Research Scholars 2022-2023

2022-2023 Research Scholars

Autumn Quad Research Scholars

Supported by the NK Cheung Chemistry Research Fellowship

  • Junsung Kim Fourth-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: A Novel Approach to Understand the Geometric Remodeling of Dialysis Access Arterio-Venous Fistulas in order to Optimize Fistula Durability and Longevity for End Stage Renal Patients
    • Mentor: Luka Pocivavsek
  • Shivani Chatterji, Fourth-Year, Molecular Engineering, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Hydrogel Semiconductors for Organic Electrochemical Transistors
    • Mentor: Sihong Wang
  • Michael Han, Fourth-Year, Chemistry, Economics
    • Project Title: Synthesis of Novel Fluorinated Cyclic Ether Electrolytes
    • Mentor: Chibueze Amanchukwu
  • Shi Qi Huang, Third-Year, Physics, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Consequences of Optical Magnetic Resonance: Contrarian Vortex Motion and Photonic Hall Effect of Silicon Nanoparticles in Optical Traps
    • Mentor: Norbert F. Scherer
  • Ainsley Iwanicki, Third-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Investigating the Kinetics of Singlet Fission Using Cross-Peak Specific Transient Absorption Spectroscopy on TIPS-Pentacene
    • Mentor: Greg Engel
  • Steven Labalme, Third-Year, Chemistry, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Improving nickel catalysis with photosensitizing covalent-organic frameworks
    • Mentor: Wenbin Lin
  • Julien Lee Heberling, Fourth-Year, Chemistry, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Efforts Towards the Total Synthesis of Picrinine
    • Mentor: Scott A. Snyder
  • Eleanor Ostroff, Fourth-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Properties and Applications of Tissue-like Materials
    • Mentor: Dr. Bozhi Tian
  • Tingting Yu, Fourth-Year, Chemistry, Visual Arts
    • Project Title: Rh-Catalyzed C―C Activation of Unstrained Lactams
    • Mentor: Guangbin Dong
  • Elaine Liang, Third-Year, Philosophy and Allied Field
    • Project Title: Compiling a Materials Dataset for the Synthesis of Tissue-like Materials
    • Mentor: Bozhi Tian

Supported by the Liew Family Research Fund

  • Noah Rizk, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Rat Dinner Party
    • Mentor: Peggy Mason
  • Jordan Yi, Third-Year, Visual Arts, Linguistics
    • Project Title: Understanding Rat Empathy Toward Robots
    • Mentor: Peggy Mason
  • Manu Sundaresan, Third-Year, Biological Studies, Philosophy
    • Project Title: Development of an in vivo PDCD10 animal model for immunogenetic analysis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
    • Mentor: Dr. Evgeny Izumchenko
  • Yiming Su, Third-Year, Computer Science
    • Project Title: Code Documentation Verification with Large Language Model
    • Mentor: Shan Lu
  • Irene Madejski, Third-Year, Biochemistry
    • Project Title: Mechanistic studies and improvements toward RNA-based translational activators to upregulate clinically deficient proteins
    • Mentor: Bryan Dickinson
  • Jinseo Park, Second-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Fermilab Test Beam Facility Time-of-flight System Development
    • Mentor: Henry J. Frisch
  • Ishaan Roy, Third-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: Combining CO2 Capture and Conversion
    • Mentor: Chibueze Amanchukwu
  • Lilith Yu, Second-Year, Physics, Media Arts & Design
    • Project Title: Mid-Air Actuated Tangible User Interfaces for Spatial Interaction
    • Mentor: Ken Nakagaki
  • Haley Stiscak, Fourth-Year, Psychology
    • Project Title: Alpha Power and ERP Magnitude in Early Visual Processing and the Relation to Working Memory Performance
    • Mentor: Molly Erickson
  • William Boyes, Third-Year, Biological Studies, Public Policy
    • Project Title: Evaluating the Efficacy of Bison Reintroduction Programs in the United States Using Satellite Imaging
    • Mentor: Eyal Frank
  • Trent Davis, Fourth-Year, Neuroscience, Visual Arts
    • Project Title: Memorability of Art
    • Mentor: Wilma Bainbridge
  • Antoinette Fang, Fourth-Year, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Increasing Gender Equality in STEM through Children’s Structural Reasoning 
    • Mentor: Lin Bian
  • Erica Hogan, Fourth-Year, Economics, Fundamentals
    • Project Title: Morality, Violence and Opportunism: Inside the Nduma Defense of the Congo-Renewed
    • Mentor: Raul Sanchez de la Sierra
  • Tatiana Rachlin, Third-Year, Psychology
    • Project Title: The Impact of Stereotype Beliefs and Biases on Resilience in Science Tasks
    • Mentor: Lin Bian
  • Maxwell Rosenblum, Third-Year, History, Philosophy
    • Project Title: Workers’ Evolving Perception of Temporality in Early Twentieth Century America: Historical Research for "Our Weary Years"
    • Mentor: Gabriel Winant
  • Rohan Vencat, Fourth-Year, Psychology
    • Project Title: Memory and Mood
    • Mentor: Yuan Chang Leong
  • Josephine Dawson, Fourth-Year, English Language and Literature
    • Project Title: Beshrew Me!
    • Mentor: Ellen MacKay
  • Laura Mahaniah, Third-Year, Theatre and Performance Studies
    • Project Title: Beshrew Me!
    • Mentor: Ellen MacKay

Supported by the Global Health Research Fund

  • James Kenniff, Fourth-Year, Biological Studies
    • Project Title: County Incarceration, Immigration Enforcement Activity, and Adverse Birth Outcomes
    • Mentor: Aresha Martinez-Cardoso
  • Audrey Leonard, Third-Year, History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine
    • Project Title: Bicycling in the Cities of Low- and Middle-Income Countries
    • Mentor: Kavi Bhalla
  • Poum Tangkitvanich, Third-Year, Economics
    • Project Title: Looking at Traffic Accidents through the lens of impacting vehicle
    • Mentor: Kavi Bhalla
  • Helen Wei, Third-Year, Biological Studies, Public Policy
    • Project Title: Investigating the Role of CD80 in Orchestrating Immune Resistance of Tumor-Initiating Stem Cells
    • Mentor: Yuxuan Miao
  • Paige Evans, Second-Year, Biological Sciences, Economics
    • Project Title: Ending Entanglement: Evaluating the Human Services Impact of Policies that Disrupt the Arrest-to-Deportation Pipeline in New York
    • Mentor: Aresha Martinez-Cardoso
  • Emily Shi, Second-Year, Biological Studies, Public Policy
    • Project Title: Exploring How BACH1 modulates the hypoxia response through chromatin organization in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells
    • Mentor: Marsha Rosner
  • Mukerrem Tufekcioglu, Second-Year, Computer Science, Mathematics
    • Project Title: MD Simulation of Human IDE in the Presence of Insulin
    • Mentor: Esmael J. Haddadian
  • Emily Jacobs, Fourth-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: A Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Approach to Understanding DNA-Damage-Mediated Responses in Fungal Lung Infections
    • Mentor: Dr Joyce Chen
  • Safia Singer-Pomerantz, Second-Year, History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine
    • Project Title: Unauthorized Migration at the U.S.-Mexico Border During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding Trends and Drivers of Migration
    • Mentor: Susan Gzesh

Supported by Collegiate Research Funds and other generous gifts from donors

  • Jacob Bernheim, Third-Year, Biological Studies
    • Project Title: Elucidating the Role of Bhlhe40 as a Determinant of Ectopic Gene Expression in Medullary Thymic Epithelial Cells
    • Mentor: Andrew Koh
  • Mallory Brodnik, Fourth-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: METTL3 inhibition promotes decreased proliferation and increased differentiation in neuroblastoma
    • Mentor: Dr. Susan Cohn
  • Caroline Chael, Third-Year, Biological Studies, English
    • Project Title: Avian Behavioral Analysis of Sex-Linked Morphological Characteristics
    • Mentor: John Bates
  • Ethan Dintzner, Fourth-Year, Biological Studies, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Investigating the free energy landscape of a model aGPCR through molecular dynamics and other biophysical approaches
    • Mentor: Demet Araç
  • Joseph Kaczor, Third-Year, Biological Studies
    • Project Title: A Biochemical Analysis of a Bacteriophytochrome in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
    • Mentor: Sampriti Mukherjee
  • Liam Leeming, Second-Year, Biological Studies
    • Project Title: Recombinant Purification of the Caenorhabdites Elegans Arp 2/3 Complex
    • Mentor: David Kovar
  • Blessing Nnate, Third-Year, Biological Studies, English
    • Project Title: The Fragile Aorta Project
    • Mentor: Luka Pocivavsek
  • Ruby Otavka, Third-Year, Neuroscience, Linguistics
    • Project Title: Tactile Underpinnings of Sensory Language
    • Mentor: Peggy Mason
  • Nora Sampson, Third-Year, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Structure and robustness of the genetic networks patterning the midbrain
    • Mentor: Dr. Francois Spitz
  • Jonathan Zeevi, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Pacman Proprioception Game
    • Mentor: Peggy Mason
  • Sarah Weber, Third-Year, Biological Studies, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: High Throughput Identification of Functional Enhancer Elements Across Species
    • Mentor: Heather Marlow
  • Xiyan Wu, Fourth-Year, Biological Studies
    • Project Title: Tumor Microenvironment nutrients constrain tumor lipogenesis by impairing the activity of SREBP transcription factors
    • Mentor: Alexander Muir
  • Hannah Ye, Fourth-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Biochemical Characterization of Fascin Inhibition of Arp2/3 Complex-mediated Actin Assembly
    • Mentor: David Kovar
  • Rachel Zhang, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Regulation of SYNGAP1 expression by redirecting alternative splicing
    • Mentor: Xiaochang Zhang
  • Georgios Panagiotis Afentakis, Third-Year, Physics, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Analyzing the shortest possible time for a Mercury instability event using action minimization
    • Mentor: Dorian Abbot
  • Cody Googin, Fourth-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Development of Nanophotonic Crystal Cavities
    • Mentor: Hannes Bernien
  • Li Jiatong, Fourth-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: ShadowAstro: Levitating Constellation Silhouette for Spatial Exploration and Learning
    • Mentor: Ken Nakagaki
  • Daohong Xu, Fourth-Year, Physics, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Fault-tolerant quantum computation in bosonic system with ancilla
    • Mentor: Liang Jiang
  • Cameron Poe, Fourth-Year, Physics
    • Project Title: A TOPAS Simulation of High-resolution Low-Z-Medium Whole-Body TOF-PET
    • Mentor: Henry Frisch
  • Emory Apodaca, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Lithium Extraction From Unconventional Water Sources Via Morphological Control and Metal Doping of FePO4 Host
    • Mentor: Chong Liu
  • Kaleb Funk, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Photothermally Driven System for Carbon Capture
    • Mentor: Aaron Esser-Kahn
  • Sara Hoggatt, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Probing how physical contact parameters affect detection of bacteria in single cell host-pathogen interactions using Fluidic Force Microscopy
    • Mentor: Aaron Esser-Kahn
  • Sumana Turimella, Third-Year, Biological Studies, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Evolution of Kinetic Proofreading in DNA Replication
    • Mentor: Arvind Murugan

Quad Faculty Research Grantees

  • Iris Clever, Faculty Mentor, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Aaron Unger
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Madeleine Roberts-Ganim
  • Emily Talen, Faculty Mentor, Urbanism Lab
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Michah Wilcox
  • Susane Paulus, Faculty Mentor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the Oriental Institute
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Dani Levy
  • Brad Bolman, Faculty Mentor, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Oksana Vickers
  • Brandon Faubert, Faculty Mentor, Medicine
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Mayher Kaur
  • Jean Greenberg, Faculty Mentor, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Pierce Hoenigman
  • Mark Westneat, Faculty Mentor, Organismal Biology and Anatomy
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Olivia Grobmyer
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Adera Craig
  • Cara Brook, Faculty Mentor, Ecology and Evolution
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Vera Soloview
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Margot Bolanos-Gamez
  • Shannon Elf, Faculty Mentor, Ben May Department for Cancer Research
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Jacky Gomez-Villa
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Chad Coen
  • Mike Albertus, Faculty Mentor, Political Science
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Gabriel Aguilar
  • Adam Zelizer, Faculty Mentor, Harris School of Public Policy
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Owen Castle
  • Jennifer Mosley, Faculty Mentor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Nora Pomper
  • Eugene Raikhel, Faculty Mentor, Comparative Human Development
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Melody Dias
  • Evan Carver, Faculty Mentor, Program on the Global Environment/Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Nate Drew
  • Monica Rosenberg, Faculty Mentor, Psychology
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Taysha Martinez
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Anthony James
  • Akram Bakkour, Faculty Mentor, Psychology
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Abby Shivers
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Lucas Mantovani
  • Katherine Buse, Faculty Mentor, Institute on the Formation of Knowledge
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Jessica Aaron
  • Olga Solovieva, Faculty Mentor, Comparative Literature
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Katherine Sinyavin
  • Luca Grandi, Faculty Mentor, Physics
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Ariana Qin
  • Leslie Rogers, Faculty Mentor, Astronomy & Astrophysics
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Harper Learmonth
  • Scott Snyder, Faculty Mentor, Chemistry
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Nicholas Duran
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Rachel Quan
  • Bozhi Tian, Faculty Mentor, Chemistry
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Ji Abu-Halimah
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Judah Huberman-Shales
  • Pedro Lopes, Faculty Mentor, Computer Science
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Beza Desta
    • Undergraduate Researcher: Jacob Serfaty

Dean's Fund Conference Awardees

  • Sharon Zhou, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: Geological Society of America Connects 2022
    • Location: Denver, Colorado
  • Raul Gomez del Estal Teixeira, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: DECam at 10 Years - Looking Back, Looking Forward
    • Location: University of Arizona, Tucson
  • Li Jiatong, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: UIST 2022
    • Location: Bend, Oregon
  • Lucy Alejandro, Second-Year
    • Conference Title: 2022 Society of General Internal Medicine Midwest Regional Meeting
    • Location: St. Louis, Missouri
  • Cao Linh Pham, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: 2022 Meeting of the Society for Comparative Literature and the Arts
    • Location: Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Rohan Kumar, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: Quantum Techniques in Machine Learning 2022
    • Location: Naples, Italy
  • Karina Mak, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: CHEST 2022
    • Location: Nashville, Tennessee
  • Gustavo Dias, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: Missouri Valley Economic Association
    • Location: St. Louis, Missouri
  • Connie Chen, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 2022 Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists
    • Location: Anaheim, California
  • Phoebe Cao, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: SACNAS, National Diversity in STEM Conference
    • Location: Puerto Rico
  • Becca Sealy, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: American Mathematical Society Fall Western Sectional Meeting
    • Location: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Jacky Gomez-Villa, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 2022 Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists
    • Location: Anaheim, California
  • Edison Tang, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: Midstates Consortium 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium in the Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science
    • Location: Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
  • Mudmee Sereeyothin, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research
    • Location: Malibu, California
  • Stevie Xie, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: Great Lakes Transplant Immmunology Forum
    • Location: Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
  • Joseph Geniesse, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 2022 Southwest Regional Meeting: Transformative Chemistry and Energy in the Gulf South
    • Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  • Grace Wagner, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 241st Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society
    • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Yue Pan, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 241st Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society
    • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Simon Mork, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 241st Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society
    • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Aidan Cloonan, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 241st Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society
    • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Josh Sulkin, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 136th Annual American Historical Association Conference
    • Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Alexandra Masegian, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 241st Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society
    • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Junsung Kim, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 18th Annual Academic Surgical Congress
    • Location: Houston, Texas
  • Isabeau Burnett, Second-Year
    • Conference Title: World Congress on Undergraduate Research
    • Location: Warick, England
  • Ana Gonzalez, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: World Congress on Undergraduate Research
    • Location: Warick, England
  • Harper Learmonth, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: 2023 American Astronomical Society Meeting
    • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Gabriella Silva, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2023 Annual Convention
    • Location: Atlanta, Georgia
  • Lingyue Yu, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: Consortium of Universities for Global Health
    • Location: Washington, D.C.
  • Krishna Raghavan, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: 2023 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting
    • Location: San Diego, California
  • Sivakrishna Uppalapati, Second-Year
    • Conference Title: International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation 43rd Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions
    • Location: Denver, Colorado
  • Shayli Birla, Second-Year
    • Conference Title: Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine
    • Location: San Francisco, California
  • Julia Marcussen, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine
    • Location: San Francisco, California
  • Erica Kwok, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: American College of Cardiology's 72nd Annual Scientific Sessions Together with World Congress of Cardiology
    • Location: New Orleans, Lousiana
  • Maria Reyes Maldonado, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: Consortium of Universities for Global Health
    • Location: Washington, D.C.
  • Layla McDermott, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: World Congress on Undergraduate Research
    • Location: Warick, England
  • Zhi Zhang, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: National Conference on Undergraduate Research
    • Location: University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
  • Alejandra Bergquist, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: British Congress of Undergraduate Research
    • Location: Warick, England
  • Sam Rubin, Third-Year
    • Conference Title: American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting
    • Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Isabelle Baird, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: Consortium of Universities for Global Health
    • Location: Washington, D.C.
  • Mukerrem Tufekcioglu, Second-Year
    • Conference Title: 2023 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting
    • Location: San Diego, California
  • Hannah Ye, Fourth-Year
    • Conference Title: 2023 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting
    • Location: San Diego, California
  • Georgiana Liang, Second-Year
    • Conference Title: 2023 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting
    • Location: San Diego, California