2015 Erickson Discovery Grant Recipients

Funded through the Office of Undergraduate Education and support from Colleges.

Edward Badding
Eberly College of Science
Unraveling the Biosynthesis of Dimethyl Indolic Acid, a Key Moiety of the Antibacterial Nosiheptide

Emily Bramel
College of the Liberal Arts
Quantifying the Phenotypic Effects of Genes Associated with Hair Form and Pigment

Ian Campbell
Penn State Erie
Optimizing the Stability and Fluorescence of "Bubble" DNA Templated Silver Nanoclusters

Sarah Chang
Eberly College of Science
Investigating the Role of Mitochondrial sirtuins in Oxidative Stress Response

URee Chon
Eberly College of Science
Determining X-ray Crystal Structure of Gram Positive Bacteria Bacillus subtilis for Antibiotic Advancement

Jacob Cipar
College of Earth and Mineral Science
The Origin of Intermediate Lavas at Hasandag Stratovolcano: A Geochemical Analysis

Alexandra Close
College of Health and Human Development
Do Maternal Maladaptive Eating Behaviors Relate to the Development of Overeating and Obesity Development in Children?

Daniel Doleiden
Penn State Erie
Mathematical Modeling of Electrode Performance in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

Evan Donkus
Penn State Berks
SwimFly Robot: Design and Development of Water Swimming and Aerial Flying Ornithopter

Alexander Driban
College of Engineering
Interactions of the MLL Mixed Lineage Leukemia Chromatin Enzyme and Its Nucleosome Substrate

Jennifer Dumel
Penn State Altoona
Harvesting Low Grade Waste Heat into Electrical Energy Using Carbon Nanotube Based Thermoelectric Device

Katrina Eckel
College of the Liberal Arts
An English Governess in the Great War: The Brussels Diary of Mary Thorp

Declan Evans
Eberly College of Science
Biophysical Characterization of the Medipal Domain of TRPB

Chelsea Eyer
College of Earth and Mineral Science
Mineralogy of Icelandic Hyaloclastites

Angela Gettemy
Eberly College of Science
Enhancing the Energy Performance of Carbon Based Flexible Supercapacitor using Quinone Modified Lignin

Vivek Gohil
Eberly College of Science
Designing Misfolding Protein Simulations

Philip Graybill
College of Engineering
Exploring Novel Methods for Intracranial Pressure Measurement

Justin Griffith
Eberly College of Science
Ecology of Emerging Infectious Disease in Peromyscus leucopus

Marissa Guarriello
College of Arts and Architecture
The Third Reich Suppression of Musical Culture as Shown Through the Compositional Output of Hans Gal

Terry Hafer
Eberly College of Science
Identification of Proteins Involved in Dendritic Regeneration Mechanisms of Drosophila melanogaster

Kristen Hagenah
College of Engineering
Predicting Thrombus Age by Imaging and Studying Blood Clots with Ghost Cells

Kyle Hilliard
College of Agricultural Sciences
Testing the Evolutionary Connection Between Seminal Coagulation Genes and Intensity of Mating Competition

Madeline Iffert
College of the Liberal Arts
Do Cognates Facilitate the Processing of a Codeswitched Sentence?

Jingyi Jiang
Eberly College of Science
Behavior, Neurological, and Morphological Deficits in PV-interneuron Specific CTNNB1 Knockout

Ryan Kalkbrenner
College of Health and Human Development
Determinants of Force Generation During Rapid Plantarflexion in Sprinters

Shriya Kane
Penn State Harrisburg
Transcriptomics Analysis of the Effect of Cold and Salt Stressed Camelina sativa

Michelle Kilmer
Eberly College of Science
Impact of Rcs Phosphorelay for E. coli Cells That Show Increased Resistance Against Beta-Lactam Antibiotics

Do Young Kim
College of Engineering
Identification and Quantification of Factors Affecting the Spheroid Size in 3D Cell Structure

Tim Kunz
Eberly College of Science
Visualizing and Understanding Chromatin Interactions Using Self Organizing Maps

Harvey Li
College of Engineering
Inducing Chondrogenesis in Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Paige Lynch
College of the Liberal Arts
An Examination of Children's Roles in the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age of Eastern Spain

Yuezhou Lyu
Eberly College of Science
Edge Transport of Photons in a Lieb Lattice

Benjamin Mathews
College of Engineering
Impact of Swirl Flow Fluctuations and Flame Oscillations on Combustor Cooling Effectiveness

Vivianne Mazzocco
College of the Liberal Arts
Tempo of Prenatal Cranial Development

Christopher Miller
College of Engineering
Low-Cost Autonomous Wheelchair Localization and Integration of Human and Brain-Computer Interface Methods

Juan Mogoginta
College of Agricultural Sciences
Anti-inflammatory Activity of Tempeh in a Model of Colon Cancer

Benjamin Nason
College of Agricultural Sciences
Effects of Light and Manganese Toxicity in A. thaliana Tissues

Sara Orr
College of Engineering
The Development of Electrospun Biodegradable Meshes for Hernia Repair

Kayla Paulosky
College of Agricultural Sciences
Determining the Role of the Branched Chain Keto-acid Dehydrogenase (BCKDH) in P. falciparum

Emily Pearlman
College of Health and Human Development
Does Infant Activity Level Predict Rapid Weight Gain?

Gretchen Perhamus
College of the Liberal Arts
PTSD and Postpartum Depression in the NICU: Prevalence and Contributing Factors

Emily Pia
College of Health and Human Development
The Influence of Deceptive Front-of-Package Health Claims on Parental Food Purchasing Patterns

Alexandra Riehl
College of Agricultural Sciences
Mother Knows Best: Understanding the Mechanisms of How Maternal Stress Influences Offspring Phenotype in Eastern Fence Lizards (Sceloporus undulatus)

Erin Sacksteder
College of the Liberal Arts
Disrupted Eye-Gaze Following: An Endophenotype of Autism

Kimberly Schmid
College of Earth and Mineral Science
Recognition and Importance of Relict Periglacial Pingo Scars as Biodiversity Hotspots and Headwater Recharge Zones in the Valley and Ridge Physiographic Province, Pennsylvania

Daniel Schultz
College of Engineering
Assessing the Temporal Inequality of Nutrient Loads to the Chesapeake Bay

Ryan Shaner
College of Agricultural Sciences
Examining the Physiological Effects of Dicistroviridae and Iflaviridae Viruses on Apis mellifera

Timothy Sullivan
College of the Liberal Arts
The Influence of Emotion Inexpression and PTSD on Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

John Swab
College of Earth and Mineral Science
After the Fire: Examining the Reemergence of the Business District in Early 20th Century Baltimore and San Francisco

Mark Travor
Eberly College of Science
PP2A Cytoskeletal Interactions in Drosophila

Erin Vrana
Eberly College of Science
Investigation of Gene Regulation During Malaria Transmission

Anna Wing
Eberly College of Science
The Role of Transcription-coupled DNA Repair Proteins in mRNA Degradation

Megan Wisniewski
College of the Liberal Arts
The Effects of Household Structure on Educational Attainment in Ghana

Jacob Wisser
Eberly College of Science
Growth and Characterization of Thin Film Thermoelectric Superlattices

Rachel Wolfe
College of Engineering
The Effects of a Fiber Matrix on Adherens Junctions and Localization of β-Catenin

Hang Yang
College of Engineering
Vehicle Road Departure Detection and Trajectory Recovery

Stephen Zimmerer
College of Arts and Architecture
Architecture and Ecologies of Urban Trees