Student Enhancement Awards provide $134,433 in funding to 24 students in spring 2022

The program provided 24 students this spring with a total of $134,433 in funding for their original research, scholarship and creative work.

The Student Enhancement Awards are funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Activity and administered by the Council for Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, which is appointed by Faculty Senate. This year, additional funding was allocated by the Office of Global Affairs to increase opportunities for students to conduct research projects or creative activities abroad as part of their thesis, dissertation, or capstone projects.

The program received 36 proposals with a total funding request of $198,587. Students may request up to $6,000 per proposal.

Julia Joos is shown in the foreground, and a tortoise is in the background — Julia Joos

The 2022 Recipients

Oumarou Abdoulaye Balarabe, graduate student Counseling and Higher Education, “By the numbers and from their own voices: Identifying and understanding pathways to student thriving at a public university in Benin,” $6,000; mentor: Laura Harrison
Tyler Arnold, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Influence of microclimate on individual masting synchrony of oak species,” $6,000; mentor: Rebecca Snell
Leigh Becklund, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Ecological release and evolution in Neptunia (Fabaceae),” $5,999; mentor: John Schenk
Jolie Bogart, undergraduate student HTC-Biological Sciences, “Transcriptome analysis of an experimental GH variant with therapeutic potential,” $6,000; mentor: Ed List

Kristina Woldan, a frontline nurse, holds her daughter Zoe up to a window at the Los Angeles Zoo. Photo by Erin Burk for "Biding Time"

Erin Burk, undergraduate student Visual Communications, “Medicine amidst militarization in Guam,” $6,000; mentor: Stan Alost
Remington Burwell, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Integrative taxonomic studies of two diverse groups of violets,” $5,928; mentor: Harvey Ballard
Riley Corrigan, undergraduate student HTC-Translational Health, “Impact of ACEs on cellular health,” $4,250; mentors: Cheryl Howe & Joseph Bianco
Roseanne Crowell, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Phylogeography of the freshwater red alga Batrachospermum gelatinosum in eastern North America,” $6,000; mentor: Morgan Vis
Nancin Dadem, graduate student Communication Studies, “Advancing social support through interpersonal communication to improve cervical cancer screening in North Central Nigeria,” $6,000; mentor: Christina Beck
Marissa Dowalter, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Conservation genetics of a protected species: genomic variation in the Lake Erie Watersnake,” $6,000; mentor: Shawn Kuchta
Harrison Fender, graduate student History, “The maritime strategy ashore: amphibious operation, intelligence and the security of NATO's Littoral,” $5,737; mentor: Peter John Brobst
Davoud Ghazanfari, graduate student Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, “SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as a mechanism by which cytokine storms develop in COVID-19,” $5,998; mentor: Doug Goetz
Julia Joos, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Thermal ecology of two closely related tortoise species, Gopherus evgoodei and Gopherus morafkai,” $6,000; mentor: Donald Miles
Zoe Kington, undergraduate student Biological Sciences, Honors Tutorial College, “Exploring fibrosis in bovine growth hormone transgenic mice,” $6,000; mentor: Darlene Berryman
Zachary LaRussa, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Apolipoprotein A-IV enhances insulin action through sympathetic innervation,” $4,000; mentor Chunmin Lo
Selene Lisbey, graduate student Geological Sciences, “Investigating the relationship between the Rio San Juan Complex and Samana Peninsula,” $6,000; mentor: Katherine Fornash
Samuel Lockhart, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Population genetic structure of four mixed-breeding violets and one exclusively chasmogamous violet,” $6,000; mentor: Harvey Ballard
Shelby Merchant, undergraduate student Theater, “When there was music,” $6,000; mentor: Tyler Whidden
Daniel Opoku, graduate student Graphic Design, “Identimatics: Mathematical grammar of Kente patterns,” $6,000; mentor: Darren Baker
Avery Plummer, graduate student Art History, “nymph(o) Magazine,” $5,410; mentor: Annie Sprinkle
Brandon Saraniti, graduate student Geography, “The Deeper South: Contemporary memorialization of confederate Americans in Southern Brazil,” $1,150; mentor: Timothy Anderson
Matthew Vince, graduate student Chemistry and Biochemistry, “Development of scyllatoxin-based BH3 domain mimetics to target BCL2 proteins,” $6,000; mentor: Justin Holub
Weiqiang Yuan, graduate student Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, “Novel deep ultra-violet ac-driven electroluminescence devices based on boron nitride materials,” $5,961; mentor: Wojciech Jadwisienczak
Haiyun Zhang, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Functional roles of BLOC1S6 in extracellular ATP-induced drug resistance in human lung cancer cells,” $6,000; mentor: Xiaozhuo Chen