WSU Honors Students Earn 12 Awards for Undergraduate Research

PULLMAN, Wash. — Of the 32 awards given by the Office of Undergraduate Research at Washington State University for the coming academic year, 12 recipients are in the Honors College.

“We’re pleased to see the research efforts of our students supported,” says Honors College Dean M. Grant Norton.  “Undergraduate research, whether it be for a student’s thesis or own personal interests, is at the heart of the Honors mission and curriculum.”

All 12 awards are Auvil Scholars Fellowships.  This scholarship began in 2006 with a donation from the estates of Grady and Lillie Auvil, Wenatchee tree-fruit entrepreneurs.  They believed in the importance of education and research, and contributed generously to the WSU.

Auvil awards provide up to $1,000 each for undergraduate researchers doing faculty-mentored research or creative activities.  This year, proposals addressed everything from the properties of fragmented magnetic materials to limb regeneration in tadpoles to the influence of video games on different societies’ views of history.

Eight of the recipients from Honors were female.  Six have majors in the College of Arts and Sciences, with another three in the College of Veterinary Medicine, two in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, and one in the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resources.

All recipients will be required to present a poster summarizing their work at the 2015 Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA), which often has a strong showing from Honors, both in terms of the number of entries and awards.

The Honors recipients of an Auvil award for 2014-15 are:

  • Sophie Ascasco, a junior zoology major mentored by Kwan Hee Kim
  • Colleen Chalmers, a junior psychology and human development major mentored by Brittany Rhoades Cooper
  • Molly Diamond, a sophomore zoology major mentored by Erica Crespi
  • Brandon Graham, a junior bioengineering major mentored by Wenji Dong
  • Travis King, a junior zoology major mentored by Daniel Thornton
  • Samantha McInally, a junior microbiology major mentored by Hector Aguilar-Carreno
  • Natalie Nelson, a sophomore animal sciences major mentored by James Pru
  • Mia Ryckman, a freshman biology major mentored by Norman Lewis
  • Muad Saleh, a junior materials science and engineering major, mentored by John McCloy
  • Seth Schneider, a freshman genetics and cell biology major mentored by Cynthia Haseltine
  • Christina Street, a junior neuroscience major mentored by Michael Court
  • Lauren Rachel Young, a junior history major mentored by Lydia Gerber

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

M. Grant Norton, Dean, WSU Honors College, 509-335-4505

Jared Brickman, Communications Assistant, WSU Office of Undergraduate Education, 509-335-9458, UCHCCommMar.4@wsu.edu