19 KU students receive Undergraduate Research Awards for fall

LAWRENCE — This fall, 19 University of Kansas students received an Undergraduate Research Award (UGRA). UGRA recipients are awarded a $1,000 scholarship as they work on mentored research and creative projects.

Students apply for UGRAs by writing a five-page research proposal under the guidance of a mentor. Faculty reviewers evaluate the applications based on the merit of the applicant's proposal and a recommendation from the mentor.

“Each semester it is exciting to learn about students’ unique research and creative projects and see the contributions they are making within their disciplines and beyond,” said Erin Wolfram of the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships. “This semester, sophomores, juniors and seniors are recipients in diverse fields ranging from illustration and animation to engineering physics. Meaningful work is happening all across campus.”

The competition for spring 2025 UGRAs opened Aug. 26. The deadline is Oct. 27. Online guidance and individual advising appointments are available to help students prepare strong applications. More information is available on the UGRA website. Interested students should email curf@ku.edu.

Fall 2024 award recipients are listed below in alphabetical order along with their year in school, hometown, major, project title, mentor and mentor’s department:

Christian Argueta, a senior in physics & astronomy from Garden City, “Active Galactic Nuclei Presence Among Different Galaxy Morphologies,” mentored by Allison Kirkpatrick, Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Brady Dunne, a senior in physics & astronomy from Wichita, “Observing Obscured and Unobscured Star Formation Morphology in Ancient Galaxies,” mentored by Allison Kirkpatrick and Greg Troiani, both of Department of Physics & Astronomy..

Archisa Ghimire, a senior in speech-language-hearing from Lawrence, “Phonological Expressive Task for Verbal Fluency in Hearing Bimodal English-ASL Bilinguals,” mentored by Margarethe McDonald, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing.

Rachael Hampton, a senior in applied behavioral science and sociology from Lawrence, “The Effects of Criminal Justice Involvement in Adolescence on Educational Attainment and Employment in Early Adulthood,” mentored by Tracey LaPierre, Department of Sociology.

Laney Hancock, a senior in photography from Topeka, “La Bourgeoisie,” mentored by Elise Kirk, Department of Design.

Sophia Herrera, a sophomore in political science and Spanish from Kansas City, Missouri, “Understanding the Persistent Influx of Central American Migrants to the United States,” mentored by Veronica Garibotto, Department of Spanish & Portuguese.

Tyson Karl, a junior in physics and mathematics from Manhattan, “Electrostatic Potentials for 1-Layer 2D Materials,” mentored by Qunfei Zhou, Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Norea Menold, a senior in illustration and animation design from Manhattan, “Enitharmon’s Dream,” mentored by Benjamin Rosenthal, Department of Visual Art.

Brandon Nguyen, a senior in chemistry from Lawrence, “Probing the Effects of Hydrogen Bonding on the Reactivity of Manganese (III) Complexes,” mentored by Timothy Jackson, Department of Chemistry.

Thanh Nguyen, a senior in exercise science from Wichita, “The Effect of Arm Constraints and Standing Width on Jump Performance in Chinese Lion Dance,” mentored by Yu Song, Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences.

Nicholas Georgiou, a senior in engineering physics from Olathe, “High-Frequency RPM Data Logging for UAS,” mentored by Haiyang Chao, Department of Arospace Engineering.

Grace Price-Brown, a senior in sociology and psychology from Olathe, “The Impact of Familial Living Situation in Adolescence on Adult Deviant Behaviors,” mentored by Tracey LaPierre, Department of Sociology.

Madeleine Ryan, a senior in human biology from St. Louis, “The Jayhawk Jump Project: Exploring the Influence of Arm Swing on Countermovement Jump Phases in Male and Female Basketball Athletes,” mentored by Quincy Johnson, Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences.

Sasha Sandoval-Williams, a senior in photography from Grandview, Missouri, “Soul Skates: The Black Roller-Skating Scene in Kansas City,” mentored by Elise Kirk, Department of Design.

Shad Ahmed Shahul Hameed, a senior in computer science and mathematics from Salmiya, Kuwait, “Utilizing Pre-Trained Graph Deep Neural Networks as a Fast-Adaptive Molecule Property Predictor,” mentored by Zijun Yao, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science.

Hailey Shively, a senior in exercise science from Aurora, Colorado, “The Jayhawk Jump Project: Exploring the Influence of Arm Swing on Countermovement Jump Phases in Male and Female Basketball Athletes,” mentored by Quincy Johnson, Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences.

Ariana Siddique, a junior in microbiology from Stillwell, “Optimizing C. elegans for High Throughput Chemical Screening,” mentored by Lisa Timmons, Department of Molecular Biosciences.

Colleen Thach, a senior in chemistry and environmental studies from Phoenix, “Speciation of Lithium Cations (Li+) in Non-Aqueous Media,” mentored by James Blakemore, Department of Chemistry.

Mason Thieu, a senior in exercise science from Topeka, “Athletic Performance Testing and Assessment Protocol for Youth Athletes,” mentored by Quincy Johnson, Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Sciences.