5,000+

Omar Emilio Torres Alamo is a senior
in mechanical engineering from Inter
American University, Bayamon
Campus. He is completing an internship
at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals since June
2011 working with capsules filler
machine preventive maintenance task,
in manufacturing area. Since August
2010 he has participated in mentored
undergraduate research sponsored by
PR-LSAMP: Seismic analysis in a small
scale wind turbine, directed by Dr. Otoniel Diaz Nevarez. He has
also participated in various NASA projects presentations with the
Goddard Space Center Geodome in Bayamón, NASA Design
Process at Michigan Tech University and in NASA STEM Team.
Yarira Ortiz-Alvarado graduated Magna Cum
Laude from the Inter American University,
Bayamon Campus with a B.S in Biology in
2009. She conducted research in the area of
social insects on islands. As an undergraduate,
she was granted three fellowships to travel to
professional meetings to present her research.
PR-LSAMP mentored undergraduate research was instrumental
in guiding her scientific research and career path. At the moment,
she’s working towards her master’s degree in Environmental
Sciences and Ecology at IAU-B. In her thesis she works with
hormones and proteins expression in social insects related to
severe environmental changes. Also she’s working as a part-time
instructor at IAU-B. She is a member of the Entomological
Society of America (ESA) and the International Union for the
Study of Social Insects (IUSSI).
Mairim Nieves-Nevárez is a fifth-year
Electrical Engineering student at Inter
American University, Bayamón Campus.
Mairim participated in PR-LSAMP mentored
undergraduate research in a project analyzing
interactions between silver surfaces and
ligands through computer simulation. She was
accepted in the SURF 2010 program at the
National Institute of Standards and
Technology, obtaining her first professional engineering
experience through research of SiO2 and SiN substrates for
graphene devices. She presented her works at SERMACS 2009,
AGMUS Research Symposium 2010, and PR-LSAMP PRISM
2010 and 2011. She is currently working with Dr. Vo in the
Attitude Control Subsystem design for a CubeSat prototype. She
will pursue graduate studies and research in autonomous
systems and power engineering focused on renewable energy.
Laura Roman is a student at the Inter
American University, Bayamon Campus in
Molecular Biotechnology. Since her
sophomore year she has participated in the
PR-LSAMP mentored undergraduate research
program in the area or Molecular
Biotechnology. Her research worked was titled
Phytoremediation of Mercury by Chloroplast
Engineering of Nicotiana tabacum. She
obtained the PR-NASA Undergraduate Fellowship and coauthored
the publication “Metallothionein expression in
chloroplasts enhances mercury accumulation and
phytoremediation capability”. In summer 2010 she participated in
a study titled Fluorescently tagged Sinorhizobium for early
symbiotic visualization at the University of Minnesota. A second
summer internship was at the University of Dayton where she
transformed E. coli to produce hydrogen for fuel cell applications.
Elisamuel Santiago Ramirez is currently
enrolled as senior undergraduate student on the
Inter American University, Bayamón Campus
(IAU-B), pursuing a BS in Computer Engineering.
He started participating in PR-LSAMP mentored
undergraduate research working in a project to
do Statistical Shape analysis for objects that
can’t normally be measured, resulting in a publication. He
changed his investigation interest and pursued a project
orientated in hardware programming. He is currently working with
Dr. Hien Vo on the CubeSat project in which he programmed the
magnetometer for the Control Altitude System for the Satellite.
After success on that project he was able to travel and present his
work to the Chief Engineer of NASA on May 27, 2010. He
continues to program hardware and works on the CubeSat until he
graduates in may 2012.
Vilmarie Figueroa Nieves graduated cum laude
with a degree in biology at the Inter American
University, Bayamón Campus. She worked with
Dr. Bert Rivera Marchand in an investigation on
the aggressive behavior of fire ants (Solenopsis
invicta) in PR. She participated in an internship
at the IAU-B and in the summer 2008 she
participated in an internship at the UPR Rio
Piedras with Dr. Alonso Ramirez from the REU program in El
Yunque Rain Forest. Currently, she is a masters student in the
Ecology graduate program at IAU-B and works as a TA at IAU-B
and at the Cardiovascular Hospital as a laboratory assistant and in
the Royal Gardens clinical lab. She believes that the experience in
PR-LSAMP program has enriched her with the scientific
knowledge to be an outstanding scientist and professional.
Alexandra M. Rivera Serrano is currently
a student at the Inter American University,
Bayamon Campus pursuing a degree in
Biotechnology with minors in Microbiology
and Biomedical Sciences. Since her
sophomore year, she has worked in the lab
of Dr. Iván Ferrer. In the summer of 2010
and 2011 Ms. Serrano participated in the
Pediatric Oncology Education program at
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in
Memphis, TN, working with Dr. Schultz- Cherry in the Department
of Infectious Diseases. Ms. Serrano has been the recipient of the
Puerto Rico Alliance for the Advancement of Biomedical Research
Excellence Award for three years. Additionally she is an active
member of the PR-LSAMP.
Pedro Carmona Serrano is a fifth-year
engineering student at the Inter American
University Bayamon Campus. Through his
years of study he’s been in the Dean’s List for
his academic progress. While at IAU-B he’s
been mentored by Dr. Omar Meza, Professor
of fluids mechanics. His interest in
engineering has been in the areas of robotics
and renewable energy accomplishing first
place in a green house competition design in
2008. During the 2008-2011 he was awarded
with the SMART grant for engineers and currently is working in the
design of a mini wind energy conversion system (mini WECS).
Pedro is currently sponsored by PR-LSAMP.
217