Mulcahy Scholars, 2013-14
Virginia Bailey
Year: Junior
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Gangopadhyaya, Asim
Department: Physics
Project Title: Analyzing Various Aspects of Harnessing and Storing Energy from Waves
Jon Bender
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry, Mathematics
Mentor: Killelea, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Revealing the Mechanism for Migration from Surface to Subsurface
Richard Borrowdale
Year: Senior
Major(s): Mathematics,
Mentor: Giaquinto, Anthony
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Project Title: Seaweed Lie Algebras
Ryan Brisson
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology, Psychology
Mentor: Morrison, Robert
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Semantic and Analogical Processing During Verbal Analogical Reasoning: An Event-Related Potential Approach
Allison Clark
Year: Junior
Major(s): Political Science,
Mentor: Blackmond Larnell, Twyla
Department: Political Science
Project Title: Ineffective Budgetary Allocation and Discriminative Education Policy in Chicago Public Schools
Francis Cocjin
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis), Bioinformatics
Mentor: Kelly, John
Department: Biology
Project Title: Effects of a common antimicrobial compound, triclosan, on bacterial communities in urban streams
Julia Coppi
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Castignetti, Domenic
Department: Biology
Project Title: Streptococcus Mutants Acid Production in Saliva
Robin David
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Kanzok, Stefan
Department: Biology
Project Title: Biochemical characterization of a novel Phosducin-like Protein and a ThioredoProtein of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium.
Alyssa Deming
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Olsen, Ken
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Molecular Dynamics of Substrate Shuttling in a Bi-functional Enzyme
Safiya Elahi
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology
Mentor: Mierisch, Jennifer
Department: Biology
Project Title: Cell Morphology and Its Role in Shaping the Gonad
Melissa Farmer
Year: Senior
Major(s): Forensic Science, Chemistry
Mentor: Killelea, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Determination of the Local Electronic Structure of Ag(111) in the Presence of Subsurface Oxygen
Julie Flannery
Year: Junior
Major(s): Psychology,
Mentor: Silton, Rebecca
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Disentangling Cognitive biases: The Neural Correlates of Risk Factors for Recurrent Depression
David Gabbert
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Steidl, Stephan
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Role of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus in reward-seeking behaviors
Colin Gallagher
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Eichman, Chad
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Iron Catalyzed Isoprene Oligomerization: Cheap and Efficient
Zachary Ganger
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biophysics,
Mentor: Olsen, Ken
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Molecular Dynamics of Binding Allosteric Effectors to ADP-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase
Anton Garazha
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Thiruvathukal, George
Department: Computer Science
Project Title: Network Mapping of the Spread and Evolution of Influenza and Staphylococcus
Rebecca Gehrmann
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology, English
Mentor: Pickett, F. Bryan
Department: Biology
Project Title: Over-expression of contractile protein TnnI1B in transgenic zebrafish
Alexander Gilman
Year: Junior
Major(s): Physics/Theoretical Physics/Mathematics,
Mentor: Bougie, Jon
Department: Physics
Project Title: Shocks and Patterns in Vertically Shaken Granular Systems
Thomas Hatzopoulos
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Bioinformatics, Biology
Mentor: Putonti, Catherine
Department: Biology
Project Title: Challenging the CRISPR Defense Mechanism through Point Mutations
Sana Hira
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Kanzok Stefan
Department: Biology
Project Title: Biochemical, structural and cellular characterization of a novel ookinete-specific thioredoxin-like protein of the malaria parasite Plasmodium
Elizabeth Humphrey
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Castignetti, Domenic
Department: Biology
Project Title: Identifying The Presence of Denitrifying Microbes in Jamaica Bay Sediments
Toaha Hussain
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Liu, Dali
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Manipulation of the Outer Membrane Lipoprotein in Escherichia coli
Sana Iqbal
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Kelly, John
Department: Biology
Project Title: Impacts of Wastewater Effluent on Bacterial Communities in Freshwater Ecosystems
Monica Janeczek
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Putonti, Catherine
Department: Biology
Project Title: Viral Adaptation to Multiple Host Species
Sarah Khalil
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry (Biochemistry emphasis),
Mentor: Liu, Dali
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Induced Promiscuity of AiiB to Expand Quorum-Quenching Abilities
Neil Kuehnle
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis),
Mentor: Doering, Jeffrey
Department: Biology
Project Title: Characterization of Satellite III Histone Modifications in Human Cancer Cells
Larisa Latorre
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Dye, Raymond
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Detection of interaural differences of level in echoes as a function of echo delay and frequency
Christopher Lenkeit
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Mierisch, Jennifer
Department: Biology
Project Title: Understanding the Relationship between Ribbon and Lola in the Developing Gonad
Haley Luebke
Year: Junior
Major(s): ,
Mentor: Laten, Howard
Department: Biology
Project Title: Recent evolutionary history of plant mobile DNA families: Detection, isolation, and DNA sequencing of the transposable element families in Trifolium nigrescens and close relative of white clover (T. repens)
Peter Lyson
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis),
Mentor: Dale, Rodney
Department: Biology
Project Title: Determining the critical region required for the col2a1a R2 regulatory element expression during vertebrate development.
Tara Manley
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry (Biochemistry emphasis),
Mentor: Ballicora, Miguel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Crystallization of ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase in E. coli
Athena Mascarenhas
Year: Senior
Major(s): Bioinformatics, Biology
Mentor: Laten, Howard
Department: Biology
Project Title: The Recent Evolutionary History of families of a unique Transposable Elements in Trifolium
Munira Munshi
Year: Junior
Major(s): Chemistry,
Mentor: Crumrine, David
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Attachment of Photosensitizers to Folic Acid via PEGylation
Mitchell Nohner
Year: Senior
Major(s): ,
Mentor: Ye, Hui
Department: Biology
Project Title: Neural Stem Cell Surface Charge and Migration in an Electric Field
Makiah Nuutinen
Year: Junior
Major(s): Psychology,
Mentor: Morrison, Robert
Department: Psychology
Project Title: "Can't Help Always Being Right (Even When I'm Left): Dual-Process Theory and Political Cognition
Nathan Pecoraro
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Pickett, F. Bryan
Department: Biology
Project Title: analyzing the Function of Zebrafish Heart Contractile Proteins
Katarzyna Pomian
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Ramsey, Gordon
Department: Physics
Project Title: Physics of Stringed Instruments
Omar Salman
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Doering, Jeffrey
Department: Biology
Project Title: Elucidating sequence structure of the pericentromeric region of HC21p
Kevin Scheiwiller
Year: Senior
Major(s): Environmental Science,
Mentor: Keller, Reuben
Department: Environmental Science
Project Title: Illinois Freshwater Aquatic Invasive Species Risk Assessment
Sonia Sherwani
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis), Communications
Mentor: Ye, Hui
Department: Biology
Project Title: Direct current field versus alternating current field: mechanism of electrical field guidance on stem cell migration
Claire Soupene
Year: Junior
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Gangopadhyaya, Asim
Department: Physics
Project Title: Analyzing Various Aspects of Harnessing and Storing Energy from Waves
Elizabeth Spaargaren
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Becker, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Unsubstituted N3-CTV and the Derivatives as New Materials with Medical Imaging Applications
Thomas Sullivan
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biophysics,
Mentor: Daubenmire, Patrick
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Alignment of Students' Problem Solving Strategies with Expert Practices and Instruction in General Chemistry Classrooms
Farheen Syeda
Year: Senior
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Bougie, Jon
Department: Physics
Project Title: Fluid Dynamics in Granular Material
Randall Treffy
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis), Biochemistry
Mentor: Rochlin, William
Department: Biology
Project Title: EphB/ephrin-B1 axon guidance and localization
David Upp
Year: Junior
Major(s): Chemistry,
Mentor: Becker, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Creating Metal Complexes with N3-CTV for Biomedical Imaging
Kevin Veverka
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Steidl, Stephan
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Optogenetic Investigation of Mesopontine Projections to the Ventral Tegmental Area
Sandy Vien
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Williamson, Kim
Department: Biology
Project Title: Assessing the role of long non-coding RNAs in malaria transmission by episomal expression of grl2 and grl3 in Plasmodium falciparum
Erika Vigen
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Peterson, Christopher
Department: Environmental Science
Project Title: Effects of Nanotitania in Benthic Systems
Aleksandra Wojtowicz
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry,
Mentor: Naleway, Conrad
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Organic Acid Production in Bacterial Suspensions Containing MFP and NaF
Jennifer Wong
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Ballicora, Miguel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: The Effects of Point Mutations on the Kinetics of ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase from Escherichia Coli
Jordyn Wright
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry, Psychology (Natural Sciences)
Mentor: Dale, Rodney
Department: Biology
Project Title: A Novel Approach at Disrupting Vertebrate Gene Regulation
Virginia Bailey
Year: Junior
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Gangopadhyaya, Asim
Department: Physics
Project Title: Analyzing Various Aspects of Harnessing and Storing Energy from Waves
Jon Bender
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry, Mathematics
Mentor: Killelea, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Revealing the Mechanism for Migration from Surface to Subsurface
Richard Borrowdale
Year: Senior
Major(s): Mathematics,
Mentor: Giaquinto, Anthony
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Project Title: Seaweed Lie Algebras
Ryan Brisson
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology, Psychology
Mentor: Morrison, Robert
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Semantic and Analogical Processing During Verbal Analogical Reasoning: An Event-Related Potential Approach
Allison Clark
Year: Junior
Major(s): Political Science,
Mentor: Blackmond Larnell, Twyla
Department: Political Science
Project Title: Ineffective Budgetary Allocation and Discriminative Education Policy in Chicago Public Schools
Francis Cocjin
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis), Bioinformatics
Mentor: Kelly, John
Department: Biology
Project Title: Effects of a common antimicrobial compound, triclosan, on bacterial communities in urban streams
Julia Coppi
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Castignetti, Domenic
Department: Biology
Project Title: Streptococcus Mutants Acid Production in Saliva
Robin David
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Kanzok, Stefan
Department: Biology
Project Title: Biochemical characterization of a novel Phosducin-like Protein and a ThioredoProtein of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium.
Alyssa Deming
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Olsen, Ken
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Molecular Dynamics of Substrate Shuttling in a Bi-functional Enzyme
Safiya Elahi
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology
Mentor: Mierisch, Jennifer
Department: Biology
Project Title: Cell Morphology and Its Role in Shaping the Gonad
Melissa Farmer
Year: Senior
Major(s): Forensic Science, Chemistry
Mentor: Killelea, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Determination of the Local Electronic Structure of Ag(111) in the Presence of Subsurface Oxygen
Julie Flannery
Year: Junior
Major(s): Psychology,
Mentor: Silton, Rebecca
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Disentangling Cognitive biases: The Neural Correlates of Risk Factors for Recurrent Depression
David Gabbert
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Steidl, Stephan
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Role of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus in reward-seeking behaviors
Colin Gallagher
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Eichman, Chad
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Iron Catalyzed Isoprene Oligomerization: Cheap and Efficient
Zachary Ganger
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biophysics,
Mentor: Olsen, Ken
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Molecular Dynamics of Binding Allosteric Effectors to ADP-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase
Anton Garazha
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Thiruvathukal, George
Department: Computer Science
Project Title: Network Mapping of the Spread and Evolution of Influenza and Staphylococcus
Rebecca Gehrmann
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology, English
Mentor: Pickett, F. Bryan
Department: Biology
Project Title: Over-expression of contractile protein TnnI1B in transgenic zebrafish
Alexander Gilman
Year: Junior
Major(s): Physics/Theoretical Physics/Mathematics,
Mentor: Bougie, Jon
Department: Physics
Project Title: Shocks and Patterns in Vertically Shaken Granular Systems
Thomas Hatzopoulos
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Bioinformatics, Biology
Mentor: Putonti, Catherine
Department: Biology
Project Title: Challenging the CRISPR Defense Mechanism through Point Mutations
Sana Hira
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Kanzok Stefan
Department: Biology
Project Title: Biochemical, structural and cellular characterization of a novel ookinete-specific thioredoxin-like protein of the malaria parasite Plasmodium
Elizabeth Humphrey
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Castignetti, Domenic
Department: Biology
Project Title: Identifying The Presence of Denitrifying Microbes in Jamaica Bay Sediments
Toaha Hussain
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Liu, Dali
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Manipulation of the Outer Membrane Lipoprotein in Escherichia coli
Sana Iqbal
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Kelly, John
Department: Biology
Project Title: Impacts of Wastewater Effluent on Bacterial Communities in Freshwater Ecosystems
Monica Janeczek
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Putonti, Catherine
Department: Biology
Project Title: Viral Adaptation to Multiple Host Species
Sarah Khalil
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry (Biochemistry emphasis),
Mentor: Liu, Dali
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Induced Promiscuity of AiiB to Expand Quorum-Quenching Abilities
Neil Kuehnle
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis),
Mentor: Doering, Jeffrey
Department: Biology
Project Title: Characterization of Satellite III Histone Modifications in Human Cancer Cells
Larisa Latorre
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Dye, Raymond
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Detection of interaural differences of level in echoes as a function of echo delay and frequency
Christopher Lenkeit
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Mierisch, Jennifer
Department: Biology
Project Title: Understanding the Relationship between Ribbon and Lola in the Developing Gonad
Haley Luebke
Year: Junior
Major(s): ,
Mentor: Laten, Howard
Department: Biology
Project Title: Recent evolutionary history of plant mobile DNA families: Detection, isolation, and DNA sequencing of the transposable element families in Trifolium nigrescens and close relative of white clover (T. repens)
Peter Lyson
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis),
Mentor: Dale, Rodney
Department: Biology
Project Title: Determining the critical region required for the col2a1a R2 regulatory element expression during vertebrate development.
Tara Manley
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry (Biochemistry emphasis),
Mentor: Ballicora, Miguel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Crystallization of ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase in E. coli
Athena Mascarenhas
Year: Senior
Major(s): Bioinformatics, Biology
Mentor: Laten, Howard
Department: Biology
Project Title: The Recent Evolutionary History of families of a unique Transposable Elements in Trifolium
Munira Munshi
Year: Junior
Major(s): Chemistry,
Mentor: Crumrine, David
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Attachment of Photosensitizers to Folic Acid via PEGylation
Mitchell Nohner
Year: Senior
Major(s): ,
Mentor: Ye, Hui
Department: Biology
Project Title: Neural Stem Cell Surface Charge and Migration in an Electric Field
Makiah Nuutinen
Year: Junior
Major(s): Psychology,
Mentor: Morrison, Robert
Department: Psychology
Project Title: "Can't Help Always Being Right (Even When I'm Left): Dual-Process Theory and Political Cognition
Nathan Pecoraro
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Pickett, F. Bryan
Department: Biology
Project Title: analyzing the Function of Zebrafish Heart Contractile Proteins
Katarzyna Pomian
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Ramsey, Gordon
Department: Physics
Project Title: Physics of Stringed Instruments
Omar Salman
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Doering, Jeffrey
Department: Biology
Project Title: Elucidating sequence structure of the pericentromeric region of HC21p
Kevin Scheiwiller
Year: Senior
Major(s): Environmental Science,
Mentor: Keller, Reuben
Department: Environmental Science
Project Title: Illinois Freshwater Aquatic Invasive Species Risk Assessment
Sonia Sherwani
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis), Communications
Mentor: Ye, Hui
Department: Biology
Project Title: Direct current field versus alternating current field: mechanism of electrical field guidance on stem cell migration
Claire Soupene
Year: Junior
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Gangopadhyaya, Asim
Department: Physics
Project Title: Analyzing Various Aspects of Harnessing and Storing Energy from Waves
Elizabeth Spaargaren
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Becker, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Unsubstituted N3-CTV and the Derivatives as New Materials with Medical Imaging Applications
Thomas Sullivan
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biophysics,
Mentor: Daubenmire, Patrick
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Alignment of Students' Problem Solving Strategies with Expert Practices and Instruction in General Chemistry Classrooms
Farheen Syeda
Year: Senior
Major(s): Physics,
Mentor: Bougie, Jon
Department: Physics
Project Title: Fluid Dynamics in Granular Material
Randall Treffy
Year: Sophomore
Major(s): Biology (Molecular emphasis), Biochemistry
Mentor: Rochlin, William
Department: Biology
Project Title: EphB/ephrin-B1 axon guidance and localization
David Upp
Year: Junior
Major(s): Chemistry,
Mentor: Becker, Daniel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Creating Metal Complexes with N3-CTV for Biomedical Imaging
Kevin Veverka
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Steidl, Stephan
Department: Psychology
Project Title: Optogenetic Investigation of Mesopontine Projections to the Ventral Tegmental Area
Sandy Vien
Year: Junior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Williamson, Kim
Department: Biology
Project Title: Assessing the role of long non-coding RNAs in malaria transmission by episomal expression of grl2 and grl3 in Plasmodium falciparum
Erika Vigen
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biology,
Mentor: Peterson, Christopher
Department: Environmental Science
Project Title: Effects of Nanotitania in Benthic Systems
Aleksandra Wojtowicz
Year: Senior
Major(s): Chemistry,
Mentor: Naleway, Conrad
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: Organic Acid Production in Bacterial Suspensions Containing MFP and NaF
Jennifer Wong
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry,
Mentor: Ballicora, Miguel
Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry
Project Title: The Effects of Point Mutations on the Kinetics of ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase from Escherichia Coli
Jordyn Wright
Year: Senior
Major(s): Biochemistry, Psychology (Natural Sciences)
Mentor: Dale, Rodney
Department: Biology
Project Title: A Novel Approach at Disrupting Vertebrate Gene Regulation