21 Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors Awards Funded, Fall 2017
This fall 2017, the Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (UGRCE) Awards will provide financial and academic support to 21 student-initiated projects under the supervision of Northeastern University faculty members. The awards span a multitude of disciplines and professional fields across Northeastern University’s various colleges.
The UGRCE Awards offer Northeastern students the opportunity to propose original research and creative projects across a wide range of disciplines and conduct them over the course of the funded semester. The Awards provide support for both early and advanced projects and allow students to develop themselves both academically and professionally as young scholars contributing to the knowledge base of their field of study. In addition to conducting their projects, awardees also participate in a Peer Talk series where they both present their projects’ progress, challenges, and successes, and offer feedback to other UGRCE Award recipients.
UGRCE Awards for Fall 2017 include:
Procrastinating for Performance: An Experiment to Identify Rational Procrastinators
Berta Bartoli, CSSH ‘18
Faculty Mentor: Professor William Dickens, Economics
The term procrastinator has always been thought to be indicative of poor performance and inefficiency, yet, research has shown that individuals who engage in procrastination tend to work faster, and at times even better, due to the anticipation of the approaching deadlines. In this study, Bartoli will test how different kinds of procrastinators fare in various metrics, including work-time efficiency and self-control tendencies. The results will be used to develop an economic model describing procrastination tendencies and to identify policy areas where these findings may be used to the benefit of the larger society.
Novel Muscle Cell Membrane Lesion Therapy in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Catherine Platt, Bouve ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Ban-An Khaw, Ph.D., D.Sc., Pharmaceutical Sciences
This project seeks to employ an alternative and promising approach to therapy for individuals affected by Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a genetic disease that causes progressive degeneration of skeletal muscle tissue. Platt hypothesizes that immunoliposomes may be used to repair damaged skeletal muscle cells and restore muscle viability. Previously used to repair similar structural tissue, immunoliposomes have the added advantage of targeted, intracellular drug delivery. Successful demonstration of this method could revolutionize drug administration in DMD and greatly improve patient prognosis.
Gas Gain Simulations for Evaluating Potential CF4 Replacements in Cathode Strip Chambers
Jameson O’Reilly, COS ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Darien Wood, Physics
During his coop at the CERN in Geneva, O’Reilly oversaw the construction of Cathode Strip Chambers, which currently contain a mixture of gases that include the greenhouse gas CF4. Due to the detrimental effects of CF4 on the environment, the European Union may enforce a ban on this gas forcing CERN to find an alternative. O’Reilly will use computer simulations to accurately predict which gas replacement will be an appropriate, environmentally friendlier, substitute of CF4.
Aptamer Based Micelles for Chemically Targeted Drug Delivery
David Rosenberg, COE ‘20
Faculty Mentor: Professor Thomas Webster, Chemical Engineering
New technologies in medicine have allowed us to discover innovative ways to deliver drugs in the body. To specifically target disease-related cells, nano-sized delivery vehicles are designed to bind specific cells or to disintegrate in specific physiological environments. In this work, Rosenberg proposes to develop a platform of DNA or RNA-based nano-carriers that can recognize target cells through the DNA or RNA. Such nano-carriers would be easier to adapt to different target cells, and therefore different diseases, than current methods by modifying the DNA or RNA sequence.
Join us in congratulating all Northeastern students who are recipients of the UGRCE Awards for Fall 2017:
Advanced Research and Creative Endeavor Awards
Procrastinating for Performance: An Experiment to Identify Rational Procrastinators
Berta Bartoli, CSSH ‘18
Faculty Mentor: Professor William Dickens, Economics
Development of a Novel Transformation Approach for Catharanthus roseus
Asa Budnick, COS ‘18
Faculty Mentor: Professor Carolyn Lee-Parsons, Chemical Engineering
Love Your Melanin: Reducing the Dangerous Practice of Skin Bleaching in Black and Brown Communities
Sokona Diallo, CSSH ‘18
Faculty Mentor: Professor Silvia Domínguez, Sociology; Human Services
Transgenerational Effects of Paternal Exposure to Pathogens in an Insect Model
Khaled Elnaggar, COS ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Wendy Smith, Biology
Iron Homeostasis in Caco-2 Cells
Caroline Ghio, COE ‘21
Faculty Mentor: Professor Abigail Koppes, Chemical Engineering
Gas Gain Simulations for Evaluating Potential CF4 Replacements in Cathode Strip Chambers
Jameson O’Reilly, COS ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Darien Wood, Physics
An Examination of Maternal Language and Prosody During Feeding and Play
Julie Peters, Bouve ‘18
Faculty Mentor: Professor Emily Zimmerman, Speech-Language Pathology
Novel Muscle Cell Membrane Lesion Therapy in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Catherine Platt, Bouve ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Ban-An Khaw, Ph.D., D.Sc., Pharmaceutical Sciences
Aptamer Based Micelles for Chemically Targeted Drug Delivery
David Rosenberg, COE ‘20
Faculty Mentor: Professor Thomas Webster, Chemical Engineering
Analyzing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Unimanual Rhythmic and Discrete Movements: An EEG Study
Hannah Tam, COS ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Dagmar Sternad, Biology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics
Interaction between Single-Stranded DNA-Binding Protein and β-clamp Protein of the DNA Replisome in Escherichia coli
Marc Tawfik, COS ‘18
Faculty Mentor: Professor Penny Beuning, Chemistry
Gene Expression of Immune Related Genes in Transgenerational Immunity Primed Manduca Sexta
Kyi Thwin , COS ‘20
Faculty Mentor: Professor Wendy Smith, Biology
Matching Students to Schools
Aja Watkins, CSSH ‘17
Faculty Mentor: Professor Rory Smead, Philosophy
Gulliver: Large-Scale Environmental Deployment of Advanced Prototype
Claire Williams, COS ‘20
Faculty Mentor: Professor Slava Epstein, Biology
Mass Spectrometry-based Mapping of Protein Structure Changes that Control Development of Antibiotic Resistance
Brendan Yang, COS ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Veronica Godoy, Biology
Early Research and Creative Endeavor Awards
Deaf Culture and Religion: Hearing God’s Word
Wesley Cannon, CAMD ’20
Faculty Mentor: Professor Jung Lee
Using Mobile Application for the Control of Northeastern University Marine Observatory Network
Andrew Fish, COE ‘21
Faculty Mentor: Professor Stefano Basagni, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Laser Capture Microdissection to Identify Molecular Events that Mediate Diffusion-Based Changes Across the Entire Brain in Prairie Vole Fathers
Iain Kehoe, COS ‘19
Faculty Mentor: Professor Craig Ferris, Psychology
Jargon and Justice
Matthew Monjarrez, CCIS ‘20
Faculty Mentor: Professor Janet Randall, Linguistics Program & English
Identification and Characterization of Biofilm Mutants in the Pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii
Chineme Onwubueke, COS ‘20
Faculty Mentor: Professor Veronica Godoy-Carter, Biology