Undergraduate Research

Forty WSU undergraduates engaged in mentored research have received fellowships to support their research, scholarship, and creative activity for the coming academic year.

From Edmonds, Washington, and a graduate of Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Oliva Mohn is putting the final touches on her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine. When she wraps up her studies in May, she will also graduate from the Honors College with a MESI certification.

Sydney Ackerman dreams of one day becoming a veterinarian. The Spokane native and Mead High School alumna will graduate in May from the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine with a degree in neuroscience (with minors in zoology and French), and while she plans to take a short break from school, she aspires to return to Pullman to pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.

Following graduation in May, Jacob Satake will be off to medical school at WSU Spokane’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. From Spokane and a graduate of North Central High School, Jacob is currently majoring in genetics and cell biology in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s School of Molecular Biosciences.

From Spokane and a proud graduate of Mead Senior High School, Lilinoe McCanna will be graduating from WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine in May with a degree in biochemistry. Following graduation, Lilinoe will be heading to Pacific University where she will study to become an optometrist.

From Vancouver, Washington, Maggie Munoz recently graduated from WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry. While she has wrapped up her undergraduate studies, she plans on staying on campus to continue her research on Lyme disease and relapsing fever in the lab of Dr. Troy Bankhead before pursuing a doctorate in molecular biology.

Senior Katy Ayers, a bioengineering major minoring in biochemistry and mathematics, is the latest finalist for a Marshall Scholarship to study in the United Kingdom.

To protect grapes throughout California’s wine industry, Floricel Gonzalez uses viruses to kill bacteria.

Bayley McDonald is a genetics and cell biology major in the School of Molecular Bioscience and is a member of the college’s prestigious accelerated degree program, Students Targeted toward Advanced Research Studies (STARS), in which students can earn a PhD in as little as seven years after graduating high school.

Microbiology student Jazmyne Jackson screens for Myxobolus cerebralis, a parasite that lives in the bone and cartilage of fish, in WADDL.