Undergraduate Research Grant Awards

Students from several departments applied for funding to attend conferences to present research, compete in academic competitions, and purchase supplies to complete research.  The current semester of  faculty sponsors, the students, and the title of the projects are listed by department below.

Spring 2013 Awards

Art and Art History Department

Faculty Sponsor: Joesph DiBella

Student: Kelsey Witt – Independent Study in PaintingStudent:

Faculty Sponsor: Jon McMillian

Students:Katherine Sleyman and Cristina Bendo – Attend the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference

Faculty Sponsor: Marjorie Och

Student: Chelsea Neal – Renaissance Politics and the Antiquities Collection of Isabella d’este

Student: Kristine Woeckener – Velazquez

Biological Sciences Department

Faculty Sponsor: Dianne Baker

Students: Students: Sarah Eubanks and Scott Cooper – Identifying Suitable Genes to use for Quantitative PCR Normalization for Nutritional Studies in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Students: Lindsay Raulston and Joshua Slakman – The Effects of Altrazine on Gene Expression in (Danio rerio)

Faculty Sponsor: Rosemary Barra

Student: Rafia Virk – Mechanism Analysis for Glucocorticoid-induces Apoptosis in Leukemia T Cells

Faculty Sponsor: Steve Gallik

Student: Jeffrey Branson – Using Fluorescent Markers to Label Cell Nuclei

Faculty Sponsor: Theresa Grana

Student: Dan Browne – Nematodes in the Classroom

Student: Jessica Dochney – Nematode Identification and Phylogeny

Student: Anna Kania – Optimization of Genomic DNA Amplification in Nematodes and Phylogenic Analysis

Student: Thy Mai – Imaging Nematode Diversity

Student: Sarah Marzec – Nematode Population Diversity at a Native Paw Paw Site

Faculty Sponsor: Abbie Tomba

Student: Peyton Kremer – Determining the Molecular Size of the Alarm Cue in the Crayfish Orconectes rusticus

Chemistry Department

Faculty Sponsor: Janet Asper

Student: Katherine Vanderpool – Synthesis of Polymeric Materials

Faculty Sponsors: Janet Asper and Nicole Crowder

Students: Robert Higgins, Karmel James, and Eric Johnson – American Chemical Society National meeting

Earth and Environmental Sciences Department

Faculty Sponsor: Ben Kisila

Student: Lainey LeBlanc – The effect of Land Use Changes on the Water Quality of Sugarland Run Stream, a Tributary of the Potomac River, VA

Faculty Sponsor: Melanie Szulczewski

Students: Susanna Kirschner and Jenna Stockton – Analysis of Phosphorus in the Waters, Soils, and Sediments of the Contrary Creek Ecosystem, Louisa County, VA

Faculty Sponsor: Neil Tibert

Student: Amanda Parker – Paleocological Study of Fossil Deposits

Economics Department

Faculty Sponsor: Steve Greenlaw

Students: Patrick Marek, Christopher Rieve, Taylor Knight, Sarah Dengler and Luke Mendelsohn  – Issues in Political Economy Undergraduate Economic Research

Student: Sarah Dengler – Freebie Frenzy: Experimental Evidence of the Zero Price Effect

Faculty Sponsor: Margaret Ray

Students: Nicole Nunez, Taylor Knight, Luke Mendelsohn, and Roxette Sklovos- Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Scholars Program

Geography Department

Faculty Sponsor: Steve Hanna

Student: Emily Hodder – Reading the Heritage Landscape Using a Public History GIS

History and American Studies Department

Faculty Sponsor: Jess Rigelhaupt

Students: Kelsey Matthews, Kendal Simonpietri, and Josephine Appiah – Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Oral History, Digital History, and Memories of the World War II Home Front

Physics Department

Faculty Sponsor: Hai Nguyen

Student: Lauren Nelson – Moon Spectroscopy

Political Science and International Affairs Department

Faculty Sponsor: John Kramer

Student: William Kyle – America in the Pacific: Pivoting to a New Strategy?

Psychology Department

Faculty Sponsors: Mindy Erchull and Miriam Liss

Students: Michelle Gnoleba, Charlotte Hagerman, Leanna Papp, Haley Miles-McLean, and Caitlin Robertson – Body Objectification as a Source of Insidious Trauma: An Investigation of Clinical Consequences

Faculty Sponsor: Jennifer Mailloux

Students: Erica Christian, Andrea Fritch, Eric Knapp, and Mercedes McWaters – Facilitation versus overshadowing: Does multimodal input benefit or hinder learning?

Faculty Sponsor: Christine McBride

Students: Tabitha Ball, Natalie Fraize, Courtney Lynn, and Elizabeth Storey – The Effect of Different Stressors on Eating in Children

Faculty Sponsor: Debra Steckler

Students: Ann Carroll, Rebecca Smith, Kate Callaghan, Molly Sullivan, and Mara Rowcliffe – Information seeking: An experience of emerging adulthood?

Faculty Sponsors: Mindy Erchull, Steve Hampton, Dave Kolar, Miriam Liss, Virginia Mackintosh, Jennifer Mailloux, Chris McBride, Denis Nissim-Sabat, Larry Penwell, David Rettinger, Holly Schiffrin, Dave Stahlman, Hilary Stebbins, and Debra Steckler

Students: Tabitha Ball, Victoria Bennett, Brittany Byrd, Kate Callaghan, Ann Carroll, Erica Christian, Kate Dubrowski, Natalie Fraize, Andrea Fritch, Della Gibson, Michelle Gnoleba, Nicolas Grove, Claire Growney, Charlotte Hagerman, Jacob Hargis, Sarah Hillenbrand, Amy Kasper, Courtney Lynn, Mercedes McWaters, Haley Miles-McLean, Courtney Moore, Leanna Papp, Melissa Peters, Caitlin Robertson, Mara Rowcliffe, Charlotte Sandy, William Sharp, Dan Shapiro, Rebecca Smith, Elizabeth Storey, Molly Sullivan, and Jesse Vanous -Attend Virginia Psychological Association Conference

Faculty Sponsor: Hilary Stebbins

Students: Jesse Vanous, Claire Growney, and Melissa Peters – The interaction of Gender and Emotion in the Attentional Blink

Sociology and Anthropology Department

Faculty Sponsor: Debra Schleef

Students: Margaret Shaw, Phil Revak-Green, Jacob Hargis, and Emily Breton – Youth Risk Behavior Study

Speaking Center

Faculty Sponsor: Esther Yook

Students: Thomas Pacheco, Mariah Young, Russell Michelson, Danielle deVille, and Abigail Yirrah – Reflection and Remixes from University of Mary Washington

Previous Awarded Grants: