University Letter

The University will host the 10th annual SUNRISE Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates Program Poster Session from  10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Aug. 8, on the second floor of Harrington Hall.  The event is free and open to the public. Light snacks and beverages will be served.

SUNRISE faculty in chemistry and chemical engineering mentor undergraduate students from all over the country in their laboratories. The upcoming poster session is the culmination of their summer long work and gives students the opportunity to explain their work to the public in an informal setting.

This year’s participants were from—in alphabetical order—California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, Humboldt State University, the University of North Dakota, and the University of Wisconsin.

Students participated in research related to energy production and its environmental impacts for 10 weeks.  They also attended activities designed to introduce them to graduate school, research methods, safety and ethical conduct. The group also visited the U.S. Department of Agriculture Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, the UND Energy & Environmental Research Center and a water treatment plant.

About SUNRISE

SUNRISE—the Sustainable Energy Research and Supporting Education Initiative—is funded by the National Science Foundation with supplemental funding provided by the Department of Energy EPSCoR Infrastructure Improvement Program and the UND Graduate School. The principal investigator is Evguenii Kozliak, professor of chemistry.

Founded in 2004, SUNRISE is a student-centered, faculty-led research program at UND, North Dakota State University, and other North Dakota universities and colleges. The mission of SUNRISE is to conduct research that contributes to solving complex energy-related problems, investigate the development of sustainable energy options and spur economic development and job-creation for North Dakota, increase UND and NDSU research competitiveness in sustainable energy, and produce graduates to develop and promote sustainable energy in North Dakota, the region, and the nation. All this is done within a unified, interdisciplinary program that translates fundamental research into commercial solutions.

--  Yun Ji, poster session coordinator, Assistant professor, Chemical Engineering, 777-4456, yunji@mail.und.edu

-- Alena Kubatova, co-director, North Dakota SUNRISE, 701-777-0348, alena.kubatova@und.edu