SMU sends student researchers to Scholars at the Capitol Feb. 28

WINONA, Minn. — Two students from Saint Mary’s University, along with their faculty advisors, will head to the Minnesota State Capitol Rotunda on Monday, Feb. 28, to present the results of their independent research and creative scholarship at the eighth annual Minnesota Private College Scholars at the Capitol event.

The Minnesota Private College Council hosts this event in an attempt to publicize and celebrate the achievements of just a few of the many thousands of students who attend 14 private schools of higher learning in Minnesota, and to share research that may have long-term implications for Minnesotans.

This event — to be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. — will showcase current research projects completed by 37 undergraduate scholars from Minnesota private colleges and universities. Saint Mary’s students attending this year’s event include:

• Jennifer Koezly, Ham Lake, Minn., presenting on “Iron Oxide/Nanoparticle Arrays as Multimodal Imaging Agents.” Her faculty advisor is Dr. Paul Nienaber. This work stems from a summer undergraduate research experience conducted with Dr. Valerie Pierre of the chemistry department at the University of Minnesota.

• Stephanie Valentine, Omaha, Neb., presenting on “Just Truss Me: Geometric Recognizers.” Her faculty advisor is Dr. Ann Smith. Valentine will introduce Mekanix, a sketch recognition system that can recognize, correct and provide feedback on a student’s hand-drawn truss diagram in real-time.

The Minnesota Private College Council represents 17 well-respected liberal arts colleges and universities with 60,000 students. These institutions award 30 percent of the baccalaureate degrees in the state.

Saint Mary’s University has an App for that

WINONA, Minn. – Two students in Saint Mary’s University’s iPhone programming class have created an SMU App for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Christopher Engesser and Stephanie Valentine have designed a new App that allows students and potential students easy access to SMU news and information.

The students, taught by Ann Smith, chair of the Computer Science Department, completed the project in April. The App (named iSMU) will be available for free iTunes download by early summer and includes the following features:

• Access to campus news and blogs
• Live sports updates
• Activities calendar
• Performance calendar and ticket information
• Daily Chartwells menu options
• Campus YouTube Videos and Facebook
• Donate to SMU opportunities

“Mobile devices like the iPhone give our students the opportunity to develop interesting, useful and educational applications that are accessed via their cell phones,” Smith said. “The beauty of this class is that students can build applications for their peers from the perspective of what is important to students. For example, all of my students loved the Chartwells menu feature — today’s dinner entrees accessible immediately with the touch of a button!”