OU Students Take Top Prizes in Bioenergy Competition

Three University of Oklahoma students took the top prizes in a hybrid poster competition held recently during the Oklahoma EPSCoR Annual State Conference in Norman.  Students who had performed research under the current EPSCoR Bioenergy RII Award were qualified to participate in the contest, which consisted of three-minute oral presentations and a formal scientific poster session.  Each portion of the hybrid competition was competitively judged by an independent panel of judges made up of EPSCoR External Advisory Board members.

Michael Ukpong, a student representing the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Botany and Microbiology, received first place in the competition.   EPSCoR researcher Bradley Stevenson served as Ukpong’s mentor on the bioenergy project, which was titled “Physiological response of Clostridium Carboxidivorans during conversion of synthesis gas to solvents in a gas-fed bioreactor.” 

Juan Torres, also representing the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Botany and Microbiology, received second place in the competition.  Torres’ faculty mentor, EPSCoR researcher Ralph Tanner, collaborated with him on the “Syngas to butanol” project.

Miguel A. Gonzalez B., a student representing the University of Oklahoma’s School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, received third place in the hybrid poster competition.  Gonzalez’s faculty mentor, EPSCoR researcher Daniel Resasco, collaborated on the project titled “Anisole and guaiacol deoxygenation over Pt-Sn monoliths.” 

All three winners received distinguished plaques for their winning posters and presentations.  The first- and second-place winners have been invited to present their research at the National NSF EPSCoR Annual Conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in October. 

Pictured above (left to right):  Miguel A. Gonzalez B. (3rd), Juan Torres (2nd), EPSCoR associate director Jim Wicksted, and Michael Ukpong (1st).