Twenty-five West Virginia University students will participate in Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol from 8 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, February 19, in Charleston.
Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol provides students the opportunity to present their original scholarly works during a poster session and to talk with legislators about their findings. More than 100 student researchers from five institutions will present in the areas of creative arts, education, health sciences, humanities, STEM and social and behavioral sciences.
This year, students were mentored by faculty from the Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, College of Applied Human Sciences, College of Creative Arts and Media, Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine.
In addition to WVU, other institutions participating include: Marshall University, University of Charleston, West Virginia State University and West Virginia University Institute of Technology.
Below is a list of WVU student participants along with their town of residence, research disciplinary focus, research poster title and research mentor:
West Virginia University (25 Presenters)
Eilidh Allen and Haya Salman, Morgantown, WV, “ATP1B2 Deletion in the Retinal Neurons of Six3Cre Mouse Model: Morphological, Functional, and Metabolic Effects”, (Biochemistry), West Virginia University, Saravanan Kolandaivelu, Research Mentor
Elijah Brockman, South Charleston, WV, and Thomas Olenick, Colliers, WV, “Enabling the Recovery of Valuable Nutrients from Municipal Wastewater Streams Using Membranes”, (Engineering), West Virginia University, Oishi Sanyal, Research Mentor
Olivia Chervenick and Audrey Kurcaba, Morgantown, WV, “Do Rural Health Disparities Predict Memory Loss?”, (Psychology), West Virginia University, Julie Hicks Patrick, Research Mentor
Dilan Coleman, South Charleston, WV, “PA200 Enhances Proteasomal Clearance of PolyQ Aggregates and Effects Motor Function in C. elegans”, (Biochemistry), West Virginia University, Nadeem Asad, Research Mentor
Grace Dacombe, Morgantown, WV, “A Review of Spatial Variation of Mercury Pollution in Sediments, Soils, and Water in the Amazon River Basin”, (Geosciences), West Virginia University, Caroline Arantes, Research Mentor
Maya Dixon-Gross, Harpers Ferry, WV, “Investigating glycoRNAs from Extracellular Vesicles in Head and Neck Cancer”, (Immunology and Medical Microbiology), West Virginia University, Ivan Martinez, Research Mentor
Aidan Forget, Wheeling, WV, “Exploration into the Resilience of Collegiate Golfers”, (Physical Activity and Sport Sciences), West Virginia University, David Rice, Research Mentor
Addison Geyer, Frederick, MD, and Tylor Yost, Morgantown, WV, “Validating a novel precision livestock farming method to determine individual daily grazing feed intake.”, (Agriculture), West Virginia University, Matthew Wilson, Research Mentor
Carson Gibbs, New Haven, WV, “Development of Novel Small-Molecule Calcium Sensitizers for Cardiac Troponin C”, (Chemistry), West Virginia University, Hacer Karatas Bristow, Research Mentor
Adalaide Hickey, Morgantown, WV, “Supply Chain Optimization of Wastewater-Solids to Fertilizer in Ohio”, (Engineering), West Virginia University, Yuhe Tian, Research Mentor
Isaac Lane, Ravenswood, WV, “Microwave-Catalyzed Selective Upcycling of Single-Use Polyethylene Films to Light Olefins”, (Engineering), West Virginia University, Yuxin Wang, Research Mentor
Ryan Linder, Wheeling, WV, “Impact of High-Fat Diet on Mitochondrial Acetylation in Alzheimer’s Disease Model”, (Biomedical), West Virginia University, Paul Chantler, Research Mentor
Ella Moats, Morgantown, WV, “Searching For The Optimal Conditions For Genetic Transformation of Artemisia annua”, (Biology), Vagner Benedito, Research Mentor
Thomas Olenick, Colliers, WV, and Elijah Brockman, South Charleston, WV, “Design and Setup of Thermal Systems for Degradation of Forever Chemicals”, West Virginia University, Oishi Sanyal, Research Mentor
Lindsey Powers, Export, PA, “Optimization of Carbon Molecular Sieve (CMS) Membranes for Carbon Dioxide to Ethylene Upgradation”, (Engineering), West Virginia University, Oishi Sanyal, Research Mentor
Toby Preaskorn and Parker Preaskorn, LaVale, MD, “Three-Dimensional Computer Aided Design of a Patient-Specific Total Knee Replacement”, (Engineering), West Virginia University, Sam Mukdadi, Research Mentor
Supriya Rathinam, Morgantown, WV, “Dielectrophoresis-Driven Microfluidic Device for Rapid, Label-Free Diagnosis of Rickettsial Infections”, (Biomedical), West Virginia University, Soumya Srivastava, Research Mentor
Morgan Rosensteel, Greensburg, PA, “Structural Features Influencing Signal Timing in Thalamocortical Circuits”, (Neuroscience), West Virginia University, Ariel Agmon, Research Mentor
Haya Salman and Eilidh Allen, Morgantown, WV, “Loss of ATP1B2 in Rod Photoreceptors Impair its Function, Survival, and Synaptic Circuitry”, (Biochemistry), West Virginia University, Saravanan Kolandaivelou, Research Mentor
Connor Sauers, Virginia Beach, VA, “Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometer for Altitude-dependent Greenhouse Gas Concentration Characterization”, (Engineering), Alan Bristow, Research Mentor
Ashley Smalley, Great Mills, MD, “Cell Manipulation in a Low-Cost Microfluidic Device using Alternating Current”, (Biomedical), West Virginia University, Soumya Srivastava, Research Mentor
Alden Stauver, Wheeling, WV, “Development of an AI-Assisted Sustainable Energy System for a Single-Family House”, (Engineering), West Virginia University, Hailin Li, Research Mentor
Anthony Stevens, Morgantown, WV, “HIF and KAP1: mechanisms of cooperation in oxygen-dependent gene expression and breast cancer metastasis”, (Biology), West Virginia University, Alexey Ivanov, Research Mentor
Austin Straus, Carlisle, PA, “Impact of Conditional NMNAT1 Deletion on Rod Photoreceptors in SARM1 Deficient Mice”, (Biochemistry), West Virginia University, Saravanan Kolandaivelou, Research Mentor
Badyn Woodford, St. Clairsville, OH, “Sacred, Secular, and the Sounds of Conflict: A Comparative Study of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem”, (Music), West Virginia University, Andrew Kohn, Research Mentor
