Student Enhancement Awards provide $110,116 in funding to 20 students

The Ohio University Student Enhancement Awards program provided 20 students with a total of $110,116 in funding for their original research, scholarship and creative work this spring.

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 $198,861. Students may request up to $6,000 per proposal.

For more information about the program, visit www.ohio.edu/research/funding.

The 2023 recipients are:

Abdul-Salam Jahanfo Abdulai, graduate student in Geography, “Changing Farmer-Herder Relations amidst Climate Uncertainty: New dynamics of interdependence among agrarian and pastoralist livelihood systems in Gushiegu Municipality in Northern Ghana”, $6,000; mentor: Thomas Smucker
Damilola Ayorinde, graduate student in Environmental and Plant Biology, “Elucidating the Mechanism of Action of Arabinogalactan Proteins”, $6000; mentor: Allan Showalter
Lydia Caggiano, undergraduate student in Honors Tutorial College (HTC) Exercise Physiology, “Targeting a Covert Role of Growth Hormone in the Tumor Microenvironment”, $6,000; mentor: Reeto Basu, Edison Biotechnology Institute (EBI)
Ashlynn Canonde, undergraduate student in Biological Sciences, “Assessing the Accumulation of Heavy Metals in Ohio's Recovering Bobcat Population”, $2,500; mentor: Viorel Popescu
Elizabeth Capps, graduate student in Psychology, “Development and Implementation of a Peer-Supported School-based Intervention to Enhance School Engagement among Youth with Attention and Behavior Problems”, $1,597; mentor: Steven Evans
Madhuparna Chakraborty, graduate student in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, “Exploration of Novel Europium-doped Red Phosphor with Magnetically Tunable Chromaticity”, $5,920; mentor: Wojciech Jadwisienczak
Maya Djalali-Gomez, undergraduate student in HTC Translational Health-, “Effects of Early vs Late Life Weight Cycling on Oxidative Stress & Cellular Senescence”, $6,000; mentor: Ed List, EBI
Elise Everly, graduate student in Psychology, “The Effect of Counselor Consultation on the Integrity of Treatment Implementation in a Children's Therapeutic Summer Program”, $6,000; mentor: Julie Owens
Samantha Fedoush, graduate student in Environmental and Plant Biology, “The Role of E3 Ligases in Plant Graviotropism”, $5,152; mentor: Sarah Wyatt
Waleed Javed Hashmi, graduate student in Biomedical Sciences, “The Effect of the Nuclear Parathyroid Hormone-related Protein on Chondrogenesis and Development”, $6,000; mentor: Tom Rosol
Connor LaCroix, graduate student in Geological Sciences, “Determining the Timing and Conditions of the First Appearance of Lawsonite in the Geologic Record”, $6,000; mentor: Katherine Fornash
Gabriella Lindsey, undergraduate student in HTC Environmental Studies, “Habitat Use and Movement Ecology of Henslow's Sparrows”, $5,918; mentor: Kelly Williams, Biological Sciences
Kathleen Madsen, graduate student in Environmental and Plant Biology, “The Ecological Effects of Gypsum Endemism”, $5,193; mentor: John Schenk
Prothama Manna, graduate student in Biological Sciences, “Revisiting the Invasion Conundrum using Hippos' Introduction to Colombia as a Case Study”, $6,000; mentor: Diego Alvarado-Serrano
Bose Maposa, graduate student in Translational Biomedical Sciences, “Exploring Physical Activity among Black American Female Immigrants in the United States. An exploratory mixed methods study”, $6,000; mentor: Zelalem Haile, Social Medicine
Ibi Max-Harry, graduate student in Biological Sciences, “The Role of Parathyroid Hormone-related protein (PTHrP) in Glucagon Regulation”, $6,000; mentor: Tom Craig Rosol and Craig Nunemaker, Biomedical Sciences
Sera Nakisli, graduate student in Biological Sciences, “Effects on Astrocytic Glyogen Metabolism during Mammalian Brain Arteriovenous Malformation”, $5,925; mentor: Corinne Nielsen
Dustin O'Neal, graduate student in Applied Health Sciences and Wellness, “Comprehensive Carotenoid Analysis of Pawpaw”, $5,928; mentor: Robert Brannan
Bright Kontor Osei, graduate student in Art+Design, “MFA Thesis Exhibition, ‘People of Ghana’ ", $6,000; mentor: David LaPalombara
Akshayaa Venkataraghavan, graduate student in Environmental and Plant Biology, “Elucidating Heteroxylan Glucuronidation Mechanism in Monocots”, $5,983; mentor: Ahmed Faik