Meet the 2018-2019 Undergraduate Research Fellows

Elizabeth Brown Animal Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title:  Calving season and rumen-protected methionine on epigenetic control of beef production

Mentor: Dr. Sonia Mosia

Anna Gierow Animal Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title: Comparative Transcriptomics Between Porcine and Cattle Oocytes.

Mentor: Dr. Fernando Biase

Olivia Reid Animal Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title:  NICD over-expression in the Notch signaling pathway affects the organization of the adrenal gland

Mentor: Dr. Jeff Huang

Andrew Keel Animal Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Agriculture

Project Title:  Effect of dietary protein source and litter condition on broiler chicken growth performance and interstinal stem cell activity

Mentor: Dr. Jessica Starkey

Kara Boyer Building Science

Sponsor(s): College of Architecture Design and Construction

Project Title:  Creating a tiny home building code to positively effect long-term sustainability

Mentor: Dr. April Simons

Kyra Stark Architecture

Sponsor(s): College of Architecture Design and Construction

Project Title:  Incorporating passive design into the beginning design process

Mentor: Dr. Justin Miller

Abigail Brittain Exercise Science

Sponsor(s): College of Education

Project Title:  Sport specialization and teaching patterns in youth athletes

Mentor: Dr. Gretchen Oliver

Katherine Corona Exercise Science

Sponsor(s): College of Education

Project Title:  An uphill battle: understanding gait alterations in patients with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

Mentor: Dr. Jaimie Roper

Arlene Maheu Exercise Science

Sponsor(s): College of Education

Project Title:  The cognitive effects of ‘green exercise’ on adolescents diagnosed with ADHD

Mentor: Dr. Ford Dyke

Carley Wilson Physical Activity and Health

Sponsor(s): College of Education

Project Title:  The Influence of Physical Activity on Sleep Quality in Children and Young Adults

Mentor: Dr. Melissa Pangelinan

Reid Adams Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Elucidating structure-activity relationships of metal oxide and metal carbide catalysts via a novel raman-spectrokinetic approach

Mentor: Dr. Carlos Carrero

Luke Anderson Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Engineering in vitro three-dimensional colorectal cancer tissue models from patient-derived xenografts for application in personalized medicine

Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Lipke

Ashely Baerlocher Materials Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Mechanical Properties of Solid-State Electrolytes

Mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Fergus

Erin Batcho Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Canine Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at 7T MRI

Mentor: Dr. Thomas Denney

Jacob Bensinger Civil Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Assessment of porosity-permeability relationships for 3D pore network models undergoing pore-scale dissolution and precipitation

Mentor: Dr. Lauren Beckingham

Kelly Burnham Aerospace Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  The Non-Isentropic Solution to the Taylor-Culick Profile for Cylindrical and Slab Rocket Motors

Mentor: Dr. Joseph Majdalani

Tyler Compher Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Lumped Parameter Modeling Cerebrovascular and Cardiovascular Blood Flow

Mentor: Dr. Vrishank Raghav

Kareem El-Kattan Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Synthesizing Peptide Sequences to Target Prostate Cancer Cells

Mentor: Dr. Allan David

Danielle Elmore Microbial, Cellular, and Molecular Biology

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Tissue clearing techniques to improve hemodynamic testing of heart valves

Mentor: Dr. Vrishank Raghav

Caroline George  Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Development of a functional ex-vivo porcine heart to test and improve mitral valve repairing techniques

Mentor: Dr. Vrishank Raghav

Bryana Harris  Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Examining the Effects of Tissue Geometry on Cardiomyocyte Maturation in 3D Developing Human Engineered Cardiac Tissues

Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Lipke

Bryan Holmes  Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Modeling of Photosynthetic Aeration for Energy Efficient Wastewater Treatment Processes

Mentor: Dr. Brendan Higgins

Rachel Howell  Ecological Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Development of a bench-scale flume reactor for benthic filamentous algae colonization studies

Mentor: Dr. David Blersch

Mengyang (Claudia) Hu  Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Using post polymerization click-chemistry approaches to incorporate magnetic properties within polymer structures to prepare polymeric T1, T2 or T1 and T2 MRI contrast agents

Mentor: Dr. Bryan Beckingham

Katelyn Jenkins  Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  The Biomechanical Effect of Body-Borne Loads on Airborne Soldiers

Mentor: Dr. Michael Zabala

LeeAnn Johnston  Ecological Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Exploring the Removal of Excess Nutrients and Heavy Metals From Polluted Water Bodies Through the Use of Macrophytes and Microorganisms

Mentor: Dr. Alan Wilson

Keith Krause  Electrical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Investigation of the performance and energy consumption of superconducting adiabatic computing circuits

Mentor: Dr. Michael Hamilton

Hudson Land  Biosystems Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  The Assessment of Protein Feedstock Value of Cultivated Algal Biomass for Aquaponics Waste Nutrient Recycling

Mentor: Dr. David Blersch

Ryan Long Aerospace Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title: Self-Folding Origami

Mentor: Dr. Russell Mailen

Noah Miller  Aerospace Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Harnessing Solar Energy to Perform Self-Folding Origami

Mentor: Dr. Russell Mailen

Rebecca Mulholland  Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Impact Dynamics of a 3D printed Piano Hammer

Mentor: Dr. Edmon Perkins

Mina Narayanan  Software Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Adversarial Authorship: Exploring Features for Author Identification

Mentor: Dr. Gerry Dozier

Isabel Perry  Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Impact Dynamics of Strings with Vibration Controls

Mentor: Dr. Edmon Perkins

Elizabeth Prior  Civil Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Effectiveness of Measuring the Turbidity of Waterways with Near Infrared Imaging Obtained by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Mentor: Dr. Frances O’Donnell

Joshita Suresh  Chemical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Engineering in vitro prostate cancer tumor tissue to test the efficacy of anticancer therapeutics

Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Lipke

David Teitge  Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Design and Construction of a Phase Change Flight Experiment for the International Space Station using micro-structured surfaces

Mentor: Dr. Sushil Bhavnani

Tyler Toner  Mechanical Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Model predictive controller sensitivity to errored parameters for a cruise controlled heavy truck convoy in simulation

Mentor: Dr. David Bevly

Kelly Turner  Civil Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Modeling the Influence of Ground Surface Roughness and Building Attributes on the Physical Vulnerability of Low-Rise Buildings to Hurricane Winds

Mentor: Dr. David Roueche

Anna Vescio  Materials Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Controlled release from topical ointments modified with halloysite nanotubes

Mentor: Dr. Edward Davis

Eric Wietstruk  Aerospace Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Study of the Aerodynamic Response of Birds to Turbulent Weather Conditions

Mentor: Dr. Vrishank Raghav

Liam Wood  Materials Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Engineering

Project Title:  Halloysite based Antibacterial Paints

Mentor: Dr. Edward Davis

Cullen Anderson  Wildlife Ecology and Management

Sponsor(s): Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Project Title:  Spatial and Temporal Effects of Rural Mennonite Communities on Jaguar (Panthera onca) Populations in Belize

Mentor: Dr. Todd Steury

Arielle Fay  Wildlife Ecology and Management

Sponsor(s): Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Project Title:  Impacts of Wild Pigs on Acorn Availability

Mentor: Dr. Mark Smith

Kayla Krigger  Wildlife Sciences

Sponsor(s): Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Project Title:  The effects of temperature, air pressure, humidity, and habitat on the preferred bloodmeal of Aedes albopictus

Mentor: Dr. Sarah Zohdy

Alex Merchinsky  Wildlife Sciences

Sponsor(s): Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Project Title:  Ant Foraging Behavior Under Artificially Manipulated Temperatures

Mentor: Dr. Robert Gritzen & Dr. Christopher Lepczyk

James Shortnacy  Wildlife Ecology Management

Sponsor(s): Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Project Title:  Estimating the Proportion of White-tailed Deer Illegally Harvested over Bait in Eastern Alabama

Mentor: Dr. William Gulsby

Emily Parra  Nutrition Science

Sponsor(s): College of Human Sciences

Project Title:  Lifestyle Determinants of Childhood Obesity in Elementary School Children

Mentor: Dr. Geetha Thangiah

Savannah Rundquist  Nutrition-Dietetics

Sponsor(s): College of Human Sciences

Project Title:  Exploring the effects of a high chlorophyll dietary intervention to reduce colon cancer risk in adults: The Meat and Three Greens (M3G) Feasibility Trial

Mentor: Dr. Andrew Fruge

Lauren Allison  Communication Disorders

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title:  Quantification of upper airway thermoregulation and vocal dose in indoor cycling fitness instructors with and without amplification: implications for vocal health

Mentor: Dr. Mary J. Sandage

Pate Brunner  Music Performance and Economics

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title:  A Musical and Historical Analysis of Jazz Trombone Performance and its Technical Adaptation in the Bebop Era and Beyond

Mentor: Dr. Michael Pendowski

Emma Goodwin  English Literature

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title:  A More Virtuous Vice: An Intersection Between Games and Religion in Eleventh-Century Cambrai

Mentor: Dr. Kate Craig

Barbara Laughlin Psychology

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Perception of Situations Through Word Connotation: Impact on Anxiety

Mentor: Dr. Alejandro Lazarte

Taylor Mackowski Spanish

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: L2 Spanish Learners’ Auditory Perception of Gender and Number and its Role in Relative Clause Attachment Resolution

Mentor: Dr. Daniel Vergara

Stevan Marcus Economics

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Water Contamination and Infant Health in West Alabama

Mentor: Dr. Duha Altindag and Aditi Segupta

Katie Martin English

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: The Impact of Document Design on Alcohol-Harm Awareness

Mentor: Dr. Helen Eldson

Haley Maul Psychology

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Workplace Decision Making and Risk Taking

Mentor: Dr. Ana Franco-Watkins

Jordan Wade Art History

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Defining and Discussing Afrofuturist Appropriations

Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Floyd

Sarah Webb Art History

Sponsor(s): College of Liberal Arts

Project Title: Exploring the relationships between the arts of the Kuba Kingdom and the Congo missionary outreach of the American Presbyterian church

Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Floyd

Ayaka Fujihashi Biochemistry

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Assessment of the Neurotoxic Effects of Prenatal Nicotine and Alcohol Exposure on Hippocampus and Cortex of Rodents

Mentor: Dr. Muralikrishnan Dhanasekaran

Ivy Hall Biochemistry

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Understanding How to Best Track Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) Infections in a Murine Model by Use of Fluorescence or Photo-acoustic Imaging

Mentor: Dr. Peter Panizzi

Ellery Jones Biochemistry

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Autotaxin and glutamatergic dysregulation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Mentor: Dr. Vishnu Suppiramaniam

Tyler Lynd Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Honokiol Rescues Mitochondrial Functioning in a Parkinson’s Model

Mentor: Dr. Muralikrishnan Dhanasekaran

Shannon Maguire Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: The development of novel SIRT3 agonist for mitigating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Mentor: Dr. Rajesh Amin

Madison Patrick Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Correlation of MtSK Inhibitory Activity with Chemical Constituents in Alpinia galanga Identified by High Resolution Mass Spectrometry: A Biochemometrics Study Case

Mentor: Dr. Angela Calderon

Shivani Rangari Biomedical Sciences/Premed

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Improved Topical Delivery of Acyclovir on a Nanogel Formulation for Herpes Labialis.

Mentor: Dr. Jay Ramapuram

Jack Schwartz Molecular and Cellular Biology

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Use of Ketone Bodies as a Therapeutic for Alzheimer’s Disease

Mentor: Dr. Miranda Reed

Elena Skarupa Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): Harrison School of Pharmacy

Project Title: Treatment mediated differences in gene expression in multicellular 3D models of human breast cancer

Mentor: Dr. Robert Arnold

Daniel Akwa Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: The Roles of the Mitochondrial Carrier Family in Metal Homeostasis

Mentor: Paul Cobine

Carson Blankenship Molecular Biology

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: “Shock and Kill” Strategy against Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus: Defining Target Specificity and Potency of a Novel Antiviral Compound

Mentor: Dr. Joanna Sztuba-Solinska

William Bowers Physics

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Electronic Surface Reconstruction and Defect Characterization in Complex Oxide Thin Films

Mentor: Ryan Comes

Sabrina Cline Microbial, Cellular, and Molecular Biology

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Understanding PAN’s Labyrinth: Tracking the subcellular localization of the oncogenic PAN RNA using in situ fluorescence microscopy techniques

Mentor: Dr. Joanna Sztuba-Solinska

Milica Courtenay Integrative Biology

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Testing whether sex-specific senescence in the lizard, Anolis sagrei, translates to the cellular level

Mentor: Dr. Tonia Schwartz

Sarah Dolinger Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: The relationship between mental health, stress, and social supports in health profiles for high school athletes.

Mentor: Dr. Melissa Pangelinan

Kacie Florus Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Changes in Endothelial Cell Density in Sections of Cerebrum from PEA15 Mutant and Non-Mutant Cats.

Mentor: Dr. Emily Graff

Katherine Hunter Biochemistry

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Exploring fundamental uranium and thorium chemistry using redox-active Schiff base ligands

Mentor: Dr. Anne Gorden

Peyton Kuhlers Biochemistry

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Development of an in vitro model to evaluate novel genes regulating inflammation and fibrosis

Mentor: Dr. Michael Green

Sam Lubor  Cell/Molecular Biology 

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Measuring and Comparing Oxidative Damage and Mitochondrial Function in Mammalian and Avian Species

Mentor: Dr. Wendy Hood

Amanda Mish Pre-Veterinary Medicine of Wildlife Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Testing the functional role of carotenoid coloration on survival from UV stress in the marine copepod, Tigriopus californicus

Mentor: Dr. Geoffrey Hill

Jacob Mayhugh Chemistry

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Synthesis and characterization of zinc (II) bis(pyrrole)phenylenediamine complexes

Mentor: Dr. Anne Gordon

Amanda Myles Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Characterizing the Role of Periplasmic Nitrate Reductase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Physiology

Mentor: Dr. Sang-Jin Suh

Alisa Mobley Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Synthesis and characterization of block-copolymers towards smart gating insulin release membranes

Mentor: Dr. Bryan Beckingham

Morgan Sisk  Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title:  Investigation of antibacterial properties of adhesives used in the Europa Lander Mission

Mentor: Dr. Mark Liles

Abigail Putz Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title: Self-Efficacy of Mainstream Pre-Service and In-Service Teachers for English Language Learners

Mentor: Dr. Jamie Harrison

Phillip Wang  Biomedical Sciences

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title:  Investing the role of diet and coloration on survival and vitality outcomes in the marine copepod, Tigriopus californicus

Mentor: Dr. Geoffrey Hill

Morgan Tatum  Physics

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title:  Development of a COLTRIMS spectrometer for observing laser-atom interactions

Mentor: Dr. Marc Guillaume

Matthew Dylan Wilson  Microbial Biology

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title:  The role of PEA15 on cell proliferation and apoptosis in feline fibroblasts

Mentor: Dr. Emily Graff

Matthew Westerfield  Chemistry

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title:  A Measure of Potency of Novel Protein Synthesis Inhibitors Using In vitro Translation Assay

Mentor: Dr. Alexey Petrov

Emma Yonan  Biology

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title:  Physiological responses of invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina) from Florida: how stress affects immune response and locomotor performance

Mentor: Dr. Mary Mendonca

Shelby Potter  Aerospace Engineering

Sponsor(s): College of Sciences and Mathematics

Project Title:  Effects of Severe Weather Phenomena on Commercial Aviation Accidents and Incidents

Mentor: Dr. James Birdsong