Student Enhancement Awards provide $134,433 in funding to 24 students in spring 2022

The Ohio University Student Enhancement Awards program provided 24 students this spring with a total of $134,433 in funding for their original research, scholarship and creative work.

The Student Enhancement Awards are funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Activity and administered by the Council for Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, which is appointed by Faculty Senate. This year, additional funding was allocated by the Office of Global Affairs to increase opportunities for students to conduct research projects or creative activities abroad as part of their thesis, dissertation, or capstone projects.

The program received 36 proposals with a total funding request of $198,587. Students may request up to $6,000 per proposal.

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The 2022 Recipients

• Oumarou Abdoulaye Balarabe, graduate student Counseling and Higher Education, “By the numbers and from their own voices: Identifying and understanding pathways to student thriving at a public university in Benin,” $6,000; mentor: Laura Harrison
• Tyler Arnold, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Influence of microclimate on individual masting synchrony of oak species,” $6,000; mentor: Rebecca Snell
• Leigh Becklund, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Ecological release and evolution in Neptunia (Fabaceae),” $5,999; mentor: John Schenk
• Jolie Bogart, undergraduate student HTC-Biological Sciences, “Transcriptome analysis of an experimental GH variant with therapeutic potential,” $6,000; mentor: Ed List

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• Erin Burk, undergraduate student Visual Communications, “Medicine amidst militarization in Guam,” $6,000; mentor: Stan Alost
• Remington Burwell, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Integrative taxonomic studies of two diverse groups of violets,” $5,928; mentor: Harvey Ballard
• Riley Corrigan, undergraduate student HTC-Translational Health, “Impact of ACEs on cellular health,” $4,250; mentors: Cheryl Howe & Joseph Bianco
• Roseanne Crowell, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Phylogeography of the freshwater red alga Batrachospermum gelatinosum in eastern North America,” $6,000; mentor: Morgan Vis
• Nancin Dadem, graduate student Communication Studies, “Advancing social support through interpersonal communication to improve cervical cancer screening in North Central Nigeria,” $6,000; mentor: Christina Beck
• Marissa Dowalter, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Conservation genetics of a protected species: genomic variation in the Lake Erie Watersnake,” $6,000; mentor: Shawn Kuchta
• Harrison Fender, graduate student History, “The maritime strategy ashore: amphibious operation, intelligence and the security of NATO's Littoral,” $5,737; mentor: Peter John Brobst
• Davoud Ghazanfari, graduate student Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, “SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as a mechanism by which cytokine storms develop in COVID-19,” $5,998; mentor: Doug Goetz
• Julia Joos, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Thermal ecology of two closely related tortoise species, Gopherus evgoodei and Gopherus morafkai,” $6,000; mentor: Donald Miles
• Zoe Kington, undergraduate student Biological Sciences, Honors Tutorial College, “Exploring fibrosis in bovine growth hormone transgenic mice,” $6,000; mentor: Darlene Berryman
• Zachary LaRussa, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Apolipoprotein A-IV enhances insulin action through sympathetic innervation,” $4,000; mentor Chunmin Lo
• Selene Lisbey, graduate student Geological Sciences, “Investigating the relationship between the Rio San Juan Complex and Samana Peninsula,” $6,000; mentor: Katherine Fornash
• Samuel Lockhart, graduate student Environmental and Plant Biology, “Population genetic structure of four mixed-breeding violets and one exclusively chasmogamous violet,” $6,000; mentor: Harvey Ballard
• Shelby Merchant, undergraduate student Theater, “When there was music,” $6,000; mentor: Tyler Whidden
• Daniel Opoku, graduate student Graphic Design, “Identimatics: Mathematical grammar of Kente patterns,” $6,000; mentor: Darren Baker
• Avery Plummer, graduate student Art History, “nymph(o) Magazine,” $5,410; mentor: Annie Sprinkle
• Brandon Saraniti, graduate student Geography, “The Deeper South: Contemporary memorialization of confederate Americans in Southern Brazil,” $1,150; mentor: Timothy Anderson
• Matthew Vince, graduate student Chemistry and Biochemistry, “Development of scyllatoxin-based BH3 domain mimetics to target BCL2 proteins,” $6,000; mentor: Justin Holub
• Weiqiang Yuan, graduate student Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, “Novel deep ultra-violet ac-driven electroluminescence devices based on boron nitride materials,” $5,961; mentor: Wojciech Jadwisienczak
• Haiyun Zhang, graduate student Biological Sciences, “Functional roles of BLOC1S6 in extracellular ATP-induced drug resistance in human lung cancer cells,” $6,000; mentor: Xiaozhuo Chen