The Randall Outstanding Research Award program, “recognizes the best research activity conducted by undergraduate students at The University of Alabama.” Award recipients were selected by a distinguished panel of UA research faculty and past winners of the Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award. The program was created in 1997 by the Randall Publishing Company and the H. Pettus Randall, III family in memory of Henry Pettus Randall, Jr., a distinguished alumnus of The University of Alabama and the creator of “Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges”.
“The 2011 Randall Outstanding Research Award recipients are pictured with Mr. Mike Reilly, President of Randall-Reilly Publishing Company and Dr. Robert Witt, President of the University of Alabama. The students from left to right are Jessica Duke, Mitchell Hughes, Nathan Roberts, Emily Wayman, Matthew May, David Dozier, Matthew Kelley, D.J. Outlaw, Corinth Young, Mike Zhang, Paige Dexter, Kurt Guynn, Pierce Robinson, Shannon Lindamood, and Sarah Boyd.”
The award recipients, their faculty mentors, and their research topics are also listed below.
| Last Name | First Name | Major | Title of Research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boyd | Sarah | Chemical Engineering and Biology | The Effects of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles on Drosophila Development |
| Dexter | Paige | Biological Sciences | Epigenetic Regulation of Neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s Disease |
| Dozier | David | Chemical and Biological Engineering | Shape-controlled Magnetic Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications |
| Duke | Jessica | Chemistry | Computation Geochemistry: Predicting the Metal pKa’s and Reactions of H2O in Models of Supercritical CO2 for the Geological Sequestration of CO2 |
| Guynn | Kurt | Chemical Engineering | Prediction of the Thermodynamic Properties of Fuels and Chemical Intermediates from Biomass |
| Hughes | Mitchell | Physics and Mathematics | Construction of a Gas Purifiation and Analysis System for the EXO Experiment |
| Kelley | Matthew | Chemistry | Computational Cataylsis: Single Site Heterogeneous Catalysts and Potential Energy Surfaces of Oxidative Dehydrogenation on Group VI Transition Metal Oxides |
| Lindamood | Shannon | Dance | George Balanchine: Theory and Technique |
| May | Matthew | Biological Sciences | The Economics of Social Dominance – From Combat Costs and Neural Circuitry to Manifestation of Cancer |
| Outlaw Jr. | DJ | Chemical and Biological Engineering | Electronic Structure Predictions of the Properties of Metal Ammonia Borane Complexes |
| Roberts | Nathan | Biological Sciences | Investigating the Genetic Modulators of Cellular Stress and Dystonia |
| Robinson | Pierce | Chemical Engineering | Potential Energy Surfaces of the Reactions of Hydrazine with Models of Spent Fuel from Ammonia Borane Dehydrogenation |
| Wayman | Emily | Chemistry (Biochemistry) | Biochemical Characterization of Glycosyltransferase Enzyme MshA |
| Young | Cornith | Music Education | The Effect of Instrument Manufactureer and Material on Flute Timbre as Measured by the First Nine Harmonics in the Overtone Series |
| Zhang | Mike | Biological Sciences | Molecular Genomic Investigation of the Interface between Aging and Parkinson’s Disease |