Undergraduate Research Grant Awards

Spring 2025 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.

Department	Student	Faculty Sponsor	Project Title
BIOL	Morgan Hicok, Kate Green	Abbie Tomba	Observations of two populations of the freshwater snail Elimia virginica
BIOL	Mikyas Telehun	Deborah O’Dell	Activity of alpha 2 adrenergic receptor variants in microalga
BIOL	Samantha Mitzel, Gracie Fugleberg	Deborah O’Dell	Tau Phosphorylating Site Variant Interactions on HSPG Recognition
BIOL	Allison Fletcher, Ashlynn Peszko, Calla Petz	Dianne Baker	The Effects of PFOS Exposure on Zebrafish Dopaminergic Development
BIOL	Josiah Arnold, Maci Landel, Ariel Goldberg	Dianne Baker	Effect of Sodium Benzoate on Zebrafish Pancreatic Function
BIOL	Ashlyn Rauch	Ginny Morriss	Modulation of Activin beta as a potential modifier of myotonic dystrophy
BIOL	Bonnie Butler, Jessica Bronski	Ginny Morriss	Present Effects of PDGFRβ activation on vasculature in DM1
BIOL	Delaney Humphrey, Carleigh Wood	Ginny Morriss	Iditarod’s effect on Myotonic Dystrophy Disease progression in a Drosophila Melanogaster model
BIOL	Eleni Kepler	Ginny Morriss	The Effects of Myoglianin Knockdown on Drosophila melanogaster with Myotonic Dystrophy Type One
BIOL	Madison Bauserman	Ginny Morriss	The comparative analysis of Drosophila melanogaster as an angiogenesis model
BIOL	Brooke Martin, Sierra (Grace) Williams, Huzaifa Shaikh	Laura Sipe	The regulation and timing of protein turnover in methionine restricted cancer cells
BIOL	Loren Dellgadillo Llano, Ella Schmidt, Carolina Brooks	Laura Sipe	Methionine restriction alters tumor suppressor gene expression by reducing DNA methylation
BIOL	Mallory Thompson	Laura Sipe	The Role of Methionine Restriction and Autophagy in Breast Cancer Immunogenic Cell Death
BIOL	Sofia Szczepankiewicz, McKenzie Cheynet	Laura Sipe	The Optimization of siRNA knockdown in murine breast cancer
BIOL	Caroline Turner, Gabby Valle	Parrish Waters	Endocrine correlates of a social stress choice paradigm in male CD1 mice
BIOL	Lexi Miller, Christopher Anderson	Parrish Waters	Neural effects of GLP-1 receptor modulation in CD1 mice
BIOL	Sasha Murphy	Parrish Waters	Effects of Phthalates on the BBB and cognition in CD1 mice
BIOL	Marco Estrella, Natalie Fox	Swati Agrawal	Investigating Synergistic Phage-Antibiotic Combination Therapies for the Treatment of Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacillus Pathogens
BIOL	Tori Croley	Swati Agrawal	Exploring the Role of Putative ER Protein in Membrane Contact Site Formation in Toxoplasma gondii
BIOL	Tyler Downs	Swati Agrawal	Investigating Cytotoxicity and Defense functions of bacteriophage Mercurio genes in host Mycobacterium smegmatis
BIOL	Alegria Bautista	Theresa Grana	Advances in Worm DNA Sequencing
BIOL	Lucca Muta, Emily Wills	Theresa Grana	Gene Function in Phage X
BIOL	Stephanie Bailey	Theresa Grana	From Worms to Wonders: Improving Phenotype Recognition in C. elegans for Genetics Students
CHPH	Iaroslavna Kovalenko	Nicole Crowder	Synthesis of Cyclen Derivatives
CHPH	Caroline Sampson, Taylor Munger, Emma Goehner	Randall Reif, Sarah Smith, Nicole Crowder	Presentation of Chemistry Research at National ACS Meeting
CHPH	Emily Hart and Marina Klein	Sarah Smith	Quantification of explosive material from sediments near Dahlgren
CMDS	Bella Molseed	Elizabeth Johnson-Young	Nonconformity and Romance: An Analysis of Pride and Prejudice on Film
ECON	Ryan Meyer, Vanessa Wu	Amrita Dhar	Present at the Eastern Economic Assoc.: Issues in Political Economy Undergraduate Research Conference
EESC	David Nichols	Ben Kisila	Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Northern Virginia Waterways in Relation to Urbanization
EESC	Eric Torres	Ben Kisila	Analysis of Sediment in Appalachian Mining Town
EESC	Katie Burbridge	Ben Kisila	Spatiotemporal and bioaccumulation analysis of trace metal concentrations within sediment and dagger blade grass shrimp in Chincoteague Bay, USA
EESC	Audrey Turner, Lily Hoffman, Natalie Anderson	Melanie Szulczewski	Analysis of Metal Concentration, Soil Health, and Socioeconomic Factors in Fredericksburg, Virginia Environmental Justice Soil Survey
HISASOC	Colin Andrew Tuttle	Nora Kim	Who is Ambitious? Exploring Factors Associated with Lawyers’ Career Ambitions
HISASOC	Zoe Hanrahan	Nora Kim	My fiancée is very much a world citizen’: Gendered Orientalist Habitus and White Women’s Account of WWAM Relationships
MATH	Belen Telahun and Aloysious Kabonge	Melody Denhere	Comparative Analysis of Diversity between 2010 and 2020 in US
MUSC	Matthew Fenton, Oleander Neleski, Nathaniel Harvey	Rebecca Callaway	Attend the North American Conference on Video Game Music
PSIA	Jordy Santana	Jared McDonald	Messaging in a Crisis: How Mythic Frames Shape American Perceptions of Foreign Conflicts
PSYC	Nyah Speicher, Kenna Westen, Lilith Mizoe, Alex Borg	Christine McBride	Modeling and Food Selection” Are We Aware of the Influence of Others?
PSYC	Rachel Mears	Hilary Stebbins	Sleepiness, Dopamine and Food Impulsivity
PSYC	Jordyn Anderson, Mars Dansie, Hannah Shipp, Kelly Simons, Isabella Wilson	Laura Wilson	The indirect association between sexism and stalking survivor health through post-traumatic cognitions
PSYC	Tobias Conner, Ace Cooper, Brianna Daly, Alex Delano, Julia Patrick	Marcus Leppanen	Present at the Eastern Psychological Assoc. Conference
PSYC	Dava Weisend, Hayley Dreyer, Danielle Johnson, Genevieve Lewis	Mindy Erchull	Perceptions of Workplace Harassment
PSYC	23 Psychology students	Miriam LIss	Student Presentations at the Virginia Association of Psychological Science
PSYC	Kyleigh Friel, Vas Campbell, Nicole Fortner, Cierra Curran	W. David Stahlman	How Variable Can Performance Be?  An Investigation of Behavioral Momentum
THDA	Kyleigh Friel, Ariana Adamek	Marc Wiliams	Attend the Southeastern Theatre Conference 2025