2023
GERARD A. HAUSER AWARD
- Hannah Kline - Investigating The Role of the ER in Axon Regeneration
ARTS & HUMANITIES
First Place
- Casey Sennett - Overlooked Histories: An Ethnographic and Historical Study of the Jewish Communities of Central Pennsylvania
Second Place
- Luisina Kemanian Leites - A Solution to 'The Problem from Hell'?: Quantifying the Effects of Military Interventions on the Severity of Mass Killings and Genocides
Third Place
- Mackenzie Flanders - When Do Partisans Defect from Norm Violations?
ENGINEERING
First Place
- Vancie Peacock - Analysis of microbial efficiency in oxidizing low-concentration methane through biofiltration
Second Place
- Alessandro Ascani Orsini - Fabrication of porous SiO2 Nanoparticles for analyte sensing in the brain
Third Place
- Quinn Deitrick - The Impact of Visual and Multi-Sensory Haptic Cues on Motion Accuracy
HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES
First Place
- Arisha Tariq - The Effects of Choline Supplementation on Blood Pressure Regulation in a Mouse Model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
Second Place
- Samar Latefa - Aquatic Health of the Danube Basin: Assessment of Select Areas within the Brăila Islands, Romania
Third Place
- Rishika Patil - Establishing Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model for ADSSL1-Caused Nemaline Myopathy
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
First Place
- Sunday Siomades - What's in the Sand? Caribbean Reef Sediment as an Analog of the Living Community
Second Place
- Hannah Bauer - Ribosome rescue inhibitors are new antibiotics that kill Streptococcus mitis
Third Place
- Logan Coomes - The Antimicrobial Properties of Additives in Photocured Dental Resins
SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL
First Place (Three way tie)
- Abigail Ransom - A Bidirectional Analysis of the Longitudinal Relationship Between Depression and Cognitive Impairment in a Sample of Adults Aged 50 and Older
- Matthew McHugh - The Influence of Parental Marital Status on Teen Drinking Outcomes
- Vincent Mariani - Emphasis, Certainty, and Interdiction: Particles in Gisida Anii
ORAL & PERFORMANCE
First Place
- Abigail Heilenman - New Antibiotics Found in Trans-Translation Pathway
Second Place
- Leah Gallo - An Archaeological Analysis of early Christianity along Paul's Second Missionary Journey in Greece and Anatolia
2022
GERARD A. HAUSER AWARD
- Abriana Cain — The effect of physical activity and energy restriction on tumor hypoxia and blood vessel normalization in a triple negative breast cancer model
ARTS AND HUMANITIES
First Place
- Leah Mullen — those closest to the earth will burn first
Second Place
- Emma Lutz — Migrating Along the Pipeline: How political instability shapes mass emigration out of the Northern Triangle
Third Place
- Sarah Esslinger — A Letter from Sullivan Ballou
BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
First Place
- Vanshika Madaan — Emergence & Challenges of Corporate Sustainability
ENGINEERING
First Place
- Emma Uy — Biofilm Growth in Changing Conditions
Second Place
- Himani Vommi — Exploring Effectiveness of HIDS for Machine-Learning Data Defense
Third Place
- Morgan Prichard — Mass Timber Buildings: Impact of Connections on Embodied Carbon
HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCE
First Place
- Mia Peifer, Abigayle Nafus and Juan-Diego Hernandes Estupinan — C. Elegans as a Model for Purine Metabolism Disorders
Second Place
- Tiffany Hatfield — An Analysis of the Parental Brain Hypothesis in Stickleback Fish
Third Place
- Sophia Mucciolo — Host selection: how milkweed species impacts population establishment of a specialist aphid
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
First Place
- Thomas Thomas — The effect of parasitic wasp (Aphidius colemani) odor cues on nymph production and host-plant selection of aphids (Myzus persicae).
Second Place
- Chyvonne Jessick — Assessing the Extent of Bird-window Collision Mortality on the Pennsylvania State University Park Campus
SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
First Place
- Jacquelyn Stochel — Assessing Concreteness Rating Data in Older Adults
Second Place
- Kaylee Foor — Disparities by Race and Ethnicity in Anxiety and Depressive symptoms and the role of Stressors related to Education
Third Place
- Viviane Krug — Judicial Voting Behavior and the Deliberate Indifference Standard
ORAL PRESENTATION AND PERFORMANCE
First Place
- Matthew Masciulli — Lipoprotein Structure and TLR detection in Bifidobacterium
ENGAGEMENT
First Place
- Grant Zemanek — Can Habitat Management Help Non-Target Species?
PETER T. LUCKIE AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING JUNIORS
Science and Engineering
- Sarah Esslinger — A Letter from Sullivan Ballou
STEM
- Aayushi Patel — Exploring the Effect of Selenium on Cannabis sativa (industrial hemp) and cannabinoids derived from Cannabis sativa (industrial hemp)
Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Glenn Hubbard — Using Citizen Science to Generate Meaningful Research Questions
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES’ UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION LITERACY
John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Grand Prize
- Geneva Flarend — The Effect of Stress on Opioid Use Behaviors: A Review of Preclinical Literature
First Place
- Chyvonne Jessick — Manganese and Soil Carbon Dynamics Under Saturated Soil Conditions
Second Place
- Melody Munitz — The Effects of Spatial Distance and Empathy on Emotional Responses to Theatrical Events
Third Place
- Rachel Blansfield — The Association Between Adult Attachment Style and the Therapeutic Alliance: A Meta-Analytic Study
Honorable Mention
- Kathleen Cardone — G-Quadruplex Formation Within SLC6A3, a Potentially Relevant Finding to Substance Use Disorder
- Nicole Lookfong — Cannabinoid Pharmacology in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-Like Fear-Memory Behavior
- Natalie Babitzke — Investigating the role of a HECT-type E3 ubiquitin ligase, PiUPL1, in regulating the stability of SLF proteins involved in self-incompatibility in Petunia Inflata
- Emma Cohen — Seat Security and Tweet Extremity: An Analysis of Congress Members’ Tweets
- Glenn Hubbard — Using Citizen Science to Generate Meaningful Research Questions
- Sopida Pimcharoen — Developing Supramolecular Heparin-Peptide Materials as Injectable Anticoagulant Depots
2021
GERARD A. HAUSER AWARD
- Vancie Peacock, College of Agricultural Sciences — Life-cycle assessment of integrated anaerobic digestion with hydrothermal carbonization
ARTS AND HUMANITIES
First Place
- Gabrielle Herman, College of Health and Human Development — Language Identification in Lengua Palenquera and Spanish
ENGINEERING
First Place
- Joseph Razon, College of Engineering — Progress on Characteristically Induced Proton-Irradiated 2DMs: A Compassed Review
Second Place
- Jay Sim, College of Engineering — Reinventing Foundry in a Box for the 21st Century
Third Place
- Karim Barsom, College of Engineering — Evaluating Printing Parameters to Optimize the Direct Ink Writing Process for Barium Titanate
HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCE
First Place
- LuzKarla Rodriguez, college unknown — Defining the Epidemiology, Clinical Presentation, and Diagnostics for Acute Canine Anaplasmosis, an Increasingly Prevalent Tick-borne Disease in Pennsylvania
Second Place
- Sage Saum, College of Agricultural Sciences —Evaluating Dietary Shifts of the Flathead Catfish due to Size Differences
Third Place
- Jenna Phillips, Penn State Berks — Monitoring Equine and Rider Activity During Various Gaits with Actigraph
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
First Place
- Joshua Gershey, College of Agricultural Sciences — Combined effects of climate change and competition on tree survival and growth of Juglans nigra natural populations
Second Place
- Samantha Grecco, Eberly College of Science — The effect of the small RNA RyhB on the structure of its mRNA targets
Third Place
- Kyle Batra, Penn State Wilkes-Barre — Scaling laws for stagnant-lid convection with a buoyant crust
SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
First Place
- Mykala McGill and Rachel Kosaka, Penn State Altoona — Public Support for School Security Measures: An Analysis of Public Perceptions of School Security Measures and their Regional Variants among Pennsylvania Residents
Second Place
- Karleigh Veglia, College of the Liberal Arts — Masculinity Threat and Anti-Fat Attitudes
Third Place (tie)
- William Dervin, Penn State World Campus — Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the Relation to Chosen Adult Altruistic Professions
- Jazzmine McCauley, Penn State Altoona — Assessing Student Perceptions of Inquiry-guided Learning Taught Through Mixed-mode Instruction During the Pandemic
ORAL PRESENTATION AND PERFORMANCE
First Place (tie)
- Salvatore DeFeo and Genesis Muñoz Arias, Penn State Berks — Undergraduate Student Perspectives on Gender and Social Support for Criminal Justice Careers
- Tucker Johnson and Amber Lucas, College of Arts and Architecture — Wears and Tears: Imagining Lost Futures and Listening to Ghosts
Third Place
- Elinor Farber, College of the Liberal Arts — Conflicting Identities: Algerian Jewish Migration to France as a Result of the Algerian War, 1954-62
PETER T. LUCKIE AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING JUNIORS
Science and Engineering
- David Auerbeck, College of Engineering — Potential Capabilities of the Different MOF MIL-53 Structures to Absorb Cannabinoids
Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Alicia Williams, Penn State Altoona — Perceptions of Sex Crimes: Does Offender Gender Matter?
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES’ UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION LITERACY
John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Grand Prize
- Grey Rochon, College of the Liberal Arts — Codependency and Relationship Dimensions
First Place
- Taylor Pust, Eberly College of Science — Histological analysis of cellular components for in vitro thrombus formation using Chandler loop and Carstairs’ stain
Second Place
- Erica Mi, College of Information Sciences and Technology — Supporting COVID-19 Supply Allocation through Visual Analytics
Third Place
- Shane Ward, College of Engineering — Effects of VAD-Induced Shear Rates on Platelet Adhesion
Honorable Mention
- Maria Schultheis, College of Agricultural Sciences —The Future of Photovoltaic Technology: Using Amino Acids as Molecular Electronics
- LuzKarla Rodriguez, college unknown — Defining the Epidemiology, Clinical Presentation, and Diagnostics for Acute Canine Anaplasmosis, an Increasingly Prevalent Tick-borne Disease in Pennsylvania
- Anna Wickenheisser, College of Health and Human Development — No association between carrying the dopamine transporter (DAT) 9 allele and alcohol consumption in college students
- Haojun Li, College of Engineering —Twenty Years Projections of Plasmodium falciparum R561H Frequencies in Rwanda
- Joseph Razon, College of Engineering — Progress on Characteristically Induced Proton-Irradiated 2DMs: A Compassed Review
2020
Gerard A. Hauser Award
Erin Doolin, College of the Liberal Arts — Female Judges Sentence Harsher Than Male Judges in Sex Offense Cases
Arts and Humanities
First Place
John Gurklis, College of the Liberal Arts — Heritage Management at Khan al-Umdan in Acre (Akko), Israel: An Unsolvable 'Wicked' Problem?
Second Place
Elise Schaffer, Lehigh Valley — Access and Adaptations in Public Art Destinations
Engineering
First Place
Nate Osikowicz, College of Engineering — Optimal Dexterity for Tensegrity Robotic Arm
Second Place
Karim Barsom, College of Engineering — Assessing the Challenges of 3D Printing Barium Titanate
Third Place
Jay Sim, College of Engineering — Reinventing Foundry in a Box for the 21st Century
Health and Life Science
First Place
Piper Jones, Eberly College of Science — Methacholine Induces an Acute Inflammatory Response in a Mouse Model of Adolescent Asthma
Second Place
Amy Kovaleski, College of Engineering — Potential use of biocontrol Trichoderma spp. metabolites to control growth and aflatoxin production in A. parasiticus
Third Place
Courtney Page, College of Agricultural Sciences — Investigation into the regulation of [1, 25(OH)2D3] by CPY24A1 and the impact on T cell proliferation
Physical Sciences
First Place
Zhuolai Pan, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Dynamics of supraglacial lake drainage on Amery ice shelf, East Antarctica
Second Place
Mollie Comella, Eberly College of Science — Direct Amplification of Mosquito Blood Meals in Human Identification
Third Place
Nicholas Litak, Eberly College of Science — Ligand-gold core interactions control the electronic structure in gold nanoparticles
Social and Behavioral Sciences
First Place
Abigail Luke, College of the Liberal Arts — When Non-Conformity Trumps Partisanship
Second Place
Shelby Conkling, Samantha Conway, Adrienne Pauline, Behrend — The Effect of Essential Oil on Memory Retention
Third Place
Sara Bickhart, College of Health and Human Development — Women Are Not More Likely to Receive Suggestion to Cease Driving
Oral Presentation and Performance
First Place
Tatiana McAnulty, Eberly College of Science — Discovery of Novel Chemotherapeutic Agents Using a Pediatric Glioma Model
Second Place
Andrea Regalbuto, Altoona — Senior Exhibition: Flap/Flutter
Third Place
Alex Modrzecki, College of the Liberal Arts — Relationship Between Bicycle Friendliness and Other Sustainability Practices On A College Campus
Engagement
First Place
Alex Grosek, Pranav Gupta, Valentina Marotti, Natalie Sanchez, Daniel Shoemaker, Jack Ziegler, Smeal College of Business — Commercialization Study for Penn State Inventions
Second Place
Andrew Garrett, Smeal College of Business — Commercialization Study for Penn State Inventions
Third Place
Jessica Wunderley, Smeal College of Business — Commercialization Study for Penn State Inventions
Peter T. Luckie Awards for Outstanding Juniors
Arts and Humanities
Tucker Johnson, College of Arts and Architecture — A Presence Within Reassembly: Rebuilding an Instrument and Redesigning a Performance Practice
Science and Engineering
Erin Kelly, Eberly College of Science — Investigating the Protein PF3D7_0420300 as a Potential Drug Target in the Malaria Inducing Parasite Plasmodium falciparum
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Shuangshuang Chen, College of the Liberal Arts — Testing the Anxiety-Reducing Effects of Dark Chocolates in Public Speaking Anxiety
University Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy
John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Grand Prize
Evan Sneed, Eberly College of Science — A Climatic Investigation of Cold Haber World Atmospheres II
First Place
Autumn Deitrick, College of Engineering — Optimizing the Weir Equation for Nature-Like Fish Passages
Second Place
Aileen McKinstry, College of the Liberal Arts — Guns Perps and Scalia: An Analysis of Justice Antonin Scalia's Originalist Jurisprudence in District of Columbia v. Heller
Third Place
Kelsey Bittel, College of Health and Human Development — Physical Activity, Seasonality, and Weather Indices: A Scoping Review of Research with Device-based Measures of Physical Activity
Honorable Mention
Christopher Bryan, Harrisburg — Neural Networks for Solar Panel Maximum Power Point Tracking
Emma Domico, College of Health and Human Development — Finding Genetic Variation in Publicly Available Sequence Data
Nathan Sitzler, Marcella Puglia, Behrend — Thought Suppression as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Negative Affect in Traumatized Individuals
2019
Gerard A. Hauser Award
Kaylee Kishbaugh, College of Agricultural Sciences — Evaluating the Safety of Duck Prosciutto
Arts and Humanities
First Place
Sarah McKenna, College of the Liberal Arts — Analyzing "Detrimental Psychological Harm": Social Science Evidence and Segregation in the Supreme Court Post-1950
Engineering
First Place
Cody Kubicki, College of Engineering — Fluid Dynamics Study of an Implantable Fontan Circulation Assist Device
Second Place
Cara Pearson, College of Engineering — Determining the Efficiency of Emboli Detection with Doppler Ultrasonography
Third Place
Tice Ryan Harkins (tie), Eberly College of Science — Development of a Micro-Particle Image Velocimetry Platform to Study Thrombosis In Vitro
Avery Wang (tie), Eberly College of Science — Improving Breast MRI Quality Utilizing Ultra-High Dielectric Constant Materials at 3 Tesla
Health and Life Science
First Place
Szu-Yu Kuan (tie), Eberly College of Science — Investigating the VNTR in the human Dopamine Transporter Gene (DAT1)
Emily Snell (tie), Eberly College of Science — Activity of Tetrazole-based trans-Translation Inhibitors in Bacillus anthracis
Kelly Vanden (tie) — Methacholine as an agent for inducing labored breathing in an adolescent mouse model
Physical Sciences
First Place
Shirin Gul Zaidi, Eberly College of Science — Modeling the Dynamical Evolution of Saturn's E ring Following a Cryovolcanic Eruption on Enceladus
Second Place
Garrett Evans, College of Agricultural Sciences — Evaluating adaptation to climate in Acer rubrum populations to understand responses to climate change
Third Place
Hunter Kauffman, College of Agricultural Sciences — Effects of Anthropogenic Noise on Nesting Time and Fledging Success of Songbirds
Social and Behavioral Sciences
First Place
Aiden James Peat, Eberly College of Science — Adolescent social stress and genetic background alter morphine sensitization in C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ mice
Second Place
Karina Grullon Perez, Eberly College of Science — The Pros and Cons of Perceived HIV-Related Stigma in Younger and Older Adolescents in Botswana
Third Place
Caitlin Surgeon (tie), Eberly College of Science — Examining the acceptability of using sipIT digital tools to increase fluid consumption in kidney stone patients
Cantia Thomas (tie), College of the Liberal Arts — The Relation Between Perceived and Population Based Environmental Risk and Maternal Stress
Oral Presentation and Performance
First Place
Gage Patrick James Kroljic, College of Arts and Architecture — Sounds of the Middle East
Second Place
Dixin Xie, College of Health and Human Development — Psychosocial risk factors of food insecurity in Puerto Rican Adults from baseline to 5-year follow up
Peter T. Luckie Awards for Outstanding Juniors
Science and Engineering
Ryan Santilli, Yashitaka Shibata, and John Williamson III, Eberly College of Science — Developing Optimized Protein Molecular Weight Markers Applicable to SDS-PAGE and Western Blot Assays
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Emily Blaker, Fayette, The Eberly Campus — The Effects of School Stress on Student-Athlete GPA and Sport Enjoyment
University Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy
John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Grand Prize
Cuyler Luck, Eberly College of Science — Identifying Drug-Drug Interactions Between Experimental Antimalarials
First Place
Brady Houtz, College of Engineering — Effects of elevated beat rate on the hemodynamics of the Penn State pediatric ventricular assist device
Second Place
Stefan Horgas, College of Information Sciences and Technology — Virtual Teams Review: An Exploration of the Multifaceted Nature of Team Virtuality
Third Place
Marisa Vanness, College of the Liberal Arts — Women's Protest and Health in the International Sphere
Honorable Mentions
Peyton Loomis and Kristin Newvine, Altoona — Princesses and Princessing: The Sociology of Making Magic
Hannah Griffin, College of the Liberal Arts — Influences of Italian Colonial Media on Perceptions of Immigrants Today
Kushagra Kumar, Eberly College of Science — Testing Potential Inhibitors of the Sigma E Pathway in Escherichia Coli
Philip Zachariah, Eberly College of Science — A Fly on the Wall: Bridging the Gap Between Penn State Research Laboratories and the Student Community
2018
Gerard A. Hauser Award
Ethan Liu, Logan Staley, Eberly College of Science — Exploring the Economic Utilization of Invasive Species to Improve the Select Health of Ecosystems in Cuba
Arts and Humanities
First Place
Makaela Bigley, College of Engineering — Cahal Pech: Recreating Ruins with Structure from Motion Mapping
Course-based
First Place
Melissa Mercado (tie), Eberly College of Science — Bacillus Strains Used as a Biological Control for Trichoderma Aggressivum Aggressivum
Rachel Crowley, Rachel Gaddis, Christi Geisler, Rachel Gimuriman, Ryan Metz (tie), Smeal College of Business — DowDuPont Corian Quartz Process Improvement Project
Engineering
First Place
Ashley Castell, College of Engineering — Advanced Turbine Measurement System Design for Rotating Instrumentation
Second Place
Michael Szczesniak, College of Engineering — e Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) Utilizing a Low Cost, Closed Loop Current Control System
Health and Life Science
First Place
Mary Sievers, Eberly College of Science — Investigating Environmental Factors that Impact Bacterial Antagonism
Second Place
Amanda Williams, Eberly College of Science — Investigating Environmental Factors that Impact Bacterial Antagonism
Third Place
Daniel Ferriss, Sophia Landaeta, Rachel Swope, Eberly College of Science — Investigating Axonal Neuroprotection and Dendritic Response to Injury in Drosophila Neurons
Oral and Performances
First Place
Rachel Fleischer, College of Arts and Architecture — Movements from Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala
Second Place
Thomas Wert, College of Arts and Architecture — Re-envisioning Johnston Square
Third Place
Lucas Tranchita, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Potential Wetland Sites to Reduce Flooding along the Buffalo Bayou in Houston, TX
Physical Sciences
First Place
Matthew Tracey, Eberly College of Science — Small Oligonucleotide Models of the Twister Ribozyme Active Site Reveal No Intrinsic Activity of CA and UA Linkages
Second Place
Jenna Mandel, Eberly College of Science — Neurons Survive and Regenerate After Injury to Both Axons and Dendrites
Third Place
Anna Whitaker, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Gradient Analysis of Upper Ordovician Fossil Assemblages in the Taconic Foreland Basin: Comparison of Central Pennsylvania and Virginia
Social and Behavioral Sciences
First Place
Alisha Pushinsky (tie), College of Agricultural Sciences — Determining Zebrafish Preference of Food or Novel Object Presentation Through Behavioral Observations
Joseph Sheaffer (tie), College of the Liberal Arts — Individual Political Ideology Informing the Consumption of Outrage Media
Third Place
Rachel Fleischer, College of the Liberal Arts — Exploring the Passage of Immigration Legislation in the Modern Political Era
Peter T. Luckie Awards for Outstanding Juniors
Arts and Humanities
Lindsey Kircher, College of Arts and Architecture — The Role of Sign and Symbol in Contemporary Painting
Sciences and Engineering
Karina Grullon-Perez, Eberly College of Science — Determining the Role of mthl3 in Dendrite Regeneration
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Alexander Rembalsky, College of the Liberal Arts — The Relationship Between Lesion Recovery and Functional Connectivity in Traumatic Brain Injury
University Library Awards for Information Literacy
Grand Prize
Seamus Wagner, College of the Liberal Arts — Partisan Bias in Electoral Conflict: Tanzania’s Kawe Constituency
First place
Emily Seiger, College of Agricultural Sciences — The Effects of Iron on Mood, Stress, and Quality of Life in Women of Reproductive Age
Second place
Sean Clees, College of Engineering — Vortex Core Dynamics in a Swirling Jet Near Vortex Breakdown
Third place
Cristina Frass, College of Arts and Architecture — Tackling Flooding Issues in Houston
Honorable Mentions
Madeline Nyblade, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Numerical Modeling of the Agricultural-Hydrologic System in Punjab
Rachel Bruning and Joaquim Santos, Eberly College of Science — Investigation of Microbial Diversity Within the Mutualistic Symbiosis Between the Hawaiian Squid and Vibrio Fischeri
Heather Bair, College of Agricultural Sciences — Reducing Phosphorous Loading in Lake Erie by Identifying Land Areas Suitable for Wetland Construction
Danielle Jones, College of Health and Human Development — Assessing Physical Activity Promotion Among Church Youth Programs
Sarah Mohammed and Matthew Adams, Altoona Campus — Showcasing Internships: The Art of Scientific Presentation