News Article

Undergraduate Students Earn Research Fellowships

JONESBORO – Twelve students at Arkansas State University are recipients of the prestigious Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) in the annual competition administered through the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE). 

Through the SURF program, undergraduate students conduct in-depth research projects in their specific fields of study with the assistance of faculty mentors.

Four of the students' projects are funded through ADHE, and eight are funded through A-State Research and Technology Transfer.

This year's recipients, project title and faculty mentor are:

• Rachel Allgood of Cabot, "Interscholastic Athletic Fundraising," Dr. Claudia Benavides Espinoza, associate professor of sports management.
  
  
• Cecily Brock of Beebe, "Affordable vs For-Profit Clinics: Cultural Adaptation towards Hispanic Patients," Dr. Karen Yanowitz, professor of psychology.
  
  
• Oliver Dozier of Paragould, "Understanding the Hydroxyproline-O-Glycosylation Pathway to Enhance Recombinant Therapeutic Protein Production," Dr. Maureen Dolan, associate professor of molecular biology.
  
  
• Casey Gilbert of Niceville, Fla., "Multivariate Time Series Analysis of Lung and Bronchus Cancer Mortality Rates in the United States," Dr. Doo Young Kim, assistant professor of statistics.
  
  
• Parker Knapp of Hot Springs, "Metabolic Engineering of Muscadine Grape to Produce Arachidin-2, a Prenylated Stilbenoid with Important Applications in Human Health," Dr. Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, professor of plant metabolic engineering.
  
  
• Kyle Madden of Jonesboro, "Foam Rolling vs Static Stretching: the Effects on Hamstring Range of Motion," Dr. Brian Church, professor of exercise science.
  
  
• Zachary Rail of Vilonia, "Mathematical Modeling of a Thermoviscoelastic Rod-Beam System with Dynamic Contact," Dr. Jeongho Ahn, associate professor of mathematics.
  
  
• Annie Savage of Alexander, "Ecology of Fish-Parasite Gnathiid Isopods: Thermal Tolerance and Effects on Behavior of Juvenile Reef Fishes," Dr. Paul Sikkel, associate professor of aquatic biology.
  
  
• Katelyn Watson of Jonesboro, "Development of an Optical Homodyne Technique to Determine the Coherence of a Pulsed Laser," Dr. J. Bruce Johnson, professor of physics.
  
  
• Angela Willbanks of Harrisburg, "Gaslighting and Conceptions of Madness in Victorian Literature," Dr. Kate Krueger, associate professor of English and department chair.
  
  
• Madalyn Weiner of Little Rock, "Genetically-Fused Lectin Binding Protein for Enhanced Stability and Uptake of a Recombinant Catfish Therapeutic Protein," Maureen Dolan.
  
  
• Tristen Wright of Paragould, "Plant Cell-Secreted Growth Factors Targeted for Ex Vivo Massive Production of Red Blood Cells," Dr. Jianfeng Xu, research associate professor.
  
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