2024-2025 OFM/OUR Nominees
It is our pleasure to take a moment to recognize our outstanding students and faculty!
Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher (OUR) Nominees
These incredible undergraduate scholars were recognized for making outstanding contributions through their research and creative activities in the 2024-2025 academic year.
| OUR | Major | Research Project Title | Nominator |
| Abdulkader Almosa | Microbiology, B.S. | Relation of social determinants of health with survival among patients with eye cancer in West Texas | Duke Appiah |
| Rashmika Reddy-Mazzitello | Biology | Prevalence and Effects of Barriers in Accessing and Utilizing Breast Imaging Modalities in Disadvantaged Rural American Communities | John Alexander |
| Andressa Borsatto | Psychological Sciences | Preschool Children's Outdoor Play and Socioemotional Development | Dr. Malinda Colwell |
| Anika Seelam | Microbiology | Lipolysis and lipogenesis during cancer development | KuanHui E Chen |
| Ashley Wray | Psychology | Preschool Children's Outdoor Play and Socioemotional Development | Dr. Malinda Colwell |
| Prince Oredi | Biology | Microbial Competition under low-nutrient stress | Jacqueline Miralles-Salazar |
| Cassandra O'Pry | Cell and Molecular Biology and Psychology | Assessing the Biology Teacher-Scholars Program | Dr. Lisa Limeri |
| Eleanna Carris | Biochemistry | Examining the Prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus Small Colony Variants in Chronic Wounds: A Pilot Study | Dr. Allie C Smith |
| Eli Heath | Chemical Engineering | Role of Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Inducing Pulmonary Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction. | Sharilyn Almodovar, Ph.D., Associate Professor |
| Ella Flood | Psychological Sciences | How Social Media Impacts Self-Esteem and Perceptions of Cosmetic Procedures | Dr. Deidre Popovich |
| Jeff Bernard | Microbiology | Proposing a novel interaction between Pseudomonas spps and bacteria phages | Lisa Bono |
| Jessica Tan | Biology | Assessing the Biology Teacher-Scholars Project | Dr. Lisa Limeri |
| Lilly Pearce | Microbiology | Development of a novel assay for antigen presentation | Ethan Chen |
| Lisa (Muna) Oriaku | Biology | Experiences of neurodiverse life sciences students | Dr. Lisa Limeri |
| Levin Ozer | Chemistry | Stabilization of U(VI) via anion coordination within monohalogenated Schiff-Base naphthylsalophen ligands | Anne Elizabeth Vivian Gorden |
| Luke McFather | Biochemistry | Developing a measure of minoritized students’ cultural strengths | Dr. Lisa Limeri |
| Caleb Martinez | Electrical Engineering | Development of biosensor for diagnosis of food allergies | Dr. Akhilesh Kumar Shakya |
| Paul Nguyen | Biology | The Relationship Between Chronic Health Conditions, Social Connectedness, and Mental Health | Dr. Deidre Popovich |
| Nolan Sedillo | Cell and Molecular Biology | Development of students' beliefs about abilities | Dr. Lisa Limeri |
| Paola Guzman | Biological Sciences | Investigating the Effects of Ammoniated Dietary Protein on Reducing Gluconeogenesis by Upregulating ALT | Dr. Lauren S. Gollahon, Benjamin Barr |
| Posy Peyton | Chemical Engineering | Polymer-Lipid Nanoparticles Using Drug-Dye Interactions for Improved Cancer Theranostics | Indrajit Srivastava |
| Purcella Lora | Microbiology | Microbial March Madness: Exploring the impact of varying iron concentrations on bacterial growth | MS., Jacqueline Miralles-Salazar |
| Sy Bogutski | Microbiology | Dissecting roles of mirtrons in human cancers | Ethan Chen |
| Seymur Khalilov | Biology | Development of students' beliefs about abilities | Dr. Lisa Limeri |
| Trevor Jones | Nutrition | The role of prolactin in driving breast cancer progression | Ethan Chen |
| William Hummeldorf | Biology | Exploring the affordances and barriers experienced by neurodiverse life sciences undergraduates | Dr. Lisa Limeri |
| Xander Duke | chemistry | Recyclable and water-soluble Cu(II)-Schiff base complex: green catalyst for C-H activation reactions | Professor Anne Elizabeth Vivian Gorden |
Outstanding Faculty Mentor (OFM) Nominees
The Texas Tech University faculty members listed below are recognized for their superb contributions to the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities landscape at TTU. Click on the graphics below to expand and view in their own windows.
| Name | Department / College | Research Project Topic | Nominator |
| Dr. Shakya Akhilesh | Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering | Diagnostic and Therapeutic Biomedical Tools: Development of a Biosensor for Food Allergy Diagnosis | Caleb Martinez |
| Dr. Alexander Tice | College of Arts and Sciences | Phylogenomic analyses and meta “omic” search tools help clarify the evolution and ecology of a divergent lineage of free-living and fecal-associated protists | De Souza Aaron |
| Benjamin Barr | Biology | Investigating the Effects of Ammoniated Dietary Protein on Reducing Gluconeogenesis by Upregulating ALT | Paola Guzman |
| Dr. Chris Madrid | Physics and Astronomy | Search for Beyond Standard Model Particles at a Future Muon Collider | Odin Schneider |
| Dr. Duke Appiah | Public Health | Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Low-Income and Homeless Individuals | Abdulkader Almosa |
| Dr. Emily Pereira | (WCOE) Electrical Engineering | Quantifying Cognitive Effort via EEG Analysis | Micah Leary, Xiyah Dorsey, Samir Hossain |
| Dr. Ernest Smith | Environmental Toxicology | GLUT gene expression in developing zebrafish . | Derrick Andreasen, Nijah Purter-Jones, Stella Niederauer |
| Dr. Heesun Choi | Department of Psychological Sciences | Attentional Visual Field (AVF) / Study of visuospatial attention; specifically, the AVF under extended reality (XR) conditions such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). | Kendal Hampton-Hogue, Christian Hernandez |
| Dr. Hemachandra Reddy | Internal Medicine TTUHSC | Posttraumatic Stress, Substance Abuse, and Traumatic Brain Injury on the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease | Rashmika Reddy-Mazzitello |
| Dr. Indrajit Srivastava | Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering | Albumin-Chaperoned Semiconducting Polymer Nanoparticles with Improved NIR-II Signal Brightness Enables Pan-Ovarian Tumor Imaging | Posy Peyton, Isabella Vasquez |
| Dr. Joshua Tropp | Arts and Sciences | Colormetric PFAS Snesor using Polydiactelyene | Kaleb Jewell, Colin Cashman |
| Dr. Kai Wu | Electrical and Computer Engineering | The Role of Flexible Microelectronics in Next-Generation Brain-Computer Interfaces | Irkan Khan |
| Dr. Kembra Albracht | Kinesiology and Sports Management | A human clinical trail about how HIIT exercise, cycling, compares to LIT exercise with and without fish oil - omega 3 fatty acid - supplementation | Krista Landeros |
| Dr. Lauren Gollahon | Biology | Investigating the Effects of Ammoniated Dietary Protein on Reducing Gluconeogenesis by Upregulating ALT | Paola Guzman |
| Dr. Lisa Bono | Texas Tech University Department of Biology | Bacteriophage isolation and genomic analysis. | Carson Bellew, Dana Pham |
| Dr. Matthew Barnes | NRM | Detection of eDNA from aquatic organisms via airborne sampling | Amia Barrio |
| Dr. Patricia Maloney | Sociology | Contemporary sociological theory | Folake |
| Rebecca Larsen | Political Science / College of Arts and Sciences | How Old Is Too Old? Analyzing Age Limits for Elected Politicians. | Chloe Jett Mills |
| Dr. Ujala Sehar | Internal Medicine TTUHSC | Posttraumatic Stress, Substance Abuse, and Traumatic Brain Injury on the Development of Alzheimer’s Disease | Rashmika Reddy-Mazzitello |
Center for Transformative Undergraduate Experiences
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