Undergraduate Research and Senior Thesis Presentations / Poster Fair

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH AND SENIOR THESIS PRESENTATION - POSTER FAIR

2026 Poster Fair: Thursday, April 30, 2026 / Time: 1:00 – 3:30 pm / Location: Bear Down Gym

The Undergraduate Research and Senior Thesis Presentation is an annual Poster Fair hosted by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to:

highlight Departmental research opportunities for undergraduates through a poster session
provide a place for the presentation of Senior Capstone/Thesis research projects
provide a forum to showcase research projects conducted by our undergraduates
answer any questions you have about the Chemistry and Biochemistry majors

2026 Poster Fair Abstracts

Click here to see the 2026 Poster Fair photos!

Congratulations to the 2026 CBC Undergraduate Poster Fair Winners!

Poster Fair Winners	Honorable Mentions	Viewer’s Choice
Biological Life Sciences Emerging		Elliott Brumbaugh
1^st Place – Laura Serikova	Ava Grote	Anna Campbell
2^nd Place – Kristine Porter	Mandy Wu	Luke Fasse
Biological Sciences Advanced		Kyla Holmquist
1^st Place – Kaia Mount	Polina Klishina	Lawson Lee & Lindsay Aiden
2^nd Place – Ria Siddaiah		Elise MacKirdy
Physical Sciences Emerging		Delaney Petruzelli
1^st Place – Marley Novak		Kristine Porter
2^nd Place – Alexander Korolevich		Soleil Robinson
Physical Sciences Advanced		Michaela Ryan
1^st Place – Elise MacKirdy	Aiden Lindsay & Lawson Lee	Erin Schuette
2^nd Place – Dylan Weaver	Cody Mitchell	Joanna Vargas
Senior Thesis		Dylan Weaver
1^st Place – Caleb Konecek	Tanner Cohrs
2^nd Place – Erin Schuette	Kylie Ernst
	Riley Haveman
	Brynn Nichols
	Jordan Schulz
	Sophia Shomper

Name	#	Research Mentor	Poster Title
Emma Avouris	44	Bryan Wong	Fitting the Future of Hearing Healthcare: Comfort Measures of 3D-Printed Earmolds
Cole Bellomo	10	Jeffrey Pyun	Introduction of Molybdenum Disulfide in Sulfur Copolymers as Composite Material with Increased Mechanical Strength
Elliott Brumbaugh	55	Jianqin Lu	Development and Characterization of Liposomal Nanomedicines for Colorectal Cancer
Kelsey Buffington	29	James Galligan	Analysis and Quantification of Histone Tiglylation and Histone Post-Translational Modification in HEK 293 Cells from a Mouse Model of ECHS1 Deficiency
Anna Campbell	13	Matthew Cordes & .John Jewett	Investigation into the autoinhibitory motif lost in recluse spider phospholipase D venom evolution using a customizable peptide mimic
Branham Carpenter	23	George Sutphin	The Effects of Short-Term Fasting and Tamoxifen on FOXO Transcription Factors
Elizabeth Cashwell	09	Jon Njardarson	Development of a Novel and Stereoselective Route to Nitrogen Heterocycles Via Versatile δ-lactam Scaffolds
Lainey Caswell	38	Evan MacLean	Effects of Visual Dimensionality on Canine Social Cognition and Decision-Making
Diezel Cochenour	49	Ray Runyon	Profiling anti-inflammatory molecules in non-alcoholic beer using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
Tanner Cohrs	08	M. Leandro Heien	Development of Iridium Oxide as a Novel Reference Electrode Material for In Vivo Electrochemistry
Michael Davis	45	Lee Ryan	Perceived Stress and Episodic Memory: Investigating The Moderating Effect of Physical Activity among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White middle aged to older adults
Adrian De la Peña	05	Minying Cai	MC1R LEAD OPTIMIZATION THROUGH PROTEIN COEVOLUTION AND BIOPHYSICAL ASSAY PIPELINE
Chaz DeCoteau	36	Koenraad van Doorslaer	Using Co-Immunoprecipitation to Investigate the Potential for SNX1.3 to Disrupt the Interaction Between p120 Catenin and HPV L1
Ava Erickson	61	M. Leandro Heien	Simultaneous Tonic and Phasic Dopamine Measurement Using Tandem FSCV and FSCAV with PEDOT:Nafion-Coated Carbon-Fiber Microelectrodes
Kylie Ernst	24	Andrew Paek	Many Proteins Activated by H2O2 Stress Require Iron for Activation
Luke Fasse	01	Thomas Gianetti	Out of the Blue: A Low-Energy Photooxidant for Furan-to-Pyrrole Skeletal Editing and Aromatic C-H Lamination
Carolina Figueroa	28	Kathleen Rodgers	Neuroinflammation and Systematic Characterization in a Multiple Sclerosis Transgenic Mouse Model
Ava Grote	50	Rebecca Schomer	Evaluating the impact of Phosphorus Acid (𝐻3PO3) treatment on beneficial soil microbe viability
Mariella Gunther	11	Tarjani Thaker	Understanding the role of COQ3 and COQ8B in Coenzyme Q biosynthesis
Chloe Ha	52	Edward Gelmann	Inhibition of DYRK1B Kinase Enhances NKX3.1 Stability in Prostate Cancer
Rylan Hammond	06	Michael F. Brown	Effect of Free-Flowing Water on Rhodopsin Activation
Leah Harroun	03	Oliver L.A. Monti	SOMO-Mediated Transport in Verdazyl Radicals: Limitations Imposed by Fermi Level Pinning
Kia Hashemi	67	Douglas Loy	Fungal Degradation of Polyacrylamide Hydrogels: Utilization of White Rot Fungi to Degrade Hydrogels, A Novel Study
Riley Haveman	27	Tally Largent-Milnes	Endocannabinoid Signaling in Medication Overuse Headache
Kyla Holmquist	04	Minying Cai	Amyloid-beta 40 Aggregation Using Plasmon Waveguide Resonance (PWR)
Chase Johnson	48	Michael A Riehle	Biological and molecular phenotypes associated with RNAi-mediated COPI Beta and Gamma deficiency in Anopheles stephensi female mosquitoes
Isaac Kailat	42	Yeran Bai	Label Free Metabolic Profiling via MIP Microscopy
Dani Khatib	37	Deepta Bhattacharya	Tumor-Infiltrating Monoclonal Antibody Production
Kaylee Kimbrell	32	Sean Limesand	Enhanced Insulin Signaling Impairs TGF-b Pathway Causing Increased Satellite Cell Differentiation in Growth Restricted Lambs
Jessica Klingler	16	Marielle Walti	The Stabilizing Effect of Cochaperone Hsp10 on ATP-Induced Monomerization of Hsp60
Polina Klishina	51	Rebecca Schomer	The Role of CheY in Chemotaxis and Biofilm Formation in Ralstonia solanacearum
Nolan Knapp	63	Jeffrey Pyun	Circular Reprocessability of High Sulfur Content Polymer Infrared Optics
Caleb Konecek	21	Pascale Charest	Role of Rap1 in Regulating mTORC2 Signaling in HEK293T Cells
Alexander Korolevich	64	Jeffrey Pyun	Photopolymerization for Fabrication of High RI Polymers
Alicia Krusee	12	Tarjani Thaker	Unveiling the Functional Role of ADCK4/COQ8B in Kidney Disease
Lee Lawson & Aiden Lindsay	65	Jeffrey Pyun	Tunable High Refractive Index Inverse Vulcanized Polymers for Cost-Effective Infrared Optics
Jacquelyn Lo Bianco	26	Tally Largent-Milnes	Endocannabinoid Targets in the Brain Cortex for Medication Overuse Headache (MOH) Reversal
Tiffany Luu	07	Michael F. Brown	SOFT MATTER INFLUENCES RHODOPSIN G-PROTEIN BINDING IN LIPID MEMBRANES
Elise MacKirdy	66	Jeffrey Pyun	Polymer Property Variance: A Look Into An Inverse Vulcanization System
Maxwell Maloney	31	Nathan Cherrington	MASH Impairs Renal Anion Transporter Function and Alters Cefazolin Disposition in Mice
Cody Mitchell	68	Vanessa Huxter	Solvation Effects on Eosin Y as a Photoredox Catalyst
Kaia Mount	58	Andrew Capaldi	Ksp1 Fine-Tunes Cellular Stress Responses Within the TORC1 Signaling Network
Mara Navarro Perez	34	Gayatri Vedantam and Farhan Anwar	The Prevalence and Diagnostic Characterization of Clostridioides difficile in Southern Arizona (2024-2025)
Brynn Nichols	19	Juliana Sacoman	Beyond Memorization: Promoting Active Learning Using Case Studies
Marley Novak	62	M. Leandro Heien	Fast-Scan Cyclic Voltammetry for Single Electrode Methods of Measuring Dopamine Release
Sofia Orrantia	40	Jennifer S. Carew	Novel Brain-Penetrant Bifunctional Small Molecule Inhibitors for Glioblastoma Therapy
Ronald Palmenberg	14	Matthew Cordes	Key mutations associated with venom recruitment in a recluse spider toxin
Jaden Peters	60	M. Leandro Heien	Measuring Tonic Histamine Signals Using Carbon Fiber Electrodes
Delaney Petruzelli	02	Thomas Gianetti	Pendent Arm and Bridging Atom Variation in Carbenium Ions: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications
Kristine Porter	59	Thomas Tomasiak and Darpan Raghav	Functional Analysis of Phosphorylation Sites Governing Cdr1-Mediated Drug Efflux in Candidozyma auris
Aidan Prahl	25	Brett Colson	Developing a Fluorescence Lifetime-Based Assay to Characterize Small-Molecule Binding to N-terminal Cardiac Myosin-Binding Protein C
Soleil Robinson	17	Marielle Walti	Investigating the Role of the C-terminal Tail in mitochondrial human Heat Shock Protein 60 (mtHsp60)
Michaela Ryan	15	Mark Manary	Effects of Egg Supplementation on Intestinal Inflammation and Regeneration Markers in Moderately Malnourished Children in Sierra Leone
Erin Schuette	39	Dawn Coletta	Characterization of MALAT1 Expression and Genetic Associations in Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction
Jordan Schultz	35	Chi Zhou	The Effect of Maternal Obesity on Cellular Senescence
Laura Serikova	57	Ingmar Riedel-Kruse	Analyzing colloidal self-assembly patterns formed through synthetic cell-cell adhesion in E. coli during growth
Sanjana Shareen	18	Marielle Walti	Unraveling the Molecular Mechanisms of PFAS Binding to Malate Dehydrogenase (MDH)
Meghan Sheehan	30	Gregory Thatcher	Vacor Analogues as Inhibitors of NAMPT in Cancer Metabolism
Sophia Shomper	41	Christopher Frost	Balancing the Blend: Context-Dependent Variation in Green Leaf Volatile Ratios
Ria Siddaiah	56	Pascale Charest	Effects of wild-type versus oncogenic Ras on mTORC2 signaling
Jordan Singleton	46	Jon Chorover	The Iron Redox Continuum: How Hillslopes Shape Soil Chemistry
Coltrin Sparks	22	Guang Yao	Profiling Quiescence
Joanna Vargas	69	Vlad Kumirov	Measuring Methyl Exchange Rates in 4-X-N,N-dimethylbenzamides
Lane Vazquez Luna	43	Brian McKay	Interactions of Proteins Linked to Glaucoma
Dylan Weaver	70	Michael Taylor	Perfluoro-alkyl Quinolinium Cation as a Radical Photocage for Post-Translational Modification
Audrey Winkle	33	Kerry Cooper	One Health Approach to Studying Campylobacter jejuni Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence
Charlie Woodring	47	Laura Meredith	Design and matrix optimization of a biofilter system for hydrogen leak mitigation
Mandy Wu	54	Tally Largent-Milnes	Is voriconazole an effective reversal treatment for photophobia?
Jeffrey Yao	53	Shaowen Bao	Dynamics of Microglial Morphology and Activation in the Auditory Cortex Following Noise Trauma

Congratulations to the CBC Undergraduate Poster Fair Winners! It was a great turnout, showcasing undergraduate research!

Poster Fair Winners	Honorable Mentions	Viewer’s Choice
Biological Life Sciences Emerging	Peter Luu & Nicholas Ngo	Aranea Dunckley
1^st Place – Forrest Zepezauer	Ethan McNew	Sam Ellis
2^nd Place – Elizabeth Ghartey	Akshay Menghani	Luke Fasse
Biological Sciences Advanced	Anna Campbell	Natsha Graham
1^st Place – Erin Schuette	Ronald Palmenberg	Wyatt Hendricks
2^nd Place – Natalie Rawlings		Joseph Jung
Physical Sciences Emerging	Nolan Knapp	Tyler Martinez
1^st Place – Natasha Graham	Daniel Aranda	Ethan McNew
2^nd Place – Delaney Petruzelli		Delaney Petruzelli
Physical Sciences Advanced	Joseph Jung	Erin Schuette
1^st Place – Jacob Narr	Jaxon Goddard-Westland	Jake Shaw
2^nd Place – Trin Šutalo		Maddie Tibayan
Senior Thesis	Kay Do	Haley Vanhof
1^st Place – Natalie Sanchez	Aranea Dunckley	Kai Walsh
2^nd Place – Douglas Swango	Seth Larger	Grady Zucco
	Ika Lin
	Dillan Rhodes
	Lauren Thaller
	Maddie Tibayan
	Haley Vanhoff

Poster entrants must be a declared chemistry or biochemistry major, or conducting chem/biochem research with a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Posters are initially placed in one of several categories. They include:

Physical Science projects involve non-living systems. While your work may have the potential to affect living creatures or be used by living creatures, the research problem you are working to solve does not directly involve the study of living or biological tissues, cells, etc.
Life (or Bio) Science projects involve most other areas beyond physical described above. If the project deals with the study of living tissues, creatures, biological processes, affects on human life, etc. it is most likely that your poster will fit this category.

Then the poster will either be judged as accomplished research or emerging research within its category:

Advanced Research: This category reflects the level of accomplishment on the project. Students will most likely have over a year of experience (but not always) and have made progress such that there are results to report.
Emerging Research: This category suits new researchers (with a year or less of experience) who have defined a problem, designed a project, may be collecting data, but may lack results at this point.

Senior Thesis: If you did research for your senior thesis requirement, you will be automatically placed in this category. Every poster in this category is judged using the same standards.

For poster preparation and presentation advice, see your research mentor, watch for emails on the CBC student listserv regarding upcoming workshops, and check out the following links, (some compiled by the American Chemical Society):

Congratulations to the CBC Undergraduate Poster Fair Winners! It was a great turnout, showcasing undergraduate research!

You can view the poster fair Photos HERE. You do not have to have a FB account to view the photo.

Poster Fair Winners	Honorable Mentions	Viewer’s Choice
Senior Thesis	Sam Durfee	Daniel Aranda & Delaney Petruzelli
1st Place – Eleanor McBride	Rylee Ellsworth	Kay Do
2nd Place – Michael Foster	Elizabeth Harper	Luke Fasse
	Clare Hotze	Madison Grams
Biological Life Sciences Emerging	David Jurkowitz	Elizabeth Harper
1st Place – Ika Lin	Pulari Kartha	Clare Hotze
2nd Place – Jaden Todd-Nelson	Marie Ojeh	Eliza Johnson
	Chloe Park	Sai Julakanti
Biological Sciences Advanced	Natalie Rawlings	David Jurkowitz
1st Place – Sean Chen	Kristen Roehling	Pulari Kartha
2nd Place – Madison Grams	Ashley Wellington	Heather Kwapiszeski
		Ika Lin
Physical Sciences Emerging		Alison Mason
1st Place – Jake Shaw		Anna Ramsook
2nd Place – Luke Fasse		Jake Shaw

Physical Advanced
1st Place – Maddie Tibayan
2nd Place – Megan Hahn

Congratulations to this year's Poster Fair winners!

You can find more photos on CBC's Facebook page. You do not need a Facebook account to view the photos. Go ahead and tag yourselves if you wish.

Poster Fair Winners	Honorable Mention	Viewer’s Choice
Senior Thesis	Vanessa Addison	Vanessa Addison
1st Place – Maddie Milner	Ellie Browne	Alexis Cruickshank-Taylor
2nd Place – Julie Fan	Carson Freeling	Julie Fan
	Terese Kulangara	Carson Freeling
Biological Life Sciences Emerging	Krista Potter	Aunita Hakimi
1st Place – Emma Slenkovich	Hillary Schiff	Clare Hotze
2nd Place – Katelyn Boone	Veronica Hode	Shayna Maddern
	Madison Grams	Maddie Milner
Biological Sciences Advance	Janelle Amegatse	Sami Muslmani
1st Place – Clare Hotze	Luke Fasse	Allison Steedman
2nd Place – Aunita Hakimi	Olivia Bertuca

Physical Sciences Emerging
1st Place – Benjamin Koppe
2nd Place – Ronald Palmenberg

Physical Advanced
1st Place – Briana Pomales
2nd Place – Anthony DiGirolamo

Congratulations to the 2022 Poster Winners!
You can check out the photos on FB. You don’t have to have a FB account to view the photos. Go ahead and tag yourselves if you wish.

Poster Fair Winners	Honorable Mention	Viewer’s Choice
Senior Thesis	Matthew Schott	Wael Almasri
1st Place – Arturo Lujan	Dorien Haney	Rosa Araujo
2nd Place – Rorie Robinson	Joshua Goldring	Kawthar AlElg
	Abel Cherian	Alejandra Betancourt Ramirez
Biological Life Sciences Emerging	Franky Torres	Matheo Herrera
1st Place – Vanessa Addison	Trevor Tankersley	Clare Hotze
2nd Place – Aunita Hakimi	Cong Pham	Aiden Li
	Yuyin Wang	Andrew Matiatos
Biological Sciences Advance	Avani Kumar	Alicia Power
1st Place – Cristian Chavira	Amanda Platt	Kiah Sleiman
2nd Place – Nick Mortimore		Sophia Volpe

Physical Sciences Emerging
1st Place – Natalya Stanisic
2nd Place – Kawthar AlElg

Physical Advanced
1st Place – Parker Geffre
2nd Place – Greg Clarke

Congratulations to the Poster Winners!

You can check out the photos on FB. You don’t have to have a FB account to view the photos. Go ahead and tag yourselves if you wish.