Congratulations to the student authors of the Indiana University Journal of Undergraduate Research (IUJUR) for their many outstanding accomplishments since publishing with us. We are honored to share your outstanding work as young researchers in the journal and look forward to seeing where you go in the future!
Volume I
Carolina Cardona-Serrano graduated from IUPUI in 2018 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She currently studies additive manufacturing and design of complex structures and will start her master’s program in Mechanical Engineering with a Research Assistantship this fall. In the past year, she received the 2018 Chancellor Award of Outstanding Undergraduate Research at IUPUI and took part in the Supplier Engineering Development Spring Co-op at Toyota Motor North America. In the future, she plans to work in the automotive industry as a design engineer. Carolina’s article, “Part Consolidation for Additive Manufacturing Demonstrated in the Design of a 3D-Printed Harmonic Drive”, was published in the first volume.
Volume II
Adam Buss graduated from IU in 2017 with a degree in Biology, which he hopes to apply to a career in biostatistics and health research. In the past year, he has worked on the High Methylation Data Project. Adam’s article, “Construction of Generalized Integral Formulas By Means of Laplace Transformations”, was published in the second volume.
Kaitlynn Milvert hopes to utilize her studies in Spanish and English to pursue a career in disability and education law. In the past year, she has been an exchange student in Lima and an intern for the College Arts & Humanities Institute. She recently received the Palmer-Brandon Scholarship in the Humanities, the largest scholarship awarded by the IU College of Arts and Sciences to students in the humanities to recognize outstanding academic achievement. Next year, she will be working on two thesis projects, one examining entanglements between law and narratives of disability and the other studying a series of mid-20th-century Mexican education reforms. Kaitlynn's article, “Becoming God: Cycles of Rebirth and Resurrection in Their Eyes Were Watching God”, was published in the second volume.
Catherine Xu hopes to use her studies in Cognitive Science to pursue a career in Indigenous Rights Law. In the past year, she has studied abroad at St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford and interned at the Language Conservancy, a nonprofit specializing in Native American language revitalization. This summer, she is working as an intern at a civil rights law firm in Anchorage, Alaska. Catherine’s article, “Tracks in the Snow”, was published in the second volume.
Volume III
Lauren Ehrmann plans to apply her studies in Art History and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures to become an Art Museum Curator. In the past year, she has taken part in the IU Summer Language Workshop and served as a Presidential Research Intern. She has also been awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship to study Arabic. This summer, she is attending the Arab-American Language Institute of Morocco (AALIM) in Meknes with the Arabic Flagship Program. She will then be spending the Fall 2018 semester studying abroad in Florence, Italy. Lauren's article, “On the Edge of a New Perception: The Art of Moran and Watkins”, was published in the third volume.
Rebecca Hailperin-Lausch is currently studying Psychology and French and plans to go to graduate school for psychology. Upon her graduation in 2019, she plans to take part in the Teaching Assistant Program in France, teaching English to French high school students. She has been awarded the Jeanne Marandon Fellowship and the Albert and Agnes Kuersteiner Memorial Prize. This summer, she is working in the in the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab in order to start on her honors thesis project. Rebecca’s article, “A proposed EEG study: the role of object affordance during action observation”, was published in the third volume.
Willa Mannering graduated from IU in 2018 with degrees in Cognitive Science and Computer Science. She plans to attend IU in the fall to pursue a PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science. In the fall of 2017, she presented a poster at the Psychonomics conference and expects to publish another paper soon. Willa was a co-author of the article, “Should Fingerprint Examiners Make More Erroneous Identifications?”, which was published in the third volume.
Damon Pham has interest in medicine, data science, and art. In the summer of 2017, he participated in the BD2K-LINCS DCIC Summer Research Training Program in Biomedical Big Data Science. This summer, he is focusing on developing personal art projects. Damon's article, “‘The Great Starlit Vault Of Heaven’: Walt Whitman’s Treatment of Death Through Astronomy”, was published in the third volume.
Noah Schlossberger graduated from IU in 2018 with a degree in Physics. This fall, he will start his PhD program in Physics at University of Colorado Boulder. He plans to conduct research in atomic physics. In the past year, he completed his undergraduate thesis and was a research intern at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Noah was a co-author of the article, “A Proposed Experiment to Test Spin-Dependent Effects Beyond Einstein’s Theory of Gravitation: The Pound-Rebka Experiment with Spin”, which was published in the third volume.
Volume IV
Megan Bailey graduated from IUPUC in 2018 with a degree in Nursing. She has received the IUPUC Academic Excellence Scholarship and the Sigma Theta Tau International Rising Star of Research Award. Megan is a co-author on the article “Increasing Awareness of Substance Abuse and Addictions: Does Early Childhood Drug Education Provide Diversion from Using Drugs and/or Alcohol?,” published in the fourth volume.
Keiland Cooper plans to apply his studies in Cognitive Science to graduate study and research. He currently researches Neuroscience and Synthetic (Artificial) Intelligence. In the past year, he has received summer research awards and cognitive science awards. Keiland’s article, “Can the Machine Understand?,” was published in the fourth volume.
Nirupama Devanathan plans to use her studies in Philanthropic Studies to a career as a medical professional invested in public health and the nonprofit world. She has received the IUPUI Bepko Scholarship and the Luis Alberto Ambroggio Award in Latino Studies. Additionally, she was an Intel Science Talent Search Semi-Finalist. This summer, she is travelling to Nicaragua with IUPUI Global Medical Brigades and serve as a student volunteer in Salmon, Estelí. Afterwards, she will intern with Parkview Health on a project focusing on cardiovascular medicine. Nirupama’s article, “Systematic Survey of the Role of IGF in the Link between Diabetes and Cancer,” was published in the fourth volume.
Timothy Brian Huber graduated from IU in 2017 with a degree in Chemistry. He received a physical chemistry scholarship and presented his research at a conference in 2017. He is currently an analytical chemist for pharmaceutical company and has recently taken a position as field service technician. Timothy’s article, “Generation of Time Independent and Time Dependent Harmonic Oscillator-Like Potentials Using Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics,” was published in the fourth volume.
Bailey Hull graduated from IU in 2018 with a degree in Human Biology. While studying abroad in Budapest, Hungary, he shadowed physicians and worked in the Uzsoki Hospital as an intern. He has also interned in the Department of Neurology at Riley Children's Hospital. His research was presented at the 2016 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Obesity Week event in New Orleans, Louisiana. He will start medical school this fall. Bailey’s article, “Influence of Cognitive Engagement on Temptation and Decision Making,” was published in the fourth volume.
Haily Merritt graduated from IU in 2018 with degrees in Cognitive Science, Linguistics, and Central Eurasian Studies as a Cox Research Scholar. This fall, she will start her PhD program at Cornell University, with hopes of becoming a research professor in cognitive science. In 2017, she received the Cox Research Scholarship and Hutton Pre-Professional Experience Internship Grant. She has participated in Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the University of California, Berkeley. During her time at IU, she studied abroad in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Haily’s article, “Language Mode Influences Language-specific Categorization,” was published in the fourth volume.
Halley Rose Meslin graduated from IU in 2018 with degrees in Environmental & Sustainability Studies and French. She plans to pursue a career in food sustainability. In 2018, she received the Grace P. Young Undergraduate Award in French and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She spent junior year abroad studying in Copenhagen, Denmark and Cannes, France. While in France, she interned for the amfAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research) charity gala during the Cannes Film Festival. Halley’s article, “Food Access in the Age of Online Grocery: An Evaluation of Current Retail Trends and Their Potential to Alleviate Food Deserts in the U.S.,” was published in the fourth volume.
Clarissa Ren will graduate from IU in 2018 with a degree in Biology. During her time at IU, she has been involved in the Demas Lab, MEDLIFE, and the Hutton Honors Council Association. She has received the Rex Grossman Scholarship from the IU Department of Biology and a Hutton Honors College Research Grant. This summer, she is studying abroad in China. Clarissa’s article, “Sexual Dimorphism in the Gut Microbiome,” was published in the fourth volume.
Anita Sayar hopes to apply her studies in Neuroscience to a career in medicine or academia. In the past year, she has conducted research in the Cannabinoid Physiology Lab in the IU Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Anita’s article, “Comparison of the Effect of Major versus Minor-Keyed Music on Long-Term Declarative Memory in High School Students,” was published in the fourth volume.
Therin Showalter graduated from IU in 2018 with a degree in Media Studies. This fall, he will start his MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 2017 and 2018, he received the Donald Rushton Memorial Scholarship. He has worked as a videographer and editor for Smithville Communications and the Kelley School of Business. He has also served as the desk editor for the opinion section of the IDS. Therin’s article, “The Effect of Whiteness and Attempts to Preserve It on Political Division in the United States,” was published in the fourth volume.
Grace Taylor graduated from IU in 2018 with degrees in Nonprofit Management and Spanish. She has studied abroad in Madrid and interned with Sun King Brewing Company. She has received the Brad Dugan Scholarship Recipient through the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She will be working at Fisher Investments in Camas, Washington as a UK Client Services Associate. Grace’s article, “One-for-One Companies: Helpful or Harmful?,” was published in the fourth volume.
Piiamaria Virtanen graduated from IU in 2016 with degrees in Biology and Neuroscience. She is currently a third year medical student at the IU School of Medicine. She is a co-author on the article “Using the Predicted Structure of the Amot Coiled Coil Homology Domain to Understand Lipid Binding,” published in the fourth volume.
Shelby Wasson graduated from IUPUC in 2018 with a degree in Nursing. She has received a grant from the Office of Student Research and interned at the Schneck Medical Center. Shelby is a co-author on the article “Increasing Awareness of Substance Abuse and Addictions: Does Early Childhood Drug Education Provide Diversion from Using Drugs and/or Alcohol?,” published in the fourth volume.