Congratulations to Tessa Culleton (Linguistics BA 2022) who’s undergraduate research was published an article in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, The Role of Speech Style, Frequency, and Density in Recognition Memory for Spoken Words. This work was published with Anne Pycha and Jae Yung Song.
Noah Salentine and Jonathan Doria, who were funded by SURF, contributed to the work that was recently published in Society for Mathematical Biology. Congratulations to both of them!
My name is Nick Quaney, and I was a summer research scholar for the Summer Research Opportunities Program through Freshwater@UW. My research subject from June 2023 to August 2023 was looking at shipwreck artifacts at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. My specific focus was on the shipwreck of the sidewheel steamer NIAGARA. NIAGARA was a “palace steamer,” a term applied to a type of ship from the 1840s-1850s known for innovative design and extravagant luxury. Built-in 1845, NIAGARA ran from Buffalo to Chicago, being chartered to similar routes around the Great Lakes throughout her career. In 1856, she was chartered to the Collingwood Line out of Ontario, Canada, and on this route, from Collingwood to Chicago, she would meet her fate.
On 24 September, 1856, NIAGARA caught fire off the coast of Port Washington, Wisconsin. She burned quite quickly, and the passengers had trouble abandoning ship in such a chaotic situation. One of the lifeboats capsized, with the other being launched successfully, but many passengers had to jump into the cold Lake Michigan water, grabbing onto boards thrown overboard by the crew. Out of some 300 passengers on board, over 60 lost their lives.
The wreck of NIAGARA lies under 50 feet of water just off Belgium, Wisconsin. Due to her burning, not much is left of her, but in the mid 1960s, divers began to take the priceless artifacts that survived the sinking. It is unknown how many artifacts were looted from NIAGARA, but what is known is the amount that was taken by one man: Allen “Butch” Klopp.
Butch Klopp was one such diver who took artifacts from NIAGARA and other wrecks in the Great Lakes, but rather than trying to sell them or add to a private collection, Klopp tried to make his own museum. Through financial troubles over decades, the museum went out of business, and the artifacts he had sat unseen from the public eye until 2021, when the entire Klopp Collection was donated to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. The collection, in total, comprises over 10,000 artifacts from numerous different shipwrecks, with at least 3,000 being from NIAGARA alone. It was these artifacts that I looked at for my research.
Using maker’s marks and pattern analysis on countless numbers of ceramics, knives, bottles, coins, and plenty of unique items, I found many of the origins of these artifacts, from who made them and where, to a rough estimate of when they were made. Many of the plates, bowls, cups, and saucers were English ceramics, and the hundreds of pocket knives were also of English manufacture. But some items stood out among the others. For example, a pair of ice skates happened to have a patent date on them, and through tracking down the exact patent, I found it was made by a local inventor in Meriden, Connecticut, patented on 20 February 1855, a little over a year before NIAGARA sank.
Those two months this summer have been an incredible experience, and certainly one that is a rare opportunity for not just a researcher, but anyone in the archaeological or historical field. Almost all of the artifacts I researched were in beautiful condition for surviving a fire and being underwater for over 150 years. To see and touch such intact and stunning objects, and knowing the history behind them, is an exhilarating, but also sorrowful experience. While these artifacts are treasures, priceless relics from a bygone era, they are tragic objects as well. The burning of NIAGARA was a tragedy, a horrific event that claimed the lives of many men, women, and children, and the story needs to be told.
The artifacts, and the information I researched, will eventually be exhibited by the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, to share the beauty, and the sorrow, of these objects, but most importantly, to show them to the public once more, so that everyone can share in the knowledge, and the history, of NIAGARA.
Thank you to all of the faculty, staff and graduate students who have served as research mentors to our undergraduate students.
The winner of this year’s UWM Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year Award is Shannon Freire, Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology.
Comments from Shannon’s nominations include: “My mentor is always liberal with her time, her knowledge and her openness for discussion.” “She inspires an ethos of trust, humbleness and respect in her student mentees, and encourages us to be great not just as researchers, but as colleagues to our SURF cohort, as students, and as individuals in our field.” “Getting to be her mentee has been a privilege – one that has made me feel like a true part of UWM’s community.” Congratulations, Shannon!
18 faculty and staff were nominated for this year’s award. Congratulations to all nominees:
Alexander Arnold, Chemistry & Biochemistry
William Bristow, Philosophy
Dong-Fang Deng, Freshwater Sciences
Shannon Freire, Anthropology
Rob Graziano, Geosciences
Pamela Harris, Mathematics
Jeana Holt, Nursing
Hanjoo Lee, Psychology
Krista Lisdahl, Psychology
Xiaoli Ma, Materials Science & Engineering
Gabriela Nagy, Psychology
Phillip Owens, College of General Studies
Chanyeop Park, Electrical Engineering
Priyatha Premnath, Biomedical Engineering
Amanda Seligman, History
Lane Sunwall, Honors and CETL
Jing Yang, Communication Sciences & Disorders
Erica Young, Biological Sciences
Congratulations to all of the over 250 student presenters at this year’s UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium. The following student presenters were awarded Outstanding Presentation Awards at the event:
Bo Malames, Mentor: Krista Lisdahl, Psychology. “Neighborhood Threat on Academic Achievement in Adolescents.”
Jillian Cervantes, Mentor: Pamela Harris, Mathematical Sciences. “On the Domination Number for a Family of Semiregular Tiling Graphs.”
Florin Saitis, Mentor: Blake Hill, Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center. “Inhibition of Mitochondrial Fission and Its Effect on Pancreatic Cancer.”
Jaskirat Sidhu & Kryssi Morales, Mentor: Jing Yang, Communication Sciences & Disorders. “Spoken Vowel Productions in Children with Cochlear Implants and Normal Hearing.”
Gabrielle Hildebrand, Mentor: Raymond Fleming, Psychology. “Effects of Residual Arousal on Cognitive Appraisal and Psychophysiological Reactivity to Stress.”
Sage DeLong, Mentor: Rafael Rodriguez Sevilla, Biological Sciences. “How Do Vibrational Signals Differ When Red Milkweed Beetles Interact during Contests and Copulation?”
Jessica Kania, Mentor: Caitlin Bowman, Psychology. “Does Previewing Overlapping Information Aid the Formation of Indirect Associations?”
Dhivyashree Senthil Murugan, Mentor: Xiaohua Peng, Chemistry & Biochemistry. “The Effect of Indomethacin on the Cytotoxicity of Phenylboronic Acid Nitrogen Mustards in Triple Negative Breast Cancer.”
Alexia Castillo, Mentor: Huizi Chen, Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center. “The Crucial Role of Arginase 2: Unveiling its Functional Impact on SCLC Tumor Cells.”
Sean Gibbs, Mentor: Laodong Guo, Freshwater Sciences. “Photochemical Degradation of Disposable Face Masks and Polypropylene in Aquatic Environments.”
Alex Nelson, Mentor: Joshua Gwon, Nursing. “Perspectives on E-Cigarette Cessation among Young Adults Residing in Rural Areas.”
Rachel Stewart, Mentor: Shannon Freire, Anthropology. “After Excavation: Public Access & Data Management at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm Cemetery.”
Jenna Van Hoogstraten, Mentor: Pradeep Rohatgi, Materials Engineering. “The Effect of Cooling Rate on the Microstructure and Physical Properties of Hypereutectic Al-Ce Alloys.”
Tannis Thompson-Catlett, Mentor: Arijit Sen, Architecture. “Creating a Scope for Focus for an Exploration of Food Justice.”
Kaitlyn Rhyner, Mentor: Erica Young, Biological Sciences. “Influence of Host Nectar in Sarracenia purpurea on its Microbiome.”
Anna Sniadach, Mentor: Charles Paradis, Geosciences. “Assessing Methods for Analyzing Total Dissolved Solids: Looking into Water Samples from the Root River in Racine County, WI.”
Seth Krebs, Mentor: Woo Jin Chang, Mechanical Engineering. “Detection and Removal of Lead from Water Using Nanocomposite Film Electrode”.
Madeline Cawkins, Mentor: Joseph Mougel, Art & Design. ““Paleosolotype: Imaging Soil through Chromatography.”
Rachel Kuehn, Mentor: Karyn Frick, Psychology. ““Effects of Inhibiting Proteasome Activity on the Memory-Enhancing Effects of 17𝛽-Estradiol in Ovariectomized Female Mice.”
Abdullah Rauf, Mentor: David Frick, Chemistry & Biochemistry. “A New Assay to Monitor the Ability of a Tuberculosis Enzyme to Convert a Stress Signal to Energy.”
Fridarose Hamad, Mentor: Linnea Laestadius. ““Lessons from the Midwest Youth Wellness Initiative on Technology.”
Angel Xavier, Mentor: Benjamin Trager, Education Policy & Community Studies. “Bridge Parsons’s Role in Community-University Partnerships and Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR).”
Naomi Raicu, Mentor: Ionel Popa, Physics. “Constructing a Fluorescence-Based Technique to Model Protein Unfolding.”
18 UWM Faculty and Staff have been nominated by students as the Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year. The winner will be announced at the Undergraduate Research Symposium on Friday, April 28th at 12pm in the Union Ballroom, and will receive a plaque and $500 in supply funding to support their research.
Nominees:
Alexander Arnold, Chemistry & Biochemistry
William Bristow, Philosophy
Dong-Fang Deng, Freshwater Sciences
Shannon Freire, Anthropology
Rob Graziano, Geosciences
Pamela Harris, Mathematics
Jeana Holt, Nursing
Hanjoo Lee, Psychology
Krista Lisdahl, Psychology
Xiaoli Ma, Materials Science & Engineering
Gabriela Nagy, Psychology
Phillip Owens, College of General Studies
Chanyeop Park, Electrical Engineering
Priyatha Premnath, Biomedical Engineering
Amanda Seligman, History
Lane Sunwall, Honors
Jing Yang, Communication Sciences & Disorders
Erica Young, Biological Sciences
Past winners:
2013: J. Rudi Strickler (Biological Sciences)
2014: Henry Tomasiewicz (Freshwater Sciences)
2015: Gabriella Pinter (Mathematics)
2016: Douglas Steeber (Biological Sciences)
2017: Arijit Sen (Architecture and Urban Planning)
2018: Karyn Frick (Psychology)
2019: Jennifer Gutzman (Biological Sciences)
2020: Dawn Erb (Physics)
2021: Dong-Feng Deng (Freshwater Sciences)
2022: Nathaniel Stern (Art & Design)
Congratulations to Kyla on receiving this competitive and prestigious award!
The UWM Report story states:
“Kyla Esguerra has been instrumental in the nationally recognized success of UWM’s Office of Undergraduate Research. Over the years, she has served as associate, then deputy and now interim director.
In addition to helping connect undergraduates with research opportunities, Esguerra has been instrumental in developing innovations that have increased opportunities for students. In 2008, she developed the UR@UWM summer research program for incoming students.
She is currently leading the UWM and MCW Cancer Center partnership program, helping build pathways for cancer-focused research experiences for UWM undergraduates.
During the pandemic, as chair of the Academic Staff Committee, she rose to the numerous challenges academic staff faced.
“From my perspective in campus leadership and as a faculty member, I can say that Kyla’s exceptional organizational skills and her grace and fortitude under pressure were consistently on display that year,” wrote Mark Harris, vice provost for research, in a letter of recommendation.””
To read about the other Fall Award recipients, visit the UWM Report for the full story.
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