News

SHARE Awards 2013

Posted on November 30, 2012February 4, 2016 by McGuire, Caroline

The SHARE program supports undergraduate research projects in the social sciences, humanities, and arts. We are pleased to announce the 20 awardees for the Spring 2013 semester. Congratulations!

Project Title: Beyond Nation States
Student Apprentice and Major: Matea Batarilo, Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Prakash Kashwan, Political Science

Project Title: When the Courts Make History: the Impact of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Latin America’s Conflict Zones
Student Apprentice and Major: Kattie Bonilla, Political Science and Individualized Major: Latino Immigrant Women to the U.S.
Faculty Mentor and Department: Luis van Isschot, History and Human Rights

Project Title: Altering Health Incentives through Health Independent Systems
Student Apprentice and Major: Shavonda Brandon, Economics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Dennis Heffley, Economics

Project Title: Could a Union Save This Planet? Coding and Analyzing ‘Sustainable Development’: Perspectives of the IUCN Members
Student Apprentice and Major: Carl D’Oleo-Lundgren, Political Science and Individualized Major: International Relations
Faculty Mentor and Department: Prakash Kashwan, Political Science

Project Title: The New Normal: Goodness Judgments of Non-Standard Speech Variants
Student Apprentice and Major: Julia Drouin, Speech Language and Hearing Sciences
Faculty Mentor and Department: Emily Myers, Speech Language and Hearing Sciences

Project Title: A Study of Teachers’ Questioning Sequences in Reading Instruction
Student Apprentice and Major: Rebecca Duchesneau, Secondary Social Studies Education and History
Faculty Mentor and Department: Catherine Little, Education

Project Title: Teacher Questioning and Student Responses: Promoting Higher-Level Thinking
Student Apprentice and Major: Sarah Forte, English Education
Faculty Mentor and Department: Catherine Little, Education

Project Title: Discourse in Linguistically Diverse Mathematics Classrooms
Student Apprentice and Major: Chelsie Giegerich, Elementary Education; English Concentration
Faculty Mentor and Department: Mary Truxaw, Curriculum and Instruction

Project Title: Hunger Amidst Plenty: Social Mobilization on the Right to Food in India
Student Apprentice and Major: Syeda Haider, Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Shareen Hertel, Political Science

Project Title: Latina/Latin American Transnational Narratives of War and Violence
Student Apprentice and Major: Krisela Karaja, Spanish and English
Faculty Mentor and Department: Guillermo Irizarry, Literatures, Cultures, Languages

Project Title: Contemporary Indian Art
Student Apprentice and Major: Julianne Norton, Psychology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Kathryn Myers, Anthropology

Project Title: Divorce and Well Being
Student Apprentice and Major: Hagar Odoom, Human Development and Family Studies and Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Edna Brown, Human Development and Family Studies

Project Title: Gullah Voices: Watch Night
Student Apprentice and Major: Cristobal Ortega, Journalism and Fine Arts: Concentration in Photography
Faculty Mentor and Department: Mary Junda, Music

Project Title: Caribbean Documentation Project
Student Apprentice and Major: Chelsea Pajardo, History and Psychology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Fiona Vernal, History

Project Title: Gullah Voices: Traditions and Transformations
Student Apprentice and Major: Emily Palumbo, Music and Marketing
Faculty Mentor and Department: Robert Stephens, African American Studies

Project Title: Provision of Emotional Support to Increase Pumping Duration in High Risk Mothers
Student Apprentice and Major: Rebecca Paquette, Nursing
Faculty Mentor and Department: Jacqueline McGrath, Nursing

Project Title: Shared Parenting and its Influence on Post-divorce Fathering
Student Apprentice and Major: Shannon Perkins, Human Development and Family Studies
Faculty Mentor and Department: Kari Adamsons, Human Development and Family Studies

Project Title: The Role of Social Setting in the School Adjustment of Youth Attending Ethnic-Racially Diverse Schools: A Multi-Method, Multi-Dimensional Longitudinal Investigation
Student Apprentice and Major: Andrea Salazar, Human Development and Family Studies
Faculty Mentor and Department: Annamaria Csizmadia, Human Development and Family Studies

Project Title: Perceptual Processing in Individuals with Dyslexia
Student Apprentice and Major: Katlyn Salvador, Communication Disorders and Psychology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Rachel Theodore, Speech Language and Hearing Sciences

Project Title: When the Courts Make History: the Impact of the Inter American Court of Human Rights in Latin America’s Conflict Zones
Student Apprentice and Major: Jack Zachary, Political Science and Human Rights
Faculty Mentor and Department: Luis van Isschot, History and Human Rights

November 2012 Research Deadlines

Posted on November 7, 2012September 7, 2021 by McGuire, Caroline

It’s hard to think about summer right now, but many early deadlines are approaching for Summer 2013 research programs!

You can also attend a workshop later this month to get tips on preparing applications for summer:

Nov. 30th: Summer Undergraduate Research Fund Proposal Workshop

5:30pm – 6:30pm Rowe Bldg. 134

The UConn Summer Undergraduate Research Fund (SURF) awards thousands of dollars to support student researchers each summer. Find out how to apply and what makes applications successful at this workshop.

November Deadlines:

Nov. 19: Field Ecology and Environmental Science Research, Summer 2013

Nov. 30th: Roper Award for Research Experience (RARE) Deadline

December Deadlines:

Dec. 1^st : Google 2013 Summer internships Building Opportunities for Leadership & Development (BOLD) program

Dec. 3^rd: Udall Scholarship

Dec. 3^rd: UNCF-MERCK Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship

Dec. 4^th: Deadline to submit papers and posters to the 2013 National Conference on Undergraduate Research

Dec. 14^th : The Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (SMART) Undergraduate Scholarship

Dec. 15^th: Student Grants for Film and Video Production

Rolling Applications:

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Summer Program

Sandia National Laboratories Summer Internships

Homeland Security Summer Internship Program

Plum Island Animal Disease Center Research Program

Honors Freshmen Conduct Research Through Holster Scholars First Year Program

Posted on October 12, 2012 by McGuire, Caroline

This summer, six Honors freshmen pursued their passion through individualized, self-designed research projects with funding from the Holster Scholars First Year Program.

The Holster Scholars First Year Program, funded by an endowment established by Robert and Carlotta Holster, provides Honors freshmen with the opportunity to pursue independent and individualized learning experiences. Prospective scholars complete a highly selective application process in the fall of their freshman year, submitting an innovative project proposal. Holster Scholars are eligible for up to $4,000 in funding, and spend the spring semester fine-tuning their project plans. They carry out their research in the summer.

This year, six Holster Scholars pursued a kaleidoscope of investigations, in fields ranging from creative art to neurobiology.

Each Scholar received personalized mentoring from a faculty member in the development and implementation of their projects. Former Holster Scholars also provided peer support to this year’s group.

The 2012 Holster Scholars presented their summer projects last month at the Dodd Center. Among those present were their mentors and donor Robert Holster, himself.

Lior Trestman ’15 (ENG) is an Honors biomedical engineering major who became intrigued by the idea of developing his own research after watching the first Holster Scholars present their projects in 2011. He satisfied his desire to explore ways of improving human health and the environment by using microbial fuel cells to purify water while simultaneously creating energy.

“About 1 billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean water or electricity,” says Trestman. Trestman spent the summer developing and optimizing fuel cells, which take wastewater and, using various chemical processes, reduce the bacteria and other organic matter into more elementary substances. What makes this process different from common methods of water filtration is that it provides clean water while simultaneously creating electricity. With future research and development, this self-sustaining method of purifying water could potentially provide drinkable water and electricity to populations that do not have access to either.

Kaila Manca ’15 (CLAS) is a physiology and neurobiology and cognitive science major. She is interested in the treatment of aphasia, a partial or total loss of the ability to communicate verbally or using written words, in stroke patients. She has had a longstanding interest in the mind and its inner workings, but Manca’s project was directly influenced by her experience with her grandmother’s stroke. “It is always important in research to be passionate about what you are investigating,” says Manca.

For her project, Manca analyzed conversational samples from five participants in graduate student Jen Mozeiko’s research in Contraint Induced Language Therapy on stroke patients, a concentrated approach to the treatment of aphasia. Manca transcribed the samples and analyzed each participant’s word choice. Manca was especially concerned with the type-token ratio of the samples, which measures the vocabulary variation in an individual’s speech. She found that the stroke patients reached a point in their treatment in which their type-token ratio plateaued, indicating a threshold in the variability of their vocabulary. Manca hopes to further pursue this research in the future in order to determine whether aphasia is the true cause of this impasse in communication.

Julianne Norton ’15 (CLAS), a psychology major, was surprised to find that the Holster Scholar Program funded arts-related research projects. “I always thought that research was really just for science majors,” says Norton. “It’s amazing to me that the program accepted creative art projects. It really shows they have an open mind.”

Norton’s summer project was focused on art through postmemory, a fascination that stemmed from having two grandparents who survived the Holocaust. Postmemory refers to the effect of a traumatic cultural event on a second generation; in this case, it refers to the emotions summoned by the photographs and narratives that Holocaust survivors pass on to subsequent generations. Norton took a piece of artwork from each of the past four generations of her family and recreated those pieces, responding to the themes and ideas they evoked through her own paintings and sculpture.

This year’s Holster Scholars will be mentors to next year’s Scholars. “I would highly recommend the program to someone who has found something they are really interested in and want to spend a lot of time looking at,” says Trestman.

“There is no other place where I could have been able to experience the opportunities that have been available to me here at UConn so soon,” Manca adds. “I feel really grateful to the Honors program.”

(adapted from a UConn Today Story by Mirofora Paridis ’13 (CLAS)

Fall Semester Funding Deadlines

Posted on September 25, 2012November 19, 2020 by McGuire, Caroline

Happy Fall, Everyone !
There are two major funding programs at OUR that have deadlines in the Fall Semester, but provide funding in the spring semester.

SHARE (Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Research Experience) Awards support undergraduate research projects in the social sciences, humanities, and arts.

In this research apprenticeship, students spend 10 hours per week during the spring semester working on a faculty project. Student apprentices will receive a $1500 stipend during the spring semester. The deadline to apply for SHARE is November 1st.

More information about SHARE

The other major funding program for the fall is RARE, or Roper Award for Research Experience. Many students don’t realize UConn is home to The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. The Roper Center is one of the world’s leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. RARE is designed to encourage faculty and undergraduates to use the resources of the Roper Center in undergraduate research and creative projects. Data held by the Roper Center range from the 1930s, when survey research was in its infancy, to the present. Over 50 nations are represented in addition to US data.

Students receiving RARE award funding will spend 10 hours per week during the spring semester working on a project with a faculty member, and receive a $1500 stipend. The deadline to apply for RARE is November 30th.

More information about RARE

Profiles in Undergraduate Research: CLAS SURFers 2012

Posted on August 22, 2012November 17, 2020 by McGuire, Caroline

[adapted from a story by Cindy Weiss, CLAS Today]

Sarah Grout was only six years old when a terrible stomachache at gymnastics practice led to a rushed ride to the hospital, where her appendix was removed before doctors discovered the real problem – an E. coli infection. She spent two weeks in the hospital recovering. Sarah, now 20, spent this summer in a biology lab in Beach Hall, running RNA interference experiments for her research project on how enterohemorrhagic E. Coli, often associated with food-borne illness, sets up its potentially fatal infection in humans.

Robert “Bo” Powers, 27, started college in Georgia as a music major in classical guitar. A treble clef tattooed on his ankle hints at his love of music. But after a move to the New Haven area, a job at Yale-New Haven Hospital and an associates degree earned from Gateway Community College, he came to UConn last fall as an honors student in cognitive science. This summer he designed an artificial neural network that he will use in his research project on metonymy – what causes people to choose certain metaphor-like descriptions. For instance, he wonders, why does a waitress tell the cashier, “The ham sandwich at Table 3 wants his check.”

“Creative use of language has deep implications when considering how languages change within a culture, what is considered ‘cool’ or novel, and how ambiguity is resolved,” he wrote in his research proposal.

First in the lab

Sarah, Bo, and 63 other students at UConn had their first full-time research experiences this summer thanks to Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships that provided them with up to $4,000 in stipend and supply funding and the opportunity to spend ten weeks in the lab. Thirty-nine of the students were from CLAS, and the CLAS Dean’s Office provided $24,000 to the program.

While many of the students have worked on research projects during the regular school year, the nine hours a week they devote then, in between classes, is much less intense. A SURF award gives them the luxury of time to do a literature search, read books on their topic, and design their own experiments.

“It’s really a great opportunity to be able to focus fulltime. I wouldn’t be able to get this much done during the year,” says Grout.

The fellowships make the difference between a summer spent pursuing their passion and a summer spent job surfing.

If he hadn’t won a SURF award, says Devin O’Brien, a 21-year-old ecology and evolutionary biology major from Ballston Spa, N.Y., “I’d be at home, trying to get a normal job that wouldn’t further me in my career path.” Instead, he spent seven hours a day, five days a week, in the lab.

O’Brien, who is founder and president of the Entomology Club at UConn, studies insects from an evolutionary and development perspective. He’s examining the role that three descriptively named genes – fringe, frizzled, and dishevelled – have on the appendage development of a species of red flour beetle, T. castaneum. Appendages – legs, wings, mouths – are an area of diversity that might be responsible for an insect’s success in the world.

O’Brien came to UConn as a pre-veterinary major, but found that “the more I worked with cows the more I realized I didn’t like them.” After a brief stint as a pre-med major, he scaled down to insects, calling UConn “a great biology school.”

Lab lessons

One of the eye-openers for students about lab life is how an experiment can go awry. Some have found that their carefully planned project had far from the anticipated outcome.

“It’s frustrating, but interesting, because you can come up with all new ideas to see what’s going on,” says Catherine O’Brien, a 20-year-old senior majoring in molecular and cell biology. She filled two large binders with lab reports this summer.

The protein she is studying is linked to various mitochondrial diseases. If biologists could find a way to study it outside of the cell in a reconstituted form, it could advance research into these medical conditions, which have many variations and can affect vision, major organs, muscles and nerves, among other things.

O’Brien, who is from Old Saybrook, started out as a nursing major at Endicott College in Massachusetts. Courses she took there in genetics and microbiology turned her interest to pre-med studies, and she transferred to Clemson. But she missed New England. Before transferring to UConn, she emailed Nathan Adler, assistant professor of MCB, to see if she could work in his lab.

She works independently in the lab, although under the supervision of a PhD student in Adler’s group, Ashley Long. Long encouraged her to stake out her own research territory, and O’Brien says that gave her the confidence to explore her topic. In her previous research experiences at other schools, she was not allowed so much responsibility, she says.

Her SURF summer has taught her that research “is really a thinking process – it’s about how you think and how you approach things. I couldn’t have guessed I would learn so much.”

SURF 2012 Awardees

Posted on June 22, 2012February 7, 2016 by McGuire, Caroline

We are pleased to announce our Summer Undergraduate Research Fund awardees for Summer 2012. Sixty-four students recieved SURF awards for Summer 2012, the largest group we’ve ever funded!

Project Title: Improving Efficiency of Narrative Discourse Analysis in Persons with Brain Injuries
Alexandra Addabbo, Communications Disorders
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Carl Coelho, Department of Communications Disorders

Project Title:The Role of BspA-like Protein in the Microbial Gut Community of Reticulartermes Flavipes and Identification of Species that are Involved in Lignocellulose Degredation
Adam Bartholomeo, Molecular and Cell Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Daniel Gage, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Named Award: Ocean Rain Family Foundation Fund for Summer Undergraduate Research Award

Project Title: Surveying the Self-Medication Practices of Adults with Sickle Cell Disease
Courtney Beyers, Nursing
Faculty Mentor: Victoria Odesina, DNP, Department of Nursing

Project Title: Investigating of an Efficient System to Harvest Clean Energy from Structural Vibrations
Bryan Blanc, Civil Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ramesh Malla, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Named Award: The DeMaio Family Summer Undergraduate Research Fund

Project Title: Investigating of an Efficient System to Harvest Clean Energy from Structural Vibrations
Kelsey Bloc, Chemical Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yong Wang, Department of Chemical, Materials, and Biomolecular Engineering

Project Title: On the Semantic Organization of Concrete and Abstract Terms: a Follow-up to Dunabietia et al. 2009
Christopher Brozowski, Cognitive Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. James Magnuson, Department of Psychology

Project Title: Psychological and Emotional Factors to Development in Young Adults with HIV
Jenna Burns, Nursing
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, Department of Nursing

Project Title: An Investigation into the Synthesis and Reaction Properties of Sulfur Monoxide
Casey Camire, Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nicholas Leadbeater, Department of Chemistry

Project Title: The Impact of the Zebra Mussel (Dreissena Polymorpha) Invasion in the Hudson River on the Feeding Ecology of Three Larval and Juvenile Fish Species
Grace Casselberry, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric Schultz, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Project Title: Interfaces Between Two Polymorphs of Natural Crystal Titanium Dioxide
Jason Chan, Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. C. Barry Carter, Department of Chemical, Materials, and Biomolecular Engineering

Project Title: Role of CELF4 in the Differentiation and Maturation of the Retinal Ganglion Cell Layer
Sean Condon, Physiology and Neurobiology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rahul Kanadia, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology

Project Title: The Functionality of Bacteriorhodopsin Mutants for the Detection of hazardous Chemicals
Edward Courchaine, Structural Biology/Biophysics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert Birge, Department of Chemistry
Named Award: Doug Anton Award

Project Title: Enhancing Autistic Children’s Communicative Skills
Darryl Cummings, Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Anjana Bhat, Department of Kinesiology
Named Award: The McKinney-Lindsay Family Award

Project Title: A Method for Observing the Development of Biofilms on Water Purification Membranes in Real Time
Jacob Deneff, Chemical Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Leslie Shor, Department of Chemical Engineering

Project Title: Better Defining the Habitat Characteristics that Effect the Survival of Death of Newly Planted Eelgrass Beds
Jennifer Dootz, Marine Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. James Vaudrey, Department of Marine Science

Project Title: Sexual Imprinting in Betta Splendens
Steven Ehrlich, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric Schultz, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Named Award: Mark E. Karp Award

Project Title: Effort-Related Impairments Produced by Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines
Brian Epling, Individualized and Interdisciplinary, Behavioral Neuroscience
Faculty Mentor: Dr. John Salamone, Department of Psychology

Project Title: Eurycea Bislineata Embryonic Development: Revisited 101 Years Later
Taylor Ferguson, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Jockusch, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Project Title: Pax7, MyoD and Myogenin Expression in the Lambs of Over and Underfed Ewes
Rachel Forbes, Animal Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sarah Reed, Department of Animal Science

Project Title: The Somatotropic Axis in the Nutritionally Compromised Ewe
Student Apprentice: Michelle Forella, Department of Animal Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Steven Zinn, Department of Animal Science
Named Award: Treibick Scholar

Project Title: Intra-uterine Growth Retardation in Sheep
Amanda Fox, Animal Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Steven Zinn, Department of Animal Science

Project Title: Restoring Effort-Related Functions in Models of Depression Symptoms: Reversing Fatigue Symptoms Induced by Tetrabenazine with the Adenosine A2A Antagonist Msx-3
Charlotte Freeland, Physiology and Neurobiology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. John Salamone, Department of Psychology

Project Title: The Effect of Land Locking an Aquaporin Expressino in the Intestinal Epithelium of Alosa Pseudoharengus (alewife)
Emily Funk, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Dr. Eric Schultz, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Named Award: Mathew Jasinski Award

Project Title: A Pilot Study of a Rodent Model of HI Brain Injuries of Prematurity
Haley Garbus, Psychology
Dr. Roslyn Holly Fitch, Department of Psychology
Named Award: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans Award

Project Title: Investigation of the Mechanism of Cellular Toxicity of Silica Particles
Alexandra Goetjen, Molecular and Cell Biology
Dr. David Knecht, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Named Award: Alan Bernstein Award

Project Title: Understanding the Host Cell Factors that Drive Actin Pedestal Assembly During Enterohemorrhagic E. Coli Infection
Sarah Grout, Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kenneth Campellone, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Named Award: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans Award

Project Title: Copenhagen as a Canvas: a Study of the Presence of Street Art
Karolina Hac, Art History
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jean Givens, Department of Art and Art History

Project Title: Characterization of Dicer Expression in Abnormal Skin Types
Katherine Han, Molecular and Cell Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sam (Soheil) Dadras, Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology

Project Title: Supramolecular Polymerization from Branched Macromolecules
On-You Jung, Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yao Lin, The Institute of Material Sciences

Project Title: Analysis of the 2012 Connecticut Redistricting Comprehensive Electoral and Demographic Data
Christopher Kempf, Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ronald Schurin, Department of Political Science
Named Award: Christopher M. Lewis Fund

Project Title: Are New England and Eastern Cottontails Competing for the same food resources?
Samantha Kremidas, Natural Resources
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Morty Ortega, Department of Natural Resources and Environment

Project Title: Development of Behavioral Endpoints for Mummichog (Funding Geteroclitus) as a Toxicology Model for Estuarine Environments
Tanya Lama, Natural Resources Management
Faculty Mentor: Dr.Thijs Bosker, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment
Named Award: Mr. Michael Alpert and Ms. Ariana Napier Honors and Enrichment Scholarship

Project Title: Serum Type II Collagen Telopeptide (CTX II) Levels in a Rabbit Septic Arthritus model
Juliana Lau, Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mark Lee, M.D., Department of Orthopaedics
Named Award: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans Award

Project Title: Slowing, Cooling, and Laser Spectroscopy of CaF
Tony Le, Physics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Edward E. Eyler, Department of Physics
Named Award: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans Award

Project Title: Measuring the Affinity Between Translation Factor BipA and the 70S Ribosome
David Levitz, Structural Biology and Biophysics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Robinson, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Project Title: Inherit the Culture: Traditional Puppetry in China
Xingxin Liu, Puppet Arts
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bartolo P. Roccoberton, Jr., Department of Dramatic Arts

Project Title: Analysis, Probability, and Mathematical Physics on Fractals
Jason Marsh, Mathematics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alexander Teplyaev, Department of Mathematics
Named Award: Trimble Family Award

Project Title: A Descriptive Study of Postoperative Pain Management for Opiod Tolerant Patients
Casey Martin, Nursing
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Deborah McDonald, Department of Nursing

Project Title: Synthesis and Characterization of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles
Nathan Martin, Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. C. Barry Carter, Department of Chemical, Materials and Biomolecular Engineering

Project Title: Effect of Maternal HyD Supplementation on Fetal Bone Development in Pigs
Katelyn McFadden, Animal Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kristen Govoni, Department of Animal Science

Project Title: Chronic Administration of the Non-Competitive NMDA Antagonis, Ketamine: Can Parvalbumin Positive Interneuron Loss be Related to Deficits in Cognition?
Casey McMahon, Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. James Chrobak, Department of Psychology

Project Title: Functional Characterization of the Reconstituted ADP/ATP Carrier by Luminescence
Catherine O’Brien, Molecular and Cell Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nathan Alder, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Named Award: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans Award

Project Title: Functional Analyses of the Developmental Genes Fringe, Frizzled, and Dishevelled in Appendage Patterning in the Red Flour Beetle Tribolium Castaneum
Devin O’Brien, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Jockusch, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Named Award: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans Award

Project Title: Ranavirus in Connecticut: a Potential Threat to Local Amphibian Populations
Kelly O’Connor, Natural Resources Conservation
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tracy Rittenhouse, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment
Named Award: Sterling – Wasserman Family Award

Project Title: Design a Microfluidic Protozoa Separator for Genetic Analysis of Microbial Eukaryotes in Termine Guts
Erika Orner, Pathobiology and Veterinary Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Leslie Shor, Department of Chemical Engineering
Named Award: Treibick Scholars

Project Title:Translating Period Costume for Modern Theatre
Christine Ostner, Design/Technical Theater
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Laura Crow, Department of Dramatic Arts
Named Award: Robert and Elizabeth Subkowsky Award

Project Title: Population Structure and Territoriality in the Invasive Ant
Anne O’Sullivan, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eldridge Adams, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Named Award: Ocean Rain Family Foundation Fund for Summer Undergraduate Research Award

Project Title: Bacterial SmtA as an Antioxidant that Influences Bacterial Survival in a Mammalian Infection
Neyati Patel, Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael A. Lynes, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Named Award: Treibick Scholars

Project Title: Toward an Understanding of Performance Contents for the Carols of the Ritsor Mannuscript, BL Add. 5665
Anastasia Pilato, Music History
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric Rice, Department of Music
Named Award: Dr. Roger Cherney Award

Project Title: Impact of Statistical Salience on Metonymy Resolution
Robert Powers, Cognitive Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Whitney Tabor, Department of Psychology and Linguistics
Named Award: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans Award

Project Title: Development of a Computer Model for Melanoma Metastasis
Priya Ranade, Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Lynes, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Project Title:From Blank Page to Final Bow: a Comprehensive Approach to the Creation of 21st Century American Opera
Spencer Reese, Music
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Constance Rock, Department of Music
Named Award: Dr. Roger Cherney Award

Project Title: Integrating Vision and Speech: a Window Into the Developing Mind
Arielle Rubin, Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Heather Bortfeld, Department of Psychology
Named Award: Ocean Rain Family Foundation Fund for Summer Undergraduate Research Award

Project Title: A “Helpless” System for the Generation of Recombinant Vaccinia Viruses
Ethan Sarnoski, Pathobiology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Paulo Verardi, Department of Pathobiology

Project Title: Remembering the Holocaust and Combatting Indifference: the Jewish Museum Berlin
David Schwegman, History
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Cathy Schlund-Vials, Department of English and the Asian American Studies Institute
Named Award: Virginia DeJohn Anderson Award

Project Title: The Reflection of Human Capitalist and Discrimination Theory in Public and Private Gender Wage Gap Policies
Claire Simonich, Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Virginia Hettinger, Department of Political Science
Named Award: The DeMaio Family Summer Undergraduate Research Fund

Project Title: Characterization of Equine Satelite Cells
Tymoteusz Siwy, Animal Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sarah Reed, Department of Animal Science

Project Title: Optimization of pH by the Injection of CO2 for the Best Compromise Between Productivity and Production Costs for Garcilaria Tikyahaie Nursery Systems
Philip Speirs, Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Charles Yarish, Department of Biology

Project Title: Estrogen Control of SOX9 in Human Pluripotent Embryonal Carcinoma NT2/D1 Cell Line
Robert Stickels, Molecular and Cell Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andrew Pask, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Project Title: Looking to the SKY: Chromosomes and Cancer
Parker Sulkowski, Molecular and Cell Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rachel O’Neill, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Project Title: Characterization of Ependymal Barrier Integrity in the Human Brain
Ye Sun, Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Joanne Conover, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology

Project Title: The Role of Adiponutrin Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms on the Genetic Predisposition to Fatty Liver in Dairy Cattle
Molly Viner, Animal Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Heather White, Department of Animal Science
Named Award: Treibick Scholars

Project Title: Irish Revel Songs: Spreading the Word
Christopher Wasko, Music
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mary Ellen Junda, Department of Music
Named Award: Robert and Elizabeth Subkowsky Award

Project Title: Stochastic Analysis, Lyapunov Exponents
David Wierschen
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alexander (Sasha) Teplyaev, Department of Mathematics

Project Title: Functionalization and Analysis of Graphene Oxide and Its Applications
Adam Woomer, Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Douglas Adamson, Department of Chemistry

Project Title: Signal Detecting Theory for Detecting Sound Periodicity
Cheng Yang, Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Heather Reed, Department of Psychology
Named Award: Treibick Scholars

Project Title: Reconstruction of Rhodopsin in Nanodiscs and Lipodisq Complexes
Diane Yu, Structural Biology/Biophysics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Arlene Albert, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Named Award: Dr. John Tanaka Academic Enhancement Fund for Honors

2012 SHARE Awardees

Posted on May 22, 2012February 4, 2016 by McGuire, Caroline

The SHARE program supports undergraduate research projects in the social sciences, humanities, and arts. We are pleased to announce the 10 awardees for the Spring 2012 semester.

Project Title: Transcendentalism, Social Protest, and Economic Crisis: The Experience of the Panic of 1837 in Emerson’s Concord, 1837-1844
Student Apprentice: Elizabeth Kelly, American Studies Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert A. Gross, Department of History

Project Title: I vs. Me: Pronoun Use in the Development of Theory of Mind in Autism
Student Apprentice: Allison Fitch, Psychology Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Inge-Marie Eigsti, Department of Psychology

Project Title: Governing Climate Change: Local Impacts on a Global Problem
Student Apprentice: Andy Bilich, Natural Resources and Resource Economics Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mark Boyer, Department of Political Science

Project Title: The “Right to Food Campaign” in India: Its Evolution and Impact on Party Politics
Student Apprentice: Hina Samnani, Finance Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Shareen Hertel, Department of Political Science

Project Title: Imagining the Afterlife
Student Apprentice: Alexis Cordone, Religious Studies Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Clare Costley King’oo, Department of English

Project Title: Creation of a Virtual Museum for the University of Connecticut Historical Clothing Collection
Student Apprentice: Angela Armijo, Costume Design Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Laura Crow, Department of Dramatic Arts

Project Title: Prosocial Competencies, Racial/Ethnic Socialization, and School Adjustment among Caribbean and South/Central American Immigrant Children: A Preliminary Investigation
Student Apprentice: Gabrielle Phillips, Human Development and Family Studies Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Annamaria Csizmadia, Department of Human Development and Family Studies

Project Title: An Approach to Problems in Modern Auction Theory
Student Apprentice: Yuriy Loukachev, Economics Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mikhael Shor, Department of Economics

Project Title: Marau in Paris: Fashion, Gender, and Colonial Politics in the Late 19th Century
Student Apprentice: Isabelle Nat, Art History Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Anne D’Alleva, Department of Art and Art History

Project Title: Music for the Rhymed Office of Saint Louis
Student Apprentice: Anastasia Pilato, Music History Major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric Rice, Department of Music

Profiles in Undergrad Research: Devin Chaloux

Posted on May 7, 2012January 21, 2022 by Eskin, Jodi

Devin Chaloux. Photo by Frank Dahlmeyer Devin Chaloux (2010) came to the University of Connecticut with plans for eventually becoming a band teacher. “But when I got here, I took a mandatory course on music theory designed to broaden student understanding on the subject of music,” says Chaloux, who will be the student speaker at the School of Fine Arts’ undergraduate commencement ceremony. “I was hooked.”
Music theory is the study of the science of music, explains Chaloux. Theorists break down compositions to their basic components in order to understand how and why music works the way it does. “In chemistry there are molecules; in physics there are atoms,” says Chaloux. “With music theory, the basic building blocks that you’re working with are the single notes of a piece.”
Chaloux decided to come to UConn after a stellar piano audition that left him feeling comfortable with the faculty who would later become his close advisors. He studied piano with professors Neal Larrabee and Minyoung Lee, and composition with Professor Kenneth Fuchs. He is graduating this semester with a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory.
One of 24 University Scholars graduating this year, Chaloux developed a senior project titled “A Theoretical and Analytical Approach to Poetry by Emily Dickinson through Composition.” The project allowed Chaloux to work with faculty from both the Department of Music in the School of Fine Arts and the Department of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“I worked with Professor David Abraham from CLAS to really read into the poetry and develop my own interpretations of the texts,” says Chaloux. “At the same time, I was working closely with Dr. Kenneth Fuchs to create compositions for voice and piano, using Emily Dickinson’s poetry for the text of the songs.”

Chaloux’s project was performed on March 28. He has since been accepted to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he will be working towards a master’s degree in music theory. He hopes to someday earn a doctorate in music theory and become a tenure-track professor.

“I started out wanting to teach band,” says Chaloux. “I never dreamed that I’d wind up where I am today.”

Adapted from a UConn Today story by Timothy Stobierski.

Profiles in Undergrad Research: Alexis Cordone

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Eskin, Jodi

Alexis Cordone ’14 (CLAS) and her research mentor Clare Costley King’oo, assistant professor of English. (Ariel Dowski ’14 (CLAS)/UConn Photo)

Protestants and Catholics waged bloody wars over doctrinal differences during the Reformation, but an undergraduate research project shows they shared similar views about hell. In a historical study comparing how eternal damnation was depicted in centuries-old religious texts, Alexis Cordone 2014 (CLAS), a religious studies major, found more similarities than differences between the two denominations.

Cordone attributes this unexpected convergence to the fact that what the two groups were reading about hell was virtually the same material. She cites, for example, “a sixteenth-century devotional handbook that was first published by a Jesuit [Catholic],” and then “republished by a Protestant.” Investigating the two versions of the handbook in detail, Cordone says she began to notice that “most of the content about hell in the second publication was exactly the same as that in the original.”

During this historical period, when opposing religious powers were engaged in a struggle across much of Europe, such re-publication methods led to a surprising degree of “ecumenical” thought. This continuity “was not what I would have expected for works written about such a controversial topic during the Reformation,” says Cordone.

Cordone’s opportunity to examine early printed books in detail and uncover insights into what scholars know about the Reformation period, comes thanks to a UConn program that funds undergraduate research in the social sciences, humanities, and arts.

UConn’s Office of Undergraduate Research has taken the initiative to promote and support early career undergraduate research such as Cordone’s. The Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts Research Experience (SHARE) program encourages a research partnership between a student and faculty member, which exposes the student to research in these disciplines and provides the faculty member with an apprentice for their professional projects.

The program was initiated in 2010 by Lynne Goodstein, associate vice provost for enrichment programs and director of the Honors Program, and the then-director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, Jennifer Lease-Butts, to promote research experience in the early stages of students’ undergraduate careers in the social sciences, humanities, and arts.

Attention to early career research is beneficial for students in the long run, says the current program coordinator of the Office of Undergraduate Research, Gwen Pearson. “The fact that SHARE is specifically for early students makes it unique,” she says. “It’s usually been juniors and seniors that are heavily involved in research. There’s recognition now that if you help freshman and sophomores get ready for that, then they will have an even better experience.”

Early career research is also crucial in preparing students in the social sciences, humanities, and arts for competitive research grants against candidates in the hard sciences who have been exposed to research early on in laboratory courses.

“The students who were able to start in labs in their freshman and sophomore year, by the time they were writing a proposal for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fund grant they were more grounded in their work and able to discuss methodology with more authority,” Goodstein says. “We thought that [SHARE] was the equivalent of the lab experiences students in the sciences had.”

Another rewarding feature of the SHARE program is the opportunity faculty members and students have to establish a working partnership. “The research proposal is jointly submitted by the faculty member and the student,” says Goodstein. “[What’s great] about being a faculty member working with ambitious students is the personal satisfaction you get from being able to watch the student develop.”

Clare Costley King’oo, associate director of graduate studies and assistant professor in the English department, agrees that the partnership is a rewarding one. “Training an undergraduate apprentice is no doubt challenging. But the benefits far outweigh the costs,” says King’oo who mentored Cordone in her immersion into Reformation literature.

For her part, Cordone is grateful for the opportunity to help with researching literature relevant to the Protestant Reformation. “It’s given me a better understanding of the development of modern Catholic and Protestant teachings,” she says. “I am also gaining a lot of firsthand experience in understanding the course and development of a research project in the humanities.”

Undergraduate research is intense: for many students, it opens up a whole new world of information they did not know was available to them, notes King’oo. “These grants enable undergraduate students to get a better picture, early on in their careers, of the kind of work we non-scientists do as scholars,” she says. “I hope, in particular, that it will persuade some undergraduates to prepare for graduate work in the social sciences, humanities, and arts.”

Stephanie Godbout, one of last year’s SHARE recipients, is enthusiastic about the research she conducted with mentor JoAnn Robinson, a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. Godbout’s project was a study of the relationships formed within the JumpStart program between mentors and preschool children. She too says that the partnership opened her eyes to the research opportunities available in the social sciences.

“Prior to my involvement in the SHARE program, I had little knowledge of how research in the social sciences was conducted,” she says. “The program gave me the opportunity to learn how to develop a research question, design a study, collect and analyze data, and ultimately complete a cohesive thesis. In addition, it allowed me to form wonderful relationships with my thesis supervisor, graduate students, and fellow undergraduate researchers.”

As for the impact of the program, King’oo says, “I would certainly recommend the experience – not just to faculty members, but to students, too.”

Applications for the 2013 SHARE program will be available for students and faculty on August 30, 2012. Applications are due in October and winners will be announced in December.

Adapted from a UConn Today story by Lynnette Repollet

Profiles in Undergrad Research: Danielle Millar

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Eskin, Jodi

Nursing students do research too–here’s an example! Danielle received a 2011 SURF award from the Office of Undergraduate Research.

At the cusp of graduation, nursing senior Danielle Millar (Nursing 2012) has learned to balance academic and social excellence. She entered the School of Nursing during her freshman year at UConn. “I wanted to be a nurse, because it’s a great integration of science and medicine and social skills,” she says. “You have to have the knowledge to ask difficult questions and genuinely care about the answers you get.”

But Millar wasn’t always so gregarious. “I was a much more reserved person when I came to UConn,” she recalls. Looking back on her growth as a student and the challenges she has conquered in her four years as an undergraduate, she says it wasn’t always easy. It’s clear, however, that she has overcome the initial anxiety she felt when she embarked on her college career.

A student in the Honors Program, Millar has spent the past two years researching the effects of omega-3 fatty acids in treating the symptoms of PMS. Working with her mentor Michelle Judge, she solicited participants from across the University to participate in her research, coordinating more than 50 volunteers. Now that her study is complete and her findings in, Millar is hard at work preparing poster presentations and writing her senior thesis.

In addition to nursing and academics, Millar has been an avid dancer since childhood. She has spent the past four years as a member of the UConn Dance Company, as both dancer and choreographer. “I was in the first generation able to spend all four years in the company,” she says. “We helped to create a lot of structure and set the company up for success.” Millar studies all types of dance, from ballet to jazz, and works at a dance studio in Ellington instructing young ballerinas.

Millar is excited to graduate and begin work as a full-time nurse. A recent summer internship at the UConn Health Center has her eager for the future. Her success was recognized by the School of Nursing this year, when she received the Undergraduate Senior Woman Award in April.

Adapted from a UConn Today story by Devin O’Hara