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The Office of Student Research and Creative Activity (OSRCA) recently announced the Student/Faculty Collaborative Research awardees.

OSRCA offers three types of student/faculty collaborative grants: undergraduate small grants (up to $550 supplies budget); undergraduate student/faculty collaborative research program grants ($3,000 stipend plus up to $550 supplies budget); and graduate student/faculty collaborative research program grants ($3,000 stipend plus up to $550 supplies budget).

According to OSRCA: These grants are designed to support projects that provide students with meaningful research or creative activity experiences. Students will assume the principal role for the projects, including writing their own proposals, conducting research or working on creative activities and reporting results. Faculty members mentor the students throughout the process, but students are responsible for completing the projects.

The spring 2017 undergraduate small grant awardees are: 

  • Allison Clausen
    Faculty Mentor: Robert Mitchell
    Project: Chemicals of Wild Lupin
    Hometown: Wauwatosa
    Year in School: Third Year
    Major: Biology
  • Megan DeCoster
    Faculty Mentor: Sabrina Mueller-Spitz
    Project: Quantitative PCR Method to Detect Lactobacillus or Pedococcus in Beer
    Hometown: Chilton
    Year in School: Senior
    Major: Microbiology
  • Alexander Gallo
    Faculty Mentor: Eric Matson
    Project: Investigations on Microbial Interactions in the UWO Biodigester
    Hometown: Waterford
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Biology with and emphasis in cell and molecular
  • Alyssa Herman
    Faculty Mentor: Pascale Manning
    Project: “Between Men”: Homosociality and Homoerotics in Alfred Tennyson’s In Memoriam
    Hometown: Omro
    Year in School: Senior
    Major English with a minor in Linguistics
  • Phillip Kaltenbach
    Faculty Mentor: Benjamin Hallett
    Project:  Raman Spectrometry Analysis of Penokean Mountain Building Event
    Hometown: Oshkosh
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Geology
  • Brynne Nogard
    Faculty Mentor: Stewart Cole
    Project: The Double Colonization of Women in Post-Colonial Ireland in the Novels of Edna O’Brien
    Hometown: Wisconsin Dells
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: English, Minors in Business Administration and Creative Writing
  • Nathan Nozzi
    Faculty Mentor: Robert Stelzer
    Project: A Longitudinal Assessment of the Fish Community Composition of Waukau Creek, Wisconsin
    Hometown: Winnebago, Illinois
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Biology
  • Nicholas Pierson
    Faculty Mentor: Gail Panske
    Project: Responsive Painting
    Hometown: Appleton
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: BFA Studio and BFA Design double emphasis
  • Monica Preston
    Faculty Mentor: Eric Hiatt
    Project: Preservation of Oligocene (ca. 28 Ma) Invertebrate Marine Fauna, Otekaike Formation, South Island, New Zealand
    Hometown: Marysville, California
    Year in School: Senior
    Major: Geology
  • Travis Stoeger
    Faculty Mentor: Toivo Kallas
    Project: Modified Synthase Gene for β-pinene Jet-Fuel Production in Cyanobacteria
    Hometown: Appleton
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Chemistry
  • Anna Sweeney
    Faculty Mentor: Eric Hiatt
    Project: Dolomitization Events in Neoproterozoic Cap Carbonate Rocks, Mato Grosso State, Brazil
    Hometown: Madison
    Year in School: Senior
    Major: Geology

The 2017-2018 Undergraduate Student/Faculty Collaborative Research Program awardees are:

  • Tre Blohm
    Faculty Mentor: Jordan Karsten, Anthropology
    Project: Microbial Pathogenic Research of Presence/Absence of Tuberculosis in Human Skeletal Samples from Ukraine
    Hometown: Weyauwega
    Year in School: Senior
    Major: Biology and Anthropology
  • Blair Braun
    Faculty Mentor: Sarah Kucker, Psychology
    Project: A Closer Look at the Underlying Cognitive Processes of Language Development of Children in Low Socioeconomic Status with Language Delays
    Hometown: Kennewick, Washington
    Year in School: Senior
    Major: Psychology
  • Danielle Dolinac
    Faculty Mentor: Sabrina Mueller-Spitz, Biology
    Project: Role of Extracellular DNA in the Biofilms of Deinococcus aquaticus
    Hometown: North Fond du Lac
    Year in School: First year
    Major: Microbiology with a minor in Astronomy
  • Zachary Heimark
    Faculty Mentor: Michelle Michalski, Biology
    Project: Observing How the Natural Variance in Reproductive Output of Brugia pahangi in Culture Can Predict Reproductive Behavior in vivo
    Hometown: Oshkosh
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Biology Healthcare Science
  • Ryan Koehler
    Faculty Mentor: James Paulson
    Project: The Connection between Histone H3 Modification and Mitotic Chromosome Condensation
    Hometown: Oshkosh
    Year in School: Sophomore
    Major: Chemistry – Biomolecular Science
  • Emma Link
    Faculty Mentor: Larry Herzberg, Philosophy
    Project: Dead to the World: Rape, Unconsciousness, and Social Media: A Critical Analysis
    Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Philosophy and English
  • Markus Oechsner
    Faculty Mentor: Lixin Jiang, Psychology
    Project: Coping Mediates and Optimism Moderates the Relationship between Work Overload and Stress Responses: A Moderated Mediation Analysis
    Hometown: Hartford
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Psychology
  • Laurana Rudenas
    Faculty Mentor: Courtney Kurtz, Biology
    Project: Expression of Interleukin-6 During the Development of Obesity in Ground Squirrels
    Hometown: Harrisville
    Year in School: Junior
    Major: Biology Healthcare Science
  • Carter Touchet:
    Faculty Mentor: Bryan Engelhardt, Economics
    Project: Acting Rational?: A Study on Whether Wisconsin’s Accountability Report Cards Have an Effect on Which Schools Low-Income Students Attend
    Hometown: Appleton
    Year in School: Sophomore
    Major: Broadfield Social Science and Secondary Education

The 2017-2018 Graduate Student/Faculty Collaborative Research Program awardees are:

  • Alexandria Ebert
    Faculty Adviser: Anca Miron
    Project: Inducing Growth Mindset in Young Adults Caring for Persons Having Dementia
    Hometown: Appleton
    Year in School: First-Year Graduate Student
    Major: Masters of Science in Psychological Research (Cognitive and Affective emphasis)
  • Roland Hernandez
    Faculty Mentor: Gregory Kleinheinz, Engineering Technology
    Project: Detection of Escherichia coli in Northern Lake Michigan Waters Using qPCR Method C
    Hometown: Monona
    Year in School: First-Year Graduate Student
    Major: Biology
  • Jasmeet Kaur
    Faculty Mentor: Anna Filipova, Public Administration
    Project: Assessing the Health Literacy Knowledge and Experience of Nursing Students
    Hometown: Neenah
    Year in School: Second-Year Graduate Student
    Major: MPA
  • Klaire Laux
    Faculty Mentor: Stephen Bentivenga, Biology
    Project: Improving Diagnosis of a Potentially Lethal Disease in Wisconsin
    Hometown: Menasha
    Year in School: First Year Graduate Student
    Major: M.S. in Microbiology
  • Amanda Prigan
    Faculty Mentor: Greg Adler, Biology
    Project: Survey of Tick-Borne Pathogens in Wisconsin
    Hometown: Slinger
    Year in School: Second-Year Graduate Student
    Major: Microbiology
  • Molly Schumacher
    Faculty Mentor: Paula McNiel, Nursing
    Project: Impact of YMCA’s Livestrong Program on Cancer Patients and Survivors
    Hometown: Oshkosh
    Year in School: Third-Year Graduate Student
    Major: Doctorate of Nursing Practice
  • Paige Smith
    Faculty Adviser: M. Elsbeth McPhee
    Project: Assessing Levels of Methylmercury in the Endangered Whooping Crane
    Hometown: Rosendale
    Year in School: First-Year Graduate Student
    Major: Biology
  • Michelle Sonsalla
    Faculty Adviser: Courtney Kurtz, Biology
    Project: Examination of Adipose Immune Changes in Pre-Hibernating 13-Lined Ground Squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus)
    Hometown: Baraboo
    Year in School: First-Year Graduate Student
    Major: Master of Science in Biology

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