Meet 2017 Scholars and Mentors

Meet 2017 Scholars

This text appears when someone is browsing using assistive technologies.

Celine Aslinia

Research Mentors: Shahana Ansari, Ben Oistad, and Katie Kroeper
The Murphy Laboratory
Major: Neuroscience
Minors: Mathematics, Music, and Persian
Research Topic: Social norms of prejudice: Inbestigating perceptions of stigmatized groups
Favorite Part of IFLE: My favorite aspect of IFLE was truly dichotomous: in regards to the actual academic aim of the program, I loved the opportunity to research in a specific field of STEM that I had never really been exposed to before (social psychology) and to have both the independence to pursue my own project but also the guidance I necessitated not only from my lab but also from the IFLE program itself. Socially speaking, spending a summer with like-minded peers in the heart of camps helped me navigate around campus better (even though I've lived in Bloomington since freshman year of high school) and also to excite me even more for the start of my college career.

Bhavi Sarda

Research Mentor: Dr. Tiffany Tsui
The Winkler Laboratory
Major: Microbiology and French
Research Topic: Interchange of alleles between the paralogous gpsB and divIVA genes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.
Favorite Part of IFLE: My favorite part about IFLE was being given an avenue to explore a field and contributing to producing new knowledge about this field. It was a humbling experience. I also really enjoyed the food!

Nicholas Buehler

Research Mentor: Dr. Tiffany Tsui
The Winkler Laboratory
Major: Biochemistry
Research Topic: Interchange of alleles between the paralogous gpsB and divIVA genes of Streptococcus pneumoniae
Favorite Part of IFLE: My favorite part about IFLE was getting to have early immersion in the lab which gave me a better sense of what I wanted to do in my academic career.

Sidra Ahmad

Research Mentor: Amelia Randich
The Brun Labratory
Major: Biology
Research Topic: Characterization of the order Caulobaterales
Favorite Part of IFLE: I have loved meeting new people and being able to enjoy the beautiful campus of IU Bloomington!

Sam Norrell

Research Mentor: Kasun Buddika
The Sokol Labratory
Major: Biology
Research Topic: Large-scale trailer hitch (tral) antigen preparation
Favorite Part of IFLE: Through IFLE, I most enjoyed the opportunity to conduct research at IU alongside friends with similar interests and motivation for life science research.

Connor Hargett

Research Mentors: Adam Zlotnick and Shefah Qazi
The Zlotnick Labratory
Major: Biochemistry
Research Topic: Bursting HBV capsids with osmotic pressure
Favorite Part of IFLE: My favorite part of IFLE was probably the immersion in the research, which allowed me to learn a lot about a specialized subject area in a short period of time.

Liz Dietrich

Research Mentor: Dr. Heather Bradshaw
The Bradshaw Laboratory
Major: Biochemistry
Research Topic: Boyden chamber migration assay with BV2 microglial cells
Favorite Part of IFLE: Being able to explore and enjoy Bloomington with the other students in the program before classes started.

Alex Gimeno

Research Mentor: Alexandra Moussa-Tooks
The Hetrick Laboratory
Major: Biochemistry
Research Topic: Endocannabinoids in the rat dorsal hippocampus: Stress, behavior, and lipids
Favorite Part of IFLE: My favorite part of IFLE was by far having the opportunity to get to know IU's campus and some of my fellow students before the school year began. That way, my first few weeks at school seemed much less daunting.

Meet 2017 Mentors

Carley Berg

Research Mentor: Malcolm Winkler
The Winkler Labratory
Research Topic: Suppressor mutations in AgpsB strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae

Kaeli Bryant

Research Mentor: Dr. Irene Cochran
The Newton Labratory
Major: Biochemistry
Research Topic: The effect of chromosomal mutation in Drosophila melanogaster on the expression and infection rate of Wolbachia
Favorite Part of IFLE: Getting to experience and become acclimated with IU before school began.

Rohit Das

Research Mentor: Dr. Susanne Ressl
The Ressl Labratory
Major: Biochemistry
Research Topic: Structure and function of membrane proteins by x-ray crystallography
Favorite Part of IFLE: Meeting everyone else in the program.

Caitlyn Mulcahey

Research Mentor: Dr. VanNieuwenhze
The VanNieuwenhze Group
Major: Biochemistry
Minors: English and History
Research Topic: Next generation of FDAAs: elucidation of bacterial cell division
Favorite Part of IFLE: I enjoyed becoming integrated into a community of other passionate freshman for research.

Office of Research

Meet 2017 Scholars and Mentors