URA 2023-2024 Awardees

Undergraduate Research Awards for 2023-2024 have been awarded to 72 students from disciplines and departments across campus. Click on the names below to read the abstracts that summarize each research project, and mark your calendars to attend Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day to see these students present their research findings.

Information for current scholars

A | B | C | D | F | G | H | I |J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | W

Nicholas Agouridis
“Scope++: An open-source, efficient C++ microscopy software”
Biological Sciences
Daniel Lobo

Fairine Ahmed
“Design of a Stable Antibody: HIV-1 RNA Complex Suitable for Structural Studies”
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Michael Summers

– Top –

Iman Ahmed
“A Comparison of Sequential and Simultaneous Bilingualism in College Students”
Psychology
Mirela Cengher

Maxine Akunnakwe
“Measuring behavioral visual acuity in two darter species: Etheostoma caeruleum and E. olmstedi”
Biological Sciences
Tamra Mendelson and Yseult Héjja-Brichard

– Top –

Roxey Alam
“Gender-Based Violence: Barries that Prevent Helf-Seeking Behaviors”
Psychology
Christopher Murphy

Jordann Allen
“Mayor Eric Adams’ Subway Sweeps: Criminalization of the Homeless in New York City”
American Studies
Michael Casiano

– Top –

Thirandie Bambaradeniya
“Education and Access to Policy: A Case Study on Heat Waves”
Geography and Environmental Systems
Dawn Biehler

Sonia Borenstein
“Exploring New horizons in Creative Improvisation”
Visual Arts
Linda Dusman

– Top –

Violeta Brito
“Documenting the Everyday Experiences of the Haitian Diaspora in Dominican Republic”
Global Studies
Felipe Filomeno

Caylee Brown
“Aromatherapy or Toxic Exposure: An Investigation into the Effects of Nicotine-Containing Electronic Cigarette Vapor Exposure on Main Olfactory Epithelium Neurogenesis”
Biological Sciences
Weihong Lin

– Top –

Francesca Burton
“Using Behavioral Assays to Study Genes Associated with Autism in Drosophila Fruit Flies”
Biological Sciences
Fernando Vonhoff

Julia Chang
“The South Korean Diaspora Within Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and its Expression Through Art”
Visual Arts
Beth Yashnyk

– Top –

Abrar Chaudhry
“An Open-Source Image Acquisition Software for Broadening Research to Underprivileged Individuals”
Biological Sciences
Daniel Lobo

Mare Chavez
“Spinning Songs, Weaving Poetry”
Ancient Studies
Molly Jones-Lewis

– Top –

MaryRose Cohn
“Impact of COVID-19 on Fall Risks of Older Adults Living in Assisted Living Facilities”
Aging Studies
Louise Murray

Tessa Cone
“The Politics of Abortion”
Political Science
Lisa Vetter

– Top –

Joshua Dayie
“Characterizing the Aspergillus nidulans Kinase Deletion Library for Increased Septation in Response to Cell Wall Stress”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Mark Marten

Gabby Dennis
“Investigating Inhibition Control in two Darter Fish Species: Etheostoma caeruleum and Etheostoma flabellare”
Biological Sciences
Tamra Mendelson

– Top –

Ousmane Diop
“Self-Expression through a series of Black and White Photography”
Visual Arts
Calla Thompson

Casey Douglas
“Characterizing Wall Strength and Morphological Defects of an mpkA;hogA Deletion Strain”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Mark Marten

– Top –

Liam Forton
Development of MALDI-MSI Methods to Localize Lipids and Neuropeptides
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Herena Kamal Seneviratne

Elias Gilotte
“ATP Biosensor Sensor for Cell-Free Protein Synthesis”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Govind Rao and Chad Sundberg

– Top –

Sethumadhavan Gokulakrishnan
“Determining Regions Within UCHL3 that Regulates its Stability and Turnover in Ovarian Cancer Cells”
Biological Sciences
Achuth Padmanabhan

Jolie Greer
“Horsemanship and Training in Ancient Greek”
Ancient Studies
Molly Jones-Lewis

– Top –

Brandon Gouin
“Body Percussion: Expanding the Canon of Contemporary Works for the Oldest Instrument”
Music
Lisa Cella

Maxfield Hartley
“Stochastic Thermodynamics of Music”
Physics
Sebastian Deffner

– Top –

Garrett Hill
“Characterization of the PrkA Protein Kinase in Aspergillus nidulans”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Mark Marten

Jessica Hoffman
“Determining the Role of Zinc Finger protein 217 in Ovarian Cancer”
Biological Sciences
Achuth Padmanabhan

– Top –

Nyla Howell
“Racial Oppression and Community Perceptions of Disasters and Disaster Preparedness”
Geography and Environmental Systems
Dawn Biehler and Lauren Clay

Ashher Irfan
“The Effects of Telomere Shortening in Prostate Epithelial Cells using Transgenic Mouse Lines”
Biological Sciences
Charles Bieberich

– Top –

Rachael Joslow
“How Parental Racial-Ethnic Socialization Contributes to Civic Engagement among Asian Americans Youth”
Psychology
Charissa Cheah

Arjun Kanjarpane
“Understanding a link between HIV-1 Nuclear Export and Genome Packaging: Understanding the competitive nature of Rev and Gag for RRE Stem 1”
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Michael Summers and Jan Marchant

– Top –

Shauna Kearney
“Synthesis of Hydroxamic Acid-Based Inhibitors for Metallo-β-Lactamase”
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Paul Smith

India Kelly
“When Puigpardines was Lord of Kardhitsa: A Study in the Frankish Period of Northern Boeotia, Greece”
History and Ancient Studies
Michael Lane

– Top –

Gina Khan
“Identity Formation of Half-Korean Biracial Individuals Living in South Korea”
Modern Languages, Linguistics and Intercultural Communication
Kyung-Eun Yoon

Nimra Khan
“Investigating the Role of RHO1 in Bacterial Clearance in Drosophila Melanogaster”
Biological Sciences
Jeff Leips

– Top –

Havvanur Kulu
“Crumbling Foundations: Investigating the Impact of Exogenous Crisis on Populist Leaders”
Political Science
Carolyn Forestiere

Bianca Lamptey-Mills
“Investigating the Effects of Electronic Cigarette Aerosol Exposure on Neuroregeneration in the Olfactory Epithelium of Adult Mice”
Biological Sciences
Weihong Lin

– Top –

Netty Lichtman
“Exploring Barriers to the Hispanic Community of Baltimore: Perceived Discrimination in the Workplace”
Social Work
Kerri Evans

Jasmine Liu
“Burnt Out vs. Lazy? How Educational Systems and Parenting Styles Affect the Mental Health and Future Goals of Indonesian and Asian-American College Students”
Biological Sciences and Psychology
Elaine MacDougall

– Top –

Keiko Luke
“Using Optogenetics to Study the Relationship Between Food Deprivation and Pain Sensitivity”
Biological Sciences
Fernando Vonhoff

Elizabeth Maloy
“Antiretroviral Induced Neurotoxicity and Cardiotoxicity”
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Herena Kamal Seneviratne

– Top –

Eva McLaughlin
“Misophonia Through the Choreographic Lens: Visualizing Complex Fight and Flight Responses”
Dance
Ann Sofie Clemmensen

Nayib Mejia
“The U.S. Healthcare Industry and the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Financial Analysis”
Economics
Douglas Lamdin

– Top –

Terra Miley
“Genetically Encoded Fluorescent Magnesium Sensor to be used in an Industrial Cell-Free Bioreactor”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Govind Rao

Meredith Morse
“Characterizing the Aspergillus nidulans Kinase Deletion Library for Septation Deficiencies”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Mark Marten

– Top –

Amina Muhammad
“Investigating the Correlation Between Traits of Depersonalization and Academic Self-Efficacy”
Psychology
Lira Yoon

Kira Ng
“Mapping Global Lives: Creating Personal Stories About Being Mixed-Race in Maryland”
Global Studies
Tania Lizarazo

– Top –

Nhi Nguyen
“Role of Hoxb13 in Regulation of the Androgen Receptor Transcriptome”
Biological Sciences
Charles Bieberich

Paisley Nowell
“Evaluating the Effects on Gadolinium Density on MRI Contrast Capabilities”
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Marie-Christine Daniel

– Top –

Augustine Obisesan
“Contribution of phosphoglucose isomerase p and phosphoglycerate mutase 1 p to glucosome formation in live cells”
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Songon An

Katelyn O’Connor
“Literally Figurative: An Exploration of the Interpretation of Idiomatic Phrases in the English Language”
Dance
Ann Sofie Clemmensen

– Top –

Inioluwa Oluseyi
“Using Optogenetics as a Tool to Study the Effects of Chronic Pain in Drosophila melanogaster”
Biological Sciences
Fernando Vonhoff

Brandon Onochie
“Investigating regulation of subcellular localization of the lysine methyltransferase, SMYD3”
Biological Sciences
Sabeen Ikram

– Top –

Emmanuela Otunuga
“Characterizing a New Cell Line Derived from a Transgenic Mouse Model of a Lethal Prostate Cancer”
Biological Sciences
Charles Bieberich

Julia Palmer
“Pushed to the Edge: The Impact of British Colonization on the Australian Aboriginal Diet”
History
Tania Lizarazo

– Top –

Tatiana Perez
“Phenotypic Characterization of the Aspergillus nidulans ΔmpkAΔnrc2 Deletion Strain”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Mark Marten

Dahne-More Pluck
“Retrieval of Planetary Boundary Layer Heights Using Radar Wind Profiles”
Physics
Belay Demoz

– Top –

Matthew Quintanilla
“High Throughput Screens to Uncover Yet Uncharacterized Cell Wall Signaling Kinases in Aspergillus nidulans”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Mark Marten and Alex Doan

Ren Reiter
“Choreographing Gender Identity Discrimination in Dance”
Dance
Ann Sofie Clemmensen

– Top –

Andrea Sequeira
“Characterization of ΔmpkA Δsnf1 Double Deletion Strain in Aspergillus nidulans”
Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
Mark Marten

Christina Shrestha
“Investigating the Effects of Low Dosages of Ethanol on Age Dependent Neurodegeneration on Drosophila”
Biological Sciences
Fernando Vonhoff

– Top –

Katie Slotten
“Circular Polarization: Extraterrestrial Life Within Our Solar System”
Physics
Eileen Meyer

Eva Stanley
“Using Behavioral Assays to Study Genes Associated with Autism in Drosophila Fruit Flies”
Biological Sciences
Fernando Vonhoff

– Top –

Riya Suthar
“Identifying Antecedents that Evoke Mands for Information in Neurotypical Children- An Analysis Across Different Age Groups/Developmental Approach”
Psychology
Mirela Cengher

Zoonash Syed
“The Effects of Religious Beliefs on Immigrant Health”
Global Studies
Felipe Filomeno

– Top –

Renata Taylor-Smith
“Staging the Amish Project: A Study in International Collaboration and Design”
Theatre
Adam Mendelson

Khoa Tran
“Opera: Antiquated, Adaptive, or Ameliorating?”
Music
Lindsay Johnson

– Top –

Alexis Tyson
“Stipend for Student Support in Research Project in Poppleton for Community Development”
Visual Arts
Nicole King

Pavan Umashankar
“Structure-Function Analysis of Ubiquitin-Specific Protease 15 (USP15) in Ovarian Cancer”
Biological Sciences
Achuth Padmanabhan

– Top –

Khady Wade
“Exploring the Relationship Between Finding Community/Sense of Belonging and Depression in College Students at UMBC”
Psychology
Laura Ting

Maggie Williams
“Stochastic Thermodynamics of Aging”
Physics
Sebastian Deffner

– Top –

Peter Wilschke
“The Political Economy of State Fiscal Cyclicality”
Political Science
Eric Stoken

 

5/29/2024