Announcing spring 2022 Academic Year Undergraduate Research Experience award winners

RSCA funding recipients often present their work at the annual Student Research Symposium in May

The College’s Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (RSCA) program is delighted to announce the winners of the spring 2022 Academic Year Undergraduate Research Experience (AYURE) awards, which provide funding for innovative student-faculty collaboration projects this semester. 

RSCA provides these competitive grants each semester to support enriching undergraduate research opportunities for students across all academic disciplines. They are open to all full-time faculty and their undergraduate mentees. 

The program funds up to $750 for materials including supplies and participant payments to carry out the project. AYURE awardees are eligible to later apply for travel funds to present their work at a conference, pending campus/state permission to travel. Students are eligible for up to $1000 in travel support, and faculty mentors for up to $600. 

Here is the list of the spring 2022 AYURE grant awardees:

Alina Abraham ‘22 (Biology), Riddhi Mangal ‘23 (Biology), & Megha Mathew ‘22 (Biology)
Faculty Mentor: Associate Professor of Chemistry Pamela St. John
Project Title: “Measuring Lethal Concentrations of Deuterated Bisphenol A in Regenerating Planaria” 

Matthew Burris ‘22 (Mathematics) & Ryan Owens ‘23 (Mathematics)
Faculty Mentor: Assistant Professor of Mathematics Moshe Cohen
Project Title: “The Geometry of Line Arrangements” 

Sherine DeSilva ‘22 (Cellular Biology) & Julia Furfaro ‘22 (Cellular Biology)
Faculty Mentor: Assistant Professor of Biology Lydia Bright
Project Title: “Functional effects of gene expression changes during RNAi-induced knockdown of Paramecium caudatum” 

Francesca Durmazolu ‘22 (Biology)
Faculty Mentor: Professor of Biology Maureen Morrow
Project Title: “Bacterial evolution in response to experimental climate change: cataloging plasmids of abacterial culture collection” 

Calvin Havnaer ‘22 (Biochemistry)
Faculty Mentor: Associate Professor of Chemistry Frantz Folmer-Andersen
Project Title: “Synthesis of Modified Enantioselective Receptors” 

Nicole Morales ‘22 (Mechanical Engineering)
Faculty Mentor: Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Rachmadian Wulandana
Project Title: “Bio-inspired axial turbines for hydrokinetic energy harvesting” 

Lindsay Neumann ‘23 (Cellular/Molecular Biology)
Faculty Mentor: Professor of Biology Maureen Morrow
Project Title: “Bacterial evolution in response to experimental climate change: cataloging plasmids of a bacterial culture collection” 

Aleks Pilmanis ‘22 (Music & Computer Science)
Faculty Advisor: Assistant Professor of Composition & Theory Phyllis Chen
Project Title: “New Music for Synth Series” 

Kimberly Sanford ‘22 (Adolescent Education: English)
Faculty Mentor: Assistant Professor of Teaching & Learning April Coughlin
Project Title: “Universal Access: Bringing Disability Studies to Higher Education” 

Varsha Talanki ‘22 (Biology)
Faculty Mentor: Associate Professor of Entomology Aaron Haselton
Project Title: “Continued investigation into the insecticidal effects of Sassurea lappa extract against the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster” 

Zachary Zeppieri ‘22 (Mechanical Engineering)
Faculty Mentor: Associate Professor of Engineering Heather Lai
Project Title: “Dynamic behavior of 3D printed compliant joints” 

More information about Undergraduate Research at SUNY New Paltz is available here.