28 student-faculty pairs have been awarded funds for original research and creative work, as the largest Undergraduate Research Academy cohort to date gears up to begin their year-long projects.
Each year, the Undergraduate Research Academy awards $3,500 grants to faculty-student teams to encourage students to expand their education beyond the classroom. Over the course of a year, students are expected to participate in at least 200 hours of research assistance, and faculty members are expected to provide mentorship and support to advance the projects. In addition to their research, students also take part in monthly seminars and professional development opportunities.
“The Undergraduate Research Academy is a shining example of a student-centered apprentice model of research,” said Jessi Smith, associate vice chancellor of research.
“The program affords students the opportunity to work closely with a faculty mentor while also learning together as a research community. At UCCS, we prioritize student research because it is an opportunity to tap into our community’s diverse student talent pool and ensure that the next generation of scholars are prepared to discover, analyze, and tackle the problems we know – and the ones we have yet to encounter.”
The 2021 awardees include:
Awardee: Emily Hanson
Faculty Mentor: Janel Owens
“Assessing Levels of ‘Forever’ Chemicals in Tree Leaves Sampled within the Fountain Creek Watershed: An E.P.I.C. Story”
Awardee: Trenton Osinski
Faculty Mentor: Robert Mitchell
“Rural Global Perspectives: Examining Global Awareness in Rural Student Populations”
Awardee: Madison Simmons
Faculty Mentor: Aaron Corcoran
“Determining the Cause of Bat Fatalities at Wind Turbines Using 3-D Thermal Videography”
Awardee: Jennifer Burrows
Faculty Mentor: Amanda Morgenstern
“In Search of Better Medicine: Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Candidates for Human African Trypanosomiasis”
Awardee: Natalie Church
Faculty Mentor: Wendy Haggren
“Integration of Mouse Alpha Amylase Gene into the Yeast Genome using CRISPR and Traditional Cloning Methods”
Awardee: Brent Windebank
Faculty Mentor: Wendy Haggren
“Impact of Perfluorinated Compounds (PFCs) on the Microbial Community of the Fountain Creek Watershed”
Awardee: Holly Siu
Faculty Mentor: Edwardo Portillos
“Club Basketball in Colorado Springs: Shaping Success, Identity, and Deviance”
Awardee: Alexis Rayburn
Faculty Mentor: Emily Mooney
“40-Year Resampling Study of Alpine Moth Lipid Reserves at Pennsylvania Mountain, Colorado”
Awardee: Hazel Key
Faculty Mentor: Kimbra Smith
“Revealing Invisible Histories of Colorado Springs”
Awardee: Brianna Santos
Awardee: Layla Burney
Faculty Mentor: Brandon Vogt
“Put on Your Hiking Boots: A Survey and Environmental Assessment of Two Rock Glaciers in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado”
Awardee: Naila Tagoilelagi
Faculty Mentor: Beth Daniels
“Sexual Harassment: Understanding the Impact on Women in STEM”
Awardee: Alayne Graybill
Faculty Mentor: Andy Klocko
“Exploring How Changes in Epigenetic Marks Impacts the Organization of the Fungal Genome”
Awardee: Tiffany Lundberg
Faculty Mentor: Andy Klocko
“Exploring How Fungal Genome Organization Evolves”
Awardee: Alisha Silkey
Faculty Mentor: Rachel Tayer
“Mental and Cognitive Health among Adults Experiencing Housing Insecurity”
Awardee: Alaric Sollenberger
Faculty Mentor: Karin Larkin
“Fatty’s Place: A Historical Archaeology of Tourism at Garden of the Gods”
Awardee: Brendan Gould
Faculty Mentor: Phillip Brown
“Could Smart Vehicles Make Roads More Dangerous?”
Awardee: Irina Amouzou
Faculty Mentor: Tre Wentling
“BBC: Blackness, BDSM, Community”
Awardee: Riley McGrath
Awardee: Brian Pierce
Faculty Mentor: James Van Scotter
“Strategic Information Leadership”
Awardee: Madison Fox
Faculty Mentor: James Kovacs
“Bioengineering of a Haloalkane Dehalogenase for the Bioremediation of Perfluorinated Compounds”
Awardee: Brian Foster
Faculty Mentor: Tom Pszczynski
“The Effects of Uncertainty, Death, and Incongruity on Epistemic Motivation”
Awardee: Sarah Chancellor
Faculty Mentor: Matt Quinlan
“Pintle Spray Atomization: Identification of Secondary Instabilities”
Awardee: Sophie Nordgren
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Zohn
“COVID-19 and its Aftermath: Raising Awareness of Suicide Risk and Suicide Prevention”
Awardee: Tristan Lee
Faculty Mentor: Byeong Lee
“Co-Design for Deep Learning Accelerators in RISC V Processors”
Awardee: Arin Broomfield
Faculty Mentor: Sonja Tanner
“Laughter and Language in Plato and Wittgenstein”
Awardee: Nicholas Windesheim
Faculty Mentor: Terry Boult
“Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification Plan Development for DARPA/MDA/DOD Technology Research and Development”
Awardee: Hadeel Khammash
Faculty Mentor: Amy Klocko
“Analysis of Effectiveness and Efficiency of CRISPR Targeting of AVT5 in Fission Yeast”
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