UConn IDEA Grant Recipients

Fall 2025 Recipient Bios

Click the bios below to learn more about our 26th cohort of UConn IDEA Grant recipients!

Boe Burke ’29

Boe Burke ’29, Art, SFA

Malicious Masculinity: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, and the Gendered Creative

Boe Burke is a freshman student from Naugatuck, CT, studying visual arts with a minor in English. They are in the Honors program, as well as the BFA program with an undecided concentration. They are interested in the expression of literary concepts as art, how creative fields overlap, and unique perspectives on gender conveyed through the arts. Their artistic influences are focused on the human form and its relationship to the grotesque. They intend to pursue a career in art and English education.

For their project, they will be examining the life of author, Mary Shelley, in the context of gender studies in relation to the historical silencing and discrediting of creative works composed by women by developing an extensive knowledge of relevant literature. Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, will be investigated through the lens of gender, then related to Mary Shelley’s career and life. The cross-section of historical and literary analysis will be conveyed through a series of six pieces with a variety of mediums (paintings, drawings, and collages) to bridge the gap between literature and art.

Rebecca Denhart ’27

Rebecca Denhart ’27

Molecular & Cell Biology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, CLAS

Characterizing the Accumulation and Succession of Microorganisms on Bird Feeders

Portrait of IDEA Grant recipient Rebecca Denhart - student is smiling, has a cap on her head, and is wearing a black jacket, there are mountains and a lake in the background.Rebecca Denhart is a junior honors student double-majoring in Molecular & Cell Biology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, pursuing a career in dental medicine. Her research interests are interdisciplinary and unified by the One Health approach. On campus, she helps lead the Birding Club and Project Smile Global, and assists with conservation biology research in the Elphick Lab. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor recreation, reading, and brewing pour-over coffee.

Generalized supplemental feeding of wild birds by humans occurs on an enormous scale in the Western world and has both positive and negative impacts on wild bird populations. Rebecca’s IDEA project will address the conflicting ecological effects of supplemental feeding and investigate how disease transmission, facilitated by bird feeders, may be involved. Experimentally, her project will test how bird activity affects the accumulation and succession of microorganisms, particularly avian pathogens, on uncleaned bird feeders over time. She hopes this project will help inform an ideal feeding strategy that minimizes adverse ecological and health impacts on wild birds.

Veda Reddy ’27

Vedaamrutha (Veda) Reddy ’27

Molecular & Cell Biology, CLAS; Minor: Healthcare Management & Insurance Studies, BUS

Functional Validation of AI-Predicted Non-Coding RHD Regulatory Variants Using CRISPR Editing

Picture of IDEA Grant Recipient Veda Reddy - Close-up picture of Veda, smiling.Veda Reddy is a third-year honors student and recipient of UConn’s STEM Scholarship from Westwood, MA, majoring in Molecular & Cell Biology with a minor in Healthcare Management and Insurance Studies. Her research experience spans regenerative biology and clinical oncology, including independent, grant-funded research at UConn Health as a 2024 Holster Scholar and contributions to multi-institutional studies with JPS Health Network and UT Southwestern Medical Center examining cancer care disparities in safety-net healthcare systems. Her work has resulted in a peer-reviewed publication and first-author national conference abstract, reflecting her interest in translational research.

For her project, Veda will conduct research in Boston at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Dr. Li Chai’s laboratory, under the co-mentorship of Dr. Jun Liu (BWH) and Dr. Vanessa Scanlon (UCHC). Her project focuses on the functional validation of non-coding regulatory variants in the RHD gene predicted by Google’s AlphaGenome model, using CRISPR-based genome editing approaches. By experimentally testing AI-generated predictions, her work aims to improve understanding of gene regulation in clinically significant blood group systems and to address gaps in genomic research that disproportionately affect underrepresented populations.

Claire Zess ’27

Claire Zess ’27

Animal Science, CAHNR

Breed-Specific Gene Expression and Susceptibility to Ringworm in Dairy Heifers

UConn IDEA Grant recipient Claire Zess, smiling, standing in a barn in front of a metal barrier with a black and white cow.Claire Zess is an Animal Science junior undergraduate with a strong interest in dairy cattle health, genetics, and management. Claire is actively involved in UConn’s agricultural community, serving as an officer in both the UConn Dairy Club and Block & Bridle Club. She hopes to attend grad school to study dairy cattle health and genetics, with the long-term goal of working in the dairy industry and managing her own small herd of livestock.

Claire’s IDEA grant project builds on her SURF research by shifting from phenotypic observation to molecular analysis. Her earlier work demonstrated that jersey heifers exhibited greater and more variable disease burden compared to Holsteins, prompting questions about the biological mechanisms behind these differences. For this project, Claire will analyze gene expression in paired healthy and ringworm-infected skin biopsies from Holstein and Jersey heifers using RNA sequencing. By identifying differentially expressed genes and immune pathways associated with infection, she aims to understand breed-specific responses to bovine dermatophytosis. By applying molecular tools to a common industry disease, she aims to inform future management and treatment strategies within UConn and the industry.

UConn IDEA Grant Recipients

26 groups of students have been awarded UConn IDEA Grants since the program's inception in Spring 2013. View the names of recipients and their project titles by cohort below. Click on the tiled images below to view the recipient names and project titles by cohort.