Area students are among those who will be sharing research at an event at Kansas State University.

Undergraduate research will take center stage at Kansas State University’s 18th annual Developing Scholars Program Research Poster Symposium from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in the K-State Student Union’s Ballroom.

The Developing Scholars Program is an undergraduate research program that provides opportunities for highly motivated students from diverse backgrounds to participate in research projects with a faculty mentor. Students receive academic, social and financial support while participating in the discovery and creation of new knowledge at Kansas State University. Developing Scholars is housed in the university’s Office of Undergraduate Research & Creative Inquiry directed by Anita Cortez.

“The Developing Scholars Symposium has become an anticipated and celebratory spring tradition at K-State where the campus and community come together to celebrate the diverse contributions of Kansas State undergraduates and their faculty research mentors,” Cortez said. “Their research ranges from cutting-edge cancer research to cybersecurity to indigenous hip-hop to green roof systems, beekeeping and much more. We encourage all undergraduates to seek out research opportunities while they are at K-State surrounded by so many gifted faculty. K-State’s faculty are well known for their generous support of undergraduates in research.”

Cortez, who founded the Developing Scholars Program, will retire at the end of the summer.

The following Developing Scholars and three guest researchers will make presentations at the symposium:

Sonia Barrett, Coolidge, “Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle Synthesis and Drug Loading.”

From Dodge City: Olivet Martinez, “Effects of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors”; Melitza Ramirez, “An Examination of Supplement Use in Volunteer Firefighters”; and Isaiah Solorzano, “The Hungarian Algorithm: A Matchmaking Algorithm for Maximum Matchings in a Bipartite Graph.” Special guest presenter will be Landon Karr Smith, a second-grader at Ross Elementary School, who will present “Black and Yellow Honey Co. in the Making.”

David Coria, “Dark Halos: The Power Spectrum’s Dependence on Mass,” and Rafael Garcia, “A Case Study of a Rural, Hispanic Newspaper in the Midwest,” both from Emporia.

From Garden City: Dylan Darter, “Quantifying Gait Changes Using Microsoft Kinect and Sample Entropy”; Jerica Garcia, “Stand Up Kansas: An Intervention to Reduce Sedentary Behavior in the Workplace”; Dursitu Hassen, “Delivery of a Peptide with Anti-Cancer Activity Using Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles”; Erick Martinez-Rosales, “Safety and Security Implementation on Cyber-Physical Systems”; and Maria Martinez-Rosales, Garden City, “Understanding the Complexity of Jealousy: Negative Attribution, Relational Commitment, and Relationship Problems.”

From Greater Kansas City: Marcos Aleman, Gardner, “Maintenance Practices for Prairie-like Green Roof Systems,” Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol poster presenter; Marcellus Brown, Kansas City, “Intersecting Logic and Energy Transfer Through Engineering Design: Shifting Mental Frameworks for Conceptualizing Natural Phenomena”; Carolina Bueno, Kansas City, “Effects of Gap Junction Enhancers in Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells”; Jaymond Kelly, Kansas City, “Blockade of B2-GPI Decreases Hypoxic Tissue Damage”; Luis Lopez, Kansas City, “Evaluation of an Immunomodulatory Feed Additive During the Transition Period: Immune Cell Counts in Blood”; Ingrid Silva, Kansas City, “Effects of Folic Acid Supplementation on Critical Speed”; Monica Tlaxcalteca-Romero, Kansas City, “Studies Toward the Development of a Universal Transport Method for Gram-Negative Bacteria”; Chelsea Turner, Kansas City, “Stories of Resistance & Resilience: Indigenous Hip-Hop in the Heartland”; Sahiba Grover, Lenexa, “Recombinant Expression of Outer Membrane Proteins of Ehrlichia Ruminantium and Their Assessment as Potential Diagnostic and Vaccine Antigens”; Jaasiel Duarte-Terrazas, Merriam, “Typologies in Architecture Form: Understanding Form Complexity”; Elshaddai Abamegal, Olathe, “The Redesign and Construction of a Compact Inverted Pendulum Cart”; Jazmine Snow, Olathe, “Targeted Therapeutics to Treat Cancers Derived From Human Papillomavirus,” Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol poster presenter; Jaden Castinado, Overland Park, “Shelf-life Extension of a Refrigerated Egg Patty and Bun for School Breakfast”; Seth Castinado, Overland Park, “Changes in Financial Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Post Financial Counseling”; Joanne Gomendoza, Overland Park, “The Effects of Differential Rearing on Hedonic Responding in Rats”; Kathlyn Gomendoza, “A Viral Oxidoreductase Modifies Viral Structural Proteins — A Requirement for Viral Infectivity”; Derrius Washington, Overland Park, “Improving Sleep Quality for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder”; Katie Rose McKinley, “The Salt Survival and Azo Dye Degradation of Salt Cedars,” and Marta Stetsiv, “Identifying Targets of Conserved miRNAs That May Function in the NUAK Kinase Signaling Pathway,” both from Shawnee.

Bradley Richards, Haysville, “Correlates of Overweight and Obesity in Special Olympics Athletes”; Mya Masterson, Hutchinson, “Visualization of Rift Valley Fever Virus Nucleoprotein by Immunohistochemistry”; Dominic Barker, Independence, “Efficacy of Different Iron Fortificants on Improving Iron Outcomes in Those With Inadequate Iron Status; a Systematic Review”; Guadalupe Arreola, “Wastewater Denitrification Using BHN-Probiotic Solutions as an Alternative External Carbon Source,” and Kenia Chavez, “Gender Pay Gap at IPO Firms,” both from Lakin.

From Liberal: Richard Carmona-Andrade, “Recipe Extraction of Nanomaterials From Scientific Literature”; Nancy Lopez-Rodriguez, “IPOs, Executive Compensation, and Firm Performance”; Azriel Minjarez-Almeida, “Copper Binding of Heterocyclic Compounds Is Vital For Novel Drugs Against Resistant Bacteria”; Andrew Ortiz, “Lighting for Health”; Adelina Parral, “Investigation of Two Genes Mast Kinase/Drop out and Alpha-catenin, Involved in Efficient Border Cell Migration in the Drosophila Ovary”; Daniel Pivaral, “Electrochemical Growth of a Metal-Organic Framework Material Inside Nanoporous Membranes”; and Erick Saenz, “Gymnemic Acids Negatively Affect Cavity Causing Microbial Biofilms.”

From Manhattan: Cesar Aparicio, “One-Step Synthesis of Water-Soluble Core-Shell Indium Phosphide Quantum Dots”; Alison Chan, “Synthesis of Carbon Nanotube-Based Photocatalysts for Environmental Remediation”; Lindsay Chassay, “Exploring Individual Differences in Risk Taking with Ambiguous Goals”; Baltazar Claro-Martinez, “Copper-Boosting Compounds: The Effects of Copper and its Antimicrobial Properties”; Michelle Coca, “Role of Endocytosis in Iron Uptake by Insect Cells”; Gabriela De La Cruz, “Gender Differences in Play Behaviors, Play Space Use, and Social Interactions During Outdoor Play Activities”; Maria F. De La Torre, “Action Recognition in 3-D Video Data of Animal Subjects Using Deep LSTM Networks,” and, as the University Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Student in Research recipient and Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol poster presenter, “Action Recognition in 3-D Video Data of Animal Subjects Using Deep LSTM Networks”; Anna Dykeman, “Fatty Acid, Phospholipid and Sterol Composition of Salt Cedar (Tamarixspp.) Roots,” as an Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol presenter; Amara Ehie, “Differentiation of P19 Cells Into Neurons”; Carolina Fonte, “Detection of Anti-staphylococcal Activity by Utilizing Copper-dependent Inhibitors With an Extended Thiourea Group”; Samantha Gameros, “Identification of microRNAs That Contribute to TRIM32-mediated Muscle Degeneration”; Alex Garcia, Manhattan, “Identification of an Insect Cuticle Degrading Protease”; Faith Rahman, “Detection of Anti-staphylococcal Activity by Utilizing Copper-dependent Inhibitors with an Extended Thiourea Group”; and Vu Vo, “Vietnam’s Natural Hazards.”

Alexcis Barnes, Salina, “Boron Uptake in Salt Cedars via Aquaporins”; Antonio Carter, “The Redesign and Construction of a Compact Inverted Pendulum Cart”; Ruben Pando, Satanta, “Novel Promoter-Controlled Expression of Proteins Selectively in Tumor Cells Using Whole or Fragmented Plasmid Sequences”; Maria Montes, Syracuse, “Polymeric Nanocarrier Synthesis for Drug Delivery Therapeutic Use”; Alexander Sheikh, “Advantages of Air Cooling in Thermal Ablation,” and Spencer West, “White Individuals’ Perceptions of Reappropriated Versus Non-reappropriated Black Racial Slurs Used by Black Individuals Toward White Individuals,” both from Topeka.

From Wichita: Sydney Lenox, “Culturally Appropriate Inspiration of Fashion: Focus on Guatemala”; Evelyn Lucio, “DACA Invisibility/Hypervisibility: Outcomes & Impacts for Dreamers in Kansas”; Brett Moon, “Schedule Management Using Virtual Reality Construction”; and Mia Taylor, “Anyone Can Exercise: An Evaluation of a Free Campus Exercise Program.”

Justice Catron, Yates Center, “A Case Study of Wind Development Potential in McPherson, Kansas.”

From out of state:

From Missouri — Alexis Cushshon, Florissant, “The Relationship Between Economic Prosperity and Infrastructure in Ethiopia”; Alexandra Mesias, Lee’s Summit, “Assessing Architecture Students’ ‘Itmc’ and Emotive Responses During Design Tasks”; Jared Newell, Lee’s Summit, “The Role of Dopamine During Zebrafish Odor-Cued Behavior”; Carlos Aguirre, Kansas City, “Rapid Annotation in Learning to Filter Documents for Information Extraction”; Ayana Belk, Kansas City, “Reviving Troost: Using Phytotechnology to Decontaminate Troost Avenue’s Vacant Lots”; and Marlene Campos, Kansas City, “Construction of a Gaussia Luciferase-based STAT3 Reporter.”

Jake Jimenez, Turpin, Oklahoma, “Evaluation of Cell Culture Media Supplemented With pHPL-depleted Exosomes on HUC-MSCs and Cancer Cell Lines”; Monica Diaz, Frisco, Texas, “Gender Bias in the Media”; and Rachael Cano, Perryton, Texas, “Emotion Estimation Through Brain-Computer Interface.”