2017-18 WYOMING RESEARCH SCHOLARS

Hanna Ahuja

Hometown: Rock Springs, WY

Major: Physiology

Hanna is a UW Junior and a transfer student from Western Wyoming Community College. She is also an INBRE transition fellow. She is working with Dr. Baskaran Thyagarajan (School of Pharmacy).

Nathan Barrus

Hometown: Worland, WY

Major: Biology; Spanish

Nathan is a UW junior is working with Dr. Frank Rahel (Zoology and Physiology) on a project involving identifying appropriate taxa as baselines for stable isotope ecology in aquatic systems.

Rebecca Brenner

Hometown: Harrisburg, NE

Major: Physiology and Molecular Biology

Rebecca is a UW Senior and is working with Dr. Zhaojie Zhang (Zoology & Physiology) on a project exploring the colony development of budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Specifically, she studies the possible function of N-Acetylgalactosamine, which is necessary for intercellular communication, and is concentrated in sensory nerve structures in humans, in the formation and possible protection of yeast colonies. She employs sophisticated, high-resolution microscopic imaging techniques for this study. Her research could influence our understanding of yeast and how we might use yeast to study the perineuronal net within the human brain. 

Bradon Bryngelson

Hometown: Gillette, WY

Major: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Bradon is a UW Freshman.

Delta Burchi

Hometown: Laramie, WY

Major: Physiology

Delta is a UW Senior and is working with Dr. Travis Brown (School of Pharmacy) researching the "incubation of craving" phenomena that is thought to help explain why former substance abusers relapse, and also why those actively dieting can seem to "lose control" and binge even after positive results. They are working to better understand how genetic predispositions may play a role in these behaviors, as well as looking at differences in brain morphology (in areas related to these behaviors) between rats of different genetic backgrounds. 

Amanda Christensen

Hometown: Buford, WY

Major: Chemical Engineering

Amanda is a UW Sophomore working with Dr. Amy Navratil (Zoology & Physiology) to determine the role of the reproductive hormone progesterone on gene expression. More specifically, she is working with sheep cells to determine the role of membrane progesterone receptor on regulation of IGFBP1 expression by examining calcium signaling and histone citrullination catalyzed by Petidylarginine deiminase (PAD) enzymes.

Madison Crawford

Hometown: Newcastle, WY

Major: Botany

Madi is a UW Senior and has been working with Lusha Tronstad (WYNDD) and Christine Bell (Graduate Student) researching the potential effects of bloom density on attracting rare pollinating insects. By investigating how vegetation affects the abundance of captured insects, we will be able to better understand the current status and distribution of declining pollinators and be able to better manage species.

Olivia Croft

Hometown: Sundance, WY

Major: Secondary Education--Biology and Earth Sciences

Olivia is a UW Junior researching with Dr. Amy Krist (Zoology and Physiology); her research is centered around the interactions between parasites and the freshwater snail, Pyrgulopsis idahoensis, in Polecat Creek in Grand Teton National Park. More specifically, Olivia is interested in how snail behavior in a temperature gradient may influence their infection rate by trematode parasites. Through this research, she hopes to better understand how climate change may influence parasitism of snails and thus the greater freshwater ecosystem.

Ella DeWolf

Hometown: Laramie, WY

Major: Molecular Biology; Microbiology

Ella is a UW senior. She has been working with Dr. Cynthia Weinig (Botany and Molecular Biology) studying the interactions of soil microbial communities, production of secondary defense compounds in plants, and insect damage. More recently she has shifted her focus to characterization of microbial communities of water lilies and alpine lakes in the Snowy Range. 

Emma Dixon

Hometown: Lawrence, KS

Major: Environmental Systems Science; Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management

Emma is a UW Freshman enrolled in the UW Honors Program.

Logan Eicholzer

Hometown: Liverpool, NY

Major: Environmental Systems Science; Environment & Natural Resources

Logan is a UW Junior and is working with Dr. Ramesh Sivanpillai (Botany and WyGISC) on mapping WY water bodies using satellite images.

Sarah Fanning

Hometown: Thornton, CO

Major: Geology

Sarah is a UW Senior working with Dr. Ellen Currano (Geology & Botany) on climatic and paleoecologic analysis of the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2. They are analyzing fossilized leaves from the time period to better understand the diversity of the flora while also looking at the herbivory on the leaves and the climate associated with this time period. The sites are expected to be the first paleobotanical sites from the ETM2 and will provide a better understanding of both the climate and the ecosystem during the ETM2.

Sydnie Fossberg

Hometown: Las Cruces, NM

Major: Biology

Sydnie is a UW Freshman enrolled in the UW Honors Program.

Olivia Glassock

Hometown: Buffalo, WY

Major: Kinesiology

Olivia is a UW Junior who is working with Dr. Guanglong He (School of Pharmacy). Understanding that obesity causes adverse effects on the cardiovascular system, our lab is utilizing mice to understand whether knocking out certain proteins that code for the inflammation reaction in the cardiovascular system cause beneficial or detrimental effects to the mice. 

Avery Hanks

Hometown: Wheatland, WY

Major: Physiology

Avery is a UW Sophomore.

Grace Hartman

Hometown: Newtown, PA

Major: Environmental Systems Science

Grace is a UW Junior who is working with Dr. David Williams (Botany). She is interested in glacial recession research and her study area is located in the Dinwoody Cirque of the Fitzpatrick Wilderness. She collects and filters snow samples from surrounding snowfields and glaciers for black carbon particulate analysis (Light Absorbing Heat Method).

Rosemary Hopson

Hometown: Gillette, WY

Major: Zoology; Botany

Rosemary is a UW Senior who is working with Dr. Corey Tarwater (Zoology & Physiology) researching neighborhood effects on frugivory rates of a native Hawaiian plant species, Dianella sandwicensis. Oahu has no extant native frugivorous birds which has affected the seed dispersal of native plant species. Oahu is also overrun with invasive plant species. These invasive plant species are competing with native plants for frugivores. I am looking to see if the frugivory rates of D. sandwicensis are affected by its neighborhood in particular the abundance of nonnative and native fruits, focal plant characteristics, and concealment.

Ryan Jardee

Hometown: Parker, CO

Major: Petroleum Engineering

Ryan is a UW Freshman and an Engineering Honors student.

Bryant Jerome

Hometown: Rawlins, WY

Major: Physics

Bryant is a UW junior and is working in Dr. Aidhy’s Computational Microstructure Group on understanding how much energy it takes to form small imperfections, namely irradiation-induced point defects, in uranium nitride (UN). UN is a candidate accident-tolerant nuclear fuel for next-generation nuclear reactors. By modeling these point defects, we can gain a greater understanding of the thermo-mechanical properties of the nuclear fuel, and directly contribute to explaining recent experimental observations.

Paul Mathews

Major: Botany

Paul is a second bachelors student majoring in Botany, with interest in food science. He is working in Dr. Bledar Bisha's (ANSC) microbiology lab, in conjuncture with Dr. Jill Keith (FCSC), using molecular techniques to investigate metabolite and microbiology profiles of kimchee, a traditional Korean fermented food. Kimchee is often considered a functional food, with high probiotic and nutritional potential, but more studies are needed to validate health claims.

Aylin McGough-Peker

Hometown: Huntsville, AL

Major: Physics and Astronomy

Aylin is a UW Junior and is studying expoplant photometry with Dr. Henry Kobulnicky (Physics & Astronomy) on the construction of FHiRE, a high-velocity-precision spectrograph that will be installed and operated at WIRO. FHiRE will accompany NASA's TESS mission, an all-sky exoplanet transit survey, with precise ground-based follow-up observations.

Alexa Milbradt

Hometown: Palmer, AK

Major: Psychology

Alexa is a UW Senior in the psychology department and honors college graduating in December. She is conducting her honors thesis on neural correlates of personality and spatial navigation abilities. She is working under the supervision of Dr. Meredith Minear in her Cognitive Neuroplasticity and EEG Lab.

Tyler Myers

Hometown: Sheridan, WY

Major: Chemistry

Tyler is a UW Junior and is working with Dr. Michael Taylor (Chemistry).

Isabel Noyes

Hometown: Laramie, WY

Major: Molecular Biology

Isabel is a UW Sophomore and is working with Dr. Myrna Miller (Veterinary Science).

Kianna Olson

Hometown: Laramie, WY

Major: Astrophysics; Physics

Kianna is a UW Sophomore working with Dr. Michael Brotherton (Physics & Astronomy) on the MAHA Project. With the MAHA project, we are doing reverberation mapping, a technique that will allow us to better determine the size of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN).  Another key interest of this project is to search for binary supermassive black holes.

Reid Olson

Major: Zoology

Reid is a second bachelor's student and is working with Dr. Katie Wagner (Botany) investigating the potential role of hybridization in the cichlids of Lake Kivu from the East African Rift Lakes.

Zachary Parsons

Hometown: East Wenatchee, WA

Major: Zoology

Zachary is a UW Senior and is working with Dr. Michael Dillon (Zoology and Physiology) researching how bumblebees fly at high elevations, where decreased air density makes flying more difficult, as well as how energetically expensive it is to do so. This knowledge will help predict range shifts of these crucial pollinators that may be forced to move to cooler areas when faced with warming temperatures.

Ryan Parziale

Hometown: Laramie, WY

Major: Astronomy & Astrophysics

Ryan is a UW Senior and is working with Dr. Daniel Dale (Physics & Astronomy) researching star clusters in nearby galaxies. Their project has also expanded to testing the accuracy of software that runs SED fitting to use in the future for the project and for other astronomers to use.

Tatiana Rice

Hometown: Casper, WY

Major: Physiology

Tatiana Rice is a UW Sophomore and is working with Dr. Kara Pratt (Zoology & Physiology). As a member of the Pratt lab, she is studying the development of the Xenopus tadpole visual system, specifically the change in their response to visual stimuli at different times of the day.

Sarah Rich

Hometown: Powell, WY

Major: Chemistry

Sarah is a UW Junior and a tranfer student from Northwest College. She is working with Dr. Brian Leonard (Chemistry) to explore rare-earth element doped quantum dots with enhanced optical and magnetic properties.

Aeriana Roth

Hometown: Parker, CO

Major: Electrical Engineering

Aeriana is a UW Freshman and an Engineering Honors student.

Anna Savage

Hometown: Greybull, WY

Major: Environment Systems Science

Anna is a UW Sophomore and is working with Dr. Ramesh Sivanpillai (Botany and WyGISC) on monitoring vegetation phenology using MODIS time-series satellite data.

Frederick Slane

Hometown: Fort Collins, CO

Major: Astronomy & Astrophysics; Physics

Alex is a UW Junior working with Dr. Daniel Dale (Physics & Astronomy) to study inside out galaxy formation.

Daniel Stanley

Hometown: Waukonda, IL

Major: Biology; Environmental and Natural Resources

Daniel is a UW Junior and is working with Dr. Qian-Quan Sun (Zoology and Physiology).

Josephine Tagestad

Hometown: Thornton, CO

Major: Biology

Josephine is a UW junior and is working with Dr. Corey Tarwater (Zoology & Physiology) and Dan Albrecht-Mallinger researching the display calls of red-capped manakins at lek sites in Panamá in an effort to understand identity, variation, and recognition. This will result in a deeper knowledge of population assessment, recruitment, climate change, and bioacoustics.

Rachel Tenney

Hometown: Casper, WY

Major: Chemistry; Physics

Rachel is a UW Junior and a transfer student from Casper College. She is working with Dr. Elliott Hulley (Chemistry) on a project involving organometalliccomplexes used in studying the generation of protons from carbon-hydrogen bonds (heterolytic C-H activation).

Heather Townsend

Hometown: Douglas, WY

Major: Biology

Heather is a UW Senior and is working with Dr. Baskaran Thyagarajan (School Of Pharmacy) on a project investigating the synergism between exercise and TRPV1 activation to enhance metabolic activity. This research will be of importance in developing a novel approach for treating and preventing obesity. 

Narisse Trippel

Hometown: Worland, WY

Major: Mechanical Engineering; Energy Systems Engineering

Narisse is a UW Sophomore and is working with Dr. Erica Belmont (Mechanical Engineering) on using various types of biomass samples to create biochar and bio oils to test the feasibility of a particular biomass for regular use as alternative fuels.

Joshua Walmsley

Hometown: Douglas, WY

Major: Chemistry

Joshua is a UW Senior working with Dr. Caleb Hill (Chemistry) using measurements at individual nanoparticles to screen electrocatalysts for the oxidation of hydrazine. Probing the catalysis at individual nanoparticles will make it possible to determine how the geometry of individual nanoparticles affects their electrocatalytic properties.

Jacob Williams

Hometown: Centennial, WY

Major: Chemistry; Mathematics; Statistics

Jacob is a UW Senior working with Dr. Bryan Shader (Mathematics and Statistics) investigating questions toward novel insights in discrete tomographic theories and algorithms. Ddiscrete tomography is a field of mathematics which studies the reconstruction of images from limited information about them; it has applications in fields such as medical imaging and scientific microscopy.