2020 CUGR summer fellowship winners announced

The University of Maine’s Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) has announced the 2020 CUGR summer fellowship winners.

Undergraduate proposals will be awarded up to a maximum of $3,300 each. Funding is provided by the UMaine Office of the Vice President for Research and Maine Space Grant Consortium (MSGC).

This year’s winners are:

  • Dawsin Blanchard, computer science, “Deep Network Compression Using Information Theoretic Scores,” advised by Salimeh Yasaei Sekeh
  • Jacob Cote, microbiology, “The Role of Prophage Mediated Defense in Pathogenic Mycobacteria,” advised by Sally Molloy
  • Janet Elvidge, studio art, “Creating a Website: Even a Frugal, Non-Techie Artist Can Do It,” advised by Giles Timms 
  • Lauren Genenbacher, political science, “How Capitalism Corrupted America’s Public Drinking Water Systems and How the Local and Federal Political Environment Helped Entrench This Issue,” advised by Stefano Tijerina
  • Emma Gibbons, botany, “Investigating the effects of cytokinin hormone in drought resistance of lowbush and highbush blueberries,” advised by Yongjiang Zhang 
  • Joshua Hamilton, biomedical engineering, “Tuning CNF Fibril Orientation for Tissue Integration,” advised by Karissa Tilbury
  • Sara Hunt, child development and family relations, “A Qualitative Analysis of Lesbian and Gay Coparenting,” advised by Daniel Puhlman
  • Kiera Luu, marine sciences, “Dulse sea vegetable nursery,” advised by Timothy Bowden
  • Joseph Patton, electrical and computer engineering, “MESAT-1 Electrical Power Subsystem,” advised by Ali Abedi
  • Christian Potts, molecular and cellular biology, “Mechanisms of Cetylpyridinium Chloride Inhibition of Immune Mast Cell Function: Focus on Ca2+ Mobilization,” advised by Julie Gosse
  • Marlys Rietdyk, botany, “Effects of Warming on Wild Blueberry Growth Pattern and Production,” advised by Yongjiang Zhang
  • Nicole Ritchey, marine sciences; “Fungal Communities in Ancient and Contemporary Marine Sponges,” advised by Laurie Connell
  • Chelsea Sainsbury, chemistry, “Synthesis of Photoswitchable Triptan Derivatives and Evaluation of their Activity on Serotonin Receptors,” advised by Michael Kienzler
  • Karim Seifeldin, management, “Understanding the Pattern of Underdevelopment in the United States,” advised by Stefano Tijerina
  • Miranda Snyder, secondary education, “How Alumni of Middle and High School Activist Organizations Perceive Their Involvement Related to Their Academic Self-Concept,” advised by Susan Gardner
  • Basel White, biomedical engineering, “Wavelet-Based Automatic Pectoral Muscle Segmentation from Mammograms,” advised by Andre Khalil