Meet the 2020-2021 Undergraduate Research Fellows

Daniel Carter Crop, Soils, and Environmental Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Exploring relationships between diet and other risk factors for colon cancer with novel circulating biomarkers in humans

Mentor: Drew Frugé

Emily Ennis Poultry Science

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Will replacement of reproductive hormone genes with the alligator cathelicidin gene result in disease resistant, sterile catfish exhibiting normal growth? 

Mentor: Rex Dunham

Rachel Hollingsworth Animal Science

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Investigating the role that inflammation plays in unexplained heifer infertility

Mentor: Paul Dyce

Megan Justice Wildlife Enterprise Management

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Genetic and phenotypic characterization of a cryptic Largemouth Bass form

Mentor: Eric Peatman

Rachel Osbourne Poultry Science

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Analyzing samples of raw poultry processing plant wastewater to determine the chemical makeup and microbial load present before treatment

Mentor: Dianna Bourassa

Madison Dees Poultry Science

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Do cyanobacterial toxins bioaccumulate in aquaculture-produced fish? 

Mentor: Alan Wilson

Ivy Graves Animal Science

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Discovery and curation of communication modalities surrounding animal welfare practices  

Mentor: Donald Mulvaney

Seth Ingram Agricultural Business and Economics

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Impact of the China-US trade war on the Alabama soybean industry

Mentor: Ruiqing Miao

Parker King Horticulture: Nursery and Greenhouse Science

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Exploring the role of type VI secretion system of pathogen in mediating interactions with the plant cell

Mentor: Neha Potnis

Daisy Hansana Exercise Science

Sponsor(s): College of Education

Project Title: Investigating preparatory movement about the ankle 

Mentor: Wendi Weimar

Mary Baird Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Polyether-based ion exchange membranes for heavy metal harvesting 

Mentor: Bryan Beckingham

Megan Davies Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Engineered cancer tissues for application in disease modeling and personalized drug testing

Mentor: Elizabeth Lipke

Calvin Dulaney Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: 3D Printer accessory that prints two polymers while being able to manipulate their concentration 

Mentor: Edward Davis

Sierra Eady Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: A physics-based gasoline particulate filter temperature model for feedback oriented vehicle applications 

Mentor: Mark Hoffman

Audrey Hall Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Investigation of the antibacterial activity against foodborne pathogens and chemical composition of extracts and partitions of Psidium guajava

Mentor: Angela Calderon

Grace Hester Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Engineered 3D in vitro colorectal cancer models to investigate the link between obesity and cancer 

Mentor: Elizabeth Lipke

Yevhenii "Jack" Kovryzhenko Aerospace Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: System developing, path planning and trajectory optimization for autonomous areal vehicles 

Mentor: Ehsan Taheri

Andrew McGehee Software Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Computational modeling of protein 3D structures with optimization and machine learning 

Mentor: Debswapna Bhattacharya

Javier Nishikawa Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Polymer-coated sugar nanoparticles for encapsulation of biomolecules

Mentor: Allan David

William Rud Biosystems Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Identifying laboratory light conditions that are viable for use in an algae turf scrubber raceway with filamentous algae 

Mentor: David Blersch

Brett Cranston Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Inertial measurement and surface electromyography in advanced arm prosthetics

Mentor: Chad Rose

Matthew Do Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Developing machine learning models to predict protein solubility through frequency of amino acids

Mentor: Chris Kieslich

Evan Ellison Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Development of MATLAB algorithms for determination and analysis of kinematic data from a split-belt treadmill 

Mentor: Jaime Roper

Grace Gray Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Human impact study, testing the efficacy of customized 3D printed guards 

Mentor: Michael Zabala

Theresa Hardin Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Developing a tension driven telescoping arm

Mentor: Michael Zabala

Jett Kik Industrial and Systems Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Engineering controls for hazardous noise: Researching and aggregating effective noise abatement solutions and creating media to disseminate the results of said research. 

Mentor: Richard Sesek

Jin Kwon Electrical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Additive manufacturing of batteries using MXene-based inks 

Mentor: Majid Beidaghi

Elizabeth Melby Biosystems Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Neutral lipid accumulation in algae induced by oxidative stress due to poultry wastewater antimicrobials 

Mentor: Brendan Higgins

Ernest "Steven" Porterfield Materials Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Optimization of biodegradable resins for additive manufacturing

Mentor: Edward Davis

Mollie Sabo Civil Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Pore network modelling of reactive permeability evolution

Mentor: Lauren Beckingham

Sarah Cain Wildlife Ecology and Management

Sponsor(s): College of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Project Title: Analyzing the accuracy of pellet count surveys to estimate density of White-tailed Deer (odocoileus virginianus)

Mentor: Stephen Ditchkoff

Molly Grubb Global Studies

Sponsor(s): College of Human Sciences

Project Title: Measuring the impact of humanitarian aid

Mentor: Alicia Powers

Tucker Kilgo Nutrition Science

Sponsor(s): College of Human Sciences

Project Title: Basic needs coalition food security prevalence study 

Mentor: Onikia Brown

Hannah Evans Psychology

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Sexual development of adolescents adjudicated for illegal sexual behavior and adolescents adjudicated for general delinquent behavior

Mentor: Kelli Thompson

Nathan Holden English/Applied Math

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Employing Christianity: The role of religion in nineteenth-century American literature

Mentor: James Ryan

Megan Ondrizek Communication Disorders

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Allostasis and homeostasis in the NICU infant: Implications for use of NMES for habilitation of swallowing function

Mentor: Mary Sandage

Allyson Pullen Neuroscience

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Social media use, health, and risk behavior among young women

Mentor: Sara Blaine

Samantha Guajardo Psychology

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: The effects of pre-adjudicatory factors on therapeutic alliance and the existence of racial disparities within adolescents who have been adjudicated for sexual offending behaviors 

Mentor: Kelli Thompson

Carleigh Morrow Neuroscience

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Developmental olanzapine exposure on impulsive choice and behavioral flexibility 

Mentor: Christopher Newland

Cassidy Powell Psychology and Music Performance

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title:  How neurosyphilis affected four 19th century musical composers and their works 

Mentor: Michael Pendowski

Kerstin Glaser Geology/Psychology

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Analysis of pesticide contamination among oyster farms in Mobile Bay

Mentor: Ann Ojeda

Nathan Holden Applied Math; English

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Mathematically helping solar cells absorb more light 

Mentor: Junshan Lin

Erin LaGrone Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Female dominance hierarchies of wild-derived mice (Mus musculus) 

Mentor: Wendy Hood

Sarah Nix Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: The influence of sleep on blood vessel function in younger to middle-aged adults 

Mentor: Austin Robinson

Ryleigh Randall Laboratory Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Establishing an accurate water-corrected plasma:erythrocyte ratio for glucose, lactate, and pyruvate in human, pig, and chicken erythrocytes

Mentor: Andreas Kavazes

Joshua Semmes Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Morphological characteristics of ant communities among habitats of Alabama 

Mentor: Bill Wills

Jake Tatum Microbiology

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Generating a reliable method to quantitively measure and differentiate lytic and latent replication of the KSHV virus in different cell lines and stages of the virus’s life cycle

Mentor: Joanna Sztuba-Solinska

Hayleigh Hallam Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Factors associated with preventive cancer screening among diabetic patients as compared to their non-diabetic counterparts 

Mentor: Chiahung "Edward" Chou

Madelyn James Biochemistry

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: New method for preparation of gold-on-glass electrodes that enables reusable DNA-based electrochemical biosensors  

Mentor: Christopher Easley

Regan Moss Microbiology/Neuroscience

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Heterogenentiy in trauma exposure and biopsychosocial health profiles of male sex trafficking survivors

Mentor: Lauren Rulhmann

Emma Parmer Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Quantifying emerging contaminants in Parkerson Mill Creek

Mentor: Ann Ojeda

Abbriana Robert Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Important features of Walking Adaptation: A look at the nervous systems ability to regulate and maintain Sensory input during split-belt walking 

Mentor: Jaimie Roper

Haley Stephens Microbiology

Sponsor(s): College of Science and Mathematics

Project Title: Developing a printable paper-based test for detection of malaria parasites in mosquitoes for global use in malaria control programs

Mentor: Sarah Zohdy