Provost Student Academic Achievement Award Recipients

Honorees and some of their accomplishments

• Elise Belanger, Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Physics
  • Elise has also earned the Lockheed Martin Leadership Certificate, a competitive and highlychallenging set of courses and requirements, which she completed in addition to her doublemajors. As a member of a research team focused on understanding functional analysis in novicedesigners, she received Miami University’s Undergraduate Research Award as a leading contributor. She is the first student author on two manuscripts related to this project, and hasserved as a teaching assistant in MME courses. Elise’s leadership is illustrated in her role as atutor for the Rinella Learning Center and her leadership role in Engineers Without Borders.Elise’s nominator, Dr. Jinjuan She, wrote: “Elise demonstrates a variety of her high-bar qualitiesthat are important to researchers, such as teamwork, leadership, communication, creativity,independence, and persistence.”
• Evan Danielson, Chemical Engineering and Piano Performance
  • Evan’s accomplishments include several awards and honors, such as: the Miami UniversityUndergraduate Summer Scholars Award and Undergraduate Research Award, first prize in theGeoffrey P. Hall Undergraduate Artist Competition, and winning the Miami University ConcertoCompetition Winner. Evan’s research with his nominator Dr. Jason Berberich, focuses oncreating cleaning products that are effective and use fewer environmentally damagingchemicals. Evan has presented his research results at the National Meeting of the AmericanInstitute of Chemical Engineers, at the North Central Meeting of the American Institute ofChemical Engineers, and the National Meeting for the American Chemical Society. He has oneaccepted research article as well. Dr. Berberich, notes that “Evan learns new skills andtechniques with ease; I have been quite impressed how quickly he has become independent inthe lab and how well he works with other students.”
• Shianne Baldwin, Studio Art, Art Education
  • Shianne is a thoughtful individual who is engaged with and excited for arts education and therapy. She has taught in the Saturday Art program and has served as a teaching assistant for other Saturday Art teachers—offering them mentorship, advice, and service.  One of her nominators, Dr. Stephanie Danker, commented, “Shianne is a caring, respectful and open-minded young artist and art educator, and exhibits an excitement to learn and grow from her life experiences. She embraces diversity and building relationships with others and she embodies Miami University’s motto of love and honor.”
• Jessica Flower, Biomedical Engineering
  • Jessica’s is also earning a mechanical engineering minor. Her nominator, Dr. Andrew Jones,wrote that, “I estimate that by the end of Spring 2022, Jessica will have spent approximately800 hours working in my research lab. The dedication Jessica shows to her research proves tome that she has the work ethic and mental mindset required for future success in graduateschool.” Jessica’s research focuses on the production of psilocybin, which is used in thetreatment of substance abuse and addiction, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stressdisorder. Her work forms the proof-of-principle foundation for a patent application, and hasbeen presented at the National Meeting of the American Institute for Chemical Engineers,where she won third place in her section’s poster competition.
• Zoe Platow, Biochemistry and Psychology
  • In addition to her double-major, Zoe is completing a co-major in neuroscience. Her research onrats explores whether benzodiazepine exposure in adolescence increased the likelihood of drugand alcohol abuse in adulthood. Related to this research Zoe has received a DoctoralUndergraduate Research Opportunity Scholarship, a University Summer Scholars award, anUndergraduate Research Award, and a research grant from the Honors College. She has haspresented her research at a Society for Neuroscience meeting and the International BehavioralNeuroscience meeting, and will be an author on at least four publications related to the work.Zoe’s nominator, Dr. Matthew McMurray, notes that, “She demonstrates a strong commitmentto research, driven by both her personal experiences and a deep understanding of theimportance of research in guiding healthcare and public policy.”
• Hannah Seinfeld, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
  • Hannah is also completing minors in child studies and youth development and disability studies. She was nominated Dr. Arnold Olszewski, who wrote that her “contributions to research have been exceptional for an undergraduate- often commensurate with the level of involvement of a typical of a Master’s thesis student.” In this work, she evaluates the instructional quality of education apps, and also seeks to understand how accessible these learning tools are for students from different cultural backgrounds, and with linguistic andlearning differences. In addition to working with Dr. Olszewski, Hannah has engaged in research with Dr. Katherine Kuvalanka. She has presented her multiple strands of research at ASHA Schools Connect Conference, the National Council on Family Relations Conference, and at the Miami University Undergraduate Research forum.
• Haley Sieg, Biomedical Engineering and Theatre
  • In addition to her double majors, Haley is a co-major in pre-medical studies and is completing aminor in musical theater and dance. Haley leads a research team for her nominator, Dr. Jessica Sparks, which is focused on developing a fully synthetic anatomical model of the human lumbar spine for medical student training. Dr. Sparks notes that “Haley’s love of theatre and her ability to merge two such disparate fields as theatre and biomedical engineering into a wildly successful undergraduate career make her one of the most remarkable students I have encountered here at Miami.” Additionally, Haley served as a COVID-19 contact tracer for Miami University and the Butler Country Health Department, and is actively engaged in student organizations both in engineering and theatre.
• Kyra Stillwell, Physics
  • Kyra is also minoring in mechanical engineering. Her research has focused on the fabricationand characterization of intermetallic materials, which involves detailed experimentaltechniques. Her nominator, Dr. Mahmud Kahn, writes that “Kyra is a highly motivated andtalented student with great dedication for science. She is pleasant, sincere, and has demonstrated a great potential to be an excellent researcher.” She has presented her researchat the University of Texas and the Joint MMM-Intermag Conference, which is the premierinternational conference in her area, and she is a co-author on one publication related to thiswork. Kyra spent a summer as an intern with a company working on defense and spacemanufacturing, where she demonstrated her ability to work across disciplines.
• Kinshuk Tella, Geology and Environmental Science
  • Kinshuk’s research focuses on toxic metals that are present in road paint, which has implications for human health and for the environment. Kinshuk was nominated by Drs. Mark Krekeler and Claire Mcleod, who wrote that, “In addition to traditional research, Kinshuk has obtained two extremely high-profile internships indicating a level of balance between academic research and professional experience not commonly realized by STEM students.” Kinshuk worked as an environmental health and safety intern, who worked on air pollution control as well as stormwater compliance and hazardous waste management, and also as an intern for the Earth Day network, where he excelled in research, planning, and implementing projects. Further, he served as a Resident Assistant at Miami University, which exemplifies his commitment to serving his community.

Honorees and some of their accomplishments

• Audra Bailey, Nutrition and Dietetics
  • Audra served as a research undergraduate assistant for Dr. Beth Miller. She was granted an Undergraduate Summer Scholarship to expand her work—focusing on a USDA grant-funded garden program for children in low-income housing. She presented her findings at the National Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. She was also a research assistant in a study funded by the National Institute of Health looking at weight loss in older adults, and was active in the Student Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, serving as Organization Liaison, Treasurer, and President.
• Jackson Conroy, Bioengineering with Pre-Medical Studies Co-Major
  • Jackson was active in Dr. Amy Yousefi’s research lab, where worked on the fabrication of 3D scaffolds using a 3D Bioplotter, which is an additive manufacturing (3D printing) technique. Jackson and his teammate received an Undergraduate Research Award for a study that looked into the chemical crosslinking of collagen using two different techniques, and used Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy for these formulations. Jackson was also the first author on a conference abstract for the Materials Research Society—an outgrowth of his work on a proposal submitted to the National Institute of Health. He was also the cofounder of a Miami student organization called “Miami MENtal Health” which focuses on educating and addressing the importance of mental health, especially in men.
• Lauren Doepke, Environmental Science and Sustainability
  • Lauren was active as an undergraduate researcher in Dr. Claire McLeod’s lab. She presented several posters at academic conferences and was lead author on a manuscript presented at the Geological Society of America meeting. She was also part of a team that investigated violence against women and obtained an internal grant to use reflective spectroscopy of makeup for the purpose of forensic detection in the field. Lauren’s time at Miami also focused on service—she sampled and measured numerous environmental parameters for the Mill Creek Alliance and she taught STEM programming for diverse elementary-aged students as part of a Robert Noyce internship program. Her commitment to environmental sustainability is broad and deep and will have a great impact on the field throughout her career.
• Aaron Garner, Quantitative Economics and Music Performance and MA in Economics
  • At Miami, Aaron sustained a near-perfect GPA with multiple appearances on the President’s List and the Dean’s List. With majors across two disparate academic divisions, Aaron stood out as a true renaissance student. He conducted research with Dr. Chuck Moul in the Undergraduate Summer Scholars program, leveraging his experience with his family farm in southern Illinois as a topic, specifically examining how past weather and climate events influence the “market” for federally provided crop insurance. Aaron’s work in the Music Department was equally notable—he served as a student leader for the University Chamber Singers, directed the chamber opera, and placed third in the National Association of Teachers of Singing annual competition.
• Elizabeth Hudelson, Family Science
  • Elizabeth spent one of her summers completing a highly competitive child life practicum at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where she built upon her many experiences at Miami University. She worked with Dr. Elise Radina in her research lab, assisting with studies on parents of children with primary lymphedema, a transnational study of breast cancer survivorship, and the impact of the pandemic lockdown on family life in the United States. She excelled as a student in her courses— providing leadership to her peers and assisting instructors through hybrid courses in Child Life Theory and Therapeutic Play. It was through this work that Elizabeth helped establish a “Play Library” for students and instructors at Miami University to use in their coursework.
• Hope Kirby, Microbiology
  • Hope is an outstanding student who was recognized on the President’s list, and received Goldwater and Beckman Research Scholarships. She drew upon her work as a student in some of her MBI classes to explore the potential role that genes could play in the phage replication and infection cycles using bioinformatics—which she then presented at the HHMI Annual SEA Symposium. Hope also was active in Dr. Luis Actis’s research lab, leading to acceptance of a paper at a national meeting and co-authoring a manuscript for a peer-reviewed journal. She has also served as a Supplemental Instructor for MBI 116, in which she helped other undergraduates learn and understand the course material.
• Ethan Klein, Geology
  • Ethan has an outstanding GPA reflecting his devotion to his studies as well as other noteworthy accomplishments, such as being named a Goldwater Scholar—one of 410 nationwide and only 7 in Ohio. He worked in Dr. Mark Krekeler’s lab where he investigated the occurrence of mineral inclusions in talc ore, which have the potential to contain elements of health concern. This led to the publication of his first authored paper in the journal Results in Geochemistry. Ethan is a recipient of multiple academic scholarships and received advanced classification with the Wilks Leadership Institute.
• Erin Lindberg, Anthropology
  • Erin received two Undergraduate Summer Studies awards to conduct ethnographic fieldwork on paranormal tourism under the mentorship of Dr. Leighton Peterson. In one project, she transcribed and analyzed paranormal reality television shows using a linguistic anthropological lens. This work led to two papers: one critically examining the discourse of pseudoscience in paranormal reality media and the second examining the transformation of a particular ghost story into the tour narrative at the now decommissioned Ohio State Reformatory highlighted in a reality television show. Erin was also involved with the Anthropology Collections—retouching and uploading 3D model scans of artifacts in the collection, which helped to make the collection more useful for archeology classes as they shifted to online formats.
• Natalie Nguyen, Biomedical Engineering
  • As a first-year international student from Vietnam, Natalie reached out to Dr. Hui Wang and indicated that she was interested in being involved with a research lab. From there she became active in biomedical engineering research, including as a co-author on manuscript looking at newt lens regeneration. She was invited to join the Lockheed Martin Leadership Institute cohort and is part of the CPB student advisory council. Her nominator, Dr. Dave Hartup noted that Natalie has great aspirations and potential.
• Emory Perlman, Kinesiology
  • Emory’s nominator, Dr. Rose Marie Ward noted that Emory was an active member of two research labs, Women Helping Women (a domestic violence and sexual assault support group), Crop Walk, and other volunteer experiences. She was also active in her sorority. Emory’s experiences as a research assistant for Dr. Ward and for Dr. Paul Reidy helped prepare her for a strong future in kinesiology and health research, in which she examined the relationship between eating disorders and alcohol-related consequences. Additional research examining the relationship between fear of COVID-19, anxiety, and drinking behaviors, was presented National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
• Kerri Peterson, Chemical Engineering
  • Kerri’s skills and experiences as a researcher were put to good use when she served as a contact tracer for COVID-19 in Oxford. Previously, she worked as a research data analyst where she analyzed small-angle x-ray scattering data to gain a better understanding of the unfolding mechanisms of protein-surfactant complexes. This led to a co-authored paper that was presented at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers meeting. Kerri also held an internship with the E& J Gallo winery in California, building on her developing interests in food chemistries. Her nominator, Dr. Jason Boock noted that Kerri would shine in any career she chooses.

Honorees and some of their accomplishments

• Lexie Adams, Chemical Engineering
  • Lexie has presented at National Conferences and published her original research in the journal Metabolic Engineering. She worked as an Undergraduate Summer Scholar in 2018 and spent time in the summer of 2019 working with a researcher at Clemson University. She has been active in outside organizations including Engineers without Borders, the Talawanda Elementary School Foreign Language program, and she has volunteered at a local hospital. Her advisor, Dr Andrew Jones wrote, “Lexie’s significant and numerous accomplishments in the classroom and lab highlight her intellectual merit, while her passion for STEM outreach and volunteerism demonstrate her potential to contribute to the broader community.”
• Brandon Arnold, Psychology
  • Brandon has worked in Dr. Anna Radke’s Behavioral Neuroscience Lab for the past two years where he uses animal models to study behaviors associated with addiction. He has also been an Undergraduate Summer Scholar and has presented at the Undergraduate Research Forum. In her nominating letter, Dr. Anna Radke notes, “I think it is clear that Brandon is more than just an undergraduate research assistant. He is one of the university’s greatest proponents of the undergraduate research experience.”
• Shianne Baldwin, Studio Art, Art Education
  • Shianne is a thoughtful individual who is engaged with and excited for arts education and therapy. She has taught in the Saturday Art program and has served as a teaching assistant for other Saturday Art teachers—offering them mentorship, advice, and service.  One of her nominators, Dr. Stephanie Danker, commented, “Shianne is a caring, respectful and open minded young artist and art educator, and exhibits an excitement to learn and grow from her life experiences. She embraces diversity and building relationships with others and she embodies Miami University’s motto of love and honor.”
• William Carson, Chemistry
  • Will has been an undergraduate researcher in two different labs—for both Dr. Liu and Dr. Hartley. He has given four presentations at professional conferences and has co-authored three peer-reviewed publications from 1.5 years of work—including one paper on which Will was the first co-author. As an honors student, Will has assisted with recruitment of first-year students, volunteering as a member of the Honors Research Panel team and writing postcards to prospective students.
• Nicholas Kaplan, Chemical Engineering
  • Nick has published in an academic journal and presented a poster at the National Meeting for the American Institute for Chemical Engineers. In addition, he has worked as an RA at Miami and was selected as a Top 10 Miami Engineering Student 2018. Under the direction of his faculty, Nick went from feeling that medical school was the only viable path for a person interested in science, to realizing that bioengineering research can lead to a fulfilling and rewarding career.
• Kristen McGinnis, Chemistry
  • As an undergraduate student in Dr Michael Kennedy’s lab, Kristen has been working on a project whose overall goal is to develop a next-generation synthetic particle-based vaccine to treat rotavirus infections. She is the recipient of the Joseph Culler Prize in Physics, awarded to non-majors for demonstrating excellence in physics and problem-solving skills in difficult integrative problems. She has also been an Undergraduate Summer Scholar and has co-authored a manuscript based on her work.
• Jessica Patrick, Geology
  • Jesse is very enthusiastic about the geosciences and has a high desire to conduct field-based research and analytical work in the area of environmental geoscience as a professional career. Jesse has been an Undergraduate Summer Scholar and an undergraduate TA. She has also presented at several national conferences and co-authored several manuscripts for professional journals in her field. As Dr Claire McLeod has written, “She exemplifies every quality Miami strives its students to possess: active engagement in curricular and co-curricular life, success, application of knowledge and skills with integrity, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.”
• Brianna Stoll, Psychological Sciences
  • Brianna has already carved out a name for herself in her research around autism—coauthoring a manuscript in a professional journal and focusing on how neurotypical individuals perceive and understand Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is an outstanding student who excels in the classroom—leading discussions with her peers and showing her great depth of knowledge and understanding.
• Gianna Valentic, Psychology
  • Gianna has been involved with Dr Kuvalanka’s Trans*Kids project—including presenting their work at the Miami Valley LGBTQ Horizons of Aging Summit, coauthoring an article entitled “Grandmothers Raising their Transgender Grandchildren,” and interning at the Cleveland Clinic. She is a strong advocate for those who are transgender and, as Dr Kate Kuvalanka points out, “We need more allies who are not afraid to push others to ensure that they are not further stigmatizing an already vulnerable population.”
• Jordan Vest, Geology
  • Jordan has been awarded numerous academic scholarships totaling over $125,000, enabling her to a wide variety of topics such as study mine waste research, research on sand dunes in the Central Nevada Desert, and research on makeup in the context of violence against women. As Dr Krekeler has attested, “Jordan is very honest, personable and extremely helpful, easy to work with, and is highly interested in numerous aspects of geology. She has developed extremely well over the last year and has progressed to a position of being the predominant leader in her current research group.”
• Steven Yu, Computer Science
  • Steven has been applying his computer programming skills to solving multiple problems—from calculating the real incidence rate for diseases like diabetes, to diagnosing sepsis several hours before it can be diagnosed by the doctor, and improving traffic efficiency with dynamic taxi ride sharing. He has been an intern with our Center for Analytics and Data Science, where he worked on a project to design a chatbot for a pharmaceutical company.

Honorees

Joseph Braun, Accountancy, Finance

Shelby Frye, Sociology, Political Science

Taylor Gordon, Political Science

Allyson Heitger, Accountancy, Information Systems and Analytics

Emily Kuehl, Chemical Engineering

Rachel Ollier, Chemical Engineering 

Rosamiel Ries, Geology, Physics

Mitchell Singstock, Anthropology, Neuroscience

Mackenzie Trevethan, Psychology

Alison Tuiyott, Statistics, Analytics Co-Major

Honorees

Sara Al-Zubi, Management and Premedical Studies

Elizabeth Angi-O’Brien, Individualized Studies

Jacob Bruggeman, History and Political Science

Kayla Cartwright, Biology and Premedical Studies

Paris Franz, Chemical Engineering and Mathematics & Statistics

Robert Krueger, Mathematics and Physics

Caroline “Callie” Miller, Biochemistry, Premedical Studies, and French

Nathan Rayens, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering

Sydnee Roese, Chemical Engineering

Nicole Rusk, Architecture

John Tarter, Information Technology

Jackie Ziegman, Kinesiology and Premedical Studies

Honorees

Carsen Cash, Chemical Engineering with a concentration in Pre-Medical
Studies and Biochemical Engineering

Terra Collier, Economics and Anthropology

Hannah Kempf, Geology

Mary Martin, Social Work

Alex Mazursky, Mechanical Engineering and Energy Co-Major

Leah Simon, Integrated Mathematics Education and Mathematics

Kevin Sommers, Psychology and Pre-Medical Studies

Anthony Thompson, Theatre

Anne Weidner, Marketing, Psychology, and Music