2026 Award Recipients
| Student's Name |
Major |
Project Title |
Mentor's Name |
Sponsor |
| Linda Albro |
Electrical Engineering |
Characterization of Underwater Optical Turbulence in Lake Superior |
Jeremy P. Bos |
J. Edgar McAllister Foundation |
| Brett Allie |
Biomedical Engineering |
Evaluating Stimulation of the Nucleus Accumbens Circuit as a Therapeutic Method for
Anxiety in Autism |
Dr. Chunxiu (Traci) Yu |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Paul Bramstedt |
Applied Ecology and Environmental Science |
Stamp Sands as an Enhanced Weathering Medium in Combination With Fungal and Bacterial
Inocula |
Evan Kane |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Charlie Brogan |
Human Biology |
Characterizing Behavioral Deficits of the Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mouse Model |
Chunxiu (Traci) Yu |
J. Edgar McAllister Foundation |
| Bean Frerichs |
Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences |
Investigation of deer herbivory in relic hemlock stands in the Porcupine Mountains
and near Alberta, Michigan, over two decades |
Christopher Webster |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Lionel Gaba |
Physics |
Spontaneous Stochasticity in Burgers Turbulence |
Kartik Iyer |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Brayden Gilland |
Computer Science |
Diffusion-Based Deep Learning Enhancement of Low-Dose Attenuation Correction CT for
Cardiac Amyloidosis Diagnosis |
Weihua Zhou |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Emma Goodman |
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Applied Ecology and Environmental Science |
Impact of critical period cutting frequency on coarse root carbon storage in glossy
buckthorn (Frangula alnus) |
Sigrid Resh |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Maria Hanauska |
Mechanical Engineering |
ATDC Anechoic Chamber Acoustic Treatment and Qualification |
Ted (Zeng Fe) Gan |
J. Edgar McAllister Foundation |
| Daniel Heaman |
Human Biology |
Central Amygdala NMDAR Contributions to Ethanol-Induced Sympathetic Activation in
Male and Female Rats |
Qing-Hui Chen |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Rylan Hemmila |
Chemistry |
Effect of Gas Composition and Cations in Mineral Film Formation at the Air/Electrolyte/Iron
Interface |
Dr. Kathryn Perrine |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Nora Keranen |
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Biosci) |
Evaluating the Efficacy of Peracetic Acid in Mitigating Antimicrobial E. coli Regrowth
in Reclaimed Water (under Israel Adeoye's USDA Reclaimed Water Disinfectants) |
Ishi Keenum |
J. Edgar McAllister Foundation |
| Lilly Lanhardt |
Mechanical Engineering |
Battery Thermal Runaway Project |
Vinicius Bonfochi Vinhaes |
Michigander Scholars & Pavlis Honors College |
| Grace Nelson |
Applied Physics |
The Contribution of Solar-Heating to the Formation of Pop-Up Clouds on Jupiter |
Shawn Brueshaber |
DeVlieg Foundation |
| Andrew Nielsen |
Chemical Engineering |
Generation of ctDNA Reference Materials for Early Ovarian Cancer Detection |
Maria Gencolgu |
J. Edgar McAllister Foundation |
| Jacob Roy-Borland |
Electrical Engineering |
Characterizing Early-Age Concrete Properties Using Non-Contact Rayleigh-Wave Ultrasonic
Testing with Laser Doppler Vibrometer and Microphones |
Quang Tran |
J. Edgar McAllister Foundation |
| Saige Sortman |
Chemical Engineering |
Micro(nano)plastic Interactions with Lactobacillus acidophilus and Caco-2 Cells |
Adrienne Minerick |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Madison Suttorp |
Physics and Mathematics |
Time-resolved third-harmonic generations of 2D perovskite quantum dots |
Dr. Jae Yong Suh |
Pavlis Honors College |
| George Telegar |
Computer Engineering |
Optimizing 3D Reconstruction of Arteries from Bi-planar Invasive Coronary Angiograms |
Dr. Zhou |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Tyson Watson |
Data Science |
Effects of Memory Gating on Inappropriate Knowledge Graph Retrieval in Conversational
LLMs |
Dr. Leo Ureel II |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Lauren Willerick |
Environmental Engineering |
Determining and Associating PFAS Fingerprints with 'Types of Sources' Using MPART
Data |
Noel Urban |
J. Edgar McAllister Foundation |
2025 Award Recipients
| Student's Name |
Major |
Project Title |
Mentor's Name |
Sponsor |
| Melia Austin |
Biological Sciences |
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Beat by Beat: The Role of Sodium Channel Nav1.8 |
Dr. Robert A. Larson |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Lynsey Baker |
Medicinal Chemistry |
Applying BODIPY-based Ratiometric Fluorescent Probes to Monitor Real-Time Mitochondrial
pH in HeLa Cells, Drosophila melanogaster, and Zebrafish Larvae |
Rudy L. Luck |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Juan Botha |
BS Physics |
Investigating the Thickness of Cherenkov Light-Cones through the Connection between
its Radiation Spectrum and Light Curve as Simulated in Python 3.12 |
Robert J. Nemiroff |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Bethany Brown |
Computer Science |
Refactoring and Enhancing Code Critique with Artificial Intelligence |
Leo Ureel |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Vera Denison |
Environmental Engineering |
Expanding our understanding of potential sources of environmental antibiotic resistance
in inland lakes. |
Ishi Keenum |
MacAllister |
| Naseem Dhaouadi |
Mathematics, Applied Physics |
An Investigation into Well-Balanced High-Order Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for
Euler Equations in Compressible Supersonic Flows |
Yang Yang |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Connor Fleser |
Computer Science |
Computational modeling and analysis to anticipate and illustrate consequences of statutory
rules |
Dr. Charles Wallace |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Gwendolyn Frolich |
Biomedical Engineering |
Determining Hydrogen Peroxide Production and Biocompatibility from PEG-based Hydrogel
with 6-Hydroxydopamine Based on Hydrogel Concentration and Curing Time |
DBruce P. Lee |
MacAllister |
| Julian Hong |
Mechanical Engineering |
Optimizing the Power Efficiency of the Tethered-Permanently Shadowed Region EXplorer |
Paul Van Susante |
MacAllister |
| Amber Howard |
Medical Laboratory Science |
Investigating Myocardial Immune Cell Infiltration in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy |
Dr. Robert A. Larson |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Lauren Jeffrey |
Applied Ecology and Environmental Science |
Forest Management Effects on Soil Moisture at Michigan Tech’s Ford Center |
Kathryn Hofmeister |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Andrew Konop |
Physics |
Precision Aerosol Analysis through Interferometry and Cavity-Enhanced Photoacoustic
Spectroscopy |
Dr. Claudio Mazzoleni |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Hugh Lubenow |
Biomedical Engineering |
Image Quality Enhancement of Ultrasound Training Data for AI Identification of Congenital
Heart Disease |
Jingfeng Jiang |
MacAllister |
| Sara Meikle |
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation |
Growth of Galeopsis tetrahit (hemp nettle) in Disturbed Forest Floor Areas |
Julia Burton |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Precious Mubanga |
Chemical Engineering |
Investigating The Efficiency of Hydrogel Sensors for Non-Invasive Glucose Monitoring |
Dr. Maria Gencoglu |
MacAllister |
| Paavo Nurmi |
Natural Resource Management |
Effects of Various Timber Harvesting Methods on the Ratio of Seed Origin to Stump
Sprout Origin in Trees of the Northern Hardwood Forest Type |
Chris Webster |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Brendan Philo |
Scientific and Technical Communication |
Understanding Upper Peninsula SNAP Usage |
Sarah Bell, Phd, and Timothy Keirnan |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Carter Rodzik |
Biomedical Engineering |
Effects of Humidity on Electrospun Polymer Nanofibers |
Dr. Smitha Rao |
MacAllister |
| Kaylie Simpson |
Applied Ecology and Environmental Science |
The Impact of Experimental Climate Treatments and Forest Composition on Local Microclimate
Trends at the Ford Center Research Forest |
Julia Burton |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Job Siy |
Electrical and Computer Engineering Double Major |
LLM Inference Improvement in Autonomous Driving |
Bo Chen |
MacAllister |
| Joanna Workman |
Mathematics - Applied/Computational |
Randomized Time Integration: A Statistical Approach to Quadrature |
Ben Ong |
Pavlis Honors College |
| Elise Zahrt |
Biomedical Engineering |
Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Vs. Oral Anticoagulation for Stroke Prevention in
Atrial Fibrillation After Catheter Ablation: A Patient Specific Flow Dynamic Assessment |
Hoda Hatoum |
MacAllister |
| Ian Zuber |
Physics |
Exploring the Effect of Electric Charge on Cloud Processes |
Dr. Raymond Shaw |
Pavlis Honors College |
Check out the complete archive of SURF Award Recipients.
