Twelve WSU Honors College Students Receive Auvil, Fuentes-Kirk Awards to Pursue Research in 2013-14

PULLMAN, Wash.—Twelve Washington State University undergraduate members of the Honors College working with faculty mentors on “research, scholarship, and creative activities” have each received $1,000 awards to support their efforts in the 2013-14 academic year. Announcing the awards is Shelley Pressley, director of undergraduate research, a program in the Office of Undergraduate Education.

“This year’s award recipients have in mind, or are already working on, a wide variety of research, scholarly pursuits, and creative activities, and we are pleased that so many freshman and sophomore students will be able to launch their first projects with the help of this funding,” says Pressley.

“We had the largest applicant pool ever this year, with more than 130 students competing for awards,” says Pressley. She thanked the many faculty and staff reviewers who read each application and reference letter.

The awards to Honors students come from two funds: Auvil Scholars Fellowships and the Norma C. Fuentes and Gary M. Kirk Undergraduate Research Award. In total, university-wide, 25 awards were announced from the two funds, plus one more fund supporting a non-Honors student.

Pressley said an announcement will be made soon on any recipients of two additional research awards: the DeVlieg Foundation Grant for engineering students, and support for research in the biofuel area provided by Weyerhaeuser.

The 2013-14 undergraduate research award recipients from the Honors College only, their mentors, and their projects are as follows:

The Fuentes-Kirk Award is given to two students (one in Honors):

Patrick Gavin, a senior in electrical engineering and member of the Honors College who is mentored by Jacob Leachman. Gavin is leading the electrical development of a hydrogen-fuel-cell powered Unmanned Aerial System known as Genii—the first university aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen and a fuel cell.

The Auvil Scholars Fellowship is awarded to (in class year order, alphabetical by last name within):

Parot Charoonsophonsak, a freshman future mechanical engineering major and Honors College student, mentored by Mary Beth Hammerstrom, who will research green energy including the development of alternative fuels, new means of generating energy, and energy efficiency.
Mia Ryckman, a freshman future biology major and Honors College student mentored by Norman Lewis, who will research different stereoselectivities of the (+) and (-) pinoresinol-forming dirigent proteins from flax.
Philip Behrend, a sophomore future mathematics major and Honors College student mentored by Dave Crowder, who will research the dilution effect (related to species richness) in disease ecology.
Michelle Chan, a sophomore future animal science major and Honors College student mentored by James Pru, who will research the molecular mechanisms that direct the development of the female reproductive system.
Vikram Chandra, a sophomore future bioengineering major and Honors College student mentored by Murali Chandra, who will work on a recently discovered mutation in the human cardiac troponin T (cTnT).
Natalie Nelson, a sophomore future animal sciences major and Honors College student mentored by James Pru, who will research the chemoattractant protein stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1) and its role in establishing early pregnancy.
Sophie Ascaso, a junior zoology/pre-vet major and Honors College student mentored by Kwan Hee Kim, who will research the transcriptional interaction and influence of RARA and DMRT1 in the neonatal testis.
Brianna Berg, a junior biochemistry major and Honors College student mentored by Jonel Saludes, who will investigate if the isolated transmembrane domain (TMD) of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) will form a dimer, which may help explain the dimeric form of intact PSMA.
Bryce Henderson, a junior biochemistry/microbiology major and Honors College student mentored by Hector Aguilar, who will research the interactions between two viral glycoproteins that are responsible for fusion and entry of a virus into the host cell, specifically paramyxovirus, such as influenza and Nipah virus.
Evan Klein, a junior biochemistry and Spanish major and Honors College student mentored by John Alderete, who will grow E. coli to yield expression of a recombinant protein called actinin-string of epitopes (ACT::SOE), a linear protein comprised of the epitopes detected by women and men exposed to the sexually transmitted infection trichomonas vaginalis.
Maher Abujelala, a senior computer engineering major and Honors College student mentored by Matthew Taylor, who is conducting artificial intelligence and robotics research using quadcopters (quad-rotor helicopters).

All recipients of these WSU-wide undergraduate research awards are required to participate in the Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA), scheduled in 2014 for March 29.

Pressley says that while applications and awards are typically made in fall, the next round of applications will be this spring for awards effective in fall; these will be the 2014-15 awards.

For more information on these and other awards and programs, visit http://UndergraduateResearch.wsu.edu.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Shelley Pressley, Director of Undergraduate Research, WSU Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-1252, spressley@wsu.edu

Beverly Makhani, Director of Communications, WSU Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-6679, Makhani@wsu.edu<