Fifty-three students at the Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA) 2024 were the recipients of 49 awards totaling $10,900, announced the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), host of the March 25 event.
“We enjoyed more than 200 exceptional posters this year from students who study and research at all six campuses, and those who received awards were judged to have delivered the very top presentations on their research, scholarship, and creative activities,” said Jeremy Lessmann, OUR director.
Held since 2012, SURCA is the only WSU-wide venue for students system-wide in every major and year in college to share their mentored research. The number of 2024 presenters and judges set new records, Lessmann said. Some presented in pairs or groups.
The award ceremony was led by WSU Provost and Executive Vice President, and WSU Pullman Chancellor Elizabeth Chilton; interim Vice Provost for Academic Engagement and Student Achievement William B. Davis; WSU Pullman Vice Chancellor for Academic Engagement Clif Stratton; Assistant Vice Provost Mary Sánchez Lanier; and Lessman.
Abstracts and additional information about each SURCA presenter are available online.
By SURCA categories in alphabetical order, each awardee’s name, campus, major, mentor, and project titles are presented below:
Applied Sciences
Crimson
- Simon Scheel
WSU Pullman
Chemistry
Mentor: Liane Moreau
“Developing Neutron Irradiation as a Method to Synthesize Controlled, Unprecedented Metal Alloy Nanoparticles”
- Jacob Buursma
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience, Honors College
Mentor: Kristen Delevich
“Long-term Effects of Adolescent Cannabis Vapor Exposure on Corticostriatal Circuits Responsible for Decision Making”
Gray
- Avery Pruitt
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience
Mentor: Rita Fuchs
David Soto
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience
Mentor: Rita Fuchs
“Cell Type of Dorsal Raphe to Basolateral Amygdala Projecting Neurons Involved in Cocaine-memory Reconsolidation”
Arts and Design
Crimson
- Jasper Willson
WSU Pullman
Multimedia Journalism, Honors College
Mentor: Lisa Waananen Jones
“Forest on Fire: A Documentary About the Changing Relationship of Fire in the Sequoia Ecosystems”
Gray
- Amanda Moed
WSU Pullman
Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles
Mentor: Armine Ghalachyan
“Adaptive Weighted Jacket”
Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics, and Information Sciences
Crimson
- Nicholas Kraabel
WSU Pullman
Computer Science, Economic Sciences
Mentor: Kirti Rajagopalan
“Advancing Hourly Temperature Disaggregation for Agroecosystems Modeling: LSTM-based Approach”
Gray
- Nicholas Mayer
WSU Pullman
Architectural Studies
Mentor: Julia Day, Shelby Ruiz
“Empowering Efficiency: Tech-Driven Sustainability”
Engineering and Physical Sciences
Crimson
- Yecenia Cortez
WSU Pullman
Biology
Mentor: Xiaofeng Guo
“Synthesis, Characterization, and Thermodynamic Study of Rare Eu(II) Materials”
- Jesus Jimenez
WSU Pullman
Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Hui Li
Harish Varatharaj
WSU Pullman
Mechanical Engineering
Mentor: Hui Li
“Novel Composites from Recycled Wind Turbine Blade Materials: Physical, Mechanical, and/Fire Performance”
Gray
- Dylan Suina
WSU Pullman
Mechanical Engineering, Honors College
Mentor: Jeffrey Bell
“Modifying 3D Printed Carbon-infused Thermoplastics for Applications in Potentiometry”
- Suzanne Gelston
WSU Pullman
Chemical Engineering, Honors College
Mentor: Dilara Ozdemir
Carolina Perez
WSU Pullman
Bioengineering
Mentor: Dilara Ozdemir
“In Vitro Activity of HOCl Generating Scaled-up Electrochemical Bandages”
- Kenneth Goody
WSU Pullman
Chemistry
Mentor: Anjali Sharma
“PSMA-targeted Dendrimer as an Efficient Anticancer Drug Delivery Vehicle for Prostate Cancer”
- Liam Crafton
WSU Pullman
Mathematics, Physics, and Astronomy
Mentor: Qingze Guan
“Chaotic Spin Dynamics of Spin-1 Bose-Einstein Condensates with Broken Conservation of Magnetization”
Early Career
- Connor Reschke
WSU Pullman
Materials Science and Engineering, Spanish, Honors College
Mentor: Hui Li
“Recycling Wood Waste with Particleboard and Pelleting”
Humanities
Crimson
- Akira Park
WSU Pullman
English
Mentor: Ashley Boyd
“Analyzing the Inclusion of and Teacher Practices Around Asian-American Literature in English Language Arts Classrooms”
Gray
- Samuel Neunzig
WSU Pullman
Human Biology
Mentor: John Blong
“New Views on Ancient Coprolites: Non-destructive Analysis Using μCT 3D Imaging”
- Matthew Bunge
WSU Pullman
Economic Sciences, Honors College
Mentor: Shawna Herzog
“Britain’s Financial Revolution and Class Exploitation, 1689 – 1740”
Molecular, Cellular, and Chemical Biology
Crimson
- Ally Richards
WSU Pullman
Microbiology, Honors College
Mentor: Sean McGuire
“Investigating the Role of Protein-protein Interaction of GPAT9 in Arabidopsis thaliana”
- Tyrique Lewis
WSU Pullman
Microbiology
Mentor: Bronwyn Gunn
“Engineering the Fc Domain of Antibodies to Better Control SARS-CoV-2”
- Sydney Ackerman
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience
Mentor: Giuseppe Giannotti
“Contributions of the Prelimbic Cortex to Paraventricular Thalamus Pathway to Heroin Relapse”
- Megan Dines
WSU Pullman
Biology
Mentor: Michael Konkel
“Campylobacter jejuni Secretion Mechanism Promotes Host Cell Invasion, Leading to Cases of Human Gastroenteritis and Guillain-Barré Syndrome”
- Geselle Sotelo Mendoza
WSU Pullman
Microbiology
Mentor: Anders Omsland
“Analysis of the Formation of Infectious Elementary Bodies in the Human Bacterial Pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis with Florescence Microscopy”
Gray
- Riana Abeshima
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience
Mentor: Ryan McLaughlin
“Effects of Stress and Cannabis Use on Stress-induced Activation of Lateral Habenula Neurons in Rats”
- Corin Yanke
WSU Pullman
Biochemistry
Mentor: Ryan Driskell
“The Effect of Skin Carcinogenesis on Epidermal Architecture”
- Lauren Benjamin
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience, Honors College
Mentor: Emily Qualls-Creekmore
Hailey Landsparger
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience, Honors College
Mentor: Emily Qualls-Creekmore
“Identification of Neural Circuits That Participate in Stress Habituation”
- Mya Mackowski
WSU Pullman
Biochemistry
Mentor: Miguel Rosas
“Investigating the Correlation Between Root Hairs and Nitrate Uptake in Brachypodium distachyon”
- Stevie Fawcett
WSU Pullman
Microbiology, Spanish, Honors College
Mentor: Stephanie Seifert
“In vitro Tool Development for the Study of Hantaviruses”
- Ashley Brightman
WSU Pullman
Biochemistry
Mentor: Heather Koehler
“New Vaccines Against Pox Viruses: Are MVA vaccines efficient in neutralizing infection safely and effectively?”
- Anthony DeLuca
WSU Pullman
Agricultural Biotechnology
Mentors: Sapinder Bali, Cynthia Gleason
“Identification and Characterization of Two Novel Meloidogyne chitwoodi Effectors”
- Eva Rickard
WSU Pullman
Data Analytics, Honors College
Mentor: Sascha Duttke
“Decoding Gene Regulatory Networks Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia”
Early Career
- Jasmin Chu
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience, Honors College
Mentor: Kristen Delevich
“Microglial Ablation Effects on Adolescent Behavioral Flexibility”
- Sara Burres
WSU Pullman
Biology, Zoology
Mentor: Sara Westbrook
“Long-Term Effects of Adolescent Cannabis Vapor on Parvalbumin Interneurons and Perineuronal Nets in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex”
Organismal, Population, Ecological, and Evolutionary Biology
Crimson
- Molly Greiner
WSU Pullman
Biochemistry, Honors College
Mentor: Hanna Delgado
“Characterizing symbiotic rhizobia isolated from native Trifolium”
- Olivia DeGrave
WSU Pullman
Biochemistry
Mentor: Erica Crespi
“Investigating the Role of Leptin in Tail Regeneration: Validation of a New Method of Administration”
Gray
- HarleyJo Holman
WSU Pullman
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Sciences, Honors College
Mentors: Lisa Shipley, Leah Brueggeman
“Mountain Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) Habitat in the South Selkirks: Zonal Shifts in Dynamic Landscapes”
- Arthur Kearney
WSU Pullman
Forestry
Mentor: Robert Andrus
“Constructing a Chronology of Defoliator Pests in North America Using Dendrochronology”
Early Career
- Braeden Stiffler
WSU Pullman
Biochemistry, Honors College
Mentor: Janice Parks
“How Pea-canola Intercropping (Peaola) Changes Soil Inorganic Nitrogen Content”
Novice
- Mila Singson
WSU Pullman
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Sciences
Mentor: Jennifer Phillips
“How Distance From Sensory Pollutants Affects Avian Survival”
Research Proposal
Crimson
- Zakora Moore
WSU Pullman
Bioengineering
Mentor: Bernard Van Wie
“Direct Transfection of Autologous Melanocytes in a Perfusion Bioreactor for Cellular Transplantation to Repigment Vitiligous Skin”
Gray
- Areli Orozco
WSU Pullman
Psychology
Mentor: Olusola Adesope
“Exploring Anxiety Among First-Generation, Culturally Diverse College Students”
- Ethan Johnson
WSU Pullman
Biology
Mentor: Cliff Berkman
“Imidazoquinoline Small Molecule Drug Conjugates (SMDCs) for PSMA Targeted Prostate Cancer Immunotherapy”
Novice
- Sydney Campbell
WSU Pullman
Apparel, Merchandising, Design, and Textiles
Mentor: Armine Ghalachyan
“Functional Headband Incorporating a Heating Unit for Pain Relief in TMD”
Social Sciences
Crimson
- Karen Magana
WSU Pullman
Data Analytics
Mentor: Michael Heim
“Measuring Program Effectiveness of the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP)”
- Cara Brauen
WSU Pullman
Psychology
Mentor: Angela Henricks
“Dual-hit Hypothesis’ Impact on Corticosterone Levels Following Acute Restraint Stress Test”
- Matteya Proctor
WSU Pullman
Neuroscience, Psychology, Honors College
Mentor: Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe
“The Moderating Effect of Cognitive Self-Efficacy on the Relation Between Cognition and Technology-Based Health Information Search in Middle-Aged and Older Adults”
Gray
- Isabella Santiago
WSU Pullman
Human Development, Psychology
Mentor: Nicole Scalise
“Relations Between High School Math Experiences and Current Math Attitudes and Achievement: A Self-determination Theory Perspective”
- Sandy Tlachi-Munoz
WSU Pullman
Psychology
Mentor: Jessica Willoughby
“The Discussion Around Alcohol and Cannabis Use Among First-generation Undergraduate Students In Living Situations”
- Androu Luzader
WSU Pullman
Basic Medical Sciences, Social Sciences
Mentor: Caroline Owens
“Assessing the College Food Insecurity Environment”
Novice
- Hillary Minor
WSU Global Campus
Psychology
Mentor: Lee Daffin
“An Examination of the Relationship Between Mindfulness and GPA”
