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University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras March 14, 2015 1 50th ACS Junior Technical Meeting 35th Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting (PRISM) University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras March 14, 2015 SPONSORED BY American Chemical Society – Puerto Rico Section Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus 2 50th ACS Junior Technical Meeting 35th Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting (PRISM) University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras March 14, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Map of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus ........................................... 3 Organizing And Scientific Committees ............................................................................ 4 Invited Speaker ............................................................................................................... 5 Program Agenda ............................................................................................................. 7 Oral Sessions .................................................................................................................. 8 Agricultural Sciences ............................................................................................ 9 Computer Science .............................................................................................. 84 Education ........................................................................................................... 96 Electronics ........................................................................................................ 100 Engineering ...................................................................................................... 104 Environmental Sciences ................................................................................... 134 Geosciences ..................................................................................................... 188 Life Sciences .................................................................................................... 193 Mathematics ..................................................................................................... 300 Physics ............................................................................................................. 304 Poster Session ............................................................................................................ 317 Chemistry ......................................................................................................... 318 Education ......................................................................................................... 334 Electronics ........................................................................................................ 337 Engineering ...................................................................................................... 339 Environmental Sciences ................................................................................... 342 Geosciences ..................................................................................................... 355 Life Sciences .................................................................................................... 357 Mathematics ..................................................................................................... 374 Physics ............................................................................................................. 380 3 Map of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus 2015 JTM/PRISM at Natural Science Building 4 50th ACS Junior Technical Meeting 35th Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting (PRISM) University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras March 14, 2015 Organizing and Scientific Committees RCSE University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Frederick A. Just-Agosto, Acting Director Carlos I. González, Dean College of Natural Sciences María Vargas-Capriles, Associate Director Noel Motta, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs José A. Muñoz-Álvarez, Special Assistant Ingrid Montes, Assistant Dean, Grad. Studies and Research Héctor R. Méndez-Rubio, Admin. Assistant Carlos Pereira, Assistant Dean, Administration Antonio Martínez-Collazo, PR-LSAMP Co-PI Agnes Vázquez, Assistant Dean, Student Affairs Javier Figueroa-Santiago, Academic Coordinator Tugrul Giray, Director of Biology Department Zulma I. Crespo-Figueroa, Juan C. Ramírez Lugo, Biology Department Management Coordinator Néstor Carballeira, Director of Chemistry Department Yalinet Acevedo-Torres, Admin. Assistant Francisco Echegaray, Chemistry Department Eduardo Nicolau, Chemistry Department Rafael Arce, Director of Computer Science Department Ivelisse Rubio, Computer Science Department José F. Nieves, Director of Physics Department ACS-Puerto Rico Peter Feng, Physics Department Edmy Ferrer, Chair Antonio Martínez, Physics Department Carlos Olivo, Past Chair Iván Cardona, Director of Mathematics Department Brenda Ramos, Chair Elect Luis Medina, Mathematics Department Viviana León, Secretary Elvia Meléndez, Environmental Sciences Jorge Colón, Treasurer Gary Gervals, Environmental Sciences Sara M. Delgado, Northeastern Representative Yamir Torres, Special Assistant José I. Ramírez, Southeastern Representative Amelia Babilonia, Chemistry Department Nestor Carballeira, Councilor José Terrón, Scientific Illustrator Angela González, Councilor Nivea Santiago, Acting Director, CITEC Agnes Dubey, Councilor Edwin Viera, CITEC Myrna Otaño, Alternate Councilor Samuel Suleiman,CITEC Jorge Colón, Alternate Councilor Néstor Pacheco, Administrative Asistant Carlos Ruíz, Alternate Councilor Ingrid Montes, ACS Director at Large UPR, Central Administration Uroyoán Walker-Ramos, UPR Preisdent, PR-LSAMP PI José A. Lasalde-Dominicci, Vice President for Research and Technology Gladys Escalona de Motta, Associate Vice President for Research and Technology 5 50th ACS Junior Technical Meeting 35th Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting (PRISM) University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras March 14, 2015 INVITED SPEAKER Dr. Angel A. Martí Department of Chemistry Rice University Houston, Texas Changing the Paradigm for the Detection of Biomolecules: A Story of Metals, Light, and Time 6 SHORT BIO Angel A. Martí is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, and Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University in Houston. While an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, from 1996 to 1999 he was awarded the Alliance for Minority Participation Excellence award and NIH/SUBE research fellowship. He obtained his BS degree in Chemistry in 1999. In 2004 he obtained his PhD degree from the same university under the supervision of Dr. Jorge Colón, where he held the NSF Graduate Teaching Fellowship in K-12 Education and NIH-RISE fellowship. During his Ph.D. Dr. Angel Martí studied the photophysical properties of metal complexes immobilized in layered zirconium phosphate materials. In 2004 he joined Prof. Nicholas Turro’s (at the time considered by many the world’s most renowned photochemist) Research Group at Columbia University as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist, where he worked in the development of fluorescent probes for the detection of trace amounts of DNA and mRNA in vivo and in vitro, ortho-para hydrogen conversion, singlet oxygen deactivation and in supramolecular and nanoscale systems. In July 2008, Dr. Angel Martí joined the Department of Chemistry at Rice University in Houston, with secondary appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and Materials Science and Nano Engineering. Currently he has published over 50 manuscripts, some of the most recent on sensing biomolecules in complex environments, supramolecular photochemistry and carbon nanotechnology. He was also conferred the 2013 Inter-American Photochemical Society Young Investigator Award and the 2014 American Society for Photobiology New Investigator Award. ABSTRACT Certain metal complexes have unusual properties such as red photoluminescence, large Stokes shifts, and long lifetimes. These features have a wide demand in the design and synthesis of molecular sensors with different applications. In this presentation, time resolved spectroscopy in combination with photoluminescent metal complexes will be used to solve problems commonly encountered when using conventional sensors and fluorophores. First, it will be demonstrated how using time windows is an effective method to improve the performance of photoluminescent sensors to detect specific DNA sequences. Similarly, time-resolved spectroscopy will be used in combination with sensors with long lifetimes, to illustrate how the amino acids cysteine and histidine can be detected even on media with high autofluorescence. Similar principles will be used to detect beta amyloid peptide aggregation ("β-amyloid" which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease) and alpha synuclein protein ("α-synuclein" associated with Parkinson's disease) by ruthenium complexes. We will also present how zeolitic materials containing rhenium complexes can be used in combination with steady state and time- resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to detect vapors of different solvents. 7 50th ACS Junior Technical Meeting 35th Puerto Rico Interdisciplinary Scientific Meeting (PRISM) University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras March 14, 2015 PROGRAM AGENDA 07:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Registration Lobby Amphitheatre 1 College of General Studies 07:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Breakfast Lobby Amphitheatre 1 College of General Studies 09:00 a.m. – 09:30 a.m. Welcoming Remarks Amphitheatre 1 Uroyoán Walker,
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