Help Gemstone Teams Through LaunchUMD

MTB: Team MTB is conducting research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which is the leading cause of human tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly contagious, airborne, infectious disease that kills around 1.5 million people annually. Despite current treatments, TB is still the leading infectious cause of death worldwide. Team MTB plans to screen a drug panel from the NIH composed of preexisiting, FDA approved drugs with the goal of identifying drugs that are able to prevent Mtb from causing a tuberculosis infection. We would appreciate any donation you would like to give to help support the monetary costs of our research, from ordering basic lab supplies, to purchasing our drug panel and running our tests. Visit our launch page to donate at www.launch.umd.edu/teammtb and visit our website at ter.ps/teammtb.

MORALS: Team MORALS is a Gemstone team of nine sophomores seeking to address the following research problem: Even though Americans may hold drastically different stances on policy issues, Americans tend to hold a similar set of values that has endured since our nation’s founding, such as liberty, equality, and justice. With that in mind, our question is: if Americans share a common set of values, why do Americans come to hold different stances on issues? To answer this question, we will survey at least 400 undergraduate students to examine how individuals define and rank-order values differently, and how this corresponds to their stances on moral political issues.

https://www.launch.umd.edu/project/54fdbe8e14bdf74b77121b17

NATURE: Did you know that in 2010, about 191 million barrels of fossil fuels were used to make plastic products in the United States alone, which was equal to about 2.7% of total U.S. petroleum consumption? The use of plastics in electronics is a major contributing factor to this statistic, considering the rise of smartphones, larger television screens, and the like. A novel, sustainable solution is needed to decrease the use of plastics and the use of such finite resources like fossil fuels. Cellulose nanopaper (CNP) may be the alternative that we need, and the members of Team NATURE are working to make CNP more viable as a replacement for plastics in electronics. CNP’s strength, durability, and flexibility are at the same caliber of plastics, and Team NATURE is trying to optimize such properties further for electronic applications. Any donation to our LaunchUMD campaign would enable our team to utilize lab space, materials and conferences to network with professionals about this innovative material. To learn more about our project, visit our website and like our page on Facebook! Thank you! https://www.launch.umd.edu/project/54fdb96f14bdf74b77121b06