Opportunities for focused research and faculty mentorship are available to Yellow Jackets throughout their undergraduate career. RMC is excited to share an overview of the research questions our students are exploring this summer as part of the Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), special grant-funded projects, and other research programs.

Projects began the first week of June and will run through the beginning of the fall 2022 semester.

• William Adair is working with Dr. John Thoburn on “Synthesis of 2,6-Dicyanoazulene: A New Guest for a Self-Assembled Metal Organic Supramolecular Cube.”
• Paula Alvarez is working with Dr. Elias Taylor-Cornejo on “Uncovering the role of RNA splicing as a potential mechanism in activating the unfolded protein response in amoeba.”
• Shannon Benton is working with Dr. Valentine Balguerie on ”I Saw a Beam of Light”: Elite French Women and Their Responses to and Creation of Courtly Culture in the Sixteenth Century.”
• Eliza Brooks is working with Dr. Charles Gowan on “Does personality affect movement behavior in brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)?”
• Alex Chapman is working with Dr. Massi Bardi on “Autoimmunity mechanisms activated by COVID-19 can increase neural degeneration in the elderly.”
• Tristen Craig is working with Dr. Sarah Cribbs on “Monument Avenue Analysis as White Space Through Various Sociological Theoretical Frameworks.”
• Hailey Donald is working with Dr. Kim Gerecke on “Does exercise rescue from the toxic effects of maternal deprivation? An analysis of expression of reactive microglia in the hippocampi of male and female C57/Black 6J mice.”
• Rebecca Faletti is working with Dr. Bartolo Natoli on “The Role of Grammatical Gender in Roman Perceptions of Biological Sex.”
• Michael Gessler is working with Dr. John Thoburn on “Solubilizing Porphyrin Metallocubes in Aqueous and Organic Media.”
• Caeli Halpin is working with Dr. John Thoburn on “A More Efficient Separation of Molecular Cargo Across an Aqueous Membrane.”
• Grace Holderman is working with Dr. Ben Ramage on “Quantifying stress in Ailanthus altissima in response to novel invasive tree management techniques.”
• Marissa Knight is working with Dr. Stephanie Coster on “Relationship between relatedness and distance in Plethodon cinereus.”
• Marissa Marczak is working with Dr. Melanie Gubbels Bupp on “Effect of malnutrition on T cell migratory behavior in the inguinal and axillary lymph nodes.”
• Aaron Marker is working with Dr. John McManus on “Can Machine Learning Master Social Media?”
• Shyla Merkel is working with Dr. Alyssa Mikytuck on “Identify the Perspectives of Mothers with a Justice-Involved Son on the Topic of Fairness.”
• Nathan Nambiar is working with Dr. Brian Turner on “Impacts of Structural Policy Reform on Income Inequality During Transitions from Centrally Planned to Market Based Economies: An Empirical Analysis.”
• Ethan Olmstead is working with Dr. Rance Necaise on “Evaluating the Security of Smart Home Internet of Things.”
• Jake Raugh is working with Dr. Zach Cullingsworth on “The Effect of Moment of Inertia on the Efficiency of Wind Turbines.”
• Sydney Reagle is working with Dr. Stephanie Coster on “Exploring the sensitivity of eDNA samples of the invasive rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus).”
• Natalie Robinson is working with Dr. Kim Gerecke on “Does exercise-derived resilience against the damaging effects of maternal deprivation differ between males and females? An examination of exercise induced increases in the resilience markers NPY and BDNF in the brains of female C57/Black 6J Mice.”
• William Ryder is working with Dr. Serge Schreiner on  “Insertion of CO2 into Metal-Hydrogen bonds of Group 10 Pincer Complexes.”
• Rithanya Saravanan is working with Dr. Melanie Gubbels Bupp on “Effect of malnutrition on CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell migration in mice.”
• Rebecca Sauls is working with Dr. Michael Rodruck on “Translating Three Basic Property Proportionalities Observed for High Mass Star Clusters to Low Mass Star Clusters.”
• Jordyn Sinsel is working with Dr. Lauren Bell on “Understanding Rare Events on the Supreme Court of Japan.”
• Lilly Tyler is working with Dr. Laura Vasel on “Building Resiliency Skills: Coping with Burnout in Student Nurses.”
• Anna Wachsmuth is working with Dr. Laurie Massery on “Are interactive online platforms and digital textbooks the future of foreign language studies?”
• Chloe Walker is working with Dr. Elias Taylor-Cornejo on “Uncovering the role of RNA degradation as a potential mechanism in activating the unfolded protein response in omeba.”
• Aja Washington is working with Dr. Melanie Gubbels Bupp on “How Does Malnutrition Change the Migration Behavior of T-cells?”

About the SURF Program

The Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) offers Randolph-Macon College students the unique opportunity to conduct nine weeks of full-time, original research during the summer months under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Students whose research proposals are accepted receive free housing and a modest stipend.

At the end of their SURF projects, each student submits a written report and presents their findings during an on-campus conference.

The SURF program was established in 1996 and significantly expanded through a generous gift made by Ben ’64 and Peggy Schapiro in 1998. The Schapiros continue to support this program, which promotes scholarly research by RMC students in all disciplines.