Quad Undergraduate Research Scholars (Autumn 2021)

Quad Scholars (Autumn 2021)

Funded through the NK Cheung Chemistry Research Fellowship 

  • Colin Cooper, Third-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Total Synthesis of Antroalbocin A
    • Faculty Mentor: Scott Snyder, Chemistry
  • Alexandra Hinkle, Fourth-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Application of Isostatic Pressure on the Synthesis of InP and InGaP Quantum Dots
    • Faculty Mentor: Dmitri Talapin, Chemistry
  • Ainsley Iwanicki, Second-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Investigating the Efficiency of Energy Transfer between Cyanobacterial Phycobilisomes and Photosystems I and II Using Pump-Probe Spectroscopy
    • Faculty Mentor: Greg Engel, Chemistry
  • Kevin Zong, Third-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Enantioselective Amination of β-ketoesters with Aryl Hydroxylamines
    • Faculty Mentor: Scott Snyder, Chemistry
  • Kaan Tarhan, Fourth-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Computationally Guided Synthesis of New Anomeric Amides
    • Faculty Mentor: Mark Levin, Chemistry
  • Noah Dohrmann, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Training New MC-PDFT Functionals 
    • Faculty Mentor: Laura Gagliardi, Chemistry
  • Wilson Turner, Third-Year, Chemistry, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Directed Synthesis and Testing of [2]Rotaxane Slide-Ring Gels
    • Faculty Mentor: Faculty Mentor: Stuart Rowan, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
  • Cindy Xue, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Development of Novel Fluoroether Electrolytes for High Energy Density Lithium Metal Batteries
    • Faculty Mentor: Faculty Mentor: Chibueze Amanchukwu, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Supported by the Liew Family Research Fund

  • Erica Ramos, Fourth-Year, Comparative Human Development
    • Project Title: Exploring the Intersection of Tradition and Technology in Ceramics
    • Faculty Mentor: Laura Letinsky, Visual Arts
  • Karhan Kayan, Fourth-Year, Computer Science
    • Project Title: Integrating Latent Variable Causal Inference with Generative Models
    • Faculty Mentor: Bryon Aragam, Booth School of Business
  • Bruce Ke Zhen Wen, Third-Year, Economics
    • Project Title: Growth of Urban Charter Education Sector in New York City
    • Faculty Mentor: Michael Dinerstein, Economics
  • Emily Pelliccia, Third-Year, Philosophy
    • Project Title: U.S. Mass Incarceration in Historical and Comparative Perspective 
    • Faculty Mentor: John Clegg, History
  • Stephanie Kim, Third-Year, Computer Science
    • Project Title: Tamagotchi Robot
    • Faculty Mentor: Sarah Sebo, Computer Science
  • Blaise Munyampirwa, Fourth-Year, Computer Science
    • Project Title: Machine Learning for Usage-Based Insurance
    • Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Willett, Computer Science
  • Yunxian Song, Fourth-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Nuclear quantum effects on the structural and electronic properties of tetrahedral amorphous carbon
    • Faculty Mentor: Giulia Galli, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
  • Gabriela Garcia, Third-Year, Classical Studies
    • Project Title: US Mass Incarceration in Historical and Comparative Perspective
    • Faculty Mentor: John Clegg, History
  • Sophia Salvato, Fourth-Year, Critical Race Studies and English
    • Project Title: Early Black Filmmaking in Chicago
    • Faculty Mentor: Allyson Fields, Cinema Studies
  • Vivian Lei, Fourth-Year, English
    • Project Title: “Seeing Race Before Race” in the Newberry’s Center for Renaissance Studies
    • Faculty Mentor: Lia Markey, Newberry Library and Art History
  • Elizabeth Gerlach, Third-Year, English
    • Project Title: Premodern Women at the Newberry’s Center for Renaissance Studies
    • Faculty Mentor: Lia Markey, Newberry Library and Art History

Supported by the Global Health Research Fund

  • Ramshankar Balasubramaniyan, Fourth-Year, Law, Letters, and Society
    • Project Title: Understanding how national policymakers and practitioners use road traffic injury statistics in national dialogue about road safety
    • Faculty Mentor: Kavi Bhalla, Public Health Sciences
  • Beatrice Katsnelson, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Computer Aided Diagnosis with Deep Learning Algorithms of COVID-19 in Lung CT Scans (with Clinical Applications)
    • Faculty Mentor: Maryellen Giger, UChicago Medicine Department of Radiology
  • Elise Katsnelson, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Computer Aided Diagnosis with Deep Learning Algorithms of COVID-19 in Lung CT Scans (with Clinical Applications)
    • Faculty Mentor: Maryellen Giger, UChicago Medicine Department of Radiology
  • Manu Sundaresan, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Delineating immunogenetic constitution of oral squamous cell carcinoma tumorigenesis
    • Faculty Mentor: Evgeny Izumchenko, The University of Chicago Department of Medicine
  • Mercer Winer, Fourth-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Assessing the reliability of global road traffic injury estimates produced by two reputable health data sources
    • Faculty Mentor: Kavi Bhalla, Public Health Sciences
  • Megan Lee, Fourth-Year, Biological Sciences (Global Health concentration)
    • Project Title: Radiosensitizing Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors by Artemin inhibition
    • Faculty Mentor: Xavier M. Keutgen, The University of Chicago Department of Surgery

Supported by Collegiate Research Funds and other generous gifts from donors

  • Miles Ogihara, Fourth-Year, Political Science
    • Project Title: Federal Bailwatching Project
    • Faculty Mentor: Alison Siegler, University of Chicago Law School, Federal Criminal Justice Clinic
  • Tatiana Rachlin, Second-Year, Psychology
    • Project Title: Exploration of Gender Biases in Children Regarding Brilliance
    • Faculty Mentor: Lin Bian, Psychology
  • Phalgun Garimella, Seconnd-Year, Computational and Applied Mathematics
    • Project Title: Ship-napping: patronage and extortion during the Sicily-Tunisia Fish War, 1960-1995
    • Faculty Mentor: Raul Sanchez de la Sierra, Harris School of Public Policy
  • Anjali Mirmira, Third-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Quantification of Immunoglobulin A as a Potential Therapeutic for Food Allergies
    • Faculty Mentor: Cathryn Nagler, Pathology
  • Guanghua Hao, Third-Year, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Base Editor Mediated Large-Scale Lineage Tracing
    • Faculty Mentor: Weixin Tang, Chemistry
  • Julien Lee Heberling, Third-Year, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Efforts Towards the Total Synthesis of Picrinine
    • Faculty Mentor: Scott A. Snyder, Chemistry
  • Liviu Megherea, Second-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Understanding the Evolution of Axis Specification in Diptera
    • Faculty Mentor: Urs Schmidt-Ott, Organismal Biology & Anatomy
  • Jovan Stanisavic, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Investigating the Role of Kdm5b Histone Demethylase in Cancer Immune Evasion
    • Faculty Mentor: Yuxuan (Phoenix) Miao, The Ben May Department for Cancer Research
  • Raj Tummala, Second-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Deep Learning-Assisted Digitization of Interstitial Needles
    • Faculty Mentor: Jordan M. Slagowsk, Department of Radiation and Oncology
  • Hannah Ye, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Characterization of Actin-Binding Protein Tetrathymosin Beta
    • Faculty Mentor: David Kovar, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
  • Karen Yuan, Fourth-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Geometric Analysis of Normal Aortas: Age and Sex-related Variations in Aortic Geometry
    • Faculty Mentor: Luka Pocivavsek, Department of Surgery
  • Ethan Dintzner, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Understanding the function of model adhesion GPCRs through structural biology and biophysics
    • Faculty Mentor: Demet Araç, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Jane Rosin, Second-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Functions of PVT1 lncRNA and its DNA Locus in Regulating Expression of The MYC Oncogene
    • Faculty Mentor: Alex Ruthenburg, Cellular and Molecular Biology
  • Anjali Kotamarthi, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Identification of -7/del7q specific genetic vulnerabilities 
    • Faculty Mentor: Megan McNerney, Department of Pathology
  • Jillyn Turunen, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Role of p52 Inhibition in Sensitization of Glioblastoma to Temozolomide
    • Faculty Mentor: Bakhtiar Yamini, Department of Neurological Surgery
  • Uma Mani, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Examining the Generalizability of Odor-Based Cues Learned in Various Contexts
    • Faculty Mentor: Jai Yu, Psychology
  • Etienne Sotto, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Blocking Ectopic Activation of Oncogenes in Neuroblastoma 
    • Faculty Mentor: Francois Spitz, Molecular Engineering
  • Lucas Lelis Graciliano, Second-Year, Economics
    • Project Title: Chicago Project on Security and Threats
    • Faculty Mentor: Benjamin Lessing, Political Science 
  • Jose Prata, Third-Year, Economics
    • Project Title: Histpun
    • Faculty Mentor: John Clegg, History
  • Morten Lee, Third-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Nanoscale Coordination Polymers for Targeted Chemotherapy and Immunomodulation
    • Faculty Mentor: Wenbin Lin, Chemistry
  • Madeline Joseph, Fourth-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Characterization of Cyanine Dye-DNA Complexes
    • Faculty Mentor: Allison Squires, Molecular Engineering
  • Dana Lin, Second-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Developing a Single-Molecule Assay for Direct Observation of Heat Shock Protein Activity
    • Faculty Mentor: Allison Squires, Molecular Engineering
  • Cody Googin, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Laser Intensity Stabilization Device
    • Faculty Mentor: Hannes Bernien, Molecular Engineering
  • George Afentakis, Second-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Predicting the Observability of Flare-Driven Atmospheric Chemistry on Earth-like Exoplanets
    • Faculty Mentor: Dorian Abbot, Geophysics
  • Sophia Chiang, Third-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Evolution of mutation rates through forward molecular evolution
    • Faculty Mentor: Arvind Murugan, Physics
  • Livia Guttieres, Third-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Using Machine Learning to visualize topological polarization of 3-dimentional solid media with odd elasticity
    • Faculty Mentor: Vincenzo Vitelli, Physics
  • Nathaniel Selub, Third-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Measurements of Holographic Symmetries in CMB Temperature Fluctuations
    • Faculty Mentor: Craig Hogan, Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Mufan (John) Shao, Third-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Ion Transport through Single-Digit Nanopores in Two-Dimensional Materials
    • Faculty Mentor: Chong Liu, Molecular Engineering
  • Ana Bertuol, Second-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: The Role of Stromal Antigen Proteins in 3D Genome Structure Evolution
    • Faculty Mentor: Heather Marlow, Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Maren Klineberg, Second-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Hemodialysis Vein Models
    • Faculty Mentor: Anidita Basu, Genetic Medicine
  • Jessica Oros, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Activation of Host Kinase Vps34 by Murine Norovirus Non-Structural Protein NS4
    • Faculty Mentor: Glenn Randall, Microbiology
  • Riona Chen, Fourth-Year, Psychology
    • Project Title: Investigating the Connection between Nutrient Availability in the Tumor Microenvironment and Chemoresistance in Pancreatic Cancer
    • Faculty Mentor: Alexander Muir, The Ben May Department for Cancer Research
  • Daniel Paraizo, Fourth-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Angular Momentum at Null Infinity and their Properties
    • Faculty Mentor: Robert Wald, Physics
  • Linus Woodard, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Near Field Deposition with Atom Scale Resolution
    • Faculty Mentor: Alexander Muir, The Ben May Department for Cancer Research
  • Anna Argulian, Third-Year, Biological Sciences, Psychology
    • Project Title: NLRP3 Activation Controls Prostate Cancer via Induction of Macrophage-Mediated Phagocytosis
    • Faculty Mentor: Akash Patnaik, Biological Sciences
  • Laura Braverman, Fourth-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Rayleigh-Benard Convection in Odd Viscosity
    • Faculty Mentor: Vincenzo Vitelli, James Frank Institute
  • Haley Nguyen, Fourth-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Cat-Eye Laser for Optical Tweezing of Caesium in Quantum Networks
    • Faculty Mentor: Hannes Bernien, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
  • Aidan Cloonan, Third-Year, Astronomy, Astrophysics
    • Project Title: Investigation into Selection Bias in DES Strong Gravitational Lenses
    • Faculty Mentor: Alex Drlica-Wagner, Astronomy, Astrophysics
  • Haley Cerny, Fourth-Year, Astrophysics
    • Project Title: Characterizing the Newly Discovered Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy Pegasus IV
    • Faculty Mentor: Alex Drlica-Wagner, Astronomy, Astrophysics
  • Isaac Sierra, Fourth-Year, Astrophysics
    • Project Title: Apache Point Observatory Diffuse Interstellar Bands Collaboration
    • Faculty Mentor: Don York, Astronomy, Astrophysics
  • Joao Shida, Fourth-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Radiation Switching of Photoswitchable Fluors for applications in Positron Emission Tomography
    • Faculty Mentor: Henry Frisch, Enrico Fermi Institute
  • Walker Gillett, Fourth-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Polysulfide-LPS Based Hybrid Solid Electrolytes for Increased Cycling Longevity
    • Faculty Mentor: Chibueze Amanchukwu, Molecular Engineering
  • Emilio Rosas Linhard, Second-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Jaws of Death
    • Faculty Mentor: Supratik Guha, University of Chicago Guha Lab