WSU Auvil Scholars Program Awards 8 Honors College Undergraduate Researchers for Fall 2009
PULLMAN, Wash. – Eight Honors College students participating in mentored research on campus have received awards for fall semester from the Auvil Scholars program, according to an announcement by the Office of Undergraduate Research at Washington State University. A total of 22 awards were made for this semester.
The $1,000 Auvil awards are intended to further their research. The Auvil Scholars program was created in 2006 through an estate gift from WSU alumnus Grady and Lille Auvil, Wenatchee tree-fruit entrepreneurs. Awards for fall, spring, and summer semesters have been awarded to more than 60 students total, many of them students in the Honors College. The Auvil award program is administered through WSU Undergraduate Research, a unit of the Office of Undergraduate Education.
Undergraduates applying for an Auvil award this semester were mainly already involved in research with a mentoring faculty member.
The names, year, majors, research titles, and mentors of the fall 2009 Auvil Fellows from the Honors College are:
Mapuana Antonio, a senior psychology and Honors College student, investigating native Hawaiians’ knowledge, attitudes, and preventative behaviors toward sun exposure and skin cancer under the mentorship of Laurie McCubbin
Alan Emanuel, senior, neuroscience and Honors College, how the brain controls feeding behaviors, Sue Ritter
Sarah Miller, senior, material science and engineering and Honors College, whiskers on tin-plated copper, and using tin-plated copper as an anode substitute in lithium ion batteries, M. Grant Norton
Gavin Mitchell, sophomore, material science and engineering and Honors College, chemical synthesis of a novel block copolymer with multiple functions, Katie Zhong
Katherine Rempe, junior, microbiology and Honors College, correlation between infection with the parasite Trichomonas vaginalis and prostate cancer explored in an epidemiological context, John Alderete
Edward Rooney, junior, neuroscience and Honors College, underlying neurological basis for an aperitif response to alcohol (increased eating in response to an alcohol challenge), Steve Simasko
Charlotte Seidel, sophomore, zoology (pre-vet) and Honors College, role that the insulin signaling pathway has in the regulation of growth in horned dung beetles, Laura Lavine
Gianne Souza, junior, microbiology and Honors College, influenza and the brain, James Krueger
WSU Undergraduate Research helps to promote academic investigation by all students, from freshman through senior years. Many of this semester’s Auvil Scholars award recipients have ongoing research interests and have received prior Auvil or other awards to support their work. Some have participated in National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduate programs at WSU or other universities during summer.
CONTACT: David Clarke, Communications Assistant, WSU Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-8070, david.h.clarke@email.wsu.edu
Beverly Makhani, Communications Director, WSU Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-6679, makhani@wsu.edu
David F. Bahr, Director, WSU Undergraduate Research, 509-335-8523, dbahr@wsu.edu