2025 Abstracts
Now in its 33rd year, Ohio Wesleyan's Summer Scholarship andResearch Program equips students to address complex issuesby working side-by-side with accomplished mentors at OWU andother universities nationwide. At the Symposium, part of OWU'sFall Connection Conference on September 18, 2025, students will showcase their workand share why it matters.
- Board 1: Cell Penetrating Peptide (CPP) Activity of Peptides in the M3-M4 Loop of the Glycine Receptor (GlyR)
Students: Annika DeLong, Paige Neal, Bailey Woods
Faculty Mentors: Kayce Tomcho (Department of Chemistry) - Board 2: The Relationship Between LGBTQ+ Family Socialization, Family Communication Patterns, & Body Image
Students: Teodora Ilic
Faculty Mentors: Krystal Cashen (Department of Psychology) - Board 3: Can Brain Stimulation (tDCS) and Video Games Make Your Brain Sharper?
Students: Joy Gbadebo, Inesh Tickoo
Faculty Mentors: Kira Bailey (Department of Psychology, Neuroscience Program) - Board 4: Testing Lorentz and CPT Symmetries With Storage-Ring EDM Experiments
Students: Janik Dixon
Faculty Mentors: Yunhua Ding (Department of Physics & Astronomy) - Board 5: Understanding the Challenges of Disability and Representation: The Case of Food Allergy
Students: Lauren Dorsel, Camille Payne, Alana Wilson
Faculty Mentors: Franchesca Nestor (Department of Politics & Government) - Board 6: Synchronization of DC SQUID Arrays
Students: Musa Rehmatullah, Parthey Vasani
Faculty Mentors: Brad Trees (Department of Physics & Astronomy) - Board 7: French for the Future... At OWU and Beyond!
Students: Oyindoubra Akika, Ally Gerty, Arianna Morris
Faculty Mentors: Mary Anne Lewis Cusato (Department of World Languages & Cultures) - Board 8: A Biomimetic Hydrogel System for Studying Competition of Squid Reproductive Symbionts
Students: Julien DeFelice, Sophia Rohr
Faculty Mentors: Andrea Suria (Department of Biological Sciences) - Board 9: Combined Antiretroviral Therapy Reverses SIV-Induced Astrocyte Morphological Alterations
Students: Sunaina Pandey
Faculty Mentors: Miranda Horn (Department of Biological Sciences, Neuroscience Program) - Board 10: Libraries and Lattes: A Case Study of K-12 Students' Access to Third Places in Delaware, Ohio
Students: Abigail Kallay, Annika Pardee
Faculty Mentors: Bona Kang (Department of Education) - Board 11: Determining the Effects of Early Adolescent Stress on Psychiatric-Related Behaviors of Adult C57BL/6J Mice
Students: Claire Hammond, Jan Kubacek
Faculty Mentors: Chelsea Vadnie (Department of Psychology) - Board 12: An Intelligent Agent of the Board Game Scotland Yard
Students: Ava Pettey
Faculty Mentors: Sean McCulloch (Department of Math & Computer Science) - Board 13: Is Parental Investment Related to Mate Switching in Northern House Wrens?
Students: Josiah Gross
Faculty Mentors: Dustin Reichard (Department of Biological Sciences) - Board 14: Homefield Advantage in Action: Climbing and Sprinting Performance in Podarcis muralis
Students: Devon Haley, Hayden Kelner, Brittney Parks, Tyler Williard
Faculty Mentors: Eric Gangloff (Department of Biological Sciences), Bryan Juarez (Department of Biological Sciences) - Board 15: Flagellar Geometry and Its Effects on Run and Tumble—a Numerical and Experimental Study
Students: Cord Podolan, Mack Fincham
Faculty Mentors: Hanliang Guo (Department of Math & Computer Science), Kyle Pellegrin (Department of Math & Computer Science) - Board 16: Mite Load Differentiation in the Nests of Northern House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon)
Students: Chase Ellis
Faculty Mentors: Dustin Reichard (Department of Biological Sciences) - Board 17: Can Wall Lizards Live in the Forest? A Comparison of Population Demography, Gut Microbiome, and Digestive Physiology in Introduced Lizards (Podarcis muralis)
Students: Brittney C. Parks, Devon X. Haley, Hayden Kelner, Tyler Williard
Faculty Mentors: Eric Gangloff (Department of Biological Sciences), Bryan Juarez (Department of Biological Sciences) - Board 18: Total Synthesis of Drazepinone and Derivatives for PTP Inhibition
Students: Zoe Ward, Taylor Noszka, Aylish O'Harra
Faculty Mentors: Grant Walby (Department of Chemistry) - Board 19: Analyzing Oppression and Political Repression with New Global Indicators of Human Rights Violations
Students: Emily Kocel, Shannon O'Malley
Faculty Mentors: James C. Franklin (Department of Politics & Government, International Studies Program) - Board 20: Multiple Paternity & Courtship Behaviors in the Sailfin Molly (P. latipinna)
Students: Ellie Abshire
Faculty Mentors: Shala Hankison (Department of Biological Sciences), Tamara Panhuis (Department of Biological Sciences) - Board 21: Using Ecological Niche Modeling to Determine the Potential Spread of Podarcis muralis Across North America
Students: Tyler Williard
Faculty Mentors: Bryan Juarez (Department of Biological Sciences), Eric Gangloff (Department of Biological Sciences) - Board 22: Automated Starspot Detection with Convolutional Neural Networks and Kepler Space Telescope Light Curves
Students: Isabela Rodriguez Ortiz
Faculty Mentors: Robert Harmon (Department of Physics & Astronomy), Rachael Roettenbacher (Department of Physics & Astronomy at University of Michigan) - Board 23: The Evaluation of the Whole Athlete Program
Students: Shelby Bay, Maddie Hoyt, Maria Thibodeaux
Faculty Mentors: Elizabeth Nix (Department of Health & Human Kinetics), Elizabeth Starns (Department of Health & Human Kinetics) - Board 24: Lizard Neurogenesis in Response to Lead Toxicity
Students: Emily Holt, Emma Foster
Faculty Mentors: Eric Gangloff (Department of Biological Sciences), Miranda Horn (Department of Psychology) - Board 25: Determining How Stellar Magnetic Activity Depends on Stellar Parameters Using Data from the Kepler Space Telescope
Students: Aestelle Dondero
Faculty Mentors: Robert Harmon (Department of Physics & Astronomy) - Board 26: Unmapping U.S. Foreign Policy in the Media
Students: George Naples
Faculty Mentors: Ashley Toenjes (Department of Environment & Sustainability) - Board 27: Simulating and Analyzing Gravitational Waves from Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals (EMRIs)
Students: Anushka Sharad
Faculty Mentors: Robert Harmon (Department of Physics and Astronomy), Shane Larson (Department of Integrated Engineering and Applied Science at Clarkson University) - Board 28: Numerical Investigation of Partial Sums of Random Multiplicative Functions
Students: Kirsten Quinn
Faculty Mentors: Nick Geis (Department of Math & Computer Science) - Board 29: Assessing the Environmental Footprint of Data Centers in Ohio
Students: Aninditha Nair
Faculty Mentors: Mehwish Abbasi (Department of Math & Computer Science) - Board 30: Flushing Sugar, Fueling Risk?: Pyridoxamine Mitigates SGLT2 Inhibitor–Induced UTI Susceptibility in Experimental Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Students: Abrianna Hite
Faculty Mentors: Juan de Dios Ruiz Rosado (Kidney and Urinary Tract Research Center, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital), Yuriko Sanchez-Zamora (Kidney and Urinary Tract Research Center, Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital) - Board 31: Variation in Bombus Impatiens Foraging Habits Across Space and Time
Students: Alex Bzdafka
Faculty Mentors: Isaac Park (Georgia Southern University) - Board 32: Abuse and Appeal: A Product Analysis of Popular Moist Snuff Brands in Rural Appalachia
Students: Anastasia (Anya) Shevchik
Faculty Mentors: Marielle Brinkman (The Ohio State University), Ahmad El Hellani (The Ohio State University) - Board 33: Characterization of the Mitochondrial ISC Pathway in Malaria Parasites
Students: Fallon Keeton
Faculty Mentors: Krithika Rajaram (Microbiology Department of The Ohio State University), James Blauwkamp (Microbiology Department of The Ohio State University) - Board 34: Force Spectroscopy Nanocaliper Conformational Capture
Students: Carson Fox
Faculty Mentors: Michael Poirier (Department of Physics at The Ohio State University (OSU-SURE program)) - Board 35: Manipulating E-cigarette Nicotine to Promote Public Health
Students: Mannat Sikand
Faculty Mentors: Theodore Wagener (The Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University), Ahmad El Hellani (The Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University), Toral Mehta (The Center for Tobacco Research at The Ohio State University) - Board 36: Preparation and Characterization of Cbf1ΔN-Nucleosome Complex for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study
Students: Conner Kankiewicz
Faculty Mentors: Christopher Jaroniec (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University) - Board 37: Using Correlation Patterns in Schooling Behavior to Distinguish Tetra Species
Students: Ashley Hayward
Faculty Mentors: Eva Kanso (Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California), Hanliang Guo (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science) - Board 38: Importance of Hobbies to the Journey of Physics Graduate Students as Operationalized Through Well-Being
Students: Kayla Bayes
Faculty Mentors: Jackie Chini (Department of Physics at The Ohio State University), Carissa Myers (Department of Physics at The Ohio State University) - Board 39: Investigating the Effects of Gain-of-Function p53 Mutants on Viral Mimicry and Exosome Dynamics in H1299 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells
Students: Sharvi Arora
Faculty Mentors: Rachel Abbotts (West Virginia University Cancer Institute) - Board 40: Observing Olfactory Response of OR51E2
Students: Stepan Dobrianskyi
Faculty Mentors: Shivam Chaubey (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University), Premashis Manna (Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University) - Board 41: Delineating Variations in TGF-β–induced miR-145 Expression Across Epithelial Cell Line Variants for Cystic Fibrosis Modeling
Students: Andrew Weisgerber
Faculty Mentors: Stephen Mackay (Department of Pediatric Pulmonology, Harris Lab), William T. Harris (Heersink Medical School at the University of Alabama at Birmingham) - Board 42: Determining the Efficacy of a Targeted vs. Universal Testing Protocol for Congenital CMV in MetroHealth's NICU
Students: El Healey
Faculty Mentors: Erin Shumans (The Metrohealth System Division of Neonatology), Prabhu Parimi (The Metrohealth System Division of Neonatology) - Board 43: Professor in the Haystack: Automating University Partner Identification
Students: Raazia Aamir
Faculty Mentors: Vertiv - Board 44: Local Community Mitigation Measures to Prevent Giraffe Bushmeat in the Amboseli Ecosystem
Students: Milo Morton
Faculty Mentors: Jennifer Wanyingi (School for Field Studies) - Board 45: Evaluating a Novel Surgical Mouse Model of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Using Histological Measurements and RNA-seq
Students: Andrew Inamdar
Faculty Mentors: Oluyinka Olutoye (The Center for Regenerative Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital) - Board 46: Screening S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) Hydrolases and Alcohol Dehydrogenases in R. rubrum for Enhanced Ethylene Production
Students: Haruno Tadokoro
Faculty Mentors: Justin North (Department of Microbiology at The Ohio State University)