ACRoSS 2017

For the summer of 2017, ACRoSS runs from June 6th to August 8th.  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, community members, and prospective students and their families. Generally, meetings will be held on Tuesdays from 12:00 PM until 1:30 PM in the Tippie Alumni Center’s Tillotson room. Please Note there are two exceptions to day and location (noted in the full schedule below). Lunch is provided courtesy of funds furnished by the URSCA office.

The Gateway Summer Kick-off Picnic (sponsored by the Civic Engagement Office) will be held Monday, June 5th at 5:00 p.m. on the patio of Pelletier Library. 

The URSCA Summer Poster Symposium will take place from 8:30 am to 10:30 am in the Campus Center lobby on Friday, July 21st. Sign-up to participate here.

ACRoSS 2017 Schedule


Tues, June 6, 2017


Sarah Shapley (Undecided ’20) and Logan Welch (Biology ’20) with Professor Younus Mizra (Philosophy and Religious Studies): Vocation: Finding Your Calling in Life


Arissa Spitlany (Psychology ’19) and Madeleine Stauffer (Neuroscience ’20) with Professor Monali Chowdhury (Psychology): Next Chapter Book Club: The Next Steps


Alyson Codner (Global Health Studies ’20) with Professor Becky Dawson (Global Health Studies) and Professor Mia Darrouzet-Nardi (Global Health Studies): Impressions of a Research ‘Bootcamp’


Tues, June 13, 2017


Zachery Sucharski (Neuroscience & Art ’19) with Professor Lauren French (Biology & Neuroscience): Ion Channel Function Disruption by Toxins and Disease


Cassie Brown (Undecided ’20) with Professor Briana Lewis (French): Victor Hugo’s L’Homme qui rit


Spencer Garrison* (Psychology & Philosophy ’18), Zafirah Abdulrahoof* (Neuroscience & English ’18), Natali Salaytah (Biology & Psychology ’19), Evan Eshenaur (Undecided ’19), and Jahlia Fenney (Psychology ’19) with Professor Rod Clark (Psychology & Neuroscience): Classical Conditioning of Immune Function: the Role of Endogenous Opoids


Tues, June 20, 2017–In Shultz Dining Hall


Stella Goodworth (Psychology ’18) and Terra Schall (Neuroscience ’18) with Professor Aimee Knupsky (Psychology): Exploring Emotion in Writing, Reading, and Friendships.


Valerie Hurst (Environmental Science & Economics ’18), Ashley Weibel (Global Health Studies ’18), and Brian Corletti (Geology ’19) with Professor Becky Dawson (Global Health Studies): Mapping Our Community


Sydney Chambule (Neuroscience & Psychology ’19), Priyanka Devabhaktuni (Neuroscience ’19), and Katharine Hubert (Biology & Music ’19) with Professor Brad Hersh (Biology & Biochemistry): CRISPR Genome Editing: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly


Tues, June 27, 2017


Robin Laurinec  (English & History ’20) with Professor David Miller (English): ‘The Lonely Crowd’: Crowded Isolationism, Murder, and Literature in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Chicago


Miharu Koh (Biochemistry ’20) and Gabriel Brinton (Chemistry ’18) with Professor Alice Deckert (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Nanoparticles as Sensors


Kaye Moyer (Environmental Science ’19) with Professor Beth Choate (Environmental Science): Evaluating Wild Bee Populations in Soybean Agriculture


Thurs*, July 6, 2017


Charlie Campanella (Computer Science ’20), Josie Freeman (Studio Art ’20), Amanda Fox (Communication Arts ’18) with Professors Janyl Jumadinova (Computer Science), Byron Rich (Art), Julie Wilson (Communication Arts): Establishing a Student-run Design Agency


Rosa Orduno (Communication Arts ’19), Carina Saldivar (Community and Justice Studies ’19), and Brian Hill (Communication Arts & Political Science ’19) with Professor River Branch (Communication Arts): Incremental Erosion:  The Institutionalized Citizen


Carl Pohlman (Environmental Science ’19) with Professor Benjamin Haywood (Environmental Science): Managing Forests for Avian Conservation


Tues, July 11, 2017


Sean Collins (Biology ’18) with Professor Matthew Venesky (Biology): The Ecology and Physiology of Stress on a Wild Vertebrate


Hannah Blinn (Environmental Science ’17) with David Washousky and Kerstin Martin (Environmental Science): Mobilizing Markets: French Creek Food Hub and Mobile Market, part of the Community Wellness Initiative


Gabby Griffin-Maya (Psychology ’19) and Madeline Archer (Neuroscience ’19) with Professor Allison Connell Pensky (Psychology & Neuroscience): Self-Control and Spatial Attention


Tues, July 18, 2017


Lisa Yoder (Biochemistry ’19) and Megan Arnold (Biochemistry ’19) with Professor Ivelitza Garcia (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Understanding the “DEAD” with Cuts and Light


Rebecca Duch (English and WGSS ’18) and Madeline Hernstrom-Hill (English and History ’18) with Professor Jennifer Hellwarth (English): Women’s Right to Pleasure: Medieval Medical, Religious, and Imaginative Approaches


Katelynn Frawley (Philosophy ’20), Melissa McCann (Environmental Science ’18), and Owen Ludwig with Professor Ian Carbone (Environmental Science): Light Concentration for Solar Power Generation


 Tues, July 25, 2017


Danielle Zehnder (Global Health Studies ’18) with Professor Jon Wiebel (Communication Arts): Deploying Strangeness to Justify Immigration Policy 


Mark Shimkets (Computer Science ’19) with Professor Oliver Bonham-Carter (Computer Science): Time-Sensitive Data Encryption 

Jesse Tomkiewicz (Political Science & Philosophy ’20) with Professor Andrew Bloeser (Political Science): Automation and the Threat to American Workers: Is Universal Minimum Income an Adequate Response? 


Victoria Stouffer (Global Health Studies ’19) with Professor Ryan Pickering (Psychology): Assessing Hoarding Disorder in Crawford and Venango Counties. Part of the Network of Knowledge and Research program.


 Tues, Aug 1, 2017


Madeleine Zimmerman (Environmental Science ’18), Autumn Clark (Psychology & Environmental Studies ’19), and Maura McCampbell (Environmental Studies ’20) with Professor Adrienne Krone (Philosophy & Religious Studies): Jewish Community Farming in the Context of Urban Food Justice


Sarah Nathan (Environmental Science ’18), Madeleine Zimmerman (Environmental Science ’18), Merryn Spence (Environmental Science ’18), and Delaney Rohan (Community & Justice Studies ’17) with Kerstin Martin (Environmental Science): Food Access and Education: Two Methods to Address Wellness in Our Community, part of the Community Wellness Initiative


Carson Quigley with Professor Xiaoling Shi (Modern Languages): The Influence of Western Modernism on Chinese Literature

Tues, Aug 8, 2017


Brandon Kallams (Physics ’18), Sarah Seitanakis (Physics ’19), Mitchell Lachat (Physics & Mathematics ’20) with Professor James Lombardi (Physics): When Stars Collide


Derek Sawer with Professor Eric Boynton (Philosophy & Religious Studies): Trauma and Its Discontents


Margaret West (Communication Arts ’18) with Professor Ishita Sinha Roy (Communication Arts): Anything But Country: The Dangers of Disregarded Discourses


Adam Miller (Political Science ’18) with Professor Shanna Kirschner (Political Science): Does Peacekeeping Really Bring Peace? Postwar Violence Beyond Killing