2018 CUGR Summer Fellowship winners announced

The University of Maine’s Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) has announced the 2018 CUGR Summer Fellowship winners.

The center’s advisory committee selected 17 proposals from 45 student submissions to be awarded $3,000 each during the summer semester.

Each proposal was reviewed by three judges and discussed at a panel for clarity of the proposed project, research objectives, importance to the field, timeline, budget and faculty commitment letter.

Funding is provided by the UMaine Office of the Vice President for Research and NASA’s Maine Space Grant Consortium.

This year’s winners are:

  • Charles Alexandre-Roy, biological engineering, “Improving Cellular Uptake of Gold Nanoparticles,” advised by Michael Mason;
  • Makenzie Baber, business management, “Recipes as a Historical Timepiece: New Perspectives in the Political and Personal Life of Margaret Chase Smith,” advised by Rachel Snell;
  • Ashleigh Beaulieu, psychology, “Using Mouse Behavioral Assays to Detect Differences in Olfactory Bulb Neurogenesis,” advised by Kristy Townsend;
  • Timothy Bruce, computer science, “Geometer’s Solar System,” advised by Justin Dimmel;
  • Cameron Fudge, biology, “Regulation of Energy Balance by Hypothalamic Tanycyte Populations,” advised by Kristy Townsend;
  • Emma Garner, biology, “Sympathetic Nerve Plasticity in Adipose Tissue,” advised by Kristy Townsend;
  • Joshua Hamilton, biological engineering, “Engineering a Biodegradable CNF Pad for IDEXX SNAP Tests,” advised by Michael Mason;
  • Joseph Haney, computer science, “Locomotion within Immersive Rendered Environment,” advised by Justin Dimmel;
  • Tal Kleinhause, wildlife ecology, “Fire and Blood — The Effects of Temperature on Thermoregulation and Energetic Costs in Diurnal and Nocturnal Small Mammals,” advised by Danielle Levesque;
  • Peter Larson, civil and environmental engineering, “The Emergent Risks of Food Waste Recovery: Characterizing the Contaminants in MSW Organics from Different Sources,” advised by Jean MacRae;
  • Jonathan Maurer, marine sciences, “Gulf of Maine Sea-Surface Temperature During the Past 6,000 Years: Is Modern Warming Anomalous?” advised by Katherine Allen;
  • Emily Miller, marine sciences, “Investigating the Relationship Between Southern Ocean Temperature Change and Iceberg Melting Around Antarctica,” advised by Ellyn Enderlin;
  • Joshua Passarelli, biology, “The Role of Adult Neural Stem Cells in Metabolic Control,” advised by Kristy Townsend;
  • Gwyneth Roberts, mathematics, “An Analytical Model of Tidal Propagation and Volume Transport in a Shallow and Narrow Estuary: An Application of the Navier-Stokes Equations,” advised by Lauren Ross;
  • Hadley White, secondary education, “Addressing the Foreign Language Teacher Shortage: How Can the Franco-American Center Support French Programs Under Pressure in Maine?” advised by Susan Pinette;
  • Brynn Yarbrough, marine sciences, “Science Communication through Art and Neural Networks,” advised by Nishad Jayasundara; and
  • Caitlin Young, biological engineering, “Quantifying the Effects of Raman Laser Exposure on Osteoblasts Containing Gold Nanoparticles,” advised by Michael Mason.

The awards will be presented during the 2018 UMaine Student Symposium on April 17 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.

For more information, visit the CUGR website or email cugr@maine.edu.