow him to show his high school students the relevance of chemistry to|

| |modern environmental problems, and give him the opportunity to participate as an important member of a “real” science team. If amenable, |

| |Mr. Frias will organize a field trip to bring his students to our facilities after completion of the project to demonstrate how scientific |

| |research is done using modern analytical technology. |

| | |

|Deborah Baker |Alteration in Bacterial Virulence and Host Responses Under Simulated Microgravity |

|Biology and Geology teacher | |

|Clear Lake High School |Ms. Deborah Baker recruited under the ATP grant will learn microbiological, tissue culture, and molecular biological techniques. More |

|Houston |specifically, Ms. Baker would learn to grow human pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli under normal |

| |gravity (2D) and microgravity (3D) conditions using NASA-developed bioreactors. In a similar fashion, she will learn to culture host cells,|

|Ashok K. Chopra |such as macrophages and epithelial cells under 2D versus 3D conditions as well as to coculture bacteria and host cells under these two |

|Professor |conditions. She will also be exposed to and perform molecular biological techniques such as plasmid DNA isolation, FNA isolation, and |

|Department of Microbiology and |Southern and Northern blot analyses. In addition, she will be trained in performing 2-dimensional (2D) electrophoresis to examine these |

|Immunology |proteins of bacteria that are differentially expressed under 2D versus 3E conditions. We believe that Ms. Baker will become familiar with |

|The University of Texas Medical |the techniques within 2 weeks. For the next 4 weeks, she will be independently performing 2D electrophoresis of S. typhimurium under 2D |

|Branch at Galveston |versus 3D-grown bacteria and analyzing the data using computer-driven software. She could reach a point during this time where it would be |

| |possible to identify 1-2 proteins that are differentially expressed under these two conditions in collaboration with our proteomics core |

| |facility. Ms. Baker will use the last 3 weeks in our genomics core facility to learn S. typhimurium microarray analysis. |

| | |

| |The Principal Investigator’s laboratory has these microarrays based on the genome sequence of S. typhimurium. Ms. Baker will be involved in|

| |isolating RNA from Salmonella under 2D- versus 3D conditions and to examine differential expression of Salmonella genes under these two |

| |conditions in collaboration with our genomic core facility. These are cutting-edge tools that teachers should learn in order to better |

| |train students in high school. |

| | |

|Shawna Hampton-Riddle |Phylogenetic Approach to the Treatment of Pollen Allergy |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|Ball High School |The overall objective of this project is to test the hypothesis that probing the biodiversity of plants will identify natural sources for |

|Galveston |antigenic extracts that will improve immunization against pollen hypersensitivities. Ms. Hampton-Riddle’s activities will be related to |

| |specific objective 2 in our proposal (identify variants of Jun a 3 that have non-conserved amino acid variations ions in the lgE binding |

|Randall M. Goldblum, M.D. |sites (epitopes), and use homology modeling to determine which are likely to alter the 3D structure of one or more lgE epitopes). During |

|Professor |the first year of this proposal we have cloned and sequenced over 100 of the phylogenetic homologues of the mountain cedar allergen Jun a 3.|

|Department of Pediatrics |Shawna Hampton-Riddle will first analyze the sequences of the Jun a 3 homologues to identify those that contain non-conserved amino acid |

|The University of Texas Medical |substitutions, using programs within the GCG suite. Next she will identify those variants with amino acid substitution within or near |

|Branch at Galveston |identified lgE epitopes. Working with our collaborators in the Sealy Center for Structural Biology, Ms. Hampton-Riddle will identify those |

| |variants with the highest probability of having large changes in the physico-chemical properties of one or more epitopes. If time permits, |

| |she will also work with Dr. Catherine Schein to develop a 3D computer model of a variant and compare it to that of the sensitizing (Jun a 3)|

| |allergen. During this same time period, others in the lab will be expressing allergen variants and testing their binding of lgE from |

| |allergic patients. Thus, Ms. Hampton-Riddle will have an opportunity to learn computational and experimental approaches for identifying and|

| |testing variant structures for biological activity. This experience will provide a wealth of examples, which she can take back to her |

| |classroom to show how chemistry can be used to develop new technologies for treatment of common illnesses. |

| | |

|Donald Winsor |Flotillin-2 in Metastic Melanoma |

|Biology teacher | |

|Dulles High School |Dr. Winsor is a high school teacher of honors and advanced levels biology with an exceptional educational background. He has prior |

|Sugar Land |experience at the Texas Medical Center. |

| | |

|Madeleine Duvic |One of the goals of the ARP-funded project is to inhibit the expression of Flotillin-2 in melanoma cell lines and Dr. Winsor will assist us |

|Professor |in achieving this goal. He will work directly with Dr. Madeleine Duvic learning new techniques in molecular and cell biology. Specifically|

|Department of Dermatology |Dr. Winsor will learn how to transfect cells using a vector with antisense Flotillin-2, check the level of protein expression, and create |

|The University of Texas M.D. |stably transfected cell lines. |

|Anderson Cancer Center | |

| |In addition to contributing to the success of the ARP-funded project, the techniques learned and the knowledge gained will be beneficial to |

| |Dr. Winsor in teaching his advanced biology curriculum. |

| | |

|Ward S. Coats |A Test for HERG Blockers Based on Heterologous Expression in C Elegans |

|Chemistry teacher | |

|Hillcrest High School |Dr. Coats will investigate aspects of gene expression in animals using current molecular biological, genetic and physiologic techniques. |

|Dallas | |

| | |

|Leon Avery | |

|Professor | |

|Department of Molecular Biology | |

|The University of Texas | |

|Southwestern Medical Center | |

| | |

|Tom Johnson |Reducing Odors and Flies at Texas Cattle Feed Yards |

|Algebra teacher | |

|Amarillo Area Center for Advanced |Tom Johnson will assist in collecting data and analyzing samples to determine the effectiveness of Zeolite in cattle food as an odor control|

|Learning |and anti-dust agent for Texas feedlots. |

|Amarillo | |

| | |

|David B. Parker | |

|Professor | |

|Division of Agriculture | |

|West Texas A&M University | |

| | |

|Leslie Harman |Reducing Odors and Flies at Texas Cattle Feed Yards |

|Biology and Chemistry teacher | |

|Happy High School |Ms. Harman will assist in several research projects. The first will be in the evaluation of biotic and abiotic factors associated with |

|Happy |stable fly dispersal. He will also be involved with the evaluation of the significance of stable fly dispersal among CAFO’s and other |

| |environments in the Texas Panhandle. This study will be conducted during June and August. Releases will be conducted twice in each month, |

|Greta Schuster |once at the beginning and at the end of the month. This will allow us to observe dispersal activities during low vs peak activity and at |

|Professor |different temperature and moisture conditions. For these studies two commercial CAFOs will be used: One will be located 5 miles east of |

|Division of Agriculture |Hereford, Texas with a 50,000 head capacity with surrounding feedyards about 10 to 15 miles to the east, west, south, and north. (This yard|

|West Texas A&M University |is 45 minutes west of West Texas A&M University). The second feedyard is 45 minutes southeast of West Texas A&M University with 50,000 head|

| |capacity, with the nearest feedyard located 20-25 miles away. This feedyard is 5 miles from the nearest town, Tulia, Texas. |

| | |

| |The second project will include determining the chronological and physiological age profiles of stable flies as these relate to the flies’ |

| |population dynamics and how environmental conditions may have an effect on the Texas High Plains population. |

Summary of 2003 Supplemental Grants Awards and Participants

|Supplemental Grants to High School Science and Math Teachers - Summer 2003 |

| |

|Awards by Program and Year of Original Award |

| | | | |

| |Number of |Dollars |Number of |Dollars |Number of |Dollars |

|Program |Awards |Awarded |Awards |Awarded |Awards |Awarded |

|ARP | |$ 0 |15 |$113,400 |15 |$113,400 |

|ATP |1 |$8,100 |28 |$198,000 |29 |$206,100 |

|TDT | |$ 0 | 2 |$ 16,200 | 2 | $ 16,200 |

|Totals |1 |$8,100 |46 |$227,600 |47 |$335,700 |

Projects selected in the 2001 Advanced Research Program and Advanced Technology Program (ARP/ATP) grants competition were eligible to receive Supplemental Grants to High School Teachers for summer 2003. Additionally, three projects funded in 1999 that received no-cost extensions were also eligible to participate. Technology Development and Transfer (TDT) grants are made in the ATP to commercialize research discoveries.

Four of the teachers participating in this summer research program have a doctoral degrees, 16 have master’s degrees (including 9 Master of Science degrees), and 27 have bachelor’s degrees (including 21 Bachelor of Science degrees). The doctoral degrees were awarded in applied mechanics, mathematical education, biochemistry, and microbiology. The master’s and bachelor’s degrees were awarded in various areas of science, math, physics, education, and engineering.

|Supplemental Grants to High School Science and Math Teachers – Summer 2003 |

| |

|Gender of Participants by Program |

| |

| |

| |Teachers | |Investigators |

|Program |Male |Female |Total | |Male |Female |Total |

| | | | | | | | |

|ARP |11 | 4 |15 | |13 | 2 |15 |

| | | | | | | | |

|ATP |13 |17 |30 | |27 | 3 |30 |

| | | | | | | | |

|TDT | 0 | 2 | 2 | | 2 | 0 | 2 |

| | | | | | | | |

|Totals |24 |23 |47 | |42 | 5 |47 |

Technology Development and Transfer (TDT) grants are made in the ATP to commercialize research discoveries.

The participating teachers are split evenly between male and female, while the majority of the investigators are male.

Nineteen of the teachers also participated in the 2002 supplemental grants program. Five of the teachers participated in both the 2000, 2001 and 2002 programs and one participated in all four years of the program. Fourteen of the teachers will be working with the professor who supervised their research during the summer of 2002. Six of the professors with 2002 supplemental grants also received 2001 grants. Two of the professors have participated in all five summers.

Name Index

Aguas, Tricia N. 12

Ahmad, Prof. Hassan 18

Ardoin, Bonnie J. 1

Atman, Jay B. 14

Avery, Prof. Leon 22

Baker, Deborah 20

Balkus, Prof. Kenneth J. 17

Baraniuk, Prof. Richard 2

Bassett, James 8

Butcher, Frank 12

Camarena, Nilda N. 18

Casadonte, Prof. Dominick J. 9

Chellam, Prof. Shankar 11

Chen, Prof. Daniel H. 1

Chopra, Prof. Ashok K. 20

Chow, Prof. Diana 11

Coats, Ward S. 22

Connor, Jasson 6

Cotter, Chris 16

Croman, Robert B. 3

Crowell, Sonja 9

Das, Prof. Sajal L. 14

Densmore, Prof. Charles 1

Dudo, Tami 8

Dunne, Prof. Patrick W. 5

Duvic, Prof. Madeleine 21

Eyre, Sean 13

Fortenberry, Gary 10

Franks, Lee 9

Frentrop, Terry 15

Freundlich, Prof. Alex 11

Frias, Abraham 19

Gabor, Prof. Caitlin 4

Goldblum, Prof. Randall M., M.D. 21

Gonzalez, Prof. Juan E. Gonzalez 17

Greene, Prof. L. Wayne 6

Hampton-Riddle, Shawna 21

Harman, Leslie 22

Hartwig, Prof. K. T. 8

Holmes, Matt 4

Horton, Prof. Charles 12

Ignatiev, Prof. Alex 12

Ingram, Jay 17

Johnson, Tom 22

Kadish, Prof. Karl 12

Koke, Prof. Joseph R. 4

Koulen, Prof. Peter 13

Kovacevic, Prof. Radovan 3

Kuhl, Jennifer 12

Letchford, Prof. Chris 9

Liebschner, Prof. Michael 3

Liu, Prof. Jyh-Charn 8

Lutherer, Prof. Lorenz O. 10

Lyle, Mary Booth 5

Majors, Shonda 3

Martin, Prof. Stephen F. 15

May, Dr. Charlotte 16

McGinley, Edward 14

McMillan, Tobi 10

Mohlman, Dean 15

Muttiah, Prof. Ranjan S. 7

Muir, Prof. James P. 6

Overfelt, Glenda 7

Parker, Prof. David B. 22

Passos, Prof. Nelson Luiz 2

Peikert, Brett 9

Perez, Prof. Jose 13

Price, Clyde A. 13

Richards, Robert E. 7

Sarker, Prof Dibyendu 19

Schmidt, Prof. Christine E. 16

Schuller, Wiley P. 11

Sharma, Prof. Suresh C. 14

Schuster, Prof. Greta 22

Sherry, Prof. A. Dean 18

Shiakolas, Prof. Panayiotis S. 15

Silva, Lee R. 18

Srinivasan, Prof. Raghavan 7

Stanley, Belinda 11

Starikov, Prof. David 13

Statt, Steven 11

Straus, Prof. David C 10

Sulfstede, Richard L. 17

Taylor, Judy 6

Taylor, Teresa 4

Teneyuque-Rios, Leanne 5

Trahan, Debbie 2

Watkins, Prof. Linette M. 5

Wigmans, Prof. Richard 9

Winget, Prof. Don 16

Winsor, Donald 21

Wuthrich, Cerise 2

Yannazzo, Jo-Ann S. 13

Zenker, Jessica 1

Related documents available from the Division of

Finance, Campus Planning and Research:

Research Experiences for High School Science

Teachers, Summer 2002

Follow-Up Report on the Summer 1999 Supplemental

Program to Provide Research Experiences for High

School Science and Math Teachers, June 2000

Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology

Program Fiscal Year 1999 Progress Report with a

Special Report on Texas-Mexico Border Research

1998 – 2000

Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology

Program, 2003 Program Announcements

Advanced Research Program/Advanced Technology

Program, Report of Awards, May 2002

For further information about this program, contact:

Dr. Linda Domelsmith

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Division of Finance, Campus Planning and Research

P.O. Box 12788

Austin, Texas 78711

(512) 427-6150

E-mail: linda.domelsmith@thecb.state.tx.us

Information is also available on our website:



The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board does not discriminate on

the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age or

disability in employment or the provision of services.

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