Kornelsen receives SURF research fellowship

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Caroline Kornelsen of Fallbrook is one of four University of Arkansas at Little Rock students who have received Student Undergraduate Research Fellowships from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education to conduct research this spring with help from faculty mentors.

The Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship program provides up to $2,750 to undergraduate students to conduct in-depth research projects in their specific fields of study with the assistance of faculty mentors. To be eligible, all fellowship recipients have a minimum GPA of 3.25, at least 30 hours of credit toward a degree and support of a faculty mentor. Funds also are provided for students to travel to conferences to present their accomplishments.

Kornelsen and her faculty mentor, Dr. Noureen Siraj, are researching novel and inexpensive approaches to developing new materials that possess Föer Resonance Energy Transfer characteristics. FRET is a non-radiation energy transfer process between donor and acceptor moieties. Ionic material with FRET characteristics will be developed using a fluorescent organic ion as donor and counterion as acceptor.

FRET characteristic in an ionic material will be understood by developing several derivatives of ionic materials using same cation but variable anion or vice versa. These materials are important in the arena of energy, health care and the environment. This project will allow Kornelsen and Siraj to learn more about the parameters that depend on FRET efficiency in ionic material.

The students will complete their research this spring semester and will exhibit their work at the Student Research and Creative Works Showcase, April 18, in the Jack Stephens Center. In addition to the SURF grants, the students receive some matching funds through University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s office of the vice provost for research.

With about 11,000 students and 100 programs, University of Arkansas at Little Rock offers learning, research, service, social and career opportunities at a metropolitan university in Arkansas’ capital city.

Submitted by University of Arkansas at Little Rock.