UH Manoa hosts 2005 undergraduate research symposium

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Apr 28, 2005

HONOLULU — The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa presents its annual showcase of undergraduate research talent, "Symposium 2005: A Presentation of Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects," on Saturday, April 30, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the East-West Center‘s Hawaiʻi Imin International Conference Center. Undergraduates from UH Mānoa, UH Hilo and the UH community colleges will present their research and creative projects.

The event will consist of poster and oral presentations by the students, with a special time for public viewing of posters on Friday, April 29, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, a luncheon will be held at noon featuring a presentation by Dr. Neal Smatresk, vice chancellor of academic affairs at UH Mānoa, followed by a special fine arts feature performance by the UH Dance Ensemble.

The UH Dance Ensemble is a group of scholarship students from the UH Mānoa Dance Program who hail from across the United States, with several members from Hawaiʻi, as well as Japan. They will present a diverse program, opening with African dance followed by "capoeira," a Brazilian martial arts form, and "Bharatanatyam," a traditional dance form from Southern India. These world dances will be followed by three modern dances to Baroque music.

This year‘s symposium features project topics ranging from base camps on Mars, dengue fever, and air pollution reduction systems, to the globalization of obesity and an analysis of Wonder Woman. Students from a variety of undergraduate disciplines are participating, including English, education, fine arts, mechanical engineering, psychology, geology & geophysics, anthropology, information and computer science, political science, economics and more.

Awards will be presented for best oral presentation and best poster presentation in each of three categories — social sciences, arts and humanities and natural sciences/engineering.

The 2005 symposium is sponsored by the UH Mānoa Honors Program, Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium, Marine Option Program, Marine Biology Program, Biology Program, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Global Environmental Science Program, Department of English and the UH Mānoa Office of the Chancellor.

For more information about the symposium and a detailed schedule of presentations, visit http://undergradsymposium.higp.hawaii.edu.

Highlights of a few of the research and creative projects to be presented this year include:

· Olav Bauer, Chinese, UH Mānoa, "A Review of Past Foreign Language Instruction in Public Elementary Schools and Suggestions for Reimplementation" — Reviews the history of foreign language study in elementary schools and makes a proposal for the implementation of foreign languages in public elementary schools nationwide.

· Justin Carland, Eric Lee and Sae Yoon, electrical engineering, Kapiʻolani Community College, "Kapiʻolani Community College CANSAT Project" — CANSAT is an airborne sensor package that can be launched on a small rocket or other airborne platforms, record and transmit sensor data to a ground-based storage device, and be recovered and re-used for further testing. The project will provide for an opportunity for hands-on experience in mission planning, sensor array design, airborne vehicle delivery, wireless communications, telemetry and acquisition, data analysis and data presentation.

· Amanda Leonard, geology, UH Hilo, "Educational Outreach on Mauna Kea" — This project is aimed towards making information about Mauna Kea‘s natural history more readily accessible in the form of a free brochure and companion website. Together, these tools will be a complete and informative guide spanning the early exploration, archaeology, geology, and history of astronomy on Mauna Kea.

· Adam Paddock, management, UH Mānoa, "Offline Communications: "No Web Internet transactions" — A non-Internet e-payment protocol that allows consumers to conveniently purchase goods and services on the Internet without going through the Internet.

· Bessie Tran, civil and environmental engineering, UH Mānoa, "Material and Structural Concepts for the Design of a Base Camp on Mars" — This project proposes the building of a two-shelled shelter on Mars, and analyzes the environmental conditions and materials available on Mars to design and build such a structure.

For more information, visit: http://undergradsymposium.higp.hawaii.edu