Brock Scholar and elementary education major Rebekah Cahill, who will be graduating from UTC in December, placed second in the 2023 Sloane Prize for Undergraduate Research poster competition at the 58th annual National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference in Chicago. NCHC’s annual meeting is the second-largest all-discipline undergraduate research conference and the largest national gathering of honors educators, administrators and staff members.
Combating the heat: UTC students recognized for their work
Last summer, four UTC students worked with Dr. Dawn Ford and the Hamilton County Health Department on a tabletop exercise to come up with ways to respond in the event of extreme heat. In one of their newsletters this fall, the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) discussed the work they did.
Rocket Mocs preparing for NASA competition
For the fifth consecutive year, the Rocket Mocs have qualified for the NASA United Student Launch Initiative (USLI) Challenge. The team has to build a rocket that can reach an altitude of at least 4,000 feet—but no higher than 6,000 feet—for their competition launch.
Sartipi honored for advanced energy leadership
Dr. Mina Sartipi was the recipient of the 2023 “Thomas B. Ballard Advanced Energy Leadership Award” presented by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council.
Alum Sunny Fleming maps out a plan for a career in GIS
UTC’s Interdisciplinary Geospatial Technologies Lab hosted for GIS Day, a workshop for users of GIS technology to demonstrate real-world applications that are making a difference in society. The event featured special guest Sunny Fleming—a UTC alum and environment lead at Esri.
Trip to North Carolina conference lands award for sophomore researcher
In late October, Zayda Dominick and 13 other UTC undergraduates, accompanied by faculty from the Department of Chemistry and Physics, had the opportunity to present the results of their research at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society—known as SERMACS—in Durham, North Carolina. Dominick, who presented research she began during her freshman year titled “Understanding how NtrZ affects NtrY in Caulobacter crescentus,” received an undergraduate poster award.
Research opportunity leads to recognition for UTC senior
A research study by UTC senior Breanna Evans titled “Environmental Factors that Contribute to College Students Concerning Sleep and Physical Activity,” earned honorable mention recognition at the annual Black Doctoral Network (BDN) conference in Atlanta.
UTC alum conducts unique research on widely used ‘forever chemical’
Elizabeth Plunk, who graduated from UTC in 2019 with a degree in biology, is pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Rochester in New York.
Planting data points: Use of technology stokes ecology lab research
In late September, Associate Lecturer Monica Miles brought two Ecology Laboratory 3070 classes to Reflection Riding to help map the nature center’s invasive species removal efforts—one lab section focused on winter honeysuckle, the other on Oriental bittersweet.
Mission about Mars: UTC geologist presents ideas during NASA workshop
Early this semester, UTC Assistant Professor of Geology Ashley Manning-Berg was one of 32 early-career scientists selected to participate in a NASA workshop at Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, D.C., for what she called “an intense week coming up with ideas of how to look for life on Mars.”