Omar Radwan, during a presentation on speech generating devices. Radwan stated that current advancements are “giving voices to the voiceless.”

Student presentations: The heart of the conference

By Geoffrey Bruder Last updated Apr 27, 2015 227 1

Omar Radwan discussing how current advancements are "giving voices to the voiceless" during a presentation on speech generating devices. Photo by The Signal reporter Geoffrey Bruder. — Omar Radwan discussing how current advancements are “giving voices to the voiceless” during a presentation on speech generating devices. *Photo by The Signal reporter Geoffrey Bruder.*

UHCL hosted the 21st Annual Student Conference on Research & Creative Arts, April 13-17, featuring a wide range of presenters showcasing their recent research efforts and creative works.

Presentations were given by students from several Texas universities and colleges, which made for a broad range of topics being addressed throughout the week. Lectures, symposiums and presentations addressed topics including, but not limited to, social and behavioral sciences, medicinal research, physics, graphic arts, and mathematics.

Attendees were engaged Monday afternoon at the oral session “Psychology: Self Awareness.” Presenters spoke on several topics related by their relevance to self awareness. Charles White, a nursing student from Lone Star College, spoke about research into how different medications are absorbed into the bodies of patients with differing levels of the CP50 enzyme, which controls how the body metabolizes medications.

White emphasized “the role of nurses is to advocate for the patient” and spoke of the barriers medical staff face when trying to educate the public. He stressed that the largest hurdles faced by medical staff who are trying to educate patients are financial constraints, language barriers, the education level of the patient, age, cultural practices and religious beliefs.

Omar Radwan, a psychology student at UHCL, presented on the history and progression of speech generating devices used by the speech impaired. Radwan discussed the need for creating better systems of speech generation that takes into account the personality of the user and age progression, which better conveys human emotion.

Madeline Carr, a San Jacinto College art student, gave a presentation of her recent works and explained how different parts of the creative process can help one develop a greater sense of self awareness. Carr, who enjoys creating self portraits, spoke on how self portraits bring things that are unseen to the surface.

“The goal is to create an interesting piece that people want to spend time with,” said Carr, who reminded creatives to “experiment, experiment, experiment!”

Samina Masood, assistant professor of physics, hosted “Astrophysics and Cosmology Lectures,” featuring an insightful presentation by Eric Van Mayes, followed by student presentations on high energy physics research.

Mayes spoke about recent research at the Large Hadron Collider, in Geneva, Switzerland. He discussed efforts to discover evidence of neutrilinos, left behind by the decay of certain known particles in the standard model, which would provide evidence of theoretical supersymmetry. Proving supersymmetry would serve as gateway to solving most problems in modern astrophysics. No evidence has yet been found.

Anne Henry, lecturer in communication and digital media studies, hosted an animation festival showcasing the creative works of students from 3D animation and 2D motion graphics courses here at UHCL. Presenters represented a group of skilled creatives working here at UHCL and in the local community.

Single frame rendering from Warda Ajaz’s dynamic animation titled “Use Time Wisely.” Ajaz created this animation by combining skills she learned in Anne Henry’s Motion Graphics course and Professor Stuart Larson’s Graphic Design course. Image courtesy of Warda Ajaz.

Warda Ajaz, UHCL digital media studies major, created an informative and beautifully illustrated animation called “Use Time Wisely,” which resonated with viewers at the symposium. Other presenters included past ACM Siggraph exhibitors Brenda Faxel and Jeramie Ibarra, as well as Siggraph award winners Liliana Cadavid and Amy Nichols.

Shreerekha Subramanian, associate professor in humanities, hosted a viewing of an edited recording from her roundtable discussion on texts from non-western tradition at the Texas Department of Corrections Ramsey Unit, where she teaches inmates seeking both first and secondary degrees. A small audience was present and engaged in the conversation after the viewing, asking questions about the comments made by those included in the video presentation.

Thursday night attendees were treated to lively music and libations as a crowd gathered before the displayed work of skilled artists at the Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition juried by Katia Zavistovski, Ph.D. candidate, Rice University Department of Art History. The event was sponsored by Sam Adams and the art displayed represented the creative works that are cultivated by students attending UHCL.