About the Fellows
Meet Weber State University's Undergraduate Research Fellows! In the fall of 2019, we will be welcoming our third cohort of students. Each student is paired with a faculty mentor from their area of interest to get hands-on experience and high-impact learning opportunities. In addition to monthly seminars and engagement as research assistants, the scholars also participate in group activities such as parties, community service activities, and community-based research.
Second Year Research Fellows
Xitlalli Villanueva
Microbiology
Xitlalli Villanueva
Microbiology
Xitlalli joined the Research Scholars as an incoming sophomore during the 2019-2020 academic year. She became interested in the Scholars program when she dove into doing research with Dr.Nicole Berthelemy. Their Research focuses on understanding the effects of methylmercury on artemia of the great salt lake. This is important because of the major role of artemia in the great salt lake ecosystem. Their research involves using field research at the Great Salt Lake and using a laboratory environment and equipment to study the effects of methylmercury on artemia. This research is just one step on the way to understanding how humans are affecting a unique wetland ecosystem. For her junior year, she hopes to combine social, physical, and natural sciences to understand how scientific research is communicated and perceived in the eyes of the public. During the fall semester of 2019, Xitlalli received a grant to continue her research. She presented her research entitled, “The Effect of Mercury Chloride and Methyl Mercury on Artemia franciscana,” at the 2020 Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research). She plans to present this study at the 2020 National Conference on Undergraduate Research at Montana State University.
Rei Olsen
Philosophy and Ethics
Rei Olsen
Philosophy and Ethics
Rei joined the Research Scholars’ program as a freshman during the 2019-2020 academic year. Rei is interested in Queer Theory. Ironically, Rei was told she wasn’t allowed to talk about queer theory when she joined high school debate, yet she wouldn’t listen to this normative claim like queer theory taught her too. She currently uses queer and trans theory in her college debate career. Rei has recently started researching why queer books get challenged and censored under the guidance of Dr. Richard Price from Political Science. Further, Rei is researching queer (auto)biographies to understand how books effect queer people’s perception of themselves and life around them and to understand the full effect of queer censorship on queer people’s lives. Rei hopes to research the intersection between transgender theory and pessimistic politics. She wants to understand how trans theories' ability to deconstruct gender norms affects the idea that the future has no way to get better, and that we all live in the order of the same.
Niharika Mishra
Microbiology
Niharika Mishra
Microbiology
Coming all the way from India, Niharika joined the research scholar program as a freshman during the 2019-2020 academic year. Her desire to study microbiology was driven by her interest in understanding why certain microbes can cause health problems in some people, whereas for others are important for survival. During the spring semester of 2019, Niharika found herself at Weber State University to do research with Dr. Craig Oberg. Under the guidance of Dr. Oberg, for her research entitled, ”Fermentation of Plant-based Extracts by Dairy Lactic Acid Bacteria," she explores using plant-based fermented foods to replace milk-based fermented foods, such as yogurt and cheese, which have become a growing cultural necessity. These products are currently being produced using dairy fermentation cultures and processing equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to determine if dairy-derived lactic acid bacteria (LAB) cultures can effectively ferment plant-based milk substitutes. We received results that promise probiotic survival in plant extracts. We presented the results of this research at the 2020 Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research at Utah State University and will present it at the Weber State University 2020 Spring Symposium and at the conference for the American Society of Microbiology. Niharika has started an independent research project under the guidance of Dr. Oberg, where she will be analyzing the shelf-life stability of eight commercially used probiotic strains in refrigerated plant extracts at different pH levels. Her goal is to find ideal pH and most suitable plant extract for each strain.
Braxton Tonks
Psychology and Neuroscience
Braxton Tonks
Psychology and Neuroscience
Braxton joined the Research Scholars as a freshman during the 2019-2020 academic year. During the summer of 2019, before his freshman year, he began work with Dr. Todd Hillhouse in the neuroscience lab at Weber State University. Growing up, Braxton was extremely interested in studying and doing science with the goal of becoming a medical doctor someday. After taking a trip to the cadaver lab, Braxton was in awe after holding a human brain, and instantly knew he wanted to go in the direction of neuroscience. Luckily, he was able to secure a spot in the neuroscience lab conducting experiments. Some of these experiments include but are not limited to: Chronic Nicotine exposure, Pain LMA (Locomotor Activity), Pain depressed feeding, Long term vaping (addiction and effects), and other experiments in the realm of behavioral neuroscience. His primary research is conducted on pain LMA and the effects of long-term nicotine exposure. To study pain LMA, he and others in the lab started with habituation. The subjects were given a dose of MK-801, an NMDA receptor antagonist, and then an injection of acetic acid. This experiment was conducted to show how pain would depress the subject’s natural instinctive movements. The drug MK-801 was used to counter the effects of acetic acid. This experiment as a whole gave the researchers data to conclude how MK-801 works in the body primarily on pain and behavior. Braxton and other lab research assistants will present research on “Pain LMA” at the Weber State University 2020 Spring Symposium 2020; he and his lab partners were invited to present the results from the pain LMA study (as well as other experiments) at the 2020 Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research, but were not able to make it due to complications in data presentation mediums. Moving forward, Braxton plans to continue his research in the neuroscience lab, and eventually pilot his own projects going into medical school.
Breanne Jones
Zoology
Breanne Jones
Zoology
Breanne joined the Research Fellows program as a freshman during the 2019-2020 academic year. She hopes to do research in shark behavior and eventually pursue a graduate degree studying sharks and shark behavior. Her passion for sharks started back in third grade, and ever since, it has been her goal to be a shark researcher. She spends her summers traveling to areas that allow her to scuba dive and tag sharks. In the summer of 2019, she interned for Coastal Marine Education and Research Academy, assisting with their population study of the sharks around Clearwater, Florida. She plans to intern with them again this summer. Currently, she is working with Dr. Brasso in Zoology. Together they are delving into the literature and doing research to uncover an independent research project related to social learning in fish and the possible effects of toxins in information transfer. She hopes to later study social information transfer in juvenile sharks.
Third Year Research Fellows
Hannah Olsen
Web Design
Hannah Olsen
Web Design
Hannah joined the Research Scholars’ program as a freshman during the 2018-2019 academic year. Hannah is Pre-Law pursuing a career as a corporate attorney. She has a deep love for the law and for business, and has therefore focused her efforts on her two majors: Criminal Justice and Business (Finance). So far, she has aided in researching, writing and revising a textbook with one of the authors, Dr. Mark Denniston, from the Criminal Justice Department. She found cases that she thought were noteworthy enough for the book, did research on them, wrote them in the language of the book, and now is finishing up edits of the book as a whole. Now, she has also taken on another project to dive into the business world via research on sustainability practices in corporations. She is working closely with Shane Schvaneveldt to determine the most updated terminology, certifications, and certification processes to allow business to claim being "green." Hannah plans to graduate in Spring of 2022 and is extremely grateful to be a research fellow.
Bailey O'Leary
English
Bailey O'Leary
English
Bailey O'Leary is currently a sophomore planning to major in English Literature. During her freshman year, she worked with Dr. Michael Wutz, helping to edit The Contemporary West, a peer-reviewed journal of regional and international photos and texts. She was also able to work closely with Michael and other students in his (not so) arbitrary triumvirate English course studying three eminent, contemporary American fiction authors. Bailey put her schooling on hold while she traveled to João Pessoa, Brazil to serve a religious mission. Due to COVID-19, she has since returned and will begin school again in the fall.
Rose Harris
Foreign Language
Rose Harris
Foreign Language
Rose Harris is a Computer Science and German double major. She has completed an exchange with Bayreuth University in Germany and is using her tech skills to build an app to help future students who do the same exchange. During her time in Germany she conducted research regarding what were the best methods to help a student learn a foreign language, and get the most out of their study abroad experience. The app will be piloted in fall of this year and she hopes to expand her research and create more versions of the app for other exchange programs at Weber State.
Loveena Winkelkotter
Elementary Education
Zadoth Vazquez
Medical Laboratory Sciences
Zadoth Vazquez
Medical Laboratory Sciences
Zadoth Vazquez is a medical laboratory science major who is working closely with Dr. Matthew Nicolaou. She started her freshman year developing basic lab skills and starting her sophomore year wrote and submitted a research grant proposal. She is now developing a research method to analyze a semi-quantitative way of detecting lipid laden macrophages in mouse lung homogenates. The purpose of her research started when cases of pulmonary damage, disease and death were closely correlated with the vaping of electronic cigarettes.
Third Year Research Fellows
Catherine Dunbar
History
Catherine Dunbar
History
Catherine is a senior at Weber State and is studying history. She started the Scholars' program during the 2017-2018 academic year. She has been working under the advisement of Dr. Brandon Little and conducted research on humanitarian efforts during WWII. She presented her research at the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research. She has begun undertaking a new research project. Her research question is, "To what extent did awareness of the Holocaust alter anti-Semitism in America?" What a fantastic and interesting question. We wish Cathrine the best of luck and look forward to hearing what she discovers.
Abbey Dunford
Radiologic Technology
Abbey Dunford
Radiologic Technology
Abby became a scholar as an incoming freshman during the fall semester of 2017. Immediately, she began working with Professors Ward and Nolan by completing literature reviews and diving into laboratory work and doing medical imaging. She presented initial findings of their work during the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research held at Weber State University in the Spring of 2019. She is continuing to work with Professor Ward by doing statistics and data analysis of the measurements she has taken of athlete's mandible, and is currently doing work in her field.
Lia Jenson
Psychology/Interior Design
Lia Jenson
Psychology/Interior Design
Lia became a scholar as an incoming freshman during the fall semester of 2017. Like all scholars, she took WSU 1560, "Research, Creativity, and Exploration among the Disciplines." In this class she expressed interest in learning about the relationship between colors and emotions. She began working with Dr. Aaron Ashley in Psychology. Last semester, Spring 2019, she presented their research at the Utah Conference of Undergraduate Education that explored how background color for product placement affects a person's valuation of the product. She is combining here experience with this research with her major field of study, interior design. In one of her classes (and to be considered for an interior design competition), she is designing a hotel from an abandoned brewery in Kansas City and which embraces environmental sustainability. She plans on creating an experiment and survey to explore how various designs affect a person's emotions. She will draw on prior literature that has explored the "Language of Color" and how room colors can affect our emotions.
Melissa Hanni
Nursing
Melissa Hanni
Nursing
Melissa Hanni is a Nursing Major graduating in December 2020 with her Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) and projected graduation with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) with a minor in Health Administrative Services in August of 2021. She was selected to be a part of the Research Scholar Program in the 2017-2018 academic year. After successful completion of the first year of Weber State’s Nursing Program, she obtained her Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) license through the State of Utah. She currently practices as an LPN in the Weber and Davis county communities. Inspired by her work with patients, as well as an honors course titled Conflict Journalism, Melissa has joined with Dr. Jean Norman in the Communication Department to complete an interdisciplinary study of war correspondents and conflict journalists. The title of the IRB approved research project is Holistic Nursing Care of War Correspondents: the Spiritual Domain. This study seeks to understand the overall health and wellbeing of journalist who have written and witnessed the traumas of war and understand their resiliency while considering their spiritual health.