In September, 2021 the Office of Undergraduate Research announced 164 SURF Awards for the Fall Semester and Academic Year. Congratulations to all!

School of Architecture & Urban Planning

  • Franziska Burkard and Jacob Rohan working with Lindsey Krug: “Department of Interiority: Studying the Agency of Bodies in Architecture”
  • Isabella Cosentino and Luis Carlos Ylizaliturri Fernandez working with Trudy Watt: “Phase III Design Research”
  • Jessica Dray working with James Wasley: “Green Building Data Base Verification and Analysis- Ongoing Work on Rules of Thumb for Net-Zero Energy Building Design”
  • Alana Dunne, Hytham Jaraba, Sarah Lunow, Nathan Magee, and Drew Running working with Debbie Chen: “Typologies of Drawdown Architecture”
  • Liam Farin and Tanner Farnham working with Arijit Sen: “Taking Back Our World”
  • Annabelle Fritz working with James Wasley: “Distributed Urban Water Systems Case Studies”
  • Cameron Hansen working with Mark Keane: “www.NEXT.cc – K-12 Design Education Curriculum”
  • Andres Velazquez working with James Wasley: “Spiral Pier Failure Diagnosis and Reconstruction”

Peck School of the Arts

  • Deajah Barney, Ashley Garcia, Zoe Glise, Jessica Lueck, and Madison Westreich working with Simone Linhares Ferro: “Milwaukee Through Embodied Research”
  • Katherine Behlke working with Christopher Willey: “Immersive Media Lab: Combing System Operations and Animatronics”
  • Natalie Derr, Autumn Powless, and Jasmine Uras working with Maria Gillespie: “Parts of the Whole – Kinesthetic Education as Transformative Justice”
  • Mich Dillon working with Nathaniel Stern: “Breath”
  • Mich Dillon, Ava Hagar, Victoria Leite, and William Mueller working with Glenn Williams: “Cultural Place Markers”
  • Peter Green working with Nathaniel Stern: “Blockchain and NFT Exploration”
  • Carolann Grzybowski and Tyler John working with Sean Kafer: “A History of Violence: The Story of Shawn Page”
  • Beth Lemerand working with Jessica Meuninck Ganger: “Confluence: Community, Collaboration, and Water Justice”
  • Leonardo Lovo and Paula Lovo working with Portia Cobb: “Voices of Gun Violence Story Archive”
  • Bryan Mercado and John Thomas working with Sean Kafer: “Villegang: The Story of Sedan And Sylville Smith”
  • Kathryn Schneider working with Sheila Feay-Shaw: “A Comparison of the Experience and Motivation for Participation by High School Students in Both Band and Choir”
  • Kay Speidel working with Andy Miller: “Applied Pedagogy of Afro-Brazilian Candomblé Drumming”
  • Madison Sveum working with Nathaniel Stern: “The World After Us”
  • Gabrielle Vitrano working with Kimberly Cosier: “Building Prop and Set Design Experiences for Middle and High School Filmmakers”

College of Engineering & Applied Science

  • Andrea Alonso working with Mahsa Dabagh: “Mechanobiology in Atherosclerosis”
  • Arwa Alsiyami working with Mahsa Dabagh: “Efficient Design of Stents for Cerebrovascular Aneurysm Patients”
  • Amna Ataullah working with Susan Mcroy: “Text Analysis to Support Automated Health News Quality Assessment”
  • Brinn Blum working with Ryoichi Amano: “Industrial Energy Assessment Project”
  • Samuel Catania working with Brian Armstrong: “Software and Hardware Development for the Solar Sculpture”
  • David Cooper working with Chiu Law: “Characterization of Cellulose Nanocrystal Elastomers”
  • Morgan Connaughton working with Mahsa Dabagh: “Comorbidity of Hypertension and Cancer”
  • Luke Davitz working with Priyatha Premnath: “Biomechanical Analysis of Bones”
  • Samia El-Meanawy working with Pradeep Rohatgi: “Additive Manufacturing of Graphene-Based Metal Matrix Composites”
  • Brett Fong working with Krishna Pillai: “Testing the Efficacy of Commercial Water Filters in Removing Arsenic”
  • Nicholas Gilhaus working with Ryoichi Amano: “Energy Saving Analysis”
  • Allen Glen De Guzman working with Robert Cuzner: “Development of Resiliency Metrics for Electrified Ship and Space Station Advanced Energy Delivery System”
  • Erik Hansen working with Pradeep Rohatgi: “Self-Healing Magnesium Bone Scaffolds”
  • Rosalba Huerta, Sara Huerta, Mark Nosonovsky, and Gabriel Stern working with Konstantin Sobolev: “Lunar Concrete”
  • Seth Krebs working with Priyatha Premnath: “Effect of UC 2288 on MSCs”
  • Nancy Martinez Lazaro working with Peter Hinow: “Modeling and Simulation of a Kairomone-Mediated Host Search in a Parasitic Isopod”
  • Roberto Munoz working with Brian Armstrong: “Modeling and Analysis of Grid Scale Solar Energy Sites with Storage”
  • Miles Murray working with Benjamin Church: “Oxide Formation of Welded Joints in Cast Alumina-Forming Austenitic Steel Alloys”
  • Raga Madhuri Podugu working with Jacob Rammer: “Validation of a Mobile Application for Community Mobility and Participation Assessment”
  • Pranav Roy working with Pradeep Rohatgi: “3D Printing of Al-Ce Matrix Graphene Reinforced Nanocomposites”
  • Austin Schmidt and Dylan Endries working with Krishna Pillai: “Designing Next-Generation Water Filters for Arsenic Removal using 3D Printing”
  • Humza Siddiqi working with Priyatha Premnath: “Histological Analysis of Murine Bones”
  • Natalia Sotelo working with Pradeep Rohatgi: “Biocompatible Self-Healing Materials and Biological System Applications”
  • Sebastian Spencer working with Chiu Law: “Actuation of a Dielectric Elastomer with Liquid Metal Electrodes”
  • Jonathan Stone working with Nathan Salowitz: “Adhesion of Shape Memory Alloy Fibers in Tin-Bismuth Matrix”
  • Nou Thao working with Priyatha Premnath: “Immunobiological Analysis of Murine Bones”
  • Alex Turner working with Krishna Pillai: “Making of a Low-Cost Polyurethane-Foam Based Filter for Removing Arsenic from Water”
  • James Veltri and Evelyn Murphy Barrett working with Pradeep Rohatgi: “Application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Manufacturing Metal Matrix Composites”
  • Madeline Vetsch working with Jacob Rammer: “Development and Assessment of Technology to Track Community Mobility and Participation in Manual Wheelchair Users”
  • Weiling Xia working with Xiaoli Ma: “Synthesis and Characterization of Dual-Layer Covalent Organic Framework Membranes for Desalination”
  • Evan Zielski working with Robert Cuzner: “Development of Integrated Electromagnetics Interference Characterization and Test Platform”

School of Education

  • Leticia Cortes and Kintressa Gosz working with Leanne Evans: “Navigating Spaces in Higher Ed: Collaborating for the Inclusion of Underrepresented Voices in Teacher Education”

School of Freshwater Science

  • Syeda Afrah Sultanath working with Marcia Silva: “Sensor for Detection of Virus Using Holographic Imaging and Deep Neural Networks (DNN)”
  • Zenab Ali working with Marcia Silva: “Non-Invasive Detection of Thin Biofilms in Pipes”
  • Kevin Hicks working with Marcia Silva: “Developing and Testing a Sensor for Detection of Phosphate in Water”
  • Emma Kraco working with Dong Fang Deng: “Vitamin C Requirement of Yellow Perch Juvenile”
  • Emma Linhares working with Laodong Guo: “Seasonal Variations of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter in a National Estuarine Research Reserve”
  • Adam Mahsem working with Laodong Guo: “Spectroscopic Characterization of Dissolved Organic Matter Derived from Microplastics”
  • Bridget Ohme working with Marcia Silva: “Characterization of microplastics and nanoplastics in water”
  • Garrett Scapellato working with Ryan Newton: “Genomic Features of Flavobacteria from Distinct Aquatic Sources”

College of General Studies

  • Leah Ackley working with Michael Pauers: “Geometric Morphometric Analyses of Three Closely Related Melanotaeniid Rainbowfishes from New Guinea”

College of Health Sciences

  • Cassidy Bertagnoli, Jena Burton, and Casey Roekle working with Sabine Heuer: “Image Naming in Older Adults”
  • Natalie Gustafson working with Jing Yang: “Speech and Sung Vowels of Children with Cochlear Implants”
  • Kristin Her working with Shelley Lund: “The Augmentative and Alternative Communication Clinical Assessment Project (AAC-CAP) Feasibility of AAC Assessment Protocols”
  • Alyssa Huguet working with Bhagwant Sindhu: “Using Mindfulness Practice for Improving Surgical Outcomes Among Individuals Experiencing Rotator Cuff Tears”
  • Gracie Williams working with Shelley Lund: “Perspective on Culturally Sustaining Practices for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication”

College of Letters & Science

  • Annabelle Ahlers working with Maria Novotny: “Understanding Infertility as a Fluid Identity: Connections to Mental Health & Art Therapy”
  • McKenna Anderson working with Karyn Frick: “Establish a Role for Proteasome Activity in 17beta-Estradiol Induced Facilitation Spatial and Object Recognition Memory Consolidation in Male and Female Mice”
  • Hailey Beaty working with Karyn Frick: “The Role the Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus in a Mouse Model of Object Memory Formation”
  • Larsen Birdsong working with Arsenio Pacheco: “UV-Visible Spectroscopic Properties of the Enzyme Cytochrome C Nitrite Reductase”
  • Claire Bolda working with Dawn Erb: “Lyman-Alpha Emission and Large-Scale Structure in Galaxies at Redshift Z=2.3″
  • Josie Carballido working with Amy Olen: “Supports and Resources for Medical Interpreters in Distressing Pediatric Medical Encounters”
  • Matao Casarez working with Charles Paradis: “Uranium Mobility in Groundwater During Surface Water Recharge Events”
  • Dylan Childs working with Charles Paradis: “Downscaling of Laboratory Column Flow-through Device for Teaching Groundwater Flow and Solute Transport”
  • Daniel Collison working with Ionel Popa: “Directional Cross-Linking of Proteins to Form Muscle-like Biomaterials”
  • Ronita Dua working with Johann Strickler: “The Larger Environment of a Free-Swimming Daphnia”
  • Alex Ebben working with Prasenjit Guptasarma: “Materials for Active Radiation Shielding of Galactic Cosmic Rays during Space Flight”
  • Fantasia Edwards working with Lindsay McHenry: “Hydrothermal Alteration of Fresh Icelandic Basalt: Analog to Mars”
  • Olivia Faleta and Anvitha Sriram working with Lia Wolock: “Imagining South Asian America: Media Activism, Immigration, and Race in the Digital Age”
  • Sean Fanning working with Jolien Creighton: “Merging Features between Two Gravitational Wave Parameter Estimation Codes: RIFT and rapidPE”
  • Zachary Feldbruegge working with Itziar Lazkano: “Did the America Invents Act Boost Innovation?”
  • Kathryne Fogle working with Lindsay McHenry: “The Mineralogy of Paleolake Olduvai, 1.5 Million Years Ago to the Present”
  • Tiara Fountain, Hadiya Johnson, Noor Mahmoud, and Pilar Sharp working with Rachel Buff: “Wisconsin Community Activism Now Archive”
  • Ian Gallagher working with Rafael Rodriguez Sevilla: “Mate Copying in Enchenopa Female Treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)”
  • Edgar Leon Gomez working with Paru Shah: “Effects of the Fair Housing Act (1968) On Latinos in Wisconsin”
  • Leann Grahler working with Dyanna Czeck: “Pathways for Water in Quartz Grains: Exploring Strain Softening in Granite Clasts along the Willard Thrust Fault”
  • Razia Hafeez working with Jorg Woehl: “Corral Trapping of Nanoscale Objects”
  • Fridarose Hamad and Julie Pike working with Celeste Campos-Castillo: “Milwaukee Youth Wellness Initiative on Technology: A Youth Advisory Board”
  • McKayla Healy working with Joseph Walzer: “Whose Land?: Settlement, Dispossession and Race in Urban and Rural Wisconsin and New York”
  • Theodore Holmes working with Victoria Mccoy: “An Experimental Investigation of the Morphological Changes in Insect Damage on Leaves during Decay and Fossilization”
  • Kate Jakubowski working with Amanda Seligman: “Educating Genius”
  • Tristan Jarvey, Caitlin Nelson, and Callen Shaw working with Christine Larson: “Neurobiological Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”
  • Kalkidan Johnson working with W Hobart Davies: “Perceptions of Privacy vs. Public Good from the Hypothetical Use of Vaccije Attitudes by Internet Companies”
  • Ranjak Joshi working with Shama Mirza: “Role of Ceramide Signaling in Glioblastoma”
  • Jerald Kellner working with Rafael Rodriguez Sevilla: “The Function of a Novel Signal Type in Enchenopa Treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)”
  • Cheyanne Koran working with Lindsay McHenry: “Using Mineralogy to Correlate between Core and Outcrop in an East African Paleolake”
  • Corinne Kronschnabel working with Christopher Cantwell: “Gathering Places; Religion and Community in Milwaukee”
  • Rachel Kuehn working with Karyn Frick: “Effects of Long-Term Estrogen Receptor Beta Agonism in Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease”
  • Danielle Leider working with Marcellus Merritt: “How Self-Selected Leisure Activities Relate to 24-Hour Sleep-Wake Rhythm and Moods”
  • Jermarcus Lewis working with Claire de la Cova: “Quantification of ERK Activity in C. elegans”
  • Ceceilia Loeschmann working with Tami Williams: “A Moving Image Archive for the Future: Collecting, Preserving, and Exhibiting Film and Media in the Wake of the Pandemic”
  • Allyn Lottouzee working with Neal O’reilly: “Identification of Optimum Conditions for Composting Food Waste Generated at Food Pantries”
  • Connor Lynch working with Han Joo Lee: “An Examination of the Role of Contextual Factors in the Association between Response Inhibition and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms”
  • Lyiba Malik working with Ava Udvadia: “Cross Species Comparison of FOSL1 Expression during Optic Nerve Regeneration”
  • Nancy Martinez Lazaro working with Peter Hinow: “Modeling and Simulation of a Kairomone-Mediated Host Search in a Parasitic Isopod”
  • Daisy Ortega Moran working with Bonita Klein-Tasman: “Play and Humor-Infused Exposure Therapy with Young Children with Williams Syndrome”
  • Ian Morley working with James Moyer: “Recording from Neurons: Fundamentals of Patch-Clamp Neurophysiology”
  • Kimberly Osborn working with Ionel Popa: “Development of a Covalent Assay between Proteins and Antibodies”
  • Lillian Pachner working with Amanda Seligman: “Historical Twitter Reenactments”
  • Jana Plotkin working with Emily Middleton: “Applications of DNA Profile Sequencing in Forensic Investigation”
  • Naomi Raicu working with Ionel Popa: “Exploring small-molecular markers to quantify mechanical unfolding of proteins inside biomaterials”
  • Autumn Routson working with Charles Paradis: “Road Salt Transport to the Root River in Racine, Wisconsin”
  • Hope Ruedin working with Bonita Klein-Tasman: “Effect of Telehealth Program on Quality of Life in Teens with NF1″
  • Preston Ruh working with Hanyong Park: “The Role of Distinctive Voices in Second Language Listening Training”
  • Richard Rush working with Jeffrey Karron: “The Reproductive Biology of Buzz-Pollinated Primula meadia”
  • Filip Saitis working with Valerica Raicu: “Computer Algorithm Development and Use in Protein-Protein Interaction Studies”
  • Jennifer Santiago working with Caitlin Bowman: “Remembering Specifics and Generalities”
  • Holden Skeels working with Paru Shah: “The Intersections of Gender and Race: Evaluating Twitter Communication during COVID”
  • Marina Slawinski working with Ionel Popa: “Study of Protein-Protein Interaction Using Porous Hydrogels”
  • Ayana Staples working with Ava Udvadia: “Cross Species Comparison of WT1 Expression during Optic Nerve Regeneration”
  • Matthew Wagner working with Jennifer Gutzman: “Investigation of Gene Expression in the Kidney of MYH9-RD Zebrafish Models”
  • Mason Williams working with Prasenjit Guptasarma: “Galactic Cosmic Rays and Active Radiation Shielding during Space Flight”
  • Elizabeth Willis working with Sara Pashak: “Detailing the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket”

College of Nursing

  • Hannah Frohlich working with Alexa Anderson: “Substance Use Disorders and Sex Trafficking: Reviewing the Literature and Identifying Research Gaps”
  • Alex Nelson, Brie Noffsinger, and Steven Schomisch working with Joshua Gwon: “Attentional Bias Modification among E-Cigarette Users”
  • Shadika Panta working with Kaboni Gondwe: “Factors Influencing the Relationship between Maternal Weight and Perinatal Inflammation in Black Women at Risk of Preterm Birth”
  • Megan Waage working with Peninnah Kako: “Self-Management Interventions for HIV and Non Communicable Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Literature Review”

Zilber School of Public Health

  • Andrea Bishop working with Linnea Laestadius: “Research at the Intersection of Technology/Social Media and Mental Health”
  • Nicole Carlson and Colleen Lemke working with Ellen Velie: “Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Self-Reported Childhood Body Size”
  • Sophie Fournier working with Shengtong Han: “Method Comparisons of Statistical Rare Variant Association Test via Simulations”
  • Derek Johnson and Noelani Vargas working with Lance Weinhardt: “Community-Engaged Approaches to Health Promotion among Minoritized Communities in Milwaukee”