ACRoSS 2023

Our summer programming will begin on Tuesday May 23rd with an informal welcome and our first student presenters will go on Tuesday May 30th. The last seminar will be on Tuesday July 25th and we will not meet on Tuesday July 4th. At each weekly meeting, students will present short overviews of their specific summer projects (e.g., question of interest, methods of inquiry, anticipated results or applications, etc.) to an audience of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and prospective students and their families. ACRoSS meetings will be held on Tuesdays from 12:00 PM until 1:30 PM in the Tillotson Room in the Tippie Alumni Center. Lunch is provided each week courtesy of the Office of URSCA.

ACRoSS 2023 Schedule

Tuesday, May 23rd

  • Professor Matt Venesky, Director of URSCA – Welcome and Opening Remarks
  • Brian Collingwood, Executive Director of Career Education – Leveraging the Office of Career Education Over the Summer

Tuesday, May 30th

  • Yanqiao Chen (’24) – Using a Web-Based Dashboard to Visualize and Analyze Students’ Programming Projects [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Kapfhammer]
  • Beatrice Foley (’24) – Investigation of the Political Ecology of Toronto’s Public Transportation System [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Swann-Quinn]

Tuesday, June 6th

  • Emily Eshleman (’24) – Juror Decision-Making in Gun Violence Cases: The Impact of Victim Race and Sexuality [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Normile]
  • Julie Hoffman (’24) and Nathalie Paz Saucedo (’25) – Too Much of a Good Thing: Nitrogen Addition Decreases Organic Matter Decomposition and Increases Soil Carbon in a Temperate Deciduous Forest [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Bowden]
  • Zachary Wyse (’25) – Inequality and Structural Transformation in Africa [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Onyeiwu]

Tuesday, June 13th

  • Bridgette Reeb (’25) and Sam Ault (’26) – Building a “Beloved Neighborhood” [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Kurtsal]
  • Olivia Kraus (’24) – Quality Assurance in the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Lab [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Dawson]

Tuesday, June 20th [held in Shultz East Alcove]

  • Celia Cocca and Marrin Crist – An evaluation of trout distributions in Sugar Creek and Little Sugar Creek [Faculty Mentors: Profs. Bradshaw-Wilson and Kelly Pearce]
  • Mary Boepple (’25) – The What, the Why, and Where do we go from here with EMDR [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Kolek]
  • Caleb Alters (’24) – Effects of Estradiol on Inflammatory Response of Human Corneal Epithelial Cell Line [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Kadmiel]

Tuesday, June 27th

  • Batbayasgalan Bat-Amgalan (’24) and Caleb Kendra (’26) – Chompchain: A Labor-based Blockchain Reward System for Computer Science Education [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Luman]
  • Kathleen (Kat) Lynch (’25) and Dilani Frorup (’25) – Towards Synthesis of Biomimetic Hydrogenase Catalysts [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Chapp]
  • Will Lowthert (’24) – Why are Interrogation Recordings not Universal – What is Driving the Policy Gap? [Faculty Mentors: Profs. Normile and Oliver]

Tuesday, July 4th — No ACRoSS Seminar


Tuesday, July 11th

  • Jaclyn Pham (’25) – ALIC Workshop Series: Empowering Creative Expression through Inclusive Art Workshops for All Levels [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Brand]
  • Gunnar Brettell (’24) – Development and Evaluation of a Force Balance Magnetometer [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Petasis]
  • Jahmaya Adamson (’24), Isiah Romain (’24), and Nigel Williams (’24) – The Cultural Revolution of Allegheny from 1960 – 1998 [Faculty Mentors: Profs: Stephens-Pearce and Moore-Roberson]

Tuesday, July 18th

  • Bintou Fofana – ‘Things Just Got Spicy’ — Podcasting, Political Engagement, and Gen Z [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Sinha Roy]
  • Milo Watson (’26) – Ethics and Aesthetics in the Contemporary Field Guide [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Miller]
  • Zach Fry (’24) – Synthesis and Optimization of Soluble Quinzoline DEAD-box Rok1p Inhibitors [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Betush]

Tuesday, July 25th

  • Nickel Spartz (’26) – Identification of DNA Binding Sites of Ultrabithorax [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Hersh]
  • Emma Chambers (’24) and Hans Vanderzyden (’25) – Collisions between Stars and Black Holes [Faculty Mentor: Prof. Lombardi]