ISA students have attended and presented their research at local and national conferences including the summer program students presenting at the Summer Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC). Poster presentations at SURC were judged with the following students being recognized!
Overall Winners:
1st Place: Emily Formella, Biomedical Engineering (Mentor: Kristan Worthington)
2nd Place: Riley McCoy, Biomedical Sciences (Mentor: Catherine Marcinkiewcz)
3rd Place: Bhoomika Shettigar, Neuroscience (Mentors: Ece Demir-Lira and Tess Filip)
Best “First Time Presenter” Awards:
Everett White, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Mentor: Long-Sheng Song)
Christina Yu, Neuroscience (Mentor: Mark Blumberg)
Congratulations to all students!
SUMMER (2025) PROGRAM | |
IOWA SCIENCES ACADEMY STUDENT PRESENTATIONS | |
| Regional / National Conferences | |
| Abby Myroth | Attendee at the SLEEP 2025 Conference in Seattle, WA in June 2025. |
| Jasmyn Hoeger | Attendee at the 28th Annual American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Conference in New Orleans, LA in May 2025. |
| Summer Undergraduate Research Conference, University of Iowa, July 2025 | |
| Emily Formella | The role of mechanotransduction pathways in chorioretinal cell response to simulated microgravity |
| Alayna Gallery | pCREB Signaling Pathway in Spinal Dopamine 1 Receptor Neurons |
| Kylee Harford | The Logistics of Managing Biodiversity Research Collections |
| Luke Hawkins | Utilizing GAPIM to Examine Relational Dynamics in Gratitude-Based Group Therapy |
| Natalie Kehrli | More than Low Disinhibition: Multiple Trait Explanations for Scores on Rigid Perfectionism as Measured by the Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Short Form |
| Riley McCoy | Mapping DRN 5-HT stimulated brain-wide activation patterns with chemogenetic iDISCO |
| Andrea Medina | Sleep & Behavior: Examining the relations of sleep quality with empathy and social cognition in people living schizophrenia |
| Abby Myroth | Why does twitching during sleep persist in adult animals? |
| Bhoomika Shettigar | Refining Green Space Measurement: A Pipeline for Psychological Data |
| Kassandra Sigafus | Investigating the RNA Processing Body Assembly Pathway in C. elegans Germline Development |
| Sabrina Vlk | GORDON: A Compact Lidar Instrument for Aerosol Profiling |
| Everett White | Investigating Calpain Proteolysis of Mutant Junctophilin-1 |
| Christina Yu | Development of state-dependent visuomotor activity in infant rats |
ISA Alumni Receive Awards
ISA Alumni | Article |
| Felipe Herrmann awarded Fulbright Research/Study Grant to Spain for 2025-2026 | ISA Alumnus Felipe Herrmann Awarded Fulbright |
| Josie Mbaye awarded Fulbright English Assistant Teaching Award (ETA) to Taiwan for 2025-2026. Due to a decision to sign a teaching contract for the upcoming year, Mbaye opted not to accept the Fulbright award. | UI Alumna Josie Mbaye Awarded Fulbright |
ISA Mentors Receive Awards
Greta Sokoloff, research scientist in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, was selected as one of two recipients of the Mary Louise Kelley Staff Excellence Award. This annual award is given to those who have provided exceptional service, ideas that improve the work of the department or college, and contributions beyond their job description. Dr. Sokoloff is a mentor to ISA students, providing them with hands-on research experience in the Blumberg Sleep and Behavioral Development Lab.
Tori Forbes, ISA mentor and professor in the Department of Chemistry and director of the UI Materials, Analysis, Testing and Fabrication (MATFab) facility, was selected by the Iowa Board of Regents as one of six recipients of the 2025 Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. Professor Forbes has improved classroom learning environments to support student success and retention. Read more about the Regents Award winners here 2025 Iowa Regents Award Recipients.