Research Scholars 2024-2025

2024-2025 Research Scholars

Autumn Quad Research Scholars

Supported by the Global Health Research Fund

  • Layne Kohler, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Weight Cycling Effects on Female Fertility
    • Mentor: Ada Weinstock
  • Ava Lewin, Second-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Assessing the genetic determinants of arsenic metabolism efficiency in children
    • Mentor: Brandon Pierce
  • Jessalin Nguyen, Fourth-Year, Environmental Science
    • Project Title: Water Contamination from Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs)
    • Mentor: Eyal Frank
  • Maryam Shariff, Fourth-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: The Immunological Role of the BRCA1 Pseudogene (BRCA1P1) in Human Cancers
    • Mentor: Olufunmilayo Olopade
  • Cynthia Tang, Fourth-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Train the Trainer
    • Mentor: Marcia Tan

Supported by the Hoeft Family Research Fund

  • Zack Hassman, Third-Year, Mathematics, Computer Science
    • Project Title: Improving Quantum Chemistry with Classical Assistance
    • Mentor: Fred Chong
  • Anna Jensen, Third-Year, Astrophysics
    • Project Title: Astrophysics Research Paper Publication - SN 2023ixf
    • Mentor: Vikram Dwarkadas
  • Alexander Katz, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Hemodynamics at the Anastomosis: Entry Angle Effect on Disturbed Flow
    • Mentor: Anindita Basu
  • Noam Levinsky, Third-Year, CEGU
    • Project Title: Patterns in Management Perceptions of Sustainability at U.S. West Ski Resorts
    • Mentor: Evan Carver
  • Kaitlyn Li, Fourth-Year, Computer Science, Data Science
    • Project Title: Designing Robot Coaches to Support Child Social Emotional Learning
    • Mentor: Sarah Sebo
  • Quinn Liu, Third-Year, Computer Science, Cognitive Science
    • Project Title: Automating Gesture Coding with Machine Learning
    • Mentor: Susan Goldin-Meadow
  • Nyah Lues, Fourth-Year, Environmental Science, Global Studies
    • Project Title: Hiatal control on the turnover of mammalian assemblages in the Eocene of Wyoming
    • Mentor: Susan Kidwell
  • Edward Luo, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Sweat-Reactive Textiles for Human Body Temperature Control
    • Mentor: Po-Chun Hsu
  • Jack Luo, Second-Year, Biological Studies, Economics
    • Project Title: Transformer-based Computer Networks Congestion Control
    • Mentor: Junchen Jiang
  • Layla Mravac, Third-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Twisted Topological Insulators
    • Mentor: Shuolong Yang
  • Ornella Ndatabaye, Second-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Elucidating Inflammatory versus Non-inflammatory Control of Duodenal Lymphatic Architecture
    • Mentor: Daria Esterhazy
  • Duc Nguyen, Third-Year, Physics, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Investigating the Progression of Aortic Disease with Mechanics-driven Agent-based Modelling
    • Mentor: Nhung Nguyen
  • Kyle Obermeyer, Second-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: The Pathological Progression of a Genetic Prion Disease Represented Through Behavioral Markers
    • Mentor: James Mastrianni
  • Marta Pantin, Third-Year, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Bacterial Light-Sensing Mysteries: Unraveling the Mechanisms of an Uncharacterized Biliverdin Synthase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
    • Mentor: Sampriti Mukherjee
  • Armin Pazooki, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Spotting Nerve Damage Early with the Pointing Task
    • Mentor: Peggy Mason
  • Noa Perlmutter, Fourth-Year, Cognitive Science
    • Project Title: Do We Know What Mugs We Like?
    • Mentor: Howard Nusbaum
  • Christian Ramos, Second-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Effects of THC on Negative Facial Emotions During Retrieval of Stressful Memories
    • Mentor: Hanna Molla
  • Uriel Rodriguez, Fourth-Year, Neuroscience, Music
    • Project Title: The roles of the neurodevelopmental disease-linked protein Ube3a in Golgi satellite function
    • Mentor: William Green
  • Jacob Rothman, Second-Year, Molecular Engineering
    • Project Title: Decoding the Immune System’s Pathways Between the Gut and Skin using Colitis and Psoriasis Mouse Models
    • Mentor: Nicolas Chevrier
  • Hanna Ruiz, Second-Year, Biological Chemistry, Business Economics
    • Project Title: The Effect of Optimized Dosages of Type-1 Interferons on 4-1BB CAR T-cells
    • Mentor: Jun Huang
  • Kent Schechter, Fourth-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Characterizing the Role of Cancer Cell-Intrinsic XBP1s on Anti-Tumor Immunity in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
    • Mentor: Marsha Rosner
  • Dellara Sheibani, Third-Year, Linguistics
    • Project Title: Novel Gene Correction of Human ADNP Mutations Using Prime Editing
    • Mentor: Xiaochang Zhang
  • Gwen Sheley, Third-Year, Astrophysics, Computational and Applied Mathematics
    • Project Title: Accessing Potential Systematics in Cosmic Shear – tSZ Cross-Correlation Analyses
    • Mentor: Chihway Chang
  • Jay Shen, Third-Year, Physics, Computer Science
    • Project Title: Deep Learning for Immunomodulation Prediction
    • Mentor: Andrew Ferguson
  • Prithi Srinivasan, Third-Year, Biological Sciences, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Investigating the mechanism of the actin transport into the nucleus by Importin 9
    • Mentor: Alex Ruthenburg
  • Junfei Sun, Third-Year, Mathematics, Computer Science
    • Project Title: A symplectic duality theory for saddle point problems from Sherman's Area Convexity Algorithm
    • Mentor: Lorenzo Orecchia
  • Tim Sun, Fourth-Year, Biological Chemistry, Economics
    • Project Title: Investigating the Connection Between Ribosome Biogenesis and the Heat Shock Response
    • Mentor: David Pincus
  • Eric You, Third-Year, Physics, Economics
    • Project Title: Prototype Smart Pixel Detectors
    • Mentor: Karri DiPetrillo
  • Jacob Zhang, Fourth-Year, Psychology, Economics
    • Project Title: Effect of Education on Wellbeing
    • Mentor: Shigehiro Oishi
  • Rain Zhu, Fourth-Year, Biological Sciences, Economics
    • Project Title: Increasing T lymphocyte/CAR-T cell potency through modulation of TET2 enzyme activity
    • Mentor: Amittha Wickrema
  • Sneha Agarwal, Third-Year, Biological Sciences
    • Project Title: Intratumoral administration of chemokine mRNA to promote immune infiltration into the tumor microenvironment
    • Mentor: Jeffrey Hubbell
  • Ophra Atar, Third-Year, Cognitive Science, Psychology
    • Project Title: More Semantic 'Connections' in Aphantasics than Imagers
    • Mentor: Wilma Bainbridge
  • Maya Atassi, Second-Year, Astrophysics, Physics
    • Project Title: An Experimental Approach to Cosmic Constraints with the Simons Observatory
    • Mentor: Jeffrey J. McMahon
  • Iris Badezet-Delory, Second-Year, Physics, Classical Studies
    • Project Title: Cracking the Blocks: Decoding the Precursors of Extreme Heat
    • Mentor: Noboru Nakamura
  • Emmanuel Barajas, Third-Year, Psychology
    • Project Title: Who Causes Boys to Seek Help Less: In-group vs Out-group Masculinity Threats
    • Mentor: Lin Bian
  • Aubrey Barb, Second-Year, Chemistry, Environmental Science
    • Project Title: Decarbonyl Functionalization of Cyclic Ketone via a Dual Aromatization Strategy
    • Mentor: Guangbin Dong
  • Hunter Bershtein, Third-Year, Biological Sciences, Economics
    • Project Title: The Therapeutic Potential of Fcgr4-Expressing Macrophages in Atherosclerosis Resolution
    • Mentor: Ada Weinstock
  • Rohan Buluswar, Third-Year, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Applications of Optimal Transport Theory
    • Mentor: Lorenzo Orecchia
  • Surya Chinnappa, Third-Year, Linguistics, Cognitive Science
    • Project Title: Lexical-Semantic Predictors of Compelling Preaching
    • Mentor: Howard Nusbaum
  • Karolina Dorosz, Third-Year, Biological Chemistry, French and Francophone Studies
    • Project Title: Exploring the Role of Extracellular Vesicles in Mediating the Impact of Chronic Inflammation on Epithelial Stem Cells
    • Mentor: Yuxuan Miao

Supported by the Liew Family Research Fund

  • Fady Adal, Fourth-Year, Computer Science, Linguistics
    • Project Title: Verified Quantum Error Correction and Fault Tolerant Computing
    • Mentor: Robert Rand
  • Genevieve Evans, Third-Year, Creative Writing
    • Project Title: Degrowth Game Design Project
    • Mentor: Katherine Buse
  • Avah Harris, Second-Year, Computer Science, Media Arts and Design
    • Project Title: The Aesthetics of Artificial Intelligence
    • Mentor: Andre Uhl
  • Keshav Malik Kapoor, Second-Year, Economics, Philosophy
    • Project Title: 'Smart to the Core' Exhibition Research
    • Mentor: Meg Jackson Fox
  • Leo Kupperman, Third-Year, Mathematics, Anthropology
    • Project Title: Aesthetics of AI
    • Mentor: Andre Uhl
  • Ernest Leong, Third-Year, Romance Language & Literature
    • Project Title: Good shepherds and sheep of human descent: towards a medieval biopolitics
    • Mentor: Daisy Delogu
  • Dani Levy, Fourth-Year, Religious Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
    • Project Title: Research in the ISAC Tablet Collection
    • Mentor: Susanne Paulus
  • Eli Naftulin, Third-Year, Mathematics
    • Project Title: Aesthetics of AI
    • Mentor: Andre Uhl
  • Darren Peng, Second-Year, Computer Science, Statistics
    • Project Title: Optimizing Mixture-of-Agents using Neural Architecture Search
    • Mentor: Ce Zhang
  • Francesco Rahe, Fourth-Year, Fundamentals: Issues and Texts, Religious Studies
    • Project Title: The Songs of Khayyam: A Translation
    • Mentor: Pouneh Shabani-Jadidi
  • Jo Selmeczy, Third-Year, Theater and Performance Studies, Comparative Human Development
    • Project Title: Dramaturgy as Artistic Research into Queer Identities in World Premieres at the Court Theatre
    • Mentor: David Levin
  • William Turner, Second-Year, Linguistics, Computer Science
    • Project Title: Curation, Synthesis and Conversion of Textual and Lexical Data for Ancient Languages into Modern Graph Database Formats
    • Mentor: Jeffrey Tharsen
  • Jiayue Wang, Third-Year, Anthropology, Computer Science
    • Mentor: James F Osborne
  • Tony Zhou, Fourth-Year, Cognitive Science
    • Project Title: Language Contact Simulated in the Lab
    • Mentor: Ming Xiang

Supported by the NK Cheung Chemistry Research Fellowship

  • Abbie Blenko,Fourth-Year, Chemistry, Music
    • Project Title: Amide-Linked Covalent Organic Framework for Dual Photoredox and Copper Catalysis
    • Mentor: Wenbin Lin
  • Felice Chan, Third-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Resolving Electron-Phonon Interactions in Hybrid Perovskites via Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy
    • Mentor: Greg Engel
  • Tomas Germanas, Fourth-Year, Chemistry, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Development of a Metal Organic Framework Cancer Vaccine for Enhanced Tumor Antigen Recognition
    • Mentor: Wenbin Lin
  • Sofiia Kucher, Third-Year, Biological Chemistry, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Synthesis and Modification of Chemically Recyclable Boronic Ester Vitrimer Networks
    • Mentor: Stuart Rowan
  • Brennan Lee, Second-Year, Molecular Engineering, Economics
    • Project Title: Treating Sores with Gas
    • Mentor: Bozhi Tian
  • Jhan Liufu, Fourth-Year, Computer Science, Physics
    • Project Title: Tissue-like Bioelectronics for Stress Management
    • Mentor: Bozhi Tian
  • Sona Santry, Third-Year, Chemistry, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Natural Products and Drug Discovery: Total Synthesis of Cinncassiol F
    • Mentor: Scott Snyder
  • Victor Sun, Second-Year, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Solving RNA Structure Puzzles Using Medium Throughput Construct Planning
    • Mentor: Joseph A. Piccirilli
  • Melody Tang, Third-Year, Chemistry, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Nickel-catalyzed mixed diboration of cyclic alkenyl triflates
    • Mentor: Guangbin Dong
  • Sarah Thau, Third-Year, Chemistry, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Establishing Protocols for the Production of Zirconium-89 Radiopharmaceuticals for Cancer Imaging
    • Mentor: Satish Chitneni
  • Ashley Zhu, Third-Year, Chemistry, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Synthesis and Characterization of a Cobalt-Nitrido Complex for the Study of Catalytic Mechanisms
    • Mentor: John Anderson
  • Guanchen Zhu, Third-Year, Chemistry, Biological Chemistry
    • Project Title: Total Synthesis of Bipolarolide C-D
    • Mentor: Scott A. Snyder

Supported by Collegiate Research Funds and other generous gifts from donors

  • Claire Fu, Third-Year, Biology
    • Project Title: Comparative analyses of doublesex supergene expression during Papilio butterfly wing development
    • Mentor: Marcus Kronforst
  • Jenna Garcia, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Investigating the Intersection of Terminal Selectors and Neurodegeneration in Aging Motor Neurons
    • Mentor: Paschalis Kratsios
  • Lola Lambert, Third-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: Photoemission Electron Microsocopy for Connectomics
    • Mentor: Bobby Kasthuri
  • Annie Wang, Fourth-Year, Chemistry
    • Project Title: A novel investigation of gene expression in cranial suture development via hybridization chain reaction
    • Mentor: Russell Reid
  • Gasser Elwasefi, Third-Year, Neuroscience
    • Project Title: Investigating gene regulatory networks in somatosensory processing neurons
    • Mentor: Elizabeth Heckscher
  • Elisa Gao, Second-Year, Astrophysics, Physics
    • Project Title: X-ray Emission of Supernova 2011DH
    • Mentor: Vikram Dwarkadas
  • Esther Goldberg, Fourth-Year, Data Science
    • Project Title: The Effect of Memorability on Fame
    • Mentor: Wilma Bainbridge
  • Isabella Summe, Third-Year, Data Science
    • Project Title: Predicting Linguistic Surprise from Brain Network Dynamics
    • Mentor: Monica Rosenberg