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Center for Undergraduate Research
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Overview
Schedule
Previous Festivals

2025 CUR Undergraduate Research Festival

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  • 2025 CUR Undergraduate Research Festival

Overview

Schedule of Events at a Glance

2025 CUR Undergraduate Research Festival 
in celebration of undergraduate research and scholarship
April 8-10, 2025

Schedule

  • 6 - 7:30 pm ALUMNI RESEARCH CAREER PANEL EVENT, Forum Theater, Campion Hall (HH) Refreshments served.

    Panelists:

    • Kerry Faust, Pharmaceutical Marketing, ‘22. Specialist, Communication, AbbVie LDP

    • Madison Fuller, Neuroscience, ‘23. Research Specialist, University of Pennsylvania

    • Alessandro Sparacio, Biology BS ‘17, MS ‘19. Product Manager, Veeva System

    • Lleyton Winslow, Computer Science, ‘24. Business Process Consultant, SAP Concur

  • 5-7 pm HUMANITIES PANEL, North Lounge, Campion

    Hosted by Christine Flanagan, Professor of English, Writing, and Journalism.

    Celebrate and showcase work in the humanities. Details to follow.

  • All events on this day will be at the Athletic Recreation Center, UC

    4-5 pm UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH TALKS 

    Nicolas Zywalewski, Mathematics, Mentor: Dr. Saghafi

    Abby Robinson, Biology, Mentor: Dr. Bhatt

    Carli Caldwell, Pharm Sciences, Mentor: Dr. D’Mello

    Juliette Liberatoscioli, English, Mentor: Dr. Powell

     

    IMAGES OF RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

    Submit your images through the CUR website and follow the specific instructions in the Google Form. As in previous years, submitted images will be posted on Ctr_Undergrad_Research Instagram and exhibited around campus. This competition is open to all undergraduate students through Friday, April 4. Prizes will be awarded to the "Best Image" voted by SJU faculty and the "Most Popular" voted by most "likes" on Instagram.

    Congratulations to Emma Clift, Grace Ho, and Shay Patel on winning the Most Popular Votes.

    Congratulations to Luke Sanelli on winning the Best Image Award.

     

    5:30-8 pm RESEARCH DAY SYMPOSIUM: STUDENT POSTER SESSION

    Submitted abstracts by faculty-mentored undergraduates should be pre-approved by mentors and follow Research Day Abstract Submissions Instructions. The Research Day Abstract Submission Site is now open through Monday, March 10, 2025. Three or four submitted abstracts will be chosen for the  Research Talks above.

    POSTERS:

    COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

    BIOLOGY UNDERGRADUATE 

    Identifying Tumor Suppressors Epigenetically Regulated by ROR1 in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

    Eric Lalu, Victoria Reed, Norman Fultang, Bela Peethambaran     

    Compound 5: A Natural Compound Targeting ROR1 for the Potential Treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer

    Nicholas Dwyer, Tram Ta, Chris Michel, Ian Pau, Bela Peethambaran     

    A possible role for fatty acid synthesis by the aim33 protein in baker’s yeast

    John Giovinco, Julia Lee-Soety       

    The Ubiquitous Mag2: A DNA Damage Response Protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Budding Yeast

    Christina DiMaggio, Lainie Galdo, Shannon Frank, John Giovinco, Julia Lee-Soety     

    Do bacteriophage GC content correlate with plaque size during M. smegmatis infection?

    Louise Boimah, Gianluca Cicca, MaryFrances Poterjoy, Jenna Russo, Jake Smith, Victoria Taylor, C. Nicole Sunnen, Julia Lee-Soety

    Similarities in genes encoding the tail assembly chaperone in different phages, viruses that infect bacteria

    Alyssa Bloxton, Melanie Hernandez Di Domenico, Ciara Hutchinson, Sarah Koh, Seamus Powers, C. Nicole Sunnen, Julia Lee-Soety

    A Comparison of Tail Sheath Structure and Assembly Genes Within Myoviridae SubClusters (One Tail Fits All? Not Quite!)

    Inda Bard Hennessy, Katie Harkins, Riley Joslin, Owen Monson, Brayden Torchia, Julia Lee-Soety, C. Nicole Sunnen

    Mycobacterium smegmatis Phages Produce Similar tRNA’s to their Bacterial Host When Isolated in the Host

    Julia Balbi, Kiley Toth, Milani Parikh, Nora Duval, Julia Lee-Soety, C. Nicole Sunnen   

    The Building Blocks for DNA Replication in the C1 Phage Cluster are Conserved across the Genome

    Anna C. Krcelich, Emma R. Wenzel, Alexa R. Rogers, Jose A. Torres Cruz, Reilly A. Rosato, Julia Lee-Soety, C. Nicole Sunnen

    Lysin A, Lysin B, and Holin are Conserved and Essential to Lysis in C1 Bacteriophage

    Cameron Fletcher, Giah Jaison, Courtney Kovacs, Kerry McCullagh, Jesse Nguyen   

    Analysis of the Superinfection Immunity of PhesterPhotato's Lysogen

    Farrah Ponnwitz, Julia Lee-Soety 

    Saccharomyces cereivisiae's Kel2 and Its Role in Cell Division and DNA Maintenance

    Farrah Ponnwitz, Racehl Vemula, Aidan Donegan, Julia Lee-Soety     

    A Possible Role for Yer097w as a Regulatory Kinase in Baker’s Yeast

    Annalise Thaler, Gianna Muhaw, Jailyn Parrotte, Julia Lee-Soety     

    YML020W: A Gene Encoding a Protein Involved in Regulating Gene Expression

    Jensine Chikkala, Sara Forsey, Grace Roth, Julia Lee-Soety     

    Yeast Skg3 is required for efficient budding

    Sierra Fretz, Annalise Thaler, Julianna Scogna, Kacie Kershaw, Julia Lee-Soety     

    Discovering S. cerevisiae Slg1 Function Using Bioinformatics and Stress Tests

    Ethan Kabel, Charlotte Kordonowy, Aubrey Neary, Julia Lee-Soety     

    Investigating the Role of RNA Chaperone Protein Hfq in Citrobacter rodentium

    Lianna Long, Abigail Robinson, Emily Costello, Marissa Egan, Shantanu Bhatt   

    Investigating the regulation and function of diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterases in Escherichia albertii

    Abigail Robinson, Shantanu Bhatt       

    Editing the Genome of Escherichia albertii with CRISPR/Cas9

    Tara Miller, Shantanu Bhatt, Edwin Li     

    Role of Leu and Ile Residues in MUC16 Transmembrane Domain Dimerization

    Sophia Kim, Edwin Li       

    Exploring the Function of the Glutamate Receptor Glr-5 During Sleep in Caenorhabditis Elegans

    Gina Gazzara, Matthew Nelson        

    Bacteria are Picky Eaters Too: Finding Protein-Protein Interactions that Control Cellular Processes in Sinorhizobium Meliloti

    Ignacio Llorente Fernandez, Patrick Sarosiek, Ellery Panaia, Ceclia Ouyed Hernandez, Catalina Aranga Pinedo, Preston P. Garcia   

    The Role of Universal Stress Proteins and Enzyme IIANtr in Antibiotic Resistance in Sinorhizobium meliloti

    Melanie Hernandez Di Domenico, Riya Sharma, Catalina Arango Pinedo       

    The Role of Rho GTPase in Pigment Granule Motility and Actin Organization in Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cells

    Malak Sebti, Mykhaylo Yanchyk, Kristina Kristo, Celine Beltran, Christina King-Smith     

    Hippocampal Expression of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4E-binding Protein 2 Alters Behavior Differently in Females Compared to Males

    Sierra Feeney, Jordan McCarthy, Sophia Borrello, Caitlyn Dennis, Dan Vo, Walter Danker, Jennifer Tudor 

    CHEMISTRY UNDERGRADUATE

    Novel Benzoxaborole Antibacterials Act Through Leucyl-tRNA Synthetase Inhibition

    Claire Santangelo, Olivia Lutz, John Tomsho       

    Progress Toward the Synthesis of a Library of Anti-bacterial Benzoxaboroles

    Olivia Beddow, John Tomsho       

    Finding new functions of RNA through molecular dynamic simulations of a nicked viroid RNA circle

    Artiom Butuc, Michael Bruist       

    Computational Method for Determining the Excess Chemical Potential Using Liquid–Vapor Phase Coexistence Simulations

    Andrew Fadgen, Nicholas Pizzi, Rodney Wigent, Preston Moore   

    Determination of the Mechanism of Action of BOB-2: Overexpression and Purification of E.coli LeuRS

    Olivia Lutz, Dr. John Tomsho       

    Polymerization of Poly-t-butyl Methacrylate on Oxidized Silicon Wafers

    Joseph Kepic, Sean Kelly, Amanda Huon, Alexander Sidorenko   

    ENGLISH, WRITING AND JOURNALISM UNDERGRADUATE

    Sally RooneyContemporary Irish Fiction and Representations of Toxic Masculinity

    Jack Kohn       

    Soula Emmanuel's Wild Geese: The Creative and Critical Context for the First Irish Trans Novel

    Juliette Liberatoscioli, Kersti Powell        

    Contemporary Irish Cinema

    Benjamin Vanelli, Kersti Powell 

    MATHEMATICS UNDERGRADUATE   

    Parallel Processing for Black Box Optimization in R

    Meadow Monticello, Rommel Regis       

    Using a Deep Learning Neural Network to Automatically Calculate Exit Velocities of Baseballs from Video Footage

    Nicolas Zywalewski, Abolfazl Saghafi     

    MODERN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGES UNDERGRADUATE   

    Creating Critical Editions of Open Source Texts to Aid Spanish as a Second Language Readers

    Caleb Datto, Claudia Paez Lotero        

    PHYSICS UNDERGRADUATE

    Measuring the Fluidized Region of a Sphere in a Non-Newtonian Liquid using Particle Image Velocimetry

    Matthew McGrath, Shayna Bucey, Piotr Habdas       

    Simulation of Electric Forces in Electrowetting

    Nathaniel O, Sergio Freire      

    From Forces on a Dielectric to Forces on a Water Droplet: A Modeling Journey

    Colin Carey, Sergio Freire     

    PSYCHOLOGY UNDERGRADUATE 

    Skin-Tone Biases in AI-Generated Images

    Alex Cooke, Patrick Garrigan      

    Exploring the Emotional Benefits of Animated Nature-Based and Abstract Imagery for Neurodivergent and Non-Neurodivergent Individuals

    Sophia Borrello, Joseph McCleery       

    Measuring Dissimilarity: Semantic Distance Predicts Creative Behavior

    Emily Horan, Paige Donaghy, Connor Leahy, Stephen Moelter   

    Referential Cohesion Distinguishes Human from AI Generated Creative Stories

    Connor Leahy, Emily Horan, Paige Donaghy, Stephen Moelter     

    Predictors of Dehumanization in Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Alexandra DePaoli, Deborah Ward     

    SOCIOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE UNDERGRADUATE

    Food Insecurity Experienced by People Participating in Medically-Tailored Meal Delivery in the Greater Philadelphia Area

    Catanh Nguyen, Vianna Gendraw, Jessica Sautter       

    Physical function among people participating in a home-delivered medically-tailored meal program

    Sierra Riley, Jessica Sautter        

    THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES

    Designing and Implementing a Mental Health Promotion Station into a Preventive Medical Clinic

    Fredy Abboud, Courtney Trohn, Christopher Antoniello, Peter Clark     

    Herbal Medicine: A Path to Self-Medication or Medical Complications?

    Fredy Abboud, Prenin George, Lainie Galdo, Peter Clark 

     

    HAUB SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

    DECISION AND SYSTEM SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE

    Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation on Pepper Robots: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    Dan Shapovalov, Adam Elm, Marcello Balduccini     

    The Growing Cyber Threat in Healthcare: Challenges and Solutions for Cyber-Physical Systems

    Leo John, Marcello Balduccini        

    Communication with Individuals with Disabilities and the Role of LLMs

    May Lutzen, Marcello Balduccini       

     

    SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

    TEACHER EDUCATION UNDERGRADUATE

    The Impact of Utilizing the Socioscientific Issues Approach on Teacher Satisfaction

    Erin Shoop, Stacy Olitsky   

     

    SCHOOL OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

    HEALTH SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE

    Development of a Low-Cost NIRS System to Measure Human Skeletal Muscle Oxygen Saturation

    Justin Smith, Sinclair Smith        

    Reliability and Validity of a Low-Cost Portable Indirect Calorimetry System to Measure FEO2

    Kamryn Cieslik, Eshanna Kang, Sierra Riley, Sinclair Smith     

    Reliability and Validity of a Low-Cost Portable Indirect Calorimetry System to Measure FECO2

    Eshanna Kang, Sierra Riley, Kamryn Cieslik, Sinclair Smith   

    Reliability and Validity of a Low-Cost Portable Indirect Calorimetry System to Measure Ventilation (L/min)

    Sierra Riley, Kamryn Cieslik, Eshanna Kang, Sinclair Smith     

    PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES UNDERGRADUATE

    Using Halogenated Small Molecules to Induce a Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Storm to Kill TNBC

    Alyssa Weisberg, Isabelle Mercier       

    Investigating CAPER as a Regulator of DNA Damage and Repair in Immunocompetent Murine Models of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

    Janet Cho, Ally Kelley, Camille Milnes, Alyssa Weisberg, Jean-Francis Jasmin, Isabelle Mercier   

    Syntheses and Analytical Characterization of Aryl Adamantylamines as NMDAR Antagonists

    Brendon Chin, Ibrahima Diallo, Branden Stanley, Adeboye Adejare   

    Assessment of Neuroprotective Effects of Novel NMDA Receptor Antagonists Using C. elegans

    Shawna Finck, Kaitlyn Dixon, Kezia Odamtten, Alyssa Eyssalenne, Liang Ren, Olasunmbo Afolayan, Adeboye Adejare   

    Investigation of Lyophilized Surfactant-Protein Complexes for Reduced Leakage of Bovine Serum Albumin

    Carli Caldwell, Anil D'Mello       

    A Preliminary Investigation of Terfenadine-Induced Lysosomal Membrane Permeabilization in Malignant and Non-Malignant Breast Tissue Cells

    Grace Ho, Emma Clift, Shay Patel, Cole Dyson, Youssef Abdelmonem, Brigid Hurst, Clyde Ofner III 

    Lysosomal Uptake of a 10 kDa Fluorescent Dextran in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells

    Grace Ho, Emma Clift, Shay Patel, Clyde Ofner III     

    Comparing Fluorescent Dye Pairs for Optimal FRET in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Lysosomes

    Megan Godshalk, Clyde Ofner III      

    Investigation of Chloride Influx in Subtype, Basal-like 2, Triple Negative Brest Cancer Cells

    Taliya Drummond-Cofer, Seamus Weller, Asha Suryanarayanan       

    β-arrestin Biased N-benzyl-phenethylamines as Non-hallucinogenic Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor Ligands

    Dylan Obriski, Tilka Fananna, Jason Wallach       

    Structure-Activity Relationship Study of Arylcyclohexylamines as NMDAR Antagonists

    Michael McLaughlin, Adam Knapp, Philip White, Sean Cameron, Jason Wallach     

     

Previous Festivals

Events and participants in the CUR Festivals of previous years.

2024 Festival

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