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Kevin Bicker, Ph.D.
Chemistry
URECA Projects: Synthesis and evaluation of antifungal peptoid derivatives against Cryptococcus neoformans
(Summer 2021); Synthesis and Characterization of the Therapeutic Potential of β-5
(Summer 2021); Synthesis and evaluation of antifungal peptoid derivatives against
Cryptococcus neoformans (Fall 2020); Synthesis of Peptoid Coated Quantum Dots for
Biomedical Applications (Summer 2020); Synthesis and MIC Testing of Antifungal Peptoids
against Cryptococcus (Summer 2017); Characterizing the Therapeutic Potential of the
Antifungal Peptoid AEC5 (Summer 2017); Synthesis and Screening of an Antimicrobial
Oligomer Peptoid Combinatorial Library Against the Fungi Aspergillus, Candida, and
Cryptococcus (Summer 2016); Synthesis and Screening of Antimicrobial Peptoid Combinatorial
Libraries Against the Fungi Aspergillus, Candida, and Cryptococcus (Fall 2015)
Research Interests: Bioorganic chemistry, peptoids and peptides, solid-phase synthesis, assay development,
drug development
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Jessica Gentry Carter, Ph.D.
Agriculture
URECA Projects: Exploring the prevalence of Bovine leukosis in the MTSU beef and dairy herds (Summer
2022);The Effects of a Powdered Post Dip Compared to a Liquid Post Dip on Teat End
Conditions in correlation to Somatic Cell Count During the Winter (Spring 2022); Environmental
temperature effects on milk production and daily activity of dairy cattle with respect
to different breeds (Summer 2021); Environmental temperature effects on milk production
and daily activity of dairy cattle with respect to different breeds (Spring 2021);
Genetic improvement of Angus cows through genomic testing and EPDs (Spring 2020);
A bi-seasonal evaluation of the relationship between bedding bacterial levels and
somatic cell counts of milk on cows housed in a compost bedded pack barn (Spring 2020);
Evaluation of breed, milk production, and udder characteristics on somatic cell count
and udder pathogens in lactating Holstein and Jersey cows. (Spring 2019); Effectiveness
of Zinc Based Footbath Solutions over Industry Standard Copper Bath (Fall 2017)
Research Interests: Beef cattle management, genetics and reproduction, dairy cow health and production,
meat science factors that affect quality and tenderness
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Emily Farris, Ph.D.
Center for Dyslexia
URECA Projects: Child-level reading variables and gist-based memory: An interactive model (Fall 2021);
Childhood Reading Experiences and Adult Reading Performance (Spring 2021); The Examination
of Neural Connectivity with Resting-State EEG (Summer 2019)
Research Interests: Enhancing understanding of reading difficulties with the ultimate goal of improving
ability to identify individuals with reading difficulties and develop treatment programs
tailored to the individual’s needs.
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Scott Handy, Ph.D.
Chemistry
URECA Projects: Detection of Mercury Ions Using an Aurone-based Small Molecular Fluorescent Probe
(Spring 2022); Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry in Deep Eutectic Solvents (Summer
2021); Investigation of Pi-extended Aurones (Spring 2021); Further Exploration of
Aurone System in Mercury Sensing (Fall 2020); Fluorescent Labels Based on the Aurone
Scaffold: A Group Project (Team Project, Summer 2020); Dyeing with Deep Eutectic Solvents
(Summer 2020); Exploration of Aurone System in Mercury Sensing (Summer 2020); Synthesis
of Amino Aurones: An Exploration into Nitrogenous Functional Groups and Organometallic
Catalysts (Fall 2019); Exploration of Aza-aurone, Thioaurone and Triazole Systems
for Florescence in Bio-imaging (Fall 2019); Aside Aurones and Click Chemistry (Spring
2019); *N-Substituted Azaaurones: Synthesis, Photochemistry, and Biological Applications
(Spring 2019); Dyeing to Know: A Natural Approach to Dyeing (Fall 2018)
Research Interests: Organic Synthesis. Within this broad area, Dr. Handy has two areas under active investigation:
deep eutectic solvents and the exploration of aurones as biologically active natural
products and fluorophores.
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Samuel Haruna, Ph.D.
Agriculture
URECA Projects: Influence of Land Management Practices and Population Density on Soil Hydraulic and
Thermal Properties (Fall 2021); Defining Landscape Effects on the Spatial Variability
of Hydraulic and Thermal Properties (Summer 2020); Effects of Aerated Irrigation Through
Subsurface Drip Irrigation on Soil Thermal and Physical Properties (Team Project,
Spring 2020); Effects of Landscape Position on Soil Hydraulic and Thermal Properties
(Spring 2020)
Research Interests: Soil and Water Conservation; Soil Management Practices; Cover Crops; Soil Thermal
Properties; Vadoze Zone Hydrology.
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Ryan Seth Jones, Ph.D.
Educational Leadership
URECA Projects: The Impact of 3D Biology Lessons Within the Classroom (Spring 2019); Developing Procedures
for Capturing Video and Audio of Small Group Interactions in Large Classroom Data
Collection (Spring 2019); The effects of 3D biology lessons on student learning (Fall
2018)
Research Interests: Methods of supporting students to use mathematics and science to construct and revise
knowledge, measuring the extent to which whole class discussions in middle grades
classrooms support students, creating innovative technologies for teachers and students
in middle grades math classes, developing new tools for assessing nuanced ways of
thinking in middle grades students, and developing frameworks and curricular approaches
for interdisciplinary STEM learning environments organized around data modeling practices.
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Rebekka King, Ph.D.
Philosophy and Religious Studies
URECA Projects: (dis)Connected: A Series of Interviews on Society and Spirituality in the Modern World
(Fall 2021); Non-Christian and Immigrant Christian Communities and the Programs Available
to their Youth in Middle Tennessee (Spring 2019)
Research Interests: Global Christianity, North American religions, anthropology of religion, secularism,
Bible and its reception, method and theory in the study of religion, ethnographic
field methods, religion and the public sphere, teaching for civic engagement
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David E. Nelson, Ph.D.
Biology
URECA Projects: Regulation of BCL2A1 and CCL2 expression by CITED1 in C. neoformans-infected macrophages
(Spring 2022); Determining the effect of Cryptococcus neoformans infection on the
phosphorylation and subcellular localization of CITED1 in macrophages (Fall 2021);
Investigating the role of phospho-polyubiquitin in the recruitment of Parkin at the
mitochondria (Fall 2020); Examining the Role of Parkin as a Regulator of Gene Expression
During Periods of Induced Mitochondrial Depolarization Using BAM15 (Spring 2020);
Fluorescent Taggine of Genomic Parkin in Human Osteosarcoma Cells Using CRI (Spring
2019); Examining the Effects of Inflammation on Parkin-Dependent Mitochondrial Quality
Control in Parkinson’s Disease Using Cell Line Models of Neurons and Microglia (Spring
2019); Investigating the effects of glucoseconcentration on macrophage polarization
using a tissue culture model of type II diabetes mellitus (Summer 2018); The Effect
of Intracellular C. Neoformans on Expression of lrf4 (Fall 2017); Compare the effects
of lipopolysaccharide and inerferon gamma on the expression (Fall 2017); Measurement
of M2-Associated Protein Markers in Macrophages Infected with the Facultative Intracellular
Pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans (Summer 2017); Effect of Cryptococcus neoformans
on Macrophage Activation State (Fall 2016); Investigation of "memory"-like properties
within the PINK1: Parkin Mitophagy Pathway (Fall 2016); Determining the Effects of
Different Capsular GXM Species, Shed by the Pathogenic Yeast Cryptococcus neoformans,
on Macrophage NF-κB Signaling and Proinflammatory Gene Expression (Summer 2016); Effect
of Cryptococcus neoformans Capsular Polysaccharide on Production of TNFα and iNOS
in Macrophages (Fall 2015)
Research Interests: Cell biology, cell signaling, mitochondria, mitophagy, host:pathogen interactions
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Joshua Phillips, Ph.D.
Computer Science
URECA Projects: Validating the 1GB1 folding pathway using Greedy-Proximal A (Summer 2022);High Performing
Scientific Computing as a Service in the Cloud (Fall 2020); Dynamic Threshold for
the Partially-Observable and Non-Observable Working Memory Toolkit (Fall 2019); N-Task
Learning on Partially-Observable Image (Fall 2019); Automatic Feature Association
and Dynamic Threshold for the Combined Observable and Non-observable Task Switching
Model (Summer 2019); Enabling Multi-Task Learning in Partially- and Non-observable
Environments with Keras (Summer 2019); Combining Models for Observable and Non-Observable
Task Switching to Achieve Working Memory for Autonomous Systems (Spring 2019); Unitization
and Catastrophic Interference in Reinforcement Learning (Spring 2019); Dimensional
Attention Learning for Working Memory (Spring 2019); Unitization Applied to deep reinforcement
learning (Fall 2018); Application of N-Task learning on Traditional Computer Vision
Problems (Spring 2018); Dimensional Attention Learning for Working Memory (Fall 2017);
Holographic Reduced Representation for Working Memory Concept, Automating Action Learning
(Fall 2016); Calibration of the Holographic Working Memory Toolkit Using the Delayed
Saccade Task (Fall 2016); Holographic Reduced Representations for Working Memory Concept
Encoding (Spring 2016); Spectrum Analysis of HIV Clades (Fall 2015)
Research Interests: Molecular modeling and simulation, computational models of working memory, machine
learning and neural networks
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Bill Robertson, Ph.D.
Physics & Astronomy
URECA Projects: Electrical Analog of a Ring Resonator Structures and an Acoustic Demultiplexe (Fall
2021); Creating Acoustic Diode in Waveguides: Simulation and Experiment (Summer 2021);
Acoustic Demultiplexing in Waveguide (Fall 2020); Constructing a novel experimental
apparatus for use with acoustics research (Fall 2018); Modeling, Simulating, and Testing
an Acoustic Lens (Summer 2018); Testing applications of the Photonic Crystal Based
Biosensor (Fall 2017); Improvement of the Photonic Crystal Biosensor Design (Summer
2017)
Research Interests: Optics, acoustics, terahertz spectroscopy, computational science, and signal processing
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Tiffany Rogers, Ph.D.
Psychology
URECA Projects: Changes in Social Motivation Following Oxytocin Receptor Inhibition (Fall 2021); The
Effects of Intra-Cerebral Infusions of Oxytocin Agonist and Antagonist on Conditioned
Place Preference (Summer 2021); Validation and Testing of a Social Motivation Task
for Mice (Spring 2021); Evaluating Chronic Oxytocin Effects on Social Behaviors (Spring
2019)
Research Interests: Social and Affective Neuroscience
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Elizabeth A. Smith, Ph.D.
Human Sciences
URECA Projects: Factors Affecting Older Adults' Fruit and Vegetable Consumption (Spring 2020); Food
Security, Coping and Support Strategies, and Diet Quality in College Students from
a Moderate Sized University (Fall 2018); Mini Health and Nutrition Screen (Fall 2018)
Research Interests: Changing nutrition related health behaviors such as increasing fruit and vegetable
intake, food insecurity, and preventing chronic disease through nutrition related
health and wellness
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Ben Stickle, Ph.D.
Criminal Justice Administration
URECA Projects: Why They Died: An expanded analytical examination of details surrounding the 999 officer-involved
shooting deaths in 2019 in the United States (Spring 2021); Why They Died: An expanded
analytical examination of details surrounding officer-involved shooting deaths in
the United States (Fall 2020); Pirates With No Sea: The Rising Rate of Porch Package
Theft (Spring 2018); The True Costs of Private Security. (Fall 2017)
Research Interests: Crime prevention, environmental criminology and metal theft, private security, police
operations, administration and use of force |
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Hanna Terletska, Ph.D.
Physics and Astronomy
URECA Projects: Harnessing Disorder Effects in Superconductors (Fall 2021); Designing STEM Outreach
Activities Manual for K-12 Students (Fall 2021); The Role of Electron-Electron Interactions
on Metal-Insulator Transitions (Spring 2019)
Research Interests: Condensed matter theory; Computational many-body physics; Strongly correlated electrons;
Quantum criticality; Disordered systems and localization; Metal-Insulator transitions;
Superconductivity.
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Donald Walker, Ph.D.
Biology
URECA Projects: Mechanistic interactions between a host, microbiome, and fungal pathogen (Spring
2022); The endosymbiotic bacterial community of the causative agent of White Nose
Syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) of bats (Summer 2021); The endosymbiotic community
of the causative agent of White Nose Syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) of bats
(Summer 2019); Endosymbiotic bacteria impact the function of an important wildlife
pathogen of bats (Summer 2019)
Research Interests: Molecular evolution and molecular ecology of microorganisms with an emphasis on fungi.
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William Yelverton, Ph.D.
Music
URECA Projects: Classical Guitar Transcriptions of Popular Songs & Soundtracks (Fall 2020); Classical
Guitar Audio/Video Recording of Roland Dyens "Trios Saudades" (Fall 2020); Classical
Guitar Transcriptions and Recordings of Minecraft Volume Alpha (Fall 2021)
Research Interests: Guitar
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