igma Xi's annual meeting in May 2002 got off to an auspicious start with two students receiving awards and the induction of 18 new members. Professor Edward Kennelly (Biological Sciences), incoming president of the Lehman chapter, believes the increase in members may be a record for the scientific research society. Professor Alan Kluger (Psychology) served as president during this banner year. The event, which began with a student research competition, dinner and induction ceremony, culminated with a lecture by Dr. Gwen Smith of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Research Center. The winning student awards were presented to two students in the Biological Sciences Department: graduate student Kurt Reynertson and undergraduate Nicholas Licciardello.



Graduate student Kurt Reynertson (r.) with his mentor, Dr. Edward Kennelly. Reynertson is studying the fruits of several species of the Myrtle family, a tree/shrub that grows in the tropics and produces fruit that may be linked to the minimization of age-related cancers. According to Reynertson, while these fruits can only be found in Southern Florida, Hawaii and California, consumers can compensate with fruits like guava, cloves, allspice and bay rum, which closely match his test fruits.

 

  
Alvin Wagner Jr. (l.) and mentor Dr. Alan Kluger discuss the results of Wagner's research on the accuracy of current tests used to detect early signs of dementia in patients. Wagner contrasted the cognitive and motor-skill test results of educated and under-educated patients, and found a significant difference between the two groups' performance in the cognitive test. The results could mean a change in the way under-educated patients are tested for early signs of Alzheimer's.

Dr. Martin Muntzel gives his undivided attention to Magnet/AGEP fellow, Onyekwere Onwumere. For her study, Onwumere injected lab rats with insulin to determine if insulin was the culprit behind high blood pressure in patients who suffer from obesity and type-2 diabetes.		  


Student Yanira Rodriguez with her mentor, Dr. Haiping Cheng. Rodriguez is screening for genes regulating the production of Sinorhizobium meliloti succinoglycan. The purpose of her study is to understand how ammonia regulates the symbiotic interactions between the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti and its plant host alfalfa.

 


Lehman Scholar and Ph.D. candidate Kevin Broadbelt (l.) chats with his mentor, Dr. Liesl Jones. For his research, Broadbelt studied the cellular changes in schizophrenic patients, particularly the protein changes that lead to functional changes in brain cells.		  


(l.-r.) Dr. Kevin Sailor with Lehman Scholar Ann-Marie Wilson and Dr. Suzanne Yates. Wilson is studying the affects of negative stereotype on the performance of older adults on memory tasks. Her experiment involved asking participants to repeat, in the reverse order, a list of consonants read to them by a test administrator.

 


Tenille Pabon-Rodriguez gets ready to explain the project illustrated on her poster. Based on a pilot study that examined whether cultural differences affected eye contact in Spanish-speaking bilinguals, Pabon-Rodriguez set out to learn whether Hispanic men and women purposely avoid eye-gazing during conversation. Her experiment showed that other factors, besides culture, affected the participant's ability to make and hold eye contact.

 

 

  
Nicholas Licciardello with his poster. Licciardello is studying a partial gene from corn that metabolizes carotenoids, thus leaving the corn deficient in beta-carotene, which forms vitamin A in animals. According to Licciardello, understanding this gene's conversion process may lead to a more efficiently engineered corn.