Poster Award Winners: Courtney Wright, Kelly Conrad, Oakleigh Folkes, Lise Harbom, Katie Gallerani, Martin Schmidt, and Phillip Gorrindo. Absent: Amanda Miller, Jennifer Pryweller, Yuliya Yoncheva.

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's 2012 Science Day Draws a Crowd

Updated on 4/26/2012 10:06:30 AM.

Vanderbilt Kennedy Center's annual Science Day event attracted a record number of poster presenters and attendees this year.

Held Tuesday, February 28, in the Student Life Center, Science Day provided an opportunity for those affiliated with VKC to share their research findings. More than 120 undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, along with some staff members, produced posters on their latest projects and shared those results with a panel of 51 judges.

Ten winners were chosen for outstanding work, with each receiving a $250 cash prize, a certificate and recognition from their peers. One graduate student and one postdoctoral fellow were chosen in each of three theme areas, with separate prizes awarded for best undergraduates in each theme area, LEND, and UCEDD posters.

Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Laurie Cutting, Ph.D., Patricia and Rodes Hart Associate Professor of Special Education; Associate Professor of Psychology, Radiology, and Pediatrics; Faculty Director, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Reading Clinic; Science Day Chair
• Richard McCarty, Ph.D., Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Research Presentation

• Nilanjan Sarkar, Ph.D., Professor of Mechanical and Computer Engineering
• Zachary Warren, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry
  Can Adaptive Robotic Systems Advance Autism Treatment?

Panel Discussion

• Karoly Mirnics, M.D., Ph.D., James G. Blakemore Chair, Professor of Psychiatry; VKC Associate Director—Panel Moderator
• Anastasia Dimitropoulos, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University
• Cheryl Gatto, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University
• Chris Lemons, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Special Education, University of Pittsburgh
  Perspectives on Interdisciplinary Research and Research Training

VKC Science Day Research Poster Awards

Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

• Undergraduate Student—Lise Harbom
  Mentor—Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology
  Early-Life Stress and Immune System Regulation of Serotonin-Related Behavioral Phenotypes
• >Predoctoral Trainee—Martin Schmidt
  Mentor—Karoly Mirnics, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry
  Differential Impact of GAD67 Down Regulation in CCK+ and NPY+ Interneurons
• Postdoctoral Trainee—Kelly Conrad
  Mentor—Danny Winder, Ph.D., Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
  Orexis Mediates Yohimbine Actions in BNST and Impaired Extinction of Cocaine Place Preference Through a Norepinephrine-Independent Process

Clinical, Behavioral, and Intervention Research

• Undergraduate Student—Oakleigh Folkes
  Mentor—Fiona Harrison, Ph.D., Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Metabolism
  Behavioral Abnormalities in the Dhrc7 Heterozygous Mouse—An In-Vivo Mouse Model for Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome
• Predoctoral Trainee—Courtney Wright
  Mentor—Ann Kaiser, Ph.D., Department of Special Education
  Effects of a Naturalistic Sign Intervention on Expressive Language of Toddlers with Down Syndrome
• Postdoctoral Trainee—Amanda Miller
  Mentor—Donald Compton, Ph.D., Department of Special Education
  A Longitudinal Study of the Vocabulary Skills of Children with Early Emerging Reading Disability and Children with Late-Emerging Reading Disability

LEND

• Predoctoral Trainee—Katie Gallerani
  Mentor—Judy Garber, Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Human Development
  Changes in Observed and Self-Reported Hostility and Communication in Parents and Children Following Parental Treatment for Depression

Systems Neuroscience

• Predoctoral Trainee—Phillip Gorrindo
  Mentor—Evon Lee, Ph.D., Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
  Medical Stratification of Individuals with ASD Shows Subpopulation Enrichment of 15-F2t-Isoprostane
• Postdoctoral Trainee—Yuliya Yoncheva
  Mentor—Bruce McCandliss, Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Human Development
  Insights Into Word and Face Recognition: A Topographic Steady-state Visual Evoked Potential Investigation

UCEDD

• Predoctoral Trainee—Jennifer Pryweller
  Mentors—Tricia Thornton-Wells and Elisbeth Dykens, Neuroimaging of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  A Neural Basis for Atypical Auditory Processing: A Williams Syndrome Model

To encourage researchers to share their work at Science Day, all poster presenters are appointed as Vanderbilt Kennedy Center affiliates, which makes them eligible to compete for VKC Travel Awards.