Congratulations to the eight CAHNRS students who earned Crimson, Gray, and Novice awards at WSU’s Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA), held March 27 at the Compton Union Building.
Nearly 200 WSU undergraduates took part in SURCA, including nearly 30 CAHNRS students. In all, 43 awards were presented.
View all SURCA projects and abstracts here.
Applied Sciences
In the applied sciences category, Animal Sciences major Andrew Bartelheimer earned a Gray award for his poster, “Effectiveness of Triticale Silage as a Replacement for Corn Silage in a High Producing Dairy Cattle Ration.” Bartelheimer’s mentor is Professor Marcos Marcondes.
Animal Sciences major Valerie Achziger earned the Novice award for her project, “Does Improving Reproduction Impact Methane and Phosphorus Excretion in Washington and Florida Dairies?” Marcondes was her mentor.
Arts and Design
In the arts and design category, Zoey Thompson and Sophie Woodman, students in Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles, earned the Crimson award for their poster, “Scrunch and Snap: Adaptable Backpack.” Their mentor is Assistant Professor Armine Ghalachyan.
AMDT student Rowena Gonzalez won the Gray award for her project, “Bacterial Cellulose as a Sustainable Biotextile: Developing Sustainable Leather.” She is also advised by Ghalachyan.
Molecular, Cellular, and Chemical Biology
In the molecular, cellular, and chemical biology category, Hannah Peha, Agricultural Biotechnology major, earned the Crimson award for “Identifying a Gene Responsible for Infection Within an Important Pathogen of Barley.” Her mentor is Robert Brueggeman, associate professor and Nilan Endowed Chair in Crop and Soil Sciences.
Brook Mac, Animal Sciences major, earned a Gray award for “Determining the Locus for the Moorit Phenotype in Wensleydale Sheep.” Brook’s mentor is Nancy Irlbeck, clinical associate professor.
Organismal, Population, Ecological, and Evolutionary Biology
Grace Fields, Animal Sciences student, won a Gray award for “Intake, Performance, and Health of Calves Influenced by Different Physical Forms of Starter Feed.” Her mentor is Marcos Marcondes.
CAHNRS mentors
Several WSU students won awards for projects they pursued with CAHNRS faculty. In the research proposal category, Katy Ayers, Biochemistry and Bioengineering student, earned a Crimson award for “Mushroom mechanics: An Analysis of Fungal Biomaterials for Wild Bee Conservation.” Ayers’ mentors are Department of Entomology faculty members Nick Naeger and Jennifer Han.
In the applied sciences category, Bioengineering student Nhan Nguyen earned a Gray award for his project, “Quantifying Superficial Scald in Granny Smith Apple Using a Deep Convolutional Neural Network and Computer Vision Techniques.” His mentor is Associate Professor Stephen Ficklin, with CAHNRS’ Department of Horticulture.
