Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaborations

Shivani Bhut, '23 (Biology; Neuroscience)
Identification of Cellular Proteins Involved in Macropinocytosis
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tijana Ivanovic

MJ Ibrahim, '23 (HSSP)
PaperLess (A Resource Database for Undocumented Undergraduate Students)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kristen Lucken 

Anna Kang, '23 (Philosophy; Politics)
Kant and Our Attitudinal Obligations to Others and Ourselves
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kate Moran 

Feigele Lechtchiner, '23 (Economics; Urban Studies - IIM)
Not In My Shul Yard: NIMBYism in Modern Orthodox Jewish Communities and Implications for Community Growth
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Anjaria 

Chloe Nolin, '23 (Biology)
Building Undergraduate Research Programs in the Brandeis Human Performance Lab: Assessing Student-Athlete Training and Recovery
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Maria Miara 

Fijare Plous, '24 (Biology)
Mechanism of single-stranded DNA template in CRISPR/Cas9 retron based gene editing
Faculty Mentor: Dr. James Haber 

Roshni Ray, '24 (Neuroscience)
Biology in Powers of Ten: Quantitative Biology through Estimation Problems
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Melissa Kosinski-Collins 

Logan Shanks, '24 (AAAS; WGS; English)
Hoochiemamas, Babymamas, and Strippers: Exploring the interiority of contemporary Black female Archetypes
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Anya Wallace 

Sasha Soboleva, '23 (Linguistics)
Language Buddy Program
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elena Gonzalez Ros

Jason Walter, '23 (Politics)
The U.S., International Organizations, and the Use of Force
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kerry Chase 

Grace Wang, 23 (HSSP; Biology)
Building Undergraduate Research Programs in the Brandeis Human Performance Lab: Promoting health and well-being through physical activity among Brandeis students
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Maria Miara

Academic Year Award

Catie Lee Bellone, '24
Majors: Biology, HSSP
Basic Fiber Structures Impact on Blood Glucose in Type II Diabetes Mellitus
Faculty Mentor: KC Hayes

Eleftheria Topaloglou, '24
Major: Business, Applied Behavioral Sciences(IIM)
The environmental and social impact of Fast Fashion in developing Asian countries
Faculty Mentor: Prakash Kashwan

Senior Thesis Award

Olivia Combs
Majors: Sociology, Biology
The Invisible Scholar: Identity Formations of Students with Learning Disabilities in Higher Education
Faculty Mentor: Siri Suh

Charlotte Cooper
Majors: NEJS, Philosophy, and Economics (IIM)
Implicitly Educating: The Impact of Jewish Youth Movements on Understandings of Women's Positionality in the Hebrew Bible
Faculty Mentor: Ziva Hassenfeld

Annabelle Fitch
Major: Neuroscience
The Breathing Brain: Impacts of Nasal Respiration on Aversive Learning
Faculty Mentor: James Howard

Elianna Gerut
Majors: Studio Art, Carceral Studies (IIM)
"Dinnertime!!"
Faculty Mentor: Sheida Soleimani

Bailey Gold
Majors: Neuroscience, Psychology
Financial Capacity is associated with cognition and mental health in healthy older adults
Faculty Mentor: Anne Berry

Zoe Lazar
Major: Sociology
The Perceived Role of Nonprofits In Supplementing the Public Education System
Faculty Mentor: Karen Hansen

Lucca Raabe
Majors: Math, Sociology
“Rational” Racism: How Students Make Sense of Race in the Brandeis Math Department
Faculty Mentor: Sara Mayorga

Angela Sun
Majors: Art History, East Asian Studies
Chow-Kwa and the Lane Family Portraits
Faculty Mentor: Peter Kalb

Gavriella Troper-Hochstein
Major: Education Studies
Effects of Pedagogical Choices on Student Narratives of Learning
Faculty Mentor: Ziva Hassenfeld

Youyuan Zhang
Majors: Anthropology; Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
The impacts and necessities of constructing ambiguous sexual identities in modern Chinese queer communities
Faculty Mentor: Elanah Uretsky

Yael Perlman, '23
Major: Politics
Title: Senior Thesis- Israeli National Identity: A Study Through the Lens of Immigration
Faculty Mentor: Eva Bellin

Alex Bazarsky, '23
Majors: Anthropology; Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies
Title: Excavation and Ground Verification of Lacanjá Tzeltal Post-LiDAR Analysis
Faculty Mentor: Charles Golden

Jillian Brosofsky, '23
Major: Psychology
Title: A Holocaust Survivor's Surprise Family, and What It Tells Us About the Future of Kin
Faculty Mentor: Neil Swidey

Elinor Eggers, '23
Majors: Education Studies; African and African American Studies
Title: Justice or Just Us: What Racial Justice Means to Brandeisians
Faculty Mentor: Derron Wallace

Kyla-Yen Giffin, '23 
Major: Anthropology
Title: Lucid: A Vietnamese-American Family Dreaming in the Diaspora
Faculty Mentor: Howie Tam

Claire Hou, '23 
Majors: English; Sociology
Title: Asian- American Visual Media History and Chinese- American Female Creators on TikTok
Faculty Mentor: Dorothy Kim

MJ Ibrahim, '23 
Major: Health: Science, Society, and Policy
Title: How Does Being Undocumented Affect One's Experience in Higher Education
Faculty Mentor: Kristen Lucken 

Zoe Lacroix, '23
Majors: Health: Science, Society, and Policy; Sociocultural Anthropology
Title: Perspectives on Discrimination through Art
Faculty Mentor: Patricia Alvarez Astacio

Christopher Li, '23 
Majors: East Asian Studies; History; International and Global Studies
Title: Slurp! From Working Meal to National Symbol – An Analysis of Post WWII Ramen Through Japanese Literature and Movie
Faculty Mentor: Amy Singer

Eric Liu, '24 
Major: International and Global Studies
Title: The Return of Ideology: Wang Huning and China's New "Cultural Confidence"
Faculty Mentor: Professor Chandler Rosenberger

Frank Liu, '23 
Majors: Computer Science; Applied Mathematics
Title: Curriculum and Causal GCL Brings More Robustness to Out-of-Distribution Graphs
Faculty Mentor: Chuxu Zhang

Julia Plaisted, '23
Major: Anthropology; Environmental Studies
Title: Analysis of Pipe Artifacts from Croatoan Archeological Site
Faculty Mentor: Charlotte Goudge

Sasha Soboleva, '23
Major: Linguistics
Title: Language Ideology and Identity of Teenagers In Cusco: How Quechua and Spanish Languages Coexist In The Classroom Environment
Faculty Mentor: Patricia Alvarez Astacio

Grace Wang, '23 
Majors: Psychology; Neuroscience
Title: The Effect of TikTok on College Students' Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Faculty Mentor: Ellen Wright

The Jerome A. Schiff Undergraduate Fellows Program provides a $2,000 stipend for students to perform an innovative research or pedagogical project under the guidance of a Brandeis faculty mentor. Faculty mentors recieve $500 towards their research.

Lydia Begag, '22 (Politics, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)

From Silence to Visibility: UN Security Council Resolution 1820 & the Role of Transnational Advocacy

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kerry Chase

Annabelle Fitch, '23 (Psychology, Neuroscience)

The Breathing Brain: Impacts of Mindfulness on Cognitive and Emotional Abilities

Faculty Mentor: Dr. James Howard

Elizabeth Fricker, '22 (History of Science - Independent Interdisciplinary Major, Mathematic)

Relative Time: Analyzing Einstein's Theory of Relativity Through a Social Lens

Faculty Mentor: Professor Wangui Muigai

Abigael Good, '22 (Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Judaic Studies)

Jewish and Christian Claims to Superiority in Writing, Debate, and Online

Faculty Mentor: Bernadette Brooten

Strange Phase Separation Behavior at High Temperature

Faculty Mentor: Ben Rogers

Hannah O'Koon, '22 (English)

Essen und Erinnerungen: Kindertransport Kinder and Memories of Food

Faculty Mentor: Prof. ChaeRan Freeze

Zoe Pringle, '22 (HSSP, Sociology)

Case Study: How hEDS patients and their doctors view their diagnosis experience

Faculty Mentor: Professor Wendy Cadge

Teresa Shi, '23 (Economics, Undeclared)

Can capitalist principles be separated from capitalism economic structures?

Faculty Mentor: Michael Strand

Gabby Tercatin, '23 (Biology, Health: Science, Society, and Policy)

Detecting interactions between radA and radD proteins using a yeast two-hybrid system and a biochemical assay in order to study homologous recombination

Faculty Mentor: Susan Lovett, Vincent Suteta

Katie Ball, '22, Music; Politics, "The Cultural Dynamics of Dvorak's New World Symphony: Appropriation, Legacy, and National Identity"

Amber Bartlett, '22, Theater Arts; Psychology, "Theatrical Therapy Towards Healing"

Sienna Bucu, '22, Fine Arts, "Passing Through Spaces"

Vicente Cayuela Aliaga, '22, Fine Arts, "Juvenilia"

Elizabeth Hilliard, '22, Theater Arts; Music, Senior Thesis

Matthew Kaufman, '22, Fine Arts; Psychology, "Ways of Seeing - The Art of Psychological Disorders"

Tenor Matys, '22, Storytelling and Creative Media Studies

Anya Shire-Plumb, '22, Fine Arts; Psychology, Senior Studio Honours

Marissa Small, '22, Fine Arts; IIM (Biology and Society), "Leaving Marks"

Ashley Young, '22, Fine Arts; Studio Art, "Psychology A Sense of Agency: Addressing the Nude"

Senior Thesis

Vicente Cayuela Aliaga, '22, Studio Art, "JUVENILIA"

Sienna Bucu, '22, Studio Art, "Passing Through Spaces"

Matthew Kaufman, '22, Studio Art and Psychology, "The Art of Psychology: Ways of Seeing"

Ashley Young, '22, Psychology and Studio Art, "A Sense of Agency: Addressing the Female Nude"

The Jane Kahn '77 Fellowship awards up to 2 undergraduates a $5,000 stipend for summer semester research examining current and emerging issues in criminal justice reform and the rights of individuals with mental illness, disability, and socio-psychological factors frequently associated with incarceration.

Adah Anderson, '24 (Undeclared)

Analyzing the Effects of Mental Illness Treatment on Suicide and Recidivism Rates in Federal, State, and Private Prisons in Connecticut, Florida, and North Carolina

Faculty Mentor: Jeffrey Lenowitz

Leah Fernandez, '22 (Psychology and Human Factors)

Investigating Educational Access for Incarcerated Juveniles with Disabilities in Massachusetts

Faculty Mentor: Thomas Shapiro

Caroline O, '22 (English, American Studies)

Podcasting and Theater as Diversionary Programs

Faculty Mentor: Rosalind Kabhrel

The Fori and Robert Kay Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaborations Endowed Fund supports undergraduate partcipation in research and creative colllaborations with faculty mentorship.

Gabriela Mendoza Cueva, '22 (HSSP, Anthropology)

The Experiences of Latinx Parents with Pediatric Cancer Care: An Anthropological Approach

Faculty Mentor: Sarah Lamb 

Summer Provost's Undergraduate Research Fellowships are $5,000 stipends to support undergraduates conducting a research or creative project with the mentorship of a Brandeis faculty mentor.

Kimika Arai, '22 (Physics, Math)

Piezoelectric Tube Actuators as a Fiber Positioner

Faculty Mentor: Jim Bensinger, Kevan Hashemi

Natalie Chin, '23 (Biochemistry)

Pandelia Establishing the mechanism by which YqeK contributes to biofilm formation and antibiotoic resistance

Faculty Mentor: Maria-Eirini 

Felicia Deng, '22 (Biochemistry)

Pandelia Insight into the function and structure of the human antiviral SAMHD1 protein in plants and its negative effects on plant health

Faculty Mentor: Maria-Eirini 

Annabelle Fitch, '23 (Psychology, Neuroscience)

The Breathing Brain: Impacts of Mindfulness on Cognitive and Emotional Abilities

Faculty Mentor: James Howard 

Kristina Fricker, '22 (History of Science (Independent Interdisciplinary Major); Mathematics)

Relative Time: Analyzing Einstein's Theory of Relativity Through a Social Lens

Faculty Mentor: Wangui Muigai 

Jacob Gehtman, '24 (undeclared )

Spatial and Temporal Localization of Aging-Related circRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster

Faculty Mentor: Sebastian Kadener 

Ashley Moushegian, '23 (Psychology)

Differences in Co-Brooding and the Impact on Internalizing Symptoms Prior to and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Faculty Mentor: Prof. Hannah Snyder 

Hannah O'Koon, '22 (English)

Essen und Erinnerungen: Kindertransport Kinder and Memories of Food

Faculty Mentor: Prof. ChaeRan Freeze

Zoe Pringle, '22 (HSSP and Sociology)

Case Study: How hEDS patients and their doctors view their diagnosis experience

Faculty Mentor: Professor Wendy Cadge

Achara Schroder, '23 (Undeclared, Intended Politics and Economics)

Archiving Diversity in Asian Diaspora: Southeast Asians in Massachusetts and the Model Minority Myth

Faculty Mentor: Soham Patel 

Parker Thompson, '23 (History)

Substance in the Shadow

Faculty Mentor: Muna Guvenc Ospina Leon 

Jason Walter, '23 (Politics)

Legitimacy and the Kosovo War of 1999

Faculty Mentor: Professor Kerry Chase

Kathryn (Katie) Ball, ‘22
Major: Music
The Cultural Dynamics of Dvorak's New World Symphony: Appropriation, Legacy, and National Identity
Faculty Mentor: Erin Gee

Vicente Cayuela Aliaga, ‘22
Majors: Fine Arts and Film, TV, and Interactive Media
Biological Burdens
Faculty Mentor: Catherine Della Lucia

Matthew Kaufman, ‘22
Majors: Fine Arts, Psychology
Ways of Seeing - The Art of Psychological Disorders
Faculty Mentor: Joseph Wardwell

Marissa Small, ‘22
Majors: Fine Arts, IIM Biology & Society
21st Century Futurisms
Faculty Mentor: Peter Kalb

Joelle Galatan, ‘22
Major: Health: Science, Society, and Policy
The Experiences of People with Endometriosis in Receiving non-Endometriosis-Related Gynecological Care
Faculty Mentor: Sarah Lamb

Academic Year Award

Amy Schroeder, ‘23
Major: Politics
Archiving Diversity in Asian Diaspora: Southeast Asians in Massachusetts and the Model Minority Myth
Faculty Mentor: Howie Tam

Senior Thesis Award

Maria Aranibar, ‘22
Majors: Sociology, International Global Studies
How Gentrification is Ruining our Public Schools: A Somerville Case Study
Faculty Mentor: Sarah Mayorga

Kristi Ho, ‘22
Major: Social Justice and Social Policy
The Mental Health Impacts of Community Gardening and Urban Farming in a Diverse, Urban City
Faculty Mentor: Thuy Lam

Savannah Jackson, ‘22
Majors: Sociology, International Global Studies
Mediating Authenticity: Interpretation as a Social Process
Faculty Mentor: Sarah Mayorga

Mariah Lewis, ‘22
Majors: Psychology, Sociology
Interrogating Safety: How College Students Navigate Resources in Times of Need
Faculty Mentor: Sarah Mayorga

Luochen Liu, ‘22
Majors: Biology, Neuroscience
Investigating the molecular mechanism of translation regulation through ribosome heterogeneity using rpL40 as a paradigm
Faculty Mentor: Kene Piasta

Simona Shuman, ‘22
Major: Sociology
Food Insecurity in Two Neighboring Cities During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Faculty Mentor: Wendy Cadge

Eric Blum, '22
CLAS, with Joel Christensen
"Greek Particles: Creating a Learner-Friendly Database of Contemporary Scholarship"

Haley Brown, '22
AMST & FILM, with Daniel Breen
"A Useable Past? New England Flirtations with Disunion, 1812-1815, and 1850-1861

Hunter Kessous, '22
BIO & HSSP, with Keridwen Luis
"Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Knowledge and Attitude Amongst Volunteers"

Richard (Quinn) King, '21
SOC & ENG & WGS, with Tom King
"Generations of Impactful Scholarship"

Luochen Liu, '22
BIOL & NEURO, with Amy S. Lee.
"Investigating the ribosome-specialized translation of vesicular stomatitis virus using rpL40-binding nanobodies"

Yoo Ra Sung, '23
HIST & IGS, with Yuri Doolan.
"Uncovering the Intergenerational Effects of Trauma on Korean and Korean American Women Through Oral History"

Isaac Rose-Berman, '22
POL, with Lucy Goodhart.
"The American Media's Role in Altering Issue Salience"

Angela Self, '22
ANTH & REL, with Wendy Cage.
"Is Christianity in Decline in the United States?"

Leah Trachtenberg, '22
NEJS & WGS, with ChaeRan Freeze.
"Bunnies and Nachasim: Jews in Playboy Magazine"

Amy Wang, '21
PSYC & BIOL, with Teresa Mitchell.
"Are Soft Sciences Theories More Easily Rejected than Hard Science Theories?"

Senior Thesis Research Support

• Lauren Komer,'21, Theatre Arts “Lulu: Challenging the Portrayal of Female Sexuality and Ambition Onstage”

• Wanchen Zhao, '21, Psychology, Philosophy, & Neuroscience “The influence of culture on boundary extension: how culture and semantic consistency interact”

• Ilana Stein, '21, HSSP “John Henryism’s Influence on the Embodied Experiences of the Emerging Adult”

Academic Year Research Support

• Claire Ogden, ’21, “Anthropology and Media, Culture and Communication (IIM) Ethnographic Film on Art and Community during COVID-19”

Alex Bazarsky
Major: Anthropology
Excavation and Understanding of the Sak Tz’i’-Lacanjá Tzeltal Marketplace
Faculty Mentor: Charles Golden

Hannah BenDavid
Major: Biology
Optimizing CaMPARI: Activity and light dependent marking of active neurons
Faculty Mentor: Gina Turrigiano

Stephanie Brody
Major: Biology
Role of Bud14 in polarized growth and cell morphology in S. cerevisiae
Faculty Mentor: Bruce Goode

Amanda Cao
Major: Chemistry
Effects of Obstructed Growth on Pattern Formation
Faculty Mentor: Irving Epstein

Yuezhu Chen
Major: History
The Influence of Orthodox Russian on Harbin Society in 1920-1976
Faculty Mentor: Yuri Doolan

Billy Frankel
Major: Sociology/PAX
Peace Room Mural
Faculty Mentor: Gordon Fellman

Lucy Frenkel
Major: Psychology
Are Child Sex Offenders, and their Subtypes, Really a Different Kind from Extrafamilial Child Molesters?
Faculty Mentor: Raymond A. Knight

Prabu Gugagantha
Major: Physics
Uncovering the Causes of Discontinuous Shear Thickening via Computational Models
Faculty Mentor: Bulbul Chakraborty

Jake Havelas
Major: History
When Ottomans Came to Boston: Armenian, Greek, and Syrian Migration to the Greater Boston Area, 1890-1940
Faculty Mentor: Amy Singer

Ben Helzner
Major: Philosophy
Responsible Actors: Compatibilism, Identity, and Moral Agency
Faculty Mentor: Kate Moran

Han Kang
Major: Neuroscience
Carbon Fiber Electrode Project
Faculty Mentor: Stephen Van Hooser

David Qi
Major: Biology
The Development of Methods of Testing the Effectiveness of Hidden Markov Models
Faculty Mentor: Paul Miller

Yancey Thomas
Major: Physics
Comparing the Radio Structure of Quasars at high redshift (young universe) to those at low redshift (old universe)
Faculty Mentor: John Wardle

Iria Wang
Major: Physics
Simulation for the New ATLAS Tracking Detector at the LHC
Faculty Mentor: Gabriella Sciolla

Max Weinstein
Majors: English and Math
Percy Shelley: Romantic Attitudes Towards Mathematical Truth and the Sublime
Faculty Mentor: William Flesch

Senior Thesis Research Support

• Sadie Antine, ’21, Biology “Mechanism and Physiology of eIF3-mediated Translation Repression of BTG1”
• Anna Ginsburg ’21, Studio Art, Environmental Studies, “The Natural World and the Personal World: An Exploration in Painting”
• Caroline Greaney ’21, English, “"Invisible Enemy, Visible Loss: Unearthing Traces of the 1918 Flu in Tolkien's Middle-earth"
• Sarah Karan ’21, Psychology and Sociology, “Values and Well-being During COVID-19”
• Aishwarya Khanna ’21, Neuroscience, HSSP, “Patient-facing Barriers and Facilitators to Smoking Cessation in the Context of Lung Cancer Screenings”
• Kacy Ninteau ’21, Neuroscience, HSSP, Biology, “Barriers to Palliative Care in Nursing Homes During COVID-10 Public Health Emergency”
• Mendel Weintraub ’21, Film, Television, and Interactive Media/Creative Writing, “Senior Thesis Project: Screenplay”

Academic Year Research Support

• Daniel Hariyanto, ’23, “Biological Physics & Computer Science, Strange Phase Separation Behavior at High Temperature”
• Claire Ogden, ’21, “Anthropology and Media, Culture and Communication (IIM) Ethnographic Film on Art and Community during COVID-19”