College of Science & Health (CSH)

Assessment of Mercury Contamination from Legacy Fur Trade Activity in Soils of Grand Portage National Monument, MN

Advisor: Kristofer Rolhus

Transcriptional Analysis of Two Staphylococcus aureaus Biofilm-Associated Genes in Regulatory Protein Mtan Strains

Advisor: William Schwan

Fine-scale Characterization of Spring Phenology in a North American Prairie Using Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Imagery

Advisor: Niti Mishra

Analysis of non-Hirsch prismatoids for linear optimization via transportation polytopes

Advisor: Eddie Kim

Inactivation of Human Noroviruses Using Heat-Denatured Lysozyme

Advisor: Xinhui Li

Determining the Acute Lethal Concentration (LC50) of EarthTec® QZ for Invasive (Bithynia tentaculata) and Native (Physa gyrina) Snail Species from the Upper Mississippi River

Advisor: Nadia Carmosini

Mechanistic Investigation of Tris (pentafluorophenyl) borane-Silane Catalyzed Reduction of B-Ketoamides

All-Optical Switching via MQW ZnO Thin Films

Advisor: Eric Gansen

Analyzing the Impact of Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders on Youth’s Criminal Activity

Advisor: Barb Bennie

Effects of Chronic Exposure to the Insecticide Thiamethoxam on Zebrafish Behavior

Advisor: Tisha King-Heiden

Protein of Unknown Function from Murine Herpesvirus 68 Contributes to Cancer Growth

Advisor: Kelly Gorres

RT-qPCR Analysis of Genes Involved in the Response to SK-03-92 Treatment in Yeast

Advisor: Anne Galbraith

Investigating the Nuclear Structure of Dysprosium-160

Advisor: Shelly Lesher

Local Adaptations of Streptomyces in Myrick Marsh

Advisor: Anita Davelos

Structural properties and enzymatic activity of dUTPase from Epstein-Barr Virus

Advisor: Kelly Gorres

Examining Influences of Forest Bathing on Physiological and Psychological Aspects of Stress

Advisor: Namyun Kil

The Compounding Effect of a High Calorie Diet and Poor Sleep

Advisor: Alder Yu

Mechanism of action of potential anti-virulence compounds against Salmonella

Advisor: John May

TPS domain folding causes hemolytic activation of a newly defined functional domain

Advisor: Daniel Grilley

Assessment of Mercury Contamination from Legacy Fur Trade Activity in Soils of Grand Portage National Monument, MN

Advisor: Kristofer Rolfhus

Assessing the Influence of Water Chemistry on the Toxicity of a Copper Pesticide (EarthTec® QZ) to Native and Invasive Aquatic Snail Species

Advisors: Nadia Carmosini & Gregory Sandland

* Learn more about Mary's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Investigating the Effect of Circadian Rhythm Disruption on Gene Expression involved in Lewy Body Dementia with Advanced Aging

Advisor: Alder Yu

Inactivation of Tulane virus, a human norovirus surrogate in water using yeast-coated beads

Advisor: Xinhui Li

* Learn more about Hunter's sponsors - Ron and Jane Rada

Investigating Phenology of Insect Prey Abundance and Nesting Stages in Breeding Flammulated Owls

Advisor: Markus Mika

Pulsed plating of copper-tin alloys for the catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide

Advisor: Sujat Sen

Exploring Nonuniformities of Quantum-Dot-Based Photon-Number-Resolving Factors

Advisors: Eric Gansen

Characterizing a DcrB-dependent molecule that may enhance the resistance of Salmonella enterica to copper

Advisor: John May

The competition between positive charges – how specific cations affect the balance between DNA binding and formation of an alternative DNA structure

Advisor: Daniel Grilley

MAP65 Protein and Microtubule Mechanics

Advisor: Taviare Hawkins

Effect of the ESCRT pathway on HPIV3 budding and release

Advisor: Michael Hoffman

* Learn more about Kirstyn's sponsor - Michael McGinley, ’82

Tracking a deadly virus in La Crosse: Assessing the presence of La Crosse encephalitis and its mosquito vector

Advisor: Barrett Klein

Anti-van der Waerden Numbers of Graph Products

Advisor: Nathan Warnberg

A Novel Heterogeneous Catalyst for Green Catalytic Mercaptan Remediation

Advisor: Robert McGaff

Preparation of Unnatural Asymmetric Curcuminoids with Highly Turnable Structures

Advisor: Valeria Stepanova

Are microplastics accumulating in the fish of the Upper Mississippi River? An assessment of microplastics in the Emerald Shiner (Notropis atherinoides), an abundant and important small fish

Advisor: Eric Strauss

* Learn more about Tessa's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

The Use of Environmental DNA as a Tool for Detecting the Presence of Invasive Lionfish Background/Statement of the Problem/Significance

Advisor: Kelly Gorres

Anti-Schur Numbers on the Integers

Advisor: Nathan Warnberg

Phosphorus use and limitation in biofilms on wood and inorganic substrates in the Upper Mississippi River

Advisor: Eric Strauss

* Learn more about Marina's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Determining the functional role of the GOX1969 protein in Gluconobacter oxydans

Advisor: Paul Schweiger

Learning to Facilitative Adventure-Based Learning: An Occupational Socialization Perspective

Advisor: Jenna Stark

Assessing the Influence of Water Chemistry on the Toxicity of a Copper Pesticide (EarthTec® QZ) to an Invasive Aquatic Snail Species, Bithynia tentaculata

Advisors: Nadia Carmosini & Greg Sandland

Circadian Rhythm Effect on Oscillation of Gut Bacteria in Wolbachia-free Drosophila melanogaster

Advisor: Alder Yu

Thickening the Trefoil Knot

Advisor: Whitney George

Player Tracking for NCAA D3 Soccer to Optimize Training Design

Advisor: Chad Vidden

Well-Width Dependence of ZnO MQW All-Optical Switches

Advisor: Eric Gansen

Task Allocation with Dynamic Task Set in a Self-Organizing Swarm

Effect of Curcumin and Curcumin Derivatives on the Lytic Cycle of Epstein-Barr Virus

Advisor: Kelly Gorres

Particle Size Analysis of a Lake Sediment Core to Understand Periods of Floods and Droughts in the Upper Midwest Since the Last Glacial Period

Advisor: Joan Bunbury

* Learn more about Jordan's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Lepidopteran larval diversity, abundance, and biomass at foraging sites of insectivorous Flammulated Owls (Psiloscops flammeolus) in northern Utah

Advisor: Markus Mika

Investigation and Mapping of Invasiv

Advisor: John Kelly

Quantifying the Flooding Characteristics of Gas-Diffusion Layers for use in CO2 Electro-Reduction

Advisor: Sujat Sen

* Learn more about Jason's sponsor - Michael McGinley, ’82

Topological Data Analysis on Ecological Mississippi River Data

Advisor: Wako Bungula

* Learn more about Casey's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Flag-Tag HPIV3 M Proteins as a Tool to Investigate Protein-Protein Interaction in Variant Viral Proteins

Advisor: Michael Hoffman

* Learn more about Halle's sponsor - Michael McGinley, ’82

Synthesis of a Photoactivated Targeting Drug Conjugate

Assessment of Targeting Element Efficacy and Specificity in Targeted Anticancer Drug Conjugates

Abundance of Microplastics in Carpiodes carpio (River Carp Sucker) in the Upper Mississippi River

Advisor: Eric Strauss

* Learn more about Veronica's sponsors - Ron and Jane Rada

Are microplastics accumulating in the filter feeders of the Upper Mississippi River? An assessment of microplastics in the Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), an important invasive species

Advisor: Eric Strauss

* Learn more about Tessa's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO/Graphene nanocomposite thin films

Advisor: Seth King

The Influence of Attentional Focus on Running Mechanics

Determining the role of Rap1b in the cell cycle

Advisor: Jaclyn Wisinski

Revealing the mechanism of glucose transport in Gluconobacter oxydans

Advisor: Paul Schweiger

Impact of disrupted circadian rhythms on blood glucose levels in Drosophila melanogaster with modeled Type II diabetes

Advisor: Alder Yu

Determine the effect of older versus younger peoples' exosomes on muscle cell differentiation and proliferation

Advisor: Jennifer Klein

Effects of Chronic Exposure to the Insecticide Imidacloprid on Fathead Minnow Behavior

Advisor: Tisha King-Heiden

* Learn more about Sara's sponsors - Ron and Jane Rada

The effects of leucine metabolites on lytic cycle activation of Epstein Barr Virus

Advisor: Kelly Gorres

Sampling invertebrates efficiently: comparing two methods of quantifying aquatic insect emergent on the Upper Mississippi River

Advisor: Ross Vander Vorste

Positivity of coefficients coming from matrices

Advisor: Edward Kim

Examining the Influences of Cross-Cultural Forest Therapy on Psychological Health and Well-Being among Children and Adolescents with Health Challenges

Advisor: David Mathias

Rap1b- Detection Assay

Advisor: Jaclyn Wisinski

Generalization of Evolved Response Thresholds for Uffoctivc Decentralized Dynamic Task Allocation

Advisor: David Mathias

Display of amylases on the surface of Gluconobacter oxydans to enable starch utilization

Advisor: Paul Schweiger

* Learn more about Abby's sponsor - Michael McGinley, ’82

Determining the influence of phosphorylated Rap1b on megakaryocyte regulation

Advisor: Jaclyn Wisinski

Teacher Change in Attitudes and Beliefs of Social Emotional Learning through Professional Development

Advisor: Rachyl Stephenson

Wild Caught Salmo trutta Gut Microbiome Response to Heavy-Metal Contamination

Advisor: Alder Yu

Analysis of microplastics in net spinning caddisfly larvae (Family Hydropsychidae) in driftless area streams

Advisor: Eric Strauss

* Learn more about Max's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

The Effects of Salt Conc. and Poly-A Tracts on the Equilibrium and Dynamics of Nucleosomes

Advisor: Daniel Grilley

Benthic invertebrate productivity and diversity in floodplain habitats in Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River

Advisor: Ross Vander Vorste

* Learn more about Spencer's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

The effect of the La Crosse River on the Myrick Marsh water system quality indicated by primary production

Advisor: Eric Strauss

* Learn more about Aly's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Abundance of Microplastics in Freshwater Drum

Advisor: Eric Strauss

* Learn more about Veronica's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

The effects of leucine metabolites on lytic cycle activation of Epstein Barr Virus

Advisor: Kelly Gorres

Examining the Influences of Cross-Cultural Forest Therapy on Psychological Health and Well-Being among Children and Adolescents with Health Challenges

Advisor: Namyun Kil

* Learn more about Cora's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Analysis of the effect of carbon source on survival and copper homeostasis gene expression in SK-03-92 treated yeast cells

Advisor: Anne Galbraith

Determining the molecular structure of NmpR, an NtrC-like response Regulator Protein

Advisor: Dan Bretl

* Learn more about Vannessa's sponsor - Michael McGinley, ’82

The Effects of Salt Concentration and Poly-A Tracts on Nucleosome Equilibrium and Dynamics

Advisor: Dan Grilley

Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Communities associated with Hemlock in the Kickapoo Valley

Advisor: Anita Davelos

* Learn more about Zion's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Resource Competition among Flammulated Owls (Psiloscops flammulous) in fluctuating mountain habitats

Advisor: Markus Mika

* Learn more about Aubrey's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Human Geographies of Vulnerabilities and Adaptations to Increased Flooding within the Driftless Area

Advisor: John Kelly

* Learn more about Kendrick's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Synthesis of Nanoparticle Suspensions for Catalytic conversion of Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Advisor: Sujat Sen

* Learn more about Elijah's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Environmental Factors Influencing Mayfly Emergence in Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River

Advisor: Ross Vander Vorste

* Learn more about Skylar's sponsors - Ron and Jane Rada

Determining Factors Responsible for Photobiont Preference in Driftless Area Lichens

Advisor: Todd Osmundson

Effects of Sublethal Exposure to Thiamethoxam on the Innate Immune Response of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryos

Advisor: Tisha King-Heiden

Immunohistochemical characterization of developmental changes in brainstem serotonergic networks

Advisor: Cord Brundage

Examination of fimB point mutations on fimB transcription in uropathogenic Escherichia coli growing in an acidic environment

Advisor: William Schwan

On the Machine Learning (ML)-based Classification of Microscopic Colitis Patients Data Obtained Through Colonoscopy

Advisor: Dipankar Mitra

On the Development of More Adaptable and Trainable Variational Quantum Circuts (VQC) using Quantum Machine Learning (QML)

Advisor: Dipankar Mitra

A Case Study of Physical Education Teacher Change in Attitudes Toward Social Emotional Learning Through Professional Development

Advisor: Rachyl Stephenson

Characterization of the Effects of Truncation on a Cytotoxic Protein

Advisor: Dan Grilley

Ectomycorrhizal tree communities of the Kickapoo Valley

Advisor: Anita Davelos

Passive Restoration of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi in Clear Cut Forests in Kickapoo Valley Preserve

Advisor: Anita Davelos

Using Ionic Liquids for Efficient (±)-Grandifloracin Synthesis

Advisor: Robin Grote

Inservice Teachers' Perceptions on the Feasibility to Implement Adventure-Based Learning in K-12 Schools

Advisor: Jenna Stark

Supported catalysts on charcoal and upcycled polystyrene

Advisor: Robert McGaff

Effect of walking speed on spatiotemporal gait parameters in children with Down Syndrome as a pilot study

Advisor: Haneol Kim

Patterns of Lichen Diversity in the Beartooth Plateau: A Molecular Approach

Advisor: Todd Osmundson

Use of Concurrent Auditory, Visual, and Tactile Feedback of Cadence on Achilles Tendon Loading in Running

Advisor: Thomas Kernozek

Histone deacetylase inhibition and Epstein-Barr reactivation response to treatment with tiglic acid

Advisor: Kelly Gorres

The Circadian Clock in Alzheimer’s Disease

Advisor: Alder Yu

Investigation of the Rap1b Signaling Pathway in Megakaryocytes

Advisor: Jaclyn Wisinski

Characterizing the Response of Extracellular Vesicles to Aging and Resistance Training: Neurons

Advisor: Jennifer Klein

Platelet Apoptosis Resistance Research

Advisor: Scott Cooper

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Measurement of Interactions Between Two Proteins: HpmA and HpmB

Advisor: Aric Opdahl

Exploring membrane influences on cytotoxin HpmA using Styrene-Maleic Acid (SMA)

Advisor: Daniel Grilley

Analysis of Gene Expression in SK-03-92 Treated Yeast Cells

Advisor: Anne Galbraith

New Treatments for Glioblastoma

Advisor: Sierra Colavito

Associations between Parasite Infection and Sand Crab Life Histories along the California Coast

Advisors: James Peirce, Gregory Sandland

* Learn more about Emilie's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Mathematics for Matriarchs: Conserving Elephants in Extreme Environments

Advisor: David Elzinga

* Learn more about Hadley's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Phenotypic effects of MHC Class I reverse signaling in murine macrophage cell lines

Advisor: Zachariah Tritz

* Learn more about Lily's sponsor - Michael McGinley, ’82

The Impact of Nicotine Vaping Devices on Exercise Capacity and Exercise-Induced Vascular Benefits.

Advisor: Salvador Jaime

Effects of aggregate nesting and urbanization on parasitism rates, population size, and floral preferences in solitary ground-nesting bees

Advisor: Barrett Klein

* Learn more about Olivia's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

Occupancy of Eastern Hemlock seedlings in a previously studied relict site in the Kickapoo valley region

Advisor: Anita Davelos

* Learn more about Zion's sponsor - Prairie Springs: The Paul Fleckenstein Trust

The Dose Effect of Sugar Sweetened Beverages on Vascular Function and Metabolism Post Exercise

Advisor: Daniel Friedenreich