VPRI Undergraduate Fellowship Recipients

2024 Recipients

Nicholas Burns

Environmental Science

Mentor: Lauren Hallett

Flowering Plant Species Fitness in Response to Neighboring Competition & Pollination

Petra Chinsangaram

Psychology

Mentor: Melissa Baese-Berk

The role of experience in the perception of non-native speech

Kaden Coulter

Data Science

Mentor: Michelle Marneweck

DeepMReye Implementation 

Kimberley Davis

Biology          *Hui Scholar

Mentor: David Garcia

Effects of Phosphorylation on the Pus4 Protein in Yeast

Olivia Estes

Psychology

Mentor: Michael Wehr

The Effect of Ketamine on Behavior and Pathology of Alzheimer's Model Mice

Paul Graf

Biology

Mentor: Alice Barkan

Designer RNA Binding Proteins as Switches to Modulate Chloroplast Gene Expression in Plants 

Skye Grubb

Anthropology          *Hui Scholar

Mentor: Frances White

Fluctuating Asymmetry of the Crania and Postcrania in Primates

Dora Ho

Multidisciplinary Sciences

Mentor: Dare Baldwin

Infant Responsiveness to Maternal Play Bids in the Context of Poor Nutritional Health

Lazar Isakharov

Human Physiology

Mentor: Ashley Walker

Zinc Status on Copper-Mediated Oxidative Stress and Cerebrovascular Health in Alzheimer's Disease.

Payton Jefferis

Biochemistry

Mentor: Marian Hettiaratchi

Co-delivery of Immunoregulatory and Osteogenic Proteins for Promotion of Localize Bone Repair. 

Elena Kuypers

Biology          *Urman Scholar

Mentor: Diana Libuda

Localization and interaction of proteins and ZNFX-1 in C. elegans

Zach Marshall

Biochemistry

Mentor: Adrianne Huxtable

Viral neonatal inflammation impairs adult respiratory motor plasticity in male and female rats.

Kathryn Morris

Psychology, Sociology

Mentor: Claire Herbert

When Home is Illegal: How Law and Governance Shape Informal Sheltering in Lane County

Tapley Sorenson

Neuroscience          *Hui Scholar

Mentor: David McCormick

Assessing Cortical Noradrenergic Activity Across the Sleep-Wake Cycle in a Mouse Model

Tallula Wynia

Human Physiology, Philosophy          *Hui Scholar

Mentor: Ashley Walker

Aortic Protein Expression and Elastin Insufficiency

 

2023 Recipients

Sanjana Basak, Biology

Mentor: Hironori Uehara

OptiDicer reduces long CUG RNA accumulation in corneal endothelial cells from patients with Fuchs’ dystrophy

Tamara Alacorn Basurto, Product Design

Mentor: Brian Gillis

Design of zero-energy cooling systems for fresh food preservation in the jungle region of Peru

Hye Lynn Choi, Human Physiology

Mentor: Damien Callahan

The Effects of Aging and Fatigue on Musculotendinous Compliance

Madeleine Ford, Human Physiology

Mentor: Marian Hettiaratchi

Characterization of VEGF Controlled Delivery Systems

Zealon Gentry-Lear, Biology  *Hui Scholar

Mentor: Melanie Spero

Characterizing and Understanding Synergistic Drug Interactions for Killing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Sam Heilenbach, Psychology

Mentor: Dare Baldwin

Pupillometry as a measure of Infant Hearing

Ainsley Hogan, Human Physiology and Biology

Mentor: Ashley Walker

Sex Differences and the Impact of Large Artery Stiffness on Cerebrovascular and Cognitive Function

Eleanor Laufer, Biochemistry

Mentor: Patrick Phillips 

High-throughput Fitness Estimates of Epistatic Contributions to Ivermectin Resistance in Caenorhabditis elegans

Thomas Leonhardt, Human Physiology

Mentor: Ashley Walker

Are Whole-body Metabolic Alterations Dependent on Sex, Age, and APOE Genotype?

Eden McCall, Spatial Data Science and Journalism

Mentor: Erik Stejner

On Creating Environmental Histories: LandTalk from Research to Practice

Madeline Thomason, Biology

Mentor: Kryn Stankunas

Investigating whether Actinotrichia-Niche Cell Interactions Regulate Fin Regeneration

Colin Thurston, Human Physiology

Mentor: John Halliwill

Effects of Histamine Receptor Antagonism on Oxygen Uptake and Recovery Kinetics

Olivia Wilborn-Pilotte, Biology

Mentor: Jeff Diez 

Pollination Strategy as an Evolutionary Adaptation to Changing Climate in Scarlet Monkeyflower (Erythranthe cardinalis)

Alexa Wright, Psychology  *Hui Scholar

Mentor: Michael Wehr

The Effect of Psychedelics on Early Alzheimer's Pathology

Ayisha Tamerhoulet, Communication Disorders and Sciences  *Hui Scholar

Mentor: Caitlin Fausey

How Everyday Musical Experiences Shape Emerging Vocabulary Development and Infant Vocalizations 

 

2022 Recipients

Eleanor Codding

Faculty Mentor: Lauren Hallett

Project Title: Post Fire Reseeding Effects on the Genetic Diversity of Native Grass in the Great Basin


David Lefevre

Faculty Mentor: Brian Smith

Project Title: Photon Propagation Simulation through Glacier Ice


Noah Lovgren

Faculty Mentor: Hans Dreyer

Project Title: Impact of a Single Bout of Blood Flow Restriction Exercise on Muscle Satellite Cell Numbers


Larkin Lucy

Faculty Mentor: Alison Burggren

Project Title: Understanding the Impacts of Heat Therapy on Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease in the Hippocampal Region of the Brain 


Ava Minu-Sepehr

Faculty Mentor: Liska Chan

Project Title: Counter-mapping the Coos Bay Estuary: Amplifying Indigenous Voices and Histories


Will Nusbaum

Faculty Mentor: Daniel Pimentel

Project Title: Virtual Excursions for Science Learning (VESL)


Zachary Pennel

Faculty Mentor: Keat Ghee Ong

Project Title: Development Of An Accurate Optical-Based Shear Sensor Under Compressive Force


Megan Rangel-Lynch

Faculty Mentor: Sarah Wald

Project Title: Exploring Community Engagement in Context of Forest Management Planning for Mt. Hood National Forest


Sabrina Reis

Faculty Mentor: Thanh Nguyen

Project Title: Learn to Intervene: Using Artificially Intelligent Public Health Outreach to Improve the Uptake of Diabetes Prevention Behaviors in India


Maili Smith

Faculty Mentor: Kirstin Sterner

Project Title: A Cross-Tissue Analysis of Differential Methylation in Male vs Female Macaques

 

2021 Recipients

Sarah Beaudoin

Faculty Mentor: Shannon Boettcher

Project Title: Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolyzers for Dirty Water Splitting and Hydrogen Gas Production


Jared Knofczynski

Faculty Mentor: Ram Durairajan

Project Title: A Multi-Task Weak Supervision Framework for Internet Measurements


Aleena Khurana

Faculty Mentor: Ashley Walker

Project Title: OVX Alters Gene Expression in Relation to Vascular Function


Karly Fear

Faculty Mentor: Parisa Hosseinzadeh

Project Title: Design and characterization of selective BMP protein binders for fracture regeneration


Ethan Scott

Faculty Mentor: Dare Baldwin

Project Title: ChangeDwell: The Interaction Between Change Blindness and Dwell Time Paradigms  


Idil Osman

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Graboyes

Project Title: Underreporting of Epidemic Rebound Malaria in the African Continent


Alexandra Jagielski

Faculty Mentor: Zachary Dubois

Project Title: Experiences and Health of Transgender People of Color During COVID-19


Marlee Odell

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Graboyes

Project Title: COVID-19 Quarantine Hesitancy in Lane County 


Alexander Bui

Faculty Mentor: Philip Fisher

Project Title: Evaluating Responsive Caregiving: Comparing Constructs of Caregiver Sensitivity Within Dyadic Interaction


Zoe Haupt

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Baese-Berk

Project Title: Do we perceive when they deceive? The effect of pauses and dialect on deception detection


2020 recipients

Dimitra Fellman

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Graboyes

Project Title: Oregon's Response to COVID-19: Approaches and Outcomes to Social Distancing and Testing


Odalis Aguilar Aguilar

Faculty Mentor: Julie Weise

Project Title: Promesas Ingenuas/False Promises


Rachel Conner

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Graboyes

Project Title: 100 Years of Malaria in Zanzibar, East Africa


Mikala Capage

Faculty Mentor: David Garcia

Project Title: Hunting for prions: Using inheritance patterns in yeast cells to attribute epigenetic states to prion proteins


Isabel Crabtree

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Baese-Berk

Project Title: Influence of Listener Ideology on Perception of Non-Native Speech Intensity 


Tillie Trebon

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Baese-Berk

Project Title: Effect of hesitation sound phonetic quality on perception of language fluency


Rachel Hur

Faculty Mentor: Ben Farr

Project Title: Improving accuracy in LIGO's parameter estimation software


Laura Nosler

Faculty Mentor: Laura Jeanty

Project Title: Supersymmetric Long Lived Particle Search


Brenna Barton

Faculty Mentor: Julie Weise

Project Title: Cultural Transitions: Language and Identity in Post WW-II Spanish migrants


Parker Morris

Faculty Mentor: Amanda Cook

Project Title: Rational Design of Molecular Nickel Catalysts for Remote Hydrofunctionalization Applications


2019 recipients

Kayla Walker

Major: Linguistics

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Baese-Berk

Project Title: The Role of Semantic Predictability in Adaptation to Non-Native Speech


Abbey Ward

Major: Communication Disorders and Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Stephanie De Anda

Project Title: Language Dominance in Bilingual Spanish-English Children


Arden Saravis

Major: International Studies & Mathematics

Faculty Mentor: Clare Evans

Project Title: The Correlation Between Stigma Stemming from HIV and Antiretroviral Packaging: Design Recommendations for Introducing Discrete Packaging for Adolescents in Kenya


Konrad Bailey

Major: Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Santiago Jaramillo

Project Title: Neural and behavioral assays for studying predictive coding in the mouse brain


Byron Lee

Major: Human Physiology and Biology

Faculty Mentor: Ashley Walker

Project Title: Robo4 Project


Jacob Evarts

Major: Computer and Information Science

Faculty Mentor: David Garcia

Project Title: Identifying New RNA-regulating Prions in Yeast


Anna Kulawiec

Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Eric Selker

Project Title: Differentiation between PRC2 and H3K27 Methylation in Repression


Nora Kearns

Major: Human Physiology

Faculty Mentor: Elinor Sullivan

Project Title: The Influence of Maternal Fatty Acids and in Utero Inflammation on Child Behavior


Dagny Daniel

Major: Cultural Anthropology 

Faculty Mentor: Ana-Maurine Lara

Project Title:Navigating the Intersections of Political and Sexual Identity: Ethnographic Interviews among Queer Muslims in Oregon


Sabrina Raqueno-Angel

Major: Human Physiology

Faculty Mentor: John Halliwill

Project Title: The Effect of pH on Histamine Release


George Deardorff

Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Scott Stewart 

Project Title: Characterizing the role of Dach during bony ray branching in the zebrafish caudal fin skeleton


Hayli Brown

Major: Linguistics, Japanese

Faculty Mentor: Kaori Idemaru

Project Title: Acoustic Sources of Accent in Second Language Japanese Speech


Kara Krnacik

Major: Economics

Faculty Mentor: Edward Rubin and Melissa Graboyes

Project Title: The Effects of Abstinence-Only Funding on Teen Pregnancy and STD Rates


Adeline Fecker

Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Philip Washbourne

Project Title:The Influence of Sensory Systems in Social Behavior of Zebrafish


Nolan Rudolph

Major: Computer Science

Faculty Mentor: Ramakrishnan Durairajan

Project Title: New Capabilities for Self-Driving Networks


Chaney Hart

Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Eric Selker

Project Title: Dissecting The Role Cohesin Plays in Influencing the Structure of the Genome in Neurospora crassa

2018 recipients

Eleanor Rochester

Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Melissa Graboyes

Project Title:  “I Don’t Have Deaths on my Conscience”: Perspectives of Intravenous Drug Users on a Peer-Delivered Naloxone Program in Eugene, Oregon


Takako Iwashita

Major: Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Dasa Zeithamova

Project Title: Behavioral and Neural Predictors of Individual Differences in Concept Generalization


Casey Bisted

Major: Chemistry

Faculty Mentor: James Hutchison

Project Title: The Development of a System to Determine the Size Dependence of In2O3 Nanocatalysts on CO2 Reduction


Cameron Colbert

Major: Human Physiology and Spanish

Faculty Mentor: Christopher Minson

Project Title: Hemodynamics of Post-Exercise and Post-Passive Heat Stress Recovery


Elise Kronquist

Major: Human Physiology

Faculty Mentor: Ashley Walker

Project Title: The Effect of Pyridoxamine on Ages and Aortic Wall Structure


Allison Schukis

Major: Art and Art History

Faculty Mentor: Kristen Seaman

Project Title: Phrasikleia Kore: Alternative Roles for Female Viewership


Anson Dang

Major: Biochemistry

Faculty Mentor: Andy Marcus & Peter von Hippel


Eden Brush

Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Matt Barber

Project Title: Host-microbe evolutionary antagonism in primates: HopQ’s role as a bacterial adhesin targeting CEACAM1


Tony Munoz

Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Matt Smear

Project Title: Odor Concentration Change Sensing in Mice


Patrick Connor

Major: Biochemistry

Faculty Mentor: Michael Harms

Project Title: Thermodynamic and structural determination of metal and peptide binding to the human S100A9 protein.


Christopher Misa

Major: Math and Computer Science

Faculty Mentor: Ram Durairajan

Project Title: Improving Measurement Accuracy in Containers Through Trace-based Network Stack Latency Monitoring

Presentations associated with this research:

2019 Applied Networking Research Workshop


Katie Fischer

Major: Environmental Science

Faculty Mentor: Matthew Polizzotto

Project Title: Arsenic and Fluoride Contamination Analysis of Agricultural Topsoil in Guanajuato, Mexico


Fiona De Los Rios-McCutcheon

Major: Geography and Political Science

Faculty Mentor: Laura Pulido

Project Title: Environmental Narratives of Othering: Comparing English and Spanish Language Coverage of Air Pollution in Mexico


Joy Wilcox

Major: General Social Sciences and Sociology

Faculty Mentor: Debra Thompson

Project Title: Racialized and Gendered Justice in the Criminal Court System


Nikki Szczepanski

Major: Biochemistry

Faculty Mentor: Diana Libuda

Project Title: Characterizing Early DNA Break Repair in C. Elegans


2017 recipients

Adrian Gordon

Major: Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: Shannon Boettcher
Project Title: Energetic Loss From the Use of Hole Scavengers to Measure Photoelectrochemical Cell Efficiency Limits


Aidan Grealish

Major: Art & Technology
Faculty Mentor: Colin Ives
Project Title: The Body Electronic: Exploring the Permeability of the Self in the Age of Wearable Computing


Alexander Lygo

Major: Physics and Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: David Johnson
Project Title: Elucidating the effects of nanoarchitecture on weak localization in (SnSe)m[TiSe2]2

Publications related to this research project:

Kinetically Controlled Formation and Decomposition of [(BiSe)1+δ]m[TiSe2]m Metastable Compounds

Structural Changes as a Function of Thickness in [(SnSe)1+δ]mTiSe2Heterostructures


Allison Zhou

Major: Biology (neuroscience emphasis)
Faculty Mentor: Caitlin Fausey
Project Title: How Object Frequency Distribution Affects Early Word Learning


Anisha Adke

Major: Biology
Faculty Mentor: Adam Miller
Project Title: The genetic basis of the first connections of the brain


Clara Gorman

Major: History
Faculty Mentor: Kevin Hatfield and Jennifer O’Neal
Project Title: Inter-tribal Dynamics of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and Grande Ronde Reservations


Geena Littel

Major: Earth Sciences (geophysics) and Applied Math
Faculty Mentor: Amanda Thomas
Project Title: Variation in Seismic-wave Attenuation along the Cascadia Subduction Zone Determined from Tectonic Tremor

Presentations related to this research project:

– American Geophysical Union


Lila Kaye

Major: Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology
Faculty Mentor: Karen Guillemin
Project Title: Determining the Fitness Advantage Conferred by Anti-inflammatory Gene Expression to Commensal Bacteria


Peace Kotamnives

Major: Physics and Mathematics
Faculty Mentor: Eric Torrence
Project Title: Search for Di-Higgs Resonance at the ATLAS Experiment


Sarah Hovet

Major: English and Journalism
Faculty Mentor: Barbara Mossberg
Project Title: Beyond Muses: Feminism and Gender in Modern Irish Literature (1880 – Present) from Augusta Gregory to Eavan Boland

Presentations related to this research project:

Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society – 1st Place Award in Essay Contest

2016 recipients

Augustine Beard 

Major: History
Faculty Mentor: Mark Carey
Project Title: Colonial-Environmental Narrative of the Great Basin in the 19th Century


Ayantu Megerssa

Major: International Studies
Faculty Mentor: Kevin Hatfield
Project Title: Genocide and the Northern Paiute: A History of Colonization, Dehumanization, and Extermination


Bryce Keicher

Major: International Studies and Spanish
Faculty Mentor: Dan Tichenor
Project Title: Mexican Drug War: Displacement and Human Rights Affects on Guatemalan Refugees


Drew Jordan McLaughlin

Major: Linguistics
Faculty Mentor: Melissa Baese-Berk
Project Title: Individual Differences in Perception of Variation in Speech

Presentations related to this research project:

Northwest Phonetics and Phonology Conference
Acoustical Society of America Conference


Eugenia Lollini

Major: Anthropology and Romance Languages
Faculty Mentor: Carol Silverman
Project Title: Before the Spectacle: Shaping Gender and Class Identity in Beirut’s Beauty Salons


Hanna McIntosh

Major: Environmental Science and Biology
Faculty Mentor: Matt Streisfeld
Project Title: Genetic architecture of local adaptation and reproductive isolation in Mimulus aurantiacus


Johnathan Crandall

Major: Biology
Faculty Mentor: William Cresko
Project Title: The Genomic Architecture of Adaptive Divergence in G. aculeatus


Justine Vanloan Nguyen

Major: Human Physiology
Faculty Mentor: Kryn Stankunas
Project Title: VEGF Signaling Contributions to Heart Ventricle Development


Michael McIntosh

Major: Economics
Faculty Mentor: Anca Cristea
Project Title: Localized Economic Impacts of Immigration on the West Coast


Michael Womack

Major: Physics and Mathematics
Faculty Mentor: Greg Bothun
Project Title: Wavelet Analysis of the PNI Climate Index


Sally Elizabeth Claridge

Major: Biology
Faculty Mentor: Patrick Phillips
Project Title: Genomic Analysis of the Chronic Heat Stress Resistance Phenotype in Caenorhabditis remanei


Taryn Kawashima

Major: Biochemistry
Faculty Mentor: Ramesh Jasti
Project Title: Carbon Nanohoops as New Bioimaging Probes

 

Return to VPRI Undergraduate Fellowship website.