Karen Smiar

COLUMBUS — Karen Smiar of Nineveh has been named a student research grant winner from the Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus Office of Student Research.

Smiar, a biology major and chemistry minor, presented “Using 3D Printing and Magnets to Model Chemical Reactions.” She uses 3D printing atoms, such as hydrogen and oxygen, with printers in the chemistry lab to create models that represent the atoms linking together to create molecules, such as water. She and her faculty sponsor plan to use the printed models in chemistry courses at IUPUC.

Smiar presented at the Indiana Academy of Science in Indianapolis on March 25 and at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco, California, on April 3. She is also the recipient of the Robert Baird and Albert Kagel Science Education Travel Fund. Smiar co-authored a paper with her faculty sponsor that was published in the Journal of Chemical Education last year.

Sasha Robinson

EVANSVILLE — Sasha Robinson of Nashville, an exercise science major, earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Evansville May 6.

Local students graduate from IUPUC

COLUMBUS —Several local students earned degrees from Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus May 13 at Columbus East High School auditorium.

They were Savannah Sierra Nicole Todd of Freetown; Jonathan Boyer, Emma L. Lawson, John Hayden Smith and Heather Teresa Ward, all of Nashville; and Pamela Craven and Charles Kuhfahl, both of Nineveh.