Erickson Discovery Grant

• Current undergraduate
• Must have at least one semester remaining after the funded summer
• Research must have a Penn State mentor
• Not have accepted an Erickson Discovery Grant previously
• Work outside of the proposed project must be limited to fifteen hours per week. The grant is designed to offer enough funding so that your project can be your main focus.

Applications are reviewed by faculty within your area of expertise. Review criteria include:

• Scholarly nature – Does the project involve research, scholarship, or creative work? (Educational or personal enrichment activities – e.g. study abroad, travel unrelated to research, projects not grounded in an academic discipline, etc., do not apply.)
• Student engagement – Did the student help to frame the question or focus of the project and will the student activities involve the major steps in the research or creative process? (Projects should not merely provide assistance to the faculty supervisor's work.)
• Faculty collaboration – Will the faculty supervisor provide a level of supervision that guides the student's work and adds value to the project?
• Faculty recommendation – Does the faculty supervisor consider the project worthwhile academically and endorse the student's ability to complete it?

2021

Austin Albright, Harrisburg - Impact of Honor Concerns on Emotional Suppression and Mental Health

Sophie Anderlind, Behrend - The Investigation of Cortisol’s Effects of Iron Transport Proteins in Placental Cells

Shravan Asthana, Eberly College of Science - Investigating the Role of RBM8a in Synapse Formation – A Glial Lens

Brittany Bacorn, Beaver - Does Social Media Usage Effect Symptomatology for Those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Harshraj Bandyopadhyay, Eberly College of Science - Study of localized cooling of Photomultiplier Tubes using Thermoelectric Cooling devices

Taylor Berek, College of Engineering - Investigation of the Subpopulation Change of Protein DDLB Caused by Synonymous Mutations via Cryo-EM

Mihir Bhatnagar, College of Engineering - Exomoon Habitability around M-Dwarfs using Retrograde Orbits

Rachel Blansfield, College of Liberal Arts - The Association Between Adult Attachment Style and the Therapeutic Alliance: A Meta-Analytic Study

Abriana Cain, College of Health and Human Development - The Effect of Physical Activity and Energy Restriction on Tumor Hypoxia and Blood Vessel Normalization in the 4T1.2 Murine Breast Cancer Model

Mitchell Corsi, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences - Stormwater Treatment Using Biochar in Extreme Climate Events

Alyssa Curry, College of Agricultural Sciences - Impacts of Spring Brood Manipulation on Varroa Mite Populations in Honey Bee Colonies

Sydney Danso, Eberly College of Science - Frequency of giant pulse detection from the crab nebula pulsar

Molly Ehrig, Eberly College of Science - Effect of Signaling Molecules on Strain Diversity of the Euprymna-Vibrio Symbiosis

Gregory Ellsworth, College of Engineering - Rockfall Monitoring in PA

Geneva Flarend, Eberly College of Science - Examining the Effects of Stress on Opioid Use Behaviors

Anna Foltz, Eberly College of Science - Gene Trapping in Drosophila melanogaster

Kaylee Foor, College of Liberal Arts - Disparities by Race and Ethnicity in Anxiety and Depressive symptoms and the role of Stressors related to Education

Quentin Hales, Eberly College of Science - Numerical Solutions to the Forced Soliton Equation

Jack Ibinson, College of Agricultural Sciences - The Role of IRE1a and p53 in UVB Sensitivity of Human Keratinocytes

Abbey Kollar, College of Engineering - Investigating Nutrient and Chemical Recovery from Recycled Aqueous Phase of Hydrothermal Liquefaction

Mengde Liu, College of Engineering - Stochastic Simulations of Resistance to Targeted Therapies in Cancer Suggest a Tradeoff Between Evolutionary Trajectories

Sindy Liu, Eberly College of Science - Impact of pH on Phase-Separated Droplets as RNA Compartments

Nicole Lookfong, Harrisburg - Endocannabinoid Pharmacology of PTSD

Tara Lyons, Eberly College of Science - Theoretical Studies of Metallic Clusters on Nanographene for Future Materials

Katherine McRury, College of Arts and Architecture - Living with Nature: An Ethical Model for Coexistence-based Architecture

Abigail Melendez, Behrend - Understanding Lepidopteran (Butterflies and Moths) Biodiversity on the Penn State Behrend Campus by Collection and Identification Utilizing DNA Barcoding Technology

Eilene B. Deng, Eberly College of Science - Identification of Regions of DSIF Involved in NELF Recruitment

Jacob Moyer, Eberly College of Science - Somatostatin Neuropeptide, A Potential Therapeutic for Binge Drinking Behavior and Anxiety

Lauren Onweller, College of Engineering - Identifying Cancer Biomarkers and Developing Targeted CAR T Cell Therapy to Treat Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Aayushi Patel, Harrisburg - Exploring the antimicrobial potential of cannabinoids derived from Cannabis sativa (industrial hemp)

Vanessa Peduzzi, College of Agricultural Sciences - Treatment of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in Mice Through Administration of Δ12-prostaglandin-J2 Floating Matrix Tablets

Hannah Perrelli, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences - Weaponizing Water: How Colonial Policy Has Exacerbated the Disproportionate Devastation of COVID 19 in the Navajo Nation

Jack Piazza, Eberly College of Science - Investigating the Relationship Between Algorithmic Randomness and Uniform Distribution Modulo One

Chloe Roberts, College of Agricultural Sciences - Evaluating Ixodes scapularis burdens on Sylvilagus floridanus in suburban central Pennsylvania

Kelsey Ruhlman, York - Expression and function of SETDB1 in the ovaries of the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Tanner Sherry, College of Engineering - Impedance-Based Method for Monitoring Extracellular Space Dynamics During Spreading Depolarization

G. Michael Shott Jr., Berks - Beats, Rhymes and Life: An Autoethnography

Jordan Sigler, College of Liberal Arts - Coming Face-to-Face with Depression: The Impact of Depression Severity on Emotion Perception

Maria Smereka, Eberly College of Science - Optimizing the AggTag Fluorogenic Detection Method with SNAP- and Sortase-tags

Emily Snow, College of Engineering - Effects of Nanofiber Orientation on Cell Morphology and Early Osteoinductive Regulation for Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation

Elizabeth Soucy, College of Health and Human Development - The Effect of Cortisol in Human Lactation and Milk Composition

Edward Joseph Spagnuolo, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences - The Only Known Fossil Floras of Paleogene Pakistan: Unraveling the India-Asia Collision Through Paleobotany

Zachary Stein, College of Arts and Architecture - Implementing Kinetic Movement Into Ceramic Art

Jacquelyn Stochel, College of Health and Human Development - Collecting Concreteness Rating Data in Older Adults

Rebecca Stroschein, College of Health and Human Development - Evaluation of an Online Training to Support Interaction Between Individuals using Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and Healthcare Professionals

David Taglieri, College of Education - Urban Street Networks: Roundabouts vs. Traditional Intersections

Olivia Tancredi, Eberly College of Science - Investigating the Effects of Nanoparticle Surface Chemistry on Charge Transfer and Photocatalytic Reactivity

Matthew Venable, College of Engineering - Development of Novel Citrate Polymer based In Situ Injectable Orthopedic Composites

Natalie Walter, College of Arts and Architecture - The Architecture of Decay

Zhijie Wang, Eberly College of Science - Effect of Hofmeister Ions on Optical Properties of Rhodamine 6G

Lauren Willett, Eberly College of Science - Interpreting Young Stellar Object Accretion Signatures from the VIRUS Spectrograph

Tanner Wolf, Eberly College of Science - Ring Opening Metathesis Polymerization of Sterically-Hindered Cyclophanes

Alexander Wu, College of Arts and Architecture - A Comparative Analysis of Mozart’s “Prussian” Quartets and Beethoven’s Op. 5 Cello Sonatas

Grant Zemanek, Eberly College of Science - Can Habitat Management Help Non-Target Species?

2020

Brooke Arner, College of Agricultural Sciences — The Role of Dietary Selenium in the Gut Microbiome of an IBD Infection Model

Leonardo Batista Capaverde Silva, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Studying the propulsion of particle adsorbed emulsion systems

Kyle Batra, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Eberly College of Science — Applying Scaling Laws for Stagnant Lid Convection With Buoyant and Negatively Buoyant Crusts to Determine Exoplanet Habitability

Nicole Bush, Eberly College of Science — Co-Amorphous Systems: A way to Improve Drug Solubility

Jason Cherry, College of The Liberal Arts — Soil and Steel: East German Economic Reconstruction

Julia Cipparulo, Eberly College of Science — Elucidating Gene Expression Changes Implicated in Major Depressive Disorder

Owen Courtney, Eberly College of Science — Exploring a Requirement for Mitochondrial Function in Cancer Cell Motility Through Challenging Physical Environments

Nina De Luna, College of Agricultural Sciences — Investigating the role of selenium and B cell selenoproteins in humoral immunity

Julia Edelmann, College of Arts and Architecture — Art History as a Resource for Art Curriculum in K-6 Art Programs

Emily Eiss, Behrend — Status of the methylome in Solanum tuberosum tubers treated with sprout inhibitor 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene

Elinor Farber, College of The Liberal Arts — Algerian Jewish Migration to France Archival Research

Danny Glickman, Eberly College of Science — Control of Gold Nanoparticle Synthesis in Polydimethylsiloxane

Nina Gold, College of Arts and Architecture — Two Cultures, One Cabaret: Understanding the Influence of Traditional French Cabaret on Modern American Cabaret

Erica Hanes, College of Health and Human Development — Transmission of Trauma: Cultural Values of Holocaust Survivor Offspring

Ruochuan Huang, Eberly College of Science — RNA folding under in vivo-like condition

Christopher Hudson, Eberly College of Science — Effect of heme on redox-regulated Eag1 K+ channels at the voltage sensor/pore

Austin Huynh, York — Development of CRISPR technology to study the genetics of circadian rhythms in the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Chyvonne Jessick, College of Agricultural Sciences — Assessing the Impact of Bird Strike Frequency on The Pennsylvania State University Campus

Lydia Jordache, Eberly College of Science — Investigating the Roles of 2',3'-cNMPs in Prokaryotic Stress Response

David Kennedy, College of Engineering — Antibiotic Removal by Modified Hairy Nanocellulose

Zineb Kobi, College of The Liberal Arts — Thank you study

Timothy Kuklis, Lehigh Valley — Green Thumb on A Red Planet

Gannon Lenhart, College of Engineering — Exploring Monopole Interactions

Xianqing Li, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Effect of Strain and Surface Energy on the Phase Formation of 2D Electronic Materials

Annie Liu, College of Arts and Architecture — Aural Distractions in Musical Performance:  A Quantitative Exploration of Attention and Behavior

Anthony Mannarino, College of Engineering — Osgood-Schlatter Disease as a Model for Studying Structure-Function Relationships in the Knee Joint Extensor Mechanism

Eli Mertick Sykes, Eberly College of Science — Degradation of Protein Aggregates via Small Molecule Activation of Autophagy

Kennedy Miller, Eberly College of Science — Characterization of Lanmodulin Homologs as Lanthanide-Binding Proteins

Brock Molloy, Eberly College of Science — Using honey bee collected pollen as an early indicator for viral plant diseases impacting crops in Pennsylvania

Joseph Molnar, College of Engineering — Combustor Flow Field Characterization with Acoustic Forcing, Swirl Fluctuation, and Centerbody Inclusion for Flow Structure Control in Gas Turbine Systems

Vitaliy Mykhnyak, Abington — Investigation of gamma ray radiation on WSE2

Casssandra Nunez, College of Engineering — Studying the Effect of Environmental Stressors on Bacterial Motion using Time-resolved Monitoring of Optical Scattering

Laurena Olsen, Eberly College of Science — The Effects of Natural RNA Modifications on G-Quadruplex Formation

Emma Orloski, College of The Liberal Arts — Magic Mirror on the Wall:  Gratitude Alters Self-Image and Aids Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Ann Marie Paterno, Eberly College of Science — Nano-Mesh Materials Produced through Anodized Impure Aluminum

Serenah Pauliuc, Berks — Characterization of the Durability of Bio-Based Composites for Construction Applications

Jenna Phillips, Berks — Sensor Placement for Monitoring Both Equine and Rider Activity

Taylor Pust, Eberly College of Science — Investigation of Adhesion Characteristics on Lodged Thromboemboli and Cerebral Arteries

Joseph Razon, Abington — Investigation of Defect Chemistry in 2D Materials

Josie Rice, Harrisburg — Characterization of the role of the long non-coding RNA MEG3 in the autophagy of human glomerular epithelial cells following injury induced by high glucose

Lauren Rickert, College of Arts and Architecture — How Isabella d’Este’s collection reflects women’s patronage during the Renaissance

Oliver Rose, College of The Liberal Arts — The Victorian Red Pill: A Genealogy of the Neoreactionary Movement and its Ideology

Serena Schade, Berks — Effects of Online Social Network on College Students’ Attitudes towards Physical Activity

Matthew Schubach, Eberly College of Science — Synthesis of Catalytically-Active Organic Nanoparticles

Maria Schultheis, College of Agricultural Sciences — The Future of Photovoltaics: Using Amino Acid Chains as Molecular Electronics

Jay Sim, College of Engineering — Reinventing Foundry in a Box for the 21st Century

Harman Singh, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Examining the Relationship between Flooding and Land Use Land Cover in Kochi through a Mixed Method Approach

Taylor Slusser, College of The Liberal Arts — The Role of Eternity in Scriptural Interpretation within the Epistle to the Hebrews

Courtney Smith, College of Information Sciences and Technology — Using Social Media to Perform Parasocial Relationships with Celebrities

Kelly Snyder, College of Nursing — Examining the Effect of a Growth Mindset on Personality Faking

Josephine Soddano, Eberly College of Science — Investigating the Effect of Race on Courtroom Dynamics

Shivani Sowmyan, College of Health and Human Development — Analysis of Structural Brain Imaging Data in Pediatric Samples —The Impact of Using Adult vs Pediatric Templates in Data Processing

Thomas Starr, Eberly College of Science — Characterizing the Single Molecule Dynamics of Cellulases in the Presence of Multiple Cellulose Degrading Enzymes

Carolyn Telfer, Eberly College of Science — Proposed Mechanism for Conversion of 4-chloro-lysine into 4-chloro-allyl-lysine via BesC

Bruce Tirrell, College of The Liberal Arts — The Effect of Gender Diversity and Geographic Dispersion on Continued Interdisciplinary Collaboration in NSF-Funded Teams

Alexander Trevelino, College of Agricultural Sciences — Economic Efficiency of Different Lighting Systems in Hydroponic Production of Lettuce

Cristina Valentina Craescu, Eberly College of Science — Catalysis-Induced Mobility of Enzyme-Bound Lipid Bilayers

Makarand Wadagave, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Studying Oxidation of WSe2 in ambient conditions via Raman Spectroscopy, Photoluminescence imaging, and Scanning electron microscopy

Yuyang Wang, Eberly College of Science — Investigating the photocatalytic properties of ZnSe Mn2+ nanoparticles

Thomas Weidman, Berks — The role of PKA in regulating CPT1 splicing in the Drosophila fat body

Colin Williams, College of Engineering — Nonlinear ultrasonics for characterization of fracture toughness in steel alloys

Huntur Woodard, York — Identification of Molecular Markers for Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) and the Effects of Wild Fire on Western Fence Lizard Genetic Diversity

Keaton Wright, Fayette — Determination of Trajectories of Magnetic Monopoles

2019

Kaylee Aaron, University College — The Need for Status: An Evolutionary Explanation for Mental Health Issues from Social Media Use

Ethan Adams, Berks — Protein Folding through Generative Adversarial Networks

Alexa Anderson, College of Health and Human Development — Language, Screens, and Development

Rachel Bartlett, Eberly College of Science —The Influence of Adolescent Social Stress on Opioid Receptor Gene Expression

Lena Becker, College of the Liberal Arts — Exploring the Relation Between Adult Attachment Relationship Functioning and Personality Disorders

Elizabeth Bell, Capitol —Stream Restoration’s Efficiency in Abating Excess Nutrients and Heavy Metals

Joseph Binkin, College of Engineering —Using Design as a Research Method to Investigate Issues of Equity and Bias in AI-enabled Hiring Systems

Hayden Bock, College of Agricultural Sciences — Influences of polyculture cropping systems on weed success

Isabel Brady, College of the Liberal Arts — These Boots are Made for Walking, But Where Do They Rest? Urban Accommodation & Architecture for Rome-Bound Pilgrims in Siena, Italy

Amanda Rose Byrd, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — The Relationship Between Water Stress and Marcellus Legacy Fund Investment in Pennsylvania Municipalities

Lauren Chamberlain, Eberly College of Science — Synthesis of Photocatalysts for applications in Surface Chemistry and Heterogeneous Catalysis

Yu-Jen Chiu, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Orientational Effects on Complex Emulsion Droplet Chemotactic Interactions

Carley Danielson, College of the Liberal Arts — C.R.E.A.T.E. Meaningful Learning: A Strategic Investigation of the Pedagogical Efficacy of Primary Literature-Based Undergraduate Education in Psychology

Autumn Deitrick, College of Engineering — Optimizing the Weir Equation for Nature-Like Fish Passages

Nicholas Alexander DiNunzio, Behrend — An Investigation on the Effects of Elastic Recovery on Sheet Metal During Bend-Stretch Forming

Jonathan Ehring, Capitol —Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes Using Surface Active Agents

Victor Ficarra, University College — Using Neural Networks to Generate Daily Fantasy Sports Lineups

Kelan B Fogarty, University College — Synthesis and Characterization of a Series of Metal Containing Isobutyl POSS Compounds

Kristina Franklin, Altoona — Does personality type predict exercise behavior in zebrafish, Danio rerio, a common animal model of human disease

Cameron Franz, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Understanding Equity and Producer Risk in Cherry Value Chains of Morocco

William Fullerton, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Developing Viable Polymer Electrolyte Membranes

Nicholas Gigliotti, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Encapsulation of ceramide in calcium phosphosilicate nanoparticles to treat run away inflammatory responses in the lungs of pediatric patients

Lindsey Goodnight, College of Engineering — Development of Rapid, Array-formatted Electrochemical Antibacterial Susceptibility Testing (ECAST)

Anna Graef, College of Arts and Architecture — Shino Glazing: Contemporary American Adaptations of Traditional Japanese Techniques

James Graef, College of Agricultural Sciences — Analyzing International Public Transit Operational Procedures

Alyssa Grube, College of Engineering — Current and Power Generation of Hyperthermophilies in Two-Chamber Microbial Fuel Cells, Engineering

John Gurklis, College of The Liberal Arts — Historical Preservation and Development at Khan al-Umdan: Acre (Akko), Israel

Hayley Hurt, University College — Exploration of Epigenetic Effects on Offspring Behavior, Infection Rate, and Methylation Patterning in a Beetle-Tapeworm System

Bradley Irizarry, University College — Glowing spiders; using PiggyBac transposable elements to localize and alter specific genes in the common house spider

Edward Issertell, Eberly College of Science — Elucidating the Order of Metal Binding Between EF-hands in Lanmodulin

Anam Jafri, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Understanding Microscopic and Macroscopic Properties of Graft Copolymers

Basel Karim, Eberly College of Science — Detection of Protein Refolding via a Reverse Environmentally-Sensitive Fluorescent Probe

Siddharth Karthikeyan, Eberly College of Sciences — Functional Analysis of Genes in the 15q11.2 CNV Deletion and Associated Phenotypic Outcomes

Annalyse K Kehs, College of Engineering — The use of Satellites to Survey Small-holder Farmers Fields

Kathryn King, Eberly College of Science — Elk K+ channel modulation and neuronal signaling

Yuran Kong, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) for Nickel-Aluminum Alloys

Kalei H Kowalchik, University College — Nurses Perceptions of Palliative Care and the Impact it has on Palliative Care Referrals in the Acute Care Setting

Nicholas Kuhn, Altoona — EDG Transverse Flux Motor

Victoria Leger, Eberly College of Science — Caught in the Act: Duty Cycles of Accreting Compact Objects

Yihao Lin, College of Engineering — An Investigation of Carbon Nanotubes as Enzyme Delivery Vectors

Nicholas Litak, Eberly College of Science — Magnetic Properties of Alkanethiolate-Protected Gold Nanoparticles

Kathryn Luteran, College of Agricultural Sciences — Analysis of the role of Miwi2 dependent regulation of histone modifications in stress erythropoiesis

Amanda Martin, Berks — Erickson Discovery Grant Screenplay Proposal

Aileen McKinstry, College of the Liberal Arts — Justice Scalia's Enduring Constitution: An examination of Modern-day Originalism as it Compares to the Original Intent of the Founding Fathers

Matthew Mouck, Eberly College of Science — Bioinformatic Discovery of Novel Riboswitches in the Human Gut Microbiome

Lily Murray, College of the Liberal Arts — Lesbian History Archival Research

Magnus Murray, Berks — Instrumented Frisbee to Study the Aerodynamics of Frisbees

Guinevere Vanbuskirk Oliver, Eberly College of Science — Biophysical and Biochemical Characterization of Mitochondrial Transcription in the Presence of STAT3 and TEAD4

Courtney Page, College of Agricultural Sciences — Investigation into the regulation of [1, 25(OH)2D3] by CPY24A1 and the impact on T cell proliferation

Jay Pendyala, Eberly College of Science — A Mechanistic Study of LipA's Fe-S cluster Regeneration

Philip P Ratnasamy, Eberly College of Science — Understanding Light Touch Sensation in Class III DA Drosophila Neurons

Lily Qing Lian Robinson, College of Agricultural Sciences — Role of IRE1α Mutations in Cancer Pathogenesis

Samuel Rovito, College of Agricultural Sciences — Mechanisms in Receptor Binding Preference of H3N2 Influenza with Regards to Potential Mammalian Transmission

Katelyn Rudisill, Eberly College of Science — Understanding How Cdk5 Localizes Essential Proteins for Proper Neuronal Function in Class 1 DA Drosophila Neurons

Juan Alexander Sanchez Caba, University College —The influence of developmental starvation on neurotransmitter levels and behavior in the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Lauren Sarko, Eberly College of Science — Functional Annotation of Uncharacterized Protein “Mosquito Defect” (PY17X_0719100) in Plasmodium yoelii

Steven Schneible, College of the Liberal Arts — Brief Encounters with Hideous Diseases: The Fiction of David Foster Wallace as Experiences of Psychopathology

Cody Shakespeare, Eberly College of Science — Simulating the Resonant Chains of HR-8799 and GJ-876

Jessica Smith, Eberly College of Science — Development of High Strength, Rapidly Degradable Bone Composites for Treatment of Osteoporosis

Lucy C Spicher, College of Engineering — 3D Printed Occupational Therapy Devices: Establishing a Market in Developing Communities

Amira Spikes, Abington — Trash or Treasure?: The Effects of Date Label Perception on Food Sustainability

John Patrick Stein, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Templated Synthesis of Nanoparticles in Diblock Copolymer Colloidal Systems

Rachel Danielle Swope, Eberly College of Science — Identifying a Reporter for Dendrite Regeneration in Neurons of the Drosophila Peripheral Nervous System

Emily Thyrum, Eberly College of Science — Improved modeling of Cherenkov light produced by neutrino interactions in the South Pole ice

Israel Tucker, Altoona — Forced Migration and Human Rights: Approaching Global Issues with Young Children in Classroom Settings

Cassidy Ulanowicz, Behrend — Determining the Parasite Community of Invasive Snails Species in Erie, Pennsylvania

Andrew White, College of Engineering — Complex Design of Heat Sinks using Additive Manufacturing

Joshua Ian Wolgamuth, University College — The Impact of Fire on Lizard Malaria Prevalence and Diversity in Northern California

Chen Ta Yu, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Investigates a new approach for recovering rare-earth fission products from molten chlorides using liquid metals to reduce nuclear waste

Anthony Zhang, Eberly College of Science — Integrated Curriculum: Teaching Math Through Music

Yinqi Zhang, Eberly College of Science — Learning the Dynamics of Substance Abuse in Social Networks

Xinye Zhao, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Theoretical Prediction and Investigation of Voltage and Energy Density of Fluoride-Based Batteries

2018

Troy Adams, Eberly College of Science — Age Estimation Model From DNA Methylation and Accuracy Under Variable Strain Using Nanopore Sequencing

Julio Aira IV, Abington — Sustainability and Testing of 3-D Printing Prosthetic Socket

Jacob John Alexander, Behrend — Study of the Elastic Recovery and Residual Hoop Stress in Steel-Aluminum Rings

Vivek Anil, College of Engineering — Graphene-based Scaffold for Neuron Regeneration Study

Audrey Arner, Eberly College of Science — The functional and evolutionary genomics of sexual dimorphism in Homo sapiens

Eric Louis Baker, College of Engineering — Determining Causes of Attrition in Engineering Graduate Students Through Natural Language Processing

Bridget Baksa, Berks — Multi-Objective Spatial Clustering with Multiple Constraints

Rebecca Anne Barnes, College of the Liberal Arts — Switching between languages that share the same vocabulary: What keeps them apart

Celeste Marie Belknap, College of Arts and Architecture — Nina Makarova’s Symphony in D Minor: a study of her composition in the context of political and gender oppression

Emily R. Blaker, University College — The Effects of School Stress on Student-Athlete Academics and Sport Enjoyment

Nathaniel Andrew Bledsoe, Eberly College of Science — Activation of Factor XII in Respect to Cardiovascular Biomaterial

Andrew Sean Blount, Eberly College of Science — Detecting Anti-Neutrinos with WATCHMAN

Anna Pauline Brogan, Eberly College of Science — The Investigation of Antiprotozoal KKL-8692 as a trans-Translation Inhibiting Compound for Antimicrobial Use

Cole Tyler Brown, Behrend — A Tale of Terrestrial Origins: A Hypothesis for Water on the Primordial Mars

Kathryn K. Bruce, University College — The evolutionary and molecular mechanisms of sexual size dimorphism in the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Rebecca Bussard, Eberly College of Science — Analyzing Deformation of Telica Volcano through the Use of Remote Sensing Data

Darcy Chia Calabria, College of the Liberal Arts — The Relationship between Cult and Iron Smithing at Phoenician Tel Akko, Israel

Mia Elizabeth Caputo, College of the Liberal Arts — Self-Resemblance and the Cross-Race Memory Effect

Sabrina Anne Carrozzi, College of Engineering — On-Demand 3-D Printing Thermally Cured Polymer Nanoparticle Composites

Julia Catena, Eberly College of Science — Determining the Tissue Specificity of an NAD+ Biosynthetic Enzyme in C. elegans

Ian David Chamberlain, University College — The Physiological and Environmental Effects of Caffeinated Compost on Green Beans

Yumih Chang, College of Arts and Architecture — Documentation and Multimedia Display Creation on Keisuke Oka's ‘Arimasuton-Biru’ for New Media and Architectural Studies

Carlos M. Curay, Eberly College of Science — The Correlation of Spontaneous Seizures to Cardiac Damage in Epileptic Rat Models

Ryan Michael Czekaj, College of Arts and Architecture — Primary Source Research for Elgar’s ‘Three Characteristic Pieces’

Lauren Echols, College of the Liberal Arts — Syntactic ambiguity resolution in Spanish speakers and Spanish-English bilinguals

Victor David Ellis, Eberly College of Science — Mechanism Of Recombination In Enteroviruses

Emma Stephanie Gogarnoiu, Eberly College of Science — KH protein domains and how they bind to Fe (II)

Chujie Gong, College of Engineering — A 3-D Image-based Study of Biomechanics for Glenoid Implant and Bone

Nakul Grover, College of the Liberal Arts — Impact of immigration in South Asia: Burmese immigrants in Bangladesh and migration to India

Mindy Sarah Gruzin, University College — Evolutionary consequence of genome duplication on developmental expression of octopamine receptor in the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Catherine Elise Hanagan, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Tectonics, Magmatism, and Climate Change: Investigating the Location and Magnitude of North America-Eurasia plate motion in Iceland

Tice Ryan Harkins, Eberly College of Science — Characterizing Flow and Clotting in PDMS Channels Using Micro-Particle Image Velocimetry

Michael T. Heigh, Eberly College of Science — Using Pectin Mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana to Better Understand Plant Cell Growth

Corey Herr, Eberly College of Science — Hardware Development and Data Analysis for LZ Dark Matter Detector

Raymond Lawrence Hoy, College of the Liberal Arts — Analyzing Student Usage and Attitudes Towards Green2Go to Promote a More Cost Effective To-go Container

Ya-Lin Huang, College of Engineering — CTC Recognition by Image Processing for FMSA Liquid Biopsy

Maria Rose Hudock, College of Engineering — Softshell Turtle Collagen for the Development of a Lung Tissue Scaffold

Kailash Jayachandran, Eberly College of Science — Determining the Mechanism of NeuroD1 Mediated Reprogramming of Astrocytes into Glutamatergic Neurons

Catherine Karbasiafshar, Eberly College of Science — Exploration of suppressor mutations in a Bacillus subtilis strain deficient for NusA

Annalyse K. Kehs, College of Engineering — Application of Artificial Intelligence to Detect Lycorma delicatula

Itsuhiro Ko, College of Agricultural Sciences — Detecting mobile DNA movement between host and parasitic plant, a potential mechanism of HGT

Nicole Grace Laganke, Eberly College of Science — Investigating the Lethality in NAD+ Deficient nmrk-1 Caenorhabditis elegans in Environments of Oxidative Stress

Joash Malakani Lake, Eberly College of Science — Wolbachia Infection: Understanding the Requirements between Aedes aegypti and Wolbachia

Samantha Long, University College — How Student Satisfaction and Motivation in School is affected by Negative Life Events

Gregory Paul Lutz, University College — Exploring the Physiological Causation of Parasitic Host Manipulation

Fabiola Maldonado, Eberly College of Science — Neural Excitability and Inflammation in High Fat Diet Induced Depressive-Like Brain States

Kathryn Lynn Mayberry, College of the Liberal Arts — Reclaiming Disabled Poetry; William Carlos Williams' Late Work

Phoebe McClincy, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Primordial Black Holes as a Dark Matter Candidate

Christian Murphy, College of Engineering — Proposal for Automated Design for Additive Manufacturing Optimization through Machine Learning

Jeremy Mysliwiec, Eberly College of Science — Analysis of a two-population chemotaxis model with competitive dynamics

Lane Z. Naugle, College of Agricultural Sciences — Testing the effect of anthropogenic noise pollution upon nesting songbird communication channels and reproductive success

Vance Noah, Behrend — Synthesis and Biochemical Evaluation of Piperine Amide Analogs for Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition

Danielle Marie Reilly, University College — Using Evolutionary Relevant Fear Stimuli to Enhance Memory

Colton Ruggery, Eberly College of Science — The Effects of the α3β4 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Antagonist, 18-Methoxycoronaridine (18-MC), on Alcohol-Related Behaviors

Emily Sellinger, Eberly College of Science — Predicting Lyme disease Cases Using Mouse Trap Sales

Rachel E. Shriver, College of Education — Más Que Mojitos: Reciprocity within Global Conversations Course

Benjamin Simonson, Eberly College of Science — Life-history trade-off between immunity and thermoregulation in bumblebees

Jessica Jean Smith, Eberly College of Science — Development of Citrate/Magnesium Phosphate Dual Network Injectable Composites for Orthopedic Tissue Engineering

Emily C. Snell, Eberly College of Science — In Vitro and Ex Vivo profiling of Antibiotic Properties of Tetrazole Analogs that Target trans-Translation

Danielle Judy Spewak, College of Arts and Architecture — Reality Destination

Steven G. Stamm, Berks — Reduction of Drag by Adding Longitudinal Grooves

Michelle Suhendra, Eberly College of Science — Functional Characterization of PF13_0114, an ApiAP2 transcription factor in malaria parasite P. falciparum

Lichen Sun, College of Engineering — Design of Low Leakage Pouch Cells for Electric Double-layer Capacitor (EDLC) Applications

Jonathan Frances Thomas, Eberly College of Science — In vivo analysis of the RNA binding domain of the transcriptional pausing factor, NELF

Gavin Turner, Eberly College of Science — Characterization of the FaRLiP Phycobilisome Complex by Knockout Mutagenesis in the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7335

Seth Wilcox, College of Education — Large Scale Keyphrase Evaluation via Crowdsourcing

Madison I. Winkowski, University College — Pharacological characterization of dopamine receptors in the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum

Madeline Winn, College of Agricultural Sciences — Programmed Cell Death Proteins as CL Saviors: Examining the Role of PD-1 and PD-L1 in Luteal Rescue

Stephen Daniel Worrell, College of Agricultural Sciences — Characterizing IRE1alpha Dependent Leukocyte Recruitment Signaling in UV Induced Inflammation

Amanda Yaya, Eberly College of Science — Investigation of Interictal Hemodynamics in Rat Models Using Oxygen-Sensing Electrodes

Philip Navin Zachariah, Eberly College of Science — A Fly on the Wall: Bridging the Gap Between Penn State Research Laboratories and the Student Community

Chenzhang Zhou, Altoona — Why Phonons Behavior in Transition Metal Dichalcogenides Matter

Everett Zofchak, College of Engineering — Synthesis of Polymeric Nanostructures Via Order-Order and Disorder-Order Transition