Sigma Xi

Sigma Xi is a scientific honor society. Full members must own a Ph.D degree in a scientific discipline. Associate members may be nominated who are in the midst of their education, yet have completed a significant research project, have presented the results of their research at an off-campus forum, and show promise for the future. Two full members of the society must nominate a student for associate membership, and then the executive board must approve of the nomination before they can become a member.

Sigma Xi was founded in 1886 at Cornell University, and has over 60,000 members worldwide. More than 200 Sigma Xi members have received the Nobel Prize, most recently the 2006 Physics prize, which went to members John C. Mather and George F. Smoot.

New members for 2011-12

Chelsea Coley
Research Project: "Synthesis and Characterization of mixed ligand complexes of Copper (II)
butanoate"
Mentor: Tom Clayton, Chemistry Department
Research Presentation Venue: Midstates Consortium 2011 Undergraduate Research Conference

Caitlin Collins
Research Project: "Do fantasy prone adults make better playmates? Fantasy proneness and parent-child play interactions"
Mentor: Gail Ferguson, Psychology Department
Research Presentation Venue: 2011 Illowa Undergraduate Psychology Conference

Caroline Coatney
Research Project: "Intersectin (itsn1) is critical for successful Xenopus laevis gastrulation"
Mentor: Judy Thorn, Biology Department
Research Presentation Venue: 2011 Illinois State Academy of Science Conference, National Society for Developmental Biology Meeting

Sara DeMaria
Research Project: "Assessing Dictyostelid diversity through culture-dependent and culture-independent assays"
Mentor: Matt Jones-Rhoades, Biology Department
Research Presentation Venue: 2011 Illinois State Academy of Science Conference
College Honors in Genetics/Metagenomics

Effrat Fayer
Research Project: "Synthesis of Biologically Active Phosphonates from Castor and Lesquerella Oils"
Mentor: Diana Cermak, Chemistry Department
Research Presentation Venue: Midstates Consortium 2011 Undergraduate Research Conference, Spring 2011 National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, 2010 Joint Southwest/Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society
College Honors in Chemistry

Chris Johnson
Research Project: "Tie-breaking strategies for processor allocation in meshes"
Mentor: David Bunde, Computer Science Department
Research Presentation Venue: 6th International Workshop on Scheduling and Resource Management for Parallel and Distributed Systems
College Honors in Computer Science

Ya-Lin Lu
Research Project: "Identification and Characterization of small non-coding RNAs in Dictyostelium"
Mentor: Matt Jones-Rhoades, Biology Department
Research Presentation Venue: 2011 Illinois State Academy of Science Conference College Honors in Computer Science

Dugan O'Connor
Research Project: "Effects of a red versus blue background on perception of faces"
Mentor: Frank McAndrew, Psychology Department
Research Presentation Venue: 2011 Illinois State Academy of Science Conference

Lauren Smith
Research Project: "Mortality Salience Increases Defensive Distancing from People with Terminal Cancer"
Mentor: Tim Kasser, Psychology Department
Research Presentation Venue: 19th Annual California McNair Scholars Symposium

Alicia Vallorani
Research Project: "Does facial masculinity predict differential investment in feminine versus masculine featured females?"
Mentor: Frank McAndrew, Psychology Department
Research Presentation Venue: 2011 Illinois State Academy of Science Conference

Mark Wolak
Research Project: "Observing the Zeeman Effect with a Fabry-Perot Interferometer"
Mentor: Tom Moses, Physics Department
Research Presentation Venue: 19th Annual California McNair Scholars Symposium