Honors Students Present Research at National Conference
The Honors College sponsored five students to present their research at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, which was held inPittsburg, PA, from April 7-9, 2025. Since its inception in 1987, NCUR has become a major annual event drawing over 4,000 undergraduates, faculty, and administrators to hear and discuss undergraduate scholarly and creative work.
“The UofM has long valued undergraduate research, but offering more research opportunities for undergraduate students is now part of the university’s strategic plan,” said Melinda Jones, director of the Helen Hardin Honors College. “Sending our students to NCUR has been a long-standing tradition of the Honors College. This is the largest national research conference for undergraduate students, so the students have the opportunity to gain experience presenting their research while building their networks and enhancing their resumes.”
Students and Projects
David Adaway, a senior electrical and computer engineering major, whose presentation is entitled “Comparison of Two Three-Dimensional Imaging Approaches for Fluorescence Microscopy.” His faculty mentor is Dr. Crysanthe Preza.
Gerrell Dabbs, a senior mathemetical sciences major, whose presentation is entitled “Investigating the Impact of Noise on Hyperspectral Unmixing.” His faculty mentor is Dr. Crysanthe Preza.
Nima Aflaki, a senior biomedical engineering major, whose presentation is entitled “Mechanistic Investigation of Substrat Docking in a Traceless Tether Catalyst.” His faculty mentor is Dr. Timothy Brewster.
Madiha Syeda, a senior biomedical engineering major, whose presentation is entitled “Oxycotin Receptor Activation in the Nucleus Accumbens Differentially Mediates Phasic Dopamine Release.” Her faculty mentor is Dr. Deranda Lester.
Elaine Mooney, a senior psychology major, whose presentation is entitled “Investigating Mental Simulation and Mental Imagery Using Sentence-Picture Verification.” Her faculty mentor is Dr. Stephanie Huette.
Mira Umarova, a senior biology major, whose presentation is entitled “Co-option of Two N-alkanes as a Brood Pheromone Modulating Foraging Preferences in Temnothorax Ant Workers.” Her faculty mentor is Dr. Philip Kohlmeier.
Joseph Perry, a senior mechanical enigineering major, whose presentation is entitled "Chimaera: a tethered UAV enhancement to proximal sensing carts and UGVs.” His faculty mentor is Dr. Eddie Jacobs.
Jake Stewart, a senior mathematical sciences major, whose presentation is entitled "Barrier Effects on the Escape and Pursuit of an L1 Pursuer and L2 Target.” His faculty mentor is Dr. Thomas Hagen.