2022 Top Scoring Student Presentations

Undergraduates and high school students  receive scores for their presentations at the KAS/ KJAS Annual Meeting.
The following students received our highest "Thoroughbred" rating for their oral or poster presentation. KAS scoring form.

*Junior Academy Students are denoted with an asterisk*

Students, if you would like to receive the judges' feedback about your presentation please email us.

Cancer
* Rishabh Ranjan - Oral Presentation,  DuPont Manual High School.    "Effect of PSAT1 Expression on Mitochondrial Function in EGFR Mutant Lung Cancer Cells"

Cellular & Molecular Biology
* Peyton Dabney  -  Poster Presentation,  Campbellsville University.   "Studying the Interaction of Membrane Proteins with Lipid Bilayers using EPR Spectroscopy"

Conner Campbell  -   Poster Presentation,   Campbellsville University.    "Conformational Study of KCNE3 in Lipid Bilayered Vesicle using EPR Spectroscopy"

Caleb Harsin -  Oral Presentation,  Murray State University.    "Characterization of glis3 during zebrafish development"

Jennifer Diaz Sales  -   Poster Presentation, Berea College.   " Confocal Microscopy Reveals that SORLA Mediates Tau Endocytosis"

Jennan Lahamer  -   Poster Presentation,  Berea College.    "Constructing a Fluorescent Plasmid for Tagging Endogenous ITGA5 Locus in Skin Organoid Dermal Papilla Cells"

Abhya Rani Lnu - Poster Presentation, Murray State University.    "Transcriptional downregulation of Glis3 is implicated in beta cell dysfunction"

Chase Yost -  Poster Presentation,  Bellarmine University.   "Small molecule screening towards identification of novel protein tyrosine 1B, PTP1B, inhibitors"

Mackenzie Neal and Hailey Rietz - Poster Presentation, Morehead State University.    "Telomerase Activity Enhancement in Saccharomyces cerevisiae"

Chemistry: Analytical/ Physical
Madison Davis  -  Poster Presentation, Thomas More University.    "Trace Metal Fingerprints of Periodical Cicadas Collected from Pine and Oak Trees"

*Joshua Zyzak  - Oral  Presentation,   Beechwood High School.    "Novel Discovery Regarding the Aroma of Roasted Coffee"

Chemistry: Organic/Inorganic

Mara Stout   -  Poster Presentation, Morehead State University.   "The Development of a Colorimetric Assay to Detect Uracil in Monomeric and Oligomeric DNA"

Paul Stevens  - Poster Presentation,  Georgetown College. "Total Synthesis of Formicamycin H"

Hira Karim and Erika Arvizu - Poster Presentation,  Berea College.   "New Palladium Pincer Complexes"

*Justin Huang  - Oral Presentation,  duPont Manual High School.   "Predicting Omicron COVID-19 Positivity Using Breath Samples"

Computer & Information Sciences
Bruno Athie Teruel and  Sydney Chapman - Oral Presentation,  University of Kentucky.   "Development of an Image Registration and Blending Process to Produce Cohesive Images of the Herculaneum Scroll 118"

Joel Bulkley  - Oral Presentation,  Murray State University. "Disaster Area LoRa Mesh Communcations"

Nyx Harris-Palmer - Oral Presentation, University of Kentucky.  "The Design of an Interfaceable Database for the Linguistic Atlas Project"

 Samia Mahmood  -  Oral Presentation,  Bellarmine University.  "30-Node Raspberry Pi4 HTC (High Throughput Computing) Beowulf Cluster"

 Austin Morris   -  Oral Presentation, University of Kentucky. "Pose Tracking for Public Speaking while in Virtual Reality"

 Savanna Ruebsam  and  Blake Park -  Oral Presentation,  Eastern Kentucky University.   "The architecture and genetic composition of Magnaporthe Starship transposons"

Ecology
Amber Miller - Oral Presentation,  Northern Kentucky University. "Tick Species Distribution in the Northern Kentucky Region"

Faith Boa  -  Poster Presentation, Georgetown College. "Upper Thermal Tolerances of the Spiders Leucauge venusta and Pardosa lapidicina"

Sara Brewer -  Poster Presentation,  Asbury University.   " eDNA detection of northern red, spring, and mud salamanders in eastern Kentucky streams"

Hanah Carter  -  Poster Presentation,  Bellarmine University.    "Relationship Between Habitat Quality and Biodiversity in an Urban Floodplain Ecosystem"

Jerica Eaton - Poster Presentation, Western Kentucky University.    "Growth and Survival of Salamanders Exposed to Road Salt and Glyphosate -Based Herbicide"

Abigail Fletcher -   Poster Presentation, Asbury University.  "eDNA detection of darters (Percidae: Etheostomatinae) in central Kentucky streams"

Katie Holmes -  Poster Presentation,  University of Dayton.  "Determining Relationships Between Bat Activity and Woody Vegetation in Natural and Constructed Wetlands on the Daniel Boone National Forest"

Joshua Hicks  and  Eliana Eldridge - Poster Presentation, Morehead State University.    "A Meta-Analysis of Collection Methods in Spider Ecological Research"

Brendan Jeffrey -  Poster Presentation,  Asbury University.   " eDNA detection of four toed salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum): significance of mitochondrial genome region in primer"

Isaiah Radford  - Poster Presentation, Murray State University.    "Can Increasing Soil Complexity of Freshwater Wetlands Improve Carbon Storage by Minimizing Greenhouse Gas Emissions?"  

Kaitlyn Snyder - Poster Presentation, Northern Kentucky University.    "Spatial ecology of Callery pear, Pyrus calleryana Decne. (Rosaceae) in northern Kentucky and southwest Ohio"

Trey Zinsmeister - Poster Presentation, Northern Kentucky University.  "Response of Amur Honeysuckle Lonicera maackii to a Combination of Decapitation and Leaf Blight"

Engineering
Aaron Scott and  Andrew Reynolds - Oral Presentation,  Northern Kentucky University.  "Development of a Novel Embedded Systems Design Kit with Modular Interchangeable Hardware Architecture"

Gemma Sanders - Poster Presentation,  KY-INBRE / Thomas More University.  "Investigating Best Fit Artificial Assist Device Pump in Univentricular Fontan Circulation Patients"

Kayleigh Moore and Stefano Pecile - Oral Presentation, Northern Kentucky University.    "American Sign Language (ASL) Gesture-based Translation System"
    
Briana Harness - Poster Presentation,  KY-INBRE. "Improving Disease Diagnosis: Breath Analysis"

Environmental Sciences
*Leah Groves - Oral Presentation,  Bowling Green High School.   "Boundary Delineation of the Great Onyx Groundwater Basin, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky"

*Kathryn Harris - Oral Presentation,  Bowling Green High School.   "Evaluating Methods for Underground River Discharge Measurements in Mammoth Cave National Park"
   
*Elek Olson,  Kathryn Harris, and Leah Groves -  Oral Presentation,  Bowling Green High School.  "In-Cave Groundwater Tracing in the Great Onyx Groundwater Basin, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky"

*Kiera Fehr  -  Poster Presentation,  Craft Academy at Morehead State University.    "A Sustainable Approach to Compostable Package Identification"

Niklas Klauss  - Poster Presentation, Murray State University.    "Contribution of Taxodium distichum 'knees' to greenhouse gas emissions in a bottomland hardwood wetland"
 
Skylar Ross - Poster Presentation, Murray State University.    "Does Taxodium distichum 'knee' density affect CO2 and CH4 emissions in bottomland hardwood forests?"

Geography
Jordan Sharp  - Poster Presentation, University of Louisville.  "Dendrochronological Investigation of Historic Structures in Estill County, Kentucky, USA"

Geology
C. Jolene Fairchild -   Oral Presentation, Morehead State University.     "Preliminary fungal palynology of the RA-3 Ash Zone from Paleolake Clarkia, Latah Fm., Idaho.

Andruw Stewart  -   Oral Presentation, Eastern Kentucky University.  "Nutrient and Fecal Microbe Contamination in the Otter Creek Watershed, Madison County, Kentucky"

Estefania Correa - Poster Presentation,  Northern Kentucky University.     "Teaching about landscapes using 3-D printing and numerical models: an example from the Mariana Trench"

Taylor Horsfall, Alyssa Patel, and Laikin Tarlton - Poster Presentation, Morehead State University. "Preliminary High-latitude fungal palynology of coals and interseam rocks leading to the Miocene Climate Optium warming event, Victoria, Australia"

June Lennex-Stone - Poster Presentation, Morehead State University.  "Improving palynology processing in support of the FiaWW project"

Maeve Tipton -  Poster Presentation,  Morehead State University.   "Preliminary examination of Palynology across the K-Pg Boundary in the Jackson Purchase Region of Kentucky"

Ollie VanderEspt,  Christopher Marsh, Liberty Smallwood, and Jeremyah Cabrera -  Poster Presentation, Morehead State University.  "Preliminary tropical fungal palynology of early-middle Miocene sediments from Northwestern Peru"

Alicia Rivera - Poster Presentation, Berea College.   " Efficacy of a Carbonate Drain for Neutralization of Acid Rock Drainage and Removal of Metals in Water"

Health Sciences
Jayla Johnson and  Courtney Evans  -  Oral Presentation,  Centre College.   "Does education about implicit bias change minds? An experimental study" 

Amro Abd  - Poster Presentation, University of Kentucky (KY-INBRE program).   
"Investigating the role of estrogen receptor signaling in regulating re-entrainment of activity rhythms in female mice"

Nicholas Johnson -  Poster Presentation,  Kentucky Wesleyan College.  "Development of 3D-Bioprinted L. rh Containing Silicone Catheters to Treat Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections"

Michael McLeod - Poster Presentation,  Kentucky State University.  "Specific Drugs Illicit Distinct Pathways in Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) Syndrome"

Mathematics
Malik Thompson -  Oral Presentation, Kentucky State University.  "Foundations & Applications of Singular Value Decomposition"

Carlyn Childress - Poster Presentation, Murray State University .   "Time Series Analyses of Longitudinally Collected Standard Perimetry Data in Glaucoma"

Microbiology

*Sierra Durkee -  Oral Presentation,   Gatton Academy at Western Kentucky University.  "Identification of toxic bacteriophage gene products"

Mollee Flannigan -  Poster Presentation, Morehead State University.  "RT-qPCR experiments show regulation by UmuDAb and DdrR of genes repressed after DNA damage in Acinetobacter baumannii "

Lindsey Warinner - Oral Presentation,  Northern Kentucky University.  "Exploration Of The Effects Of SAM1 And SAM2 Knockout Mutations In Saccharomyces cerevisiae" On Growth In The Presence Of Hygromycin B."

Physics/ Astronomy
*Hannah Laney - Poster Presentation,  Western Kentucky University.   "Synthesis of 4d- and 5d-Based Transition Metal Oxides"

Nathan Mayer  - Oral Presentation,  Bellarmine University.    "Exploring Cathodoluminescence Evident Features of WS2, MoS2, and W-S-Se"  

Breno Pontes and Brannon Jones - Oral Presentation, Morehead State University.    "CXBN-3: Toward An Improved Understanding of Diffuse Emission Produced by High-Redshift Active Galactic Nuclei"

Leah Hartman - Poster Presentation,  Western Kentucky University.  "Development of an Experimental Setup to Study Rolling Oscillations along a Curved Ramp"
 
Matthew Hooks  and  Nathan Roberts - Poster Presentation, Murray State University.    "One-Dimensional and Two-Dimensional Simulations of Helical Homopolymers: A Comparative Analysis of Energy Stabilization"

Chloe Jones  -  Poster Presentation,  Western Kentucky University.  "Synthesis Of Novel Double Perovskites With 4d/5d- and 3d-elements"

Physiology/ Biochemistry

Gabriel Heckerman - Poster Presentation,  Western Kentucky University.   "The Protective Role of Melanin in the Inner Ear of Two Fish Species, Poecilia latipinna and Cyprinus carpio"

Bethany Ison  -  Poster Presentation,  University of Kentucky.  "The effect of Doxapram, a K2p channel blocker, on proprioceptive neurons: Invertebrate model"

Charles Korzenborn -  Poster Presentation, Northern Kentucky University. "Identification of key residues in the function of Trm734 via random and site-directed mutagenesis"

Dongsoo Lee - Poster Presentation, Berea College.  "Kir4.1/5.1 Modulation of NCC Phosphorylation"

Finn Mahoney - Poster Presentation, Berea College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.    "A fundamental role of chloride in collagen IV stability enabling animal evolution"

Alexandra Mullins and Natalie Creech - Poster Presentation,  Northern Kentucky University.  "Strategies for identifying important residues in the tRNA modification protein Trm732"

Liat Ungar - Poster Presentation,  Northern Kentucky University.  "One-pot reaction of PycA and PckA for the production of deuterated phosphoenolpyruvate"

Psychology
Timo Klausnitzer and Emily Bryant -   Poster Presentation,  Morehead State University.  "Opiate-dopamine interaction during acute withdrawal from amphetamine in rats"

Greta Kreuzer -  Poster Presentation,  Western Kentucky University. " The Utility of the PTSD Checklist as a Screener of Trauma Symptomology"

Science Education
Noah Cooley -  Oral Presentation, Morehead State University .  "Implementing Wolfram Mathematica into Kentucky High School Curriculum"

Abigail Fagan  -  Oral Presentation,  Morehead State University.   "Assessing the Effectiveness of a Physics-Based Light Pollution Curriculum"

Kelsey Heard  -  Poster Presentation, Morehead State University.   "Measuring the Effect of Professional Development for Best Practices in Crafting Exam Questions"

Zoology / Botany
Jenna Burns - Oral Presentation,  Kentucky Wesleyan College.   "Wolf Spider Decision-Making Based on Distance from a Food Source"

Malloy Collins - Oral Presentation,  Berea College.   "Survey of Parasites Found in the Fat Mucket, Lampsilis siliquoidea, at North Elkhorn Creek, Scott County, KY"

Isabel Dalton -  Oral Presentation,  Berea College.  "Crayfish as Predators (Non-Hosts) of the Digenetic Trematode Cercaria, Proterometra macrostoma, North Elkhorn Creek, KY"

Sashalia Ramirez - Oral Presentation,  Kentucky Wesleyan College.   "Comparison of Avian Guilds Between Suburban and Exurban Sites in Florida and Kentucky, USA."

Tia Ariagno  - Poster Presentation, Murray State University.   "North American Bluets (Rubiaceae: Spermacoceae) Phylogenomics: Estimating Phylogeny and Assessing Genomic Congruence"

Christopher Hall  and  Michael Lindsay -  Poster Presentation, Murray State University.   "Male-male aggression resetting in the cricket Gryllus rubens"
    
Josiah Kilburn  - Poster Presentation,  Morehead State University.  "Investigating the Underappreciated Biodiversity of Solenopsis Thief Ants"

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