2011 STUDENT FELLOWS

Chelsea Ahting is majoring in International Studies and Political Science. She is researching the effectiveness of negative audio-visual political advertising on collegiate level adults. Her mentor is Dr. William Swinford, of the President's Office.

Rachel Aretakis is a Journalism major and a Spanish minor. She is researching how service-learning in the Hispanic community impacts a student's confidence level when speaking Spanish. Rachel is working with Dr. Francisco Salgado-Robles of the Hispanic Studies Department. 

Lindsey Austin is a Broadcast Journalism major and Linguistics minor. She is studying perceptual dialectology of Kentuckians on varieties of English throughout the country based on correctness, difference, and pleasantness. Her mentor is Dr. Jennifer Cramer in the Linguistics Department.

Daniel Bostelman is majoring in Materials Engineering. He is working on a project in the Gas Surface Interactions Lab with Dr. Alexandre Martin in the department of Mechanical Engineering.

Emily Bryant is a Chemistry and Biology double major. She is inspecting DNA damage caused by various light-activated Ruthenium (metal) compounds in the hopes of finding a more specific chemotherapeutic agent, which would lessen the harmful side effects of treatment for cancer patients. Her mentor is Dr. Edith Glazer in the Chemistry Department.

Ellen Burns

Biology

Emily Combs is majoring in psychology. She is researching the relationship between mental processing how individuals respond to a relationship threat; specifically, whether an individual will move closer to their romantic partner or to the relationship threat (an attractive alternative).  Her mentor is Dr. Nathan DeWall in the psychology department.

Zainab Farooqui is majoring in Biology. She is researching apoptosis, cell self-destruction marked by the fragmentation of nuclear DNA, and autophagy by looking at its effect on specifically mammary glands in rats. Her mentor is Dr. Edmund Rucker in the Biology Department. 

Joanna Foresman, a Biosystems Engineering major, is researching hydraulic geometry equations for streams in the United States through statistical comparison in similar regions. She is working with Dr. Carmen Agouridis in the Biosystems and Agriculture Engineering department.

Eloise Fourie is a Psychology major. She is researching how emotion differentiation, or the ability to distinguish between the emotions one experiences, influences working memory. She is working with Dr. Nathan DeWall and one of his graduate students, Richard S. Pond, of the Psychology Department.. 

Madison Gooch is a Management major in the Gatton College of Business and Economics. She is researching Public Health Policy, specifically examining the makeup of a Board of Health and how various factors affect the overall health of the respective county. Her mentors are Erin Louis, Cynthia Lamberth, and doctoral student, Elizabeth Harper, all a part of UK's College of Public Health.

Caitlin Hagan is currently studying Political Science and Spanish.  She is researching the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGO) on both conflict and international policy.  Specifically, Caitlin is studying the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and is helping to form a comprehensive data set of all ICRC actions from 1949 to present.  She is working with Professor Geoffrey Wallace in the department of Political Science. 

Bonnie Hance is majoring in Secondary English Education.  She is researching how participation in undergraduate research influences students to attend graduate school.  Her mentor is Dr. Nicole Lewis in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation.

Josiah Hanna

Computer Science

Sarah Hayden is majoring in Political Science, with a minor in History. Under Dr. Clayton Thyne of the Political Science department, she is examining the extent of leadership demonstrated by President Barack Obama and other world leaders during the Arab Spring uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East last year.

Byron Hempel is majoring in Biochemistry and Biology. He is researching methods of preserving skeletal muscle tissue for optimizing biochemical research after weeks of storage.  His mentor is Dr. Kenneth Campbell in the Department of Physiology.

Drake Jackson is a Mathematical Economics and Spanish double major.  He is researching the relationship between spending by public schools and measures of student success in those schools, especially as related to the spike in education expenditures in the last twenty-five years.  His mentor is Dr. John Garen in the Department of Economics.

Salman Jeelani is majoring in International Studies. He is researching modern day methods and techniques of  treating Vascular Sinus Thrombosis and other related topics. His mentor is Dr. Justin Fraser in the Department of Neurosurgery.

Burhanuddin Johar is majoring in Biology and doing research in Oral Health. His project specifically focuses on finding different inhibitors of squamous oral carcinoma cells using the FaDU cell line. With this information, further research will help in finding mechanisms of oral cancer that can be suppressed. His mentor is Chifu Brad Huang who is a Research Scientist for the College of Dentistry.

Amanda Kaiser is majoring in Biology. She is studying the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the developing brain using rodent models which represent human fetuses in their third trimester of gestation and examining potential pharmacological methods for reducing the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure. Her mentor is Dr. Susan Barron in the Department of Psychology.

Dominique Luster is a Theatre student, specializing in Theatre Design and Technology.  She is creating a Scenic and Lighting Design, including a scale model, light plot, and scenic renderings for The Crucible by Arthur Miller.  Her mentor is Tony Hardin in the Theatre Department.

Bethany McClintock is an accounting major and international business minor. She is currently studying the different effects that international cultural stereotypes have on the hiring process. Her mentor is Dr. Gordon Holbein in the Gatton College of Business & Economics. 

Michael Miller

Biology

Bradley O'Neal is an International Studies and Spanish major. He is working on a project to determine if the letter grade scale for Spanish Departments is a representation of fluency in Spanish. He is working with Alan Brown in the Hispanic Studies Department.

Nicole Schladt, an International Studies and Gender and Women's Studies, is analyzing the ways in which women present themselves within Fayette County's Family Court and evaluating the outcome of each presentation. The ultimate goal of the project is to determine whether female voices are being heard by the legal system in Lexington, Kentucky. She is working with Dr. Srimati Basu in Gender and Women's Studies.

Michael Sheehy is majoring in theatre. Michael is examining the changing landscape of musical theatre over the past century and exploring these changes through a one man show featuring musical standards from each decade. He is working with Professor Nancy Jones in the Department of Theater.

Tamika Tompoulidis is a Communications major. She is researching on the outcomes of class participation, such as how to measure participation and whether it is a necessity to grade in college. The study will involve interviewing a focus group of students and staff on their opinions on class participation. Her mentor is Dr. Brandi Frisby in the Communications and Information Studies department.

Skylar Trott is majoring in Biology. He is researching sex dimorphisms in the bryophyte Sphaerocarpus Texanus and testing for genotypic variation in growth rates among males and reproductive success of large males versus small males. His mentor is Dr. Nicholas McLetchie in the Biology Department.

Jacob Welch is majoring in Anthropology. He is currently observing settlement patterns of the Early Classic Maya site Chunchucmil through data analysis. His mentor is Dr. Scott Hutson of the Anthropology Department.

Breyon White

Chemistry