KU News Release

May 13, 2009
Contact: Mary Jane Dunlap, University Relations, (785) 864-8853.

KU students, alumna win $30,000 research fellowships

LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas students and a 2008 KU alumna have won $30,000 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.

The recipients with KU connections are

— Ali Nabavizadeh, graduating senior in ecology and evolultionary biology from Olathe, whose research of the mechanics of the jaws of plant-eating dinosaurs has uncovered new information about how the jaw bones enabled the prehistoric herbivores to thrive.
— Brian L. Quanz, doctoral student in computer science from Cary, N.C., who is developing software able to predict cargo security, genetic predisposition and other outcomes in a data-driven approach.
— Laura A. Stiles, 2008 graduate in engineering physics from Prairie Village, now pursuing a doctorate in aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

They were among 950 fellowship recipients announced recently by the NSF. About 10 percent of those who apply for the NSF fellowships are selected. Graduate research fellowships provide an annual stipend plus tuition and discretionary funds for up to three years. The fellowships support students in the early stages of their research-based master’s or doctoral degrees.

More information about the students and their research is below.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Olathe 66062
Ali Nabavizadeh will pursue a doctorate in anatomy at Johns Hopkins University to prepare for a teaching and research career. In addition to the NSF fellowship, he has received a full scholarship for five years of graduate study at Johns Hopkins.

Nabavizadeh is hopeful that he can extend his undergraduate study of Ornithschian dinosaurs. Those are the only dinosaurs with a predentary bone at the tip of the lower jaw — if humans had a predentary bone the chin might move separately from the jaws, marionette-fashion.

Fascinated by dinosaurs since childhood, Nabavizadeh asked why this bone existed. Working with his faculty adviser, Larry D. Martin, professor of systematics and ecology and curator of vertebrate paleontology at KU’s Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute, he tested the theory that the bone was key to the survival of these plant eaters. He found that predentary bone and other features of these beaked dinosaurs’ mouths allowed them to chew independently on either side of the mouth; to grow new teeth, constantly replacing those worn down from chewing; and to move their jawbones, both upper and lower, in a flapping motion, creating what Martin calls a phenomenal shredder effect.

“The predentary bone acted like a bolt cutter,” Nabavizadeh said. “They could snap off tree branches and push plant material into both sides of the mouth.” Once they had mouthful, the unique mechanics of their jaws allowed the dinosaurs to shred the bark and leaves and spit out the woody parts. The bark and leaves contained the sugars and nutrients. More than 150 million years ago, when these dinosaurs roamed the Earth, conifers would have been the plants available.

Martin compared Nabavizadeh’s work to that of detective and noted that it had taken a couple of years of following clues left in the fossil bones and testing ideas to produce the results presented in an undergraduate research symposium last month. Nabavizadeh is the son of Vahid and Shohreh Nabavizadeh and a graduate of Olathe East High School.

From Prairie Village 66208
Laura Stiles, spring 2008 engineering physics graduate, is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Colorado, where she is researching the physics and architectures for using electrostatic control for spacecraft flying in proximity. “This new concept is a low-power method that may be able to be used to fly multiple craft in formation to study the Earth or deep space,” Stiles said.

Her undergraduate experiences at KU included working in Switzerland on projects for the Large Hadron Supercollider in 2008. Twice she was on KU teams selected for NASA’s Microgravity University in Houston. She served as a team leader for the 2008 Smart-Hawker robotic arm design tested at the Microgravity University. In 2006, she also received an honorable mention in the national Goldwater scholarship competition. She is the daughter of Mark and Brenda Stiles and a graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School.

NORTH CAROLINA
From Cary 27518
Brian L. Quanz works with Jun Huan, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and a researcher with KU’s Information and Telecommunication Technology Center. Quanz is helping objects determine their own safety level. His artificial intelligence tools process data collected within sensor networks charged with tracking assets along the supply chain. Quanz’s data analysis serves as the foundation for a threat detection system, providing cargo shipments en route with greater visibility, security and accountability. The alert system is part of ITTC’s Transportation Security SensorNet project, led by Joseph Evans, ITTC director and the Deane E. Ackers Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Quanz’s artificial intelligence algorithms also have applications in bioinformatics. Genes, in effect, have on/off switches. ITTC researchers, including Huan, are examining why these genes, such as those in cancer cells, are expressed in some people while remaining off in others. Quanz is attempting to expose the role diet, stress and other environmental factors have in flipping on those switches.

“The fellowship, which I am honored to receive, gives me the freedom to pursue different research avenues,” Quanz said.

Huan said, “The NSF fellowship is a great achievement for Brian. It also reflects the strong graduate program that we have at KU.”

Quanz is a spring 2007 electrical engineering graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was admitted into KU’s fast track doctoral program in which students usually graduate in five years, compared with six years needed in traditional doctoral programs. KU accepts highly qualified applicants who have completed their undergraduate degrees directly into the electrical engineering and computer science program.

He is the son of Leo and Susan Quanz and the grandson of Mary Novitsky, all of Cary, N.C.

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