Pre-2013
Emily Mediate, with faculty mentor, Dr. Christian Smith
Emily is a sophomore Africana Studies/Arts and Letters Pre-Medicine major with an International Development minor. She is primarily interested in the development of sustainable healthcare systems in Africa and patterns for foreign aid. With the generous assistance of CUSE, she has been able to attend the Global Health and Innovation Conference at Yale University and will be attending the International Development conference in April. Through a UROP grant, she travelled to Gulu and Hoima, Uganda last summer to research the Ugandan perceptions of NGOs. This research has been presented at the Poverty Action Conference at the University of Mary Washington, Notre Dame's fall Undergraduate Research Fair, and Notre Dame's Human Development Conference. She will be returning to Uganda this summer for an internship with the Palliative Care Association of Uganda at Kawempe Home Care outside of Kampala. Additionally, she has completed research with Professor Christian Smith in the Sociology department on The Science of Generosity project, Professor Marya Lieberman in the Biochemistry department on the Paper Analytical Device project. She is currently working with Professor Terry McDonnell in the Sociology department to evaluate HIV/AIDS campaigns worldwide.
Graham Englert
A sophomore Science-Business/Peace Studies double major with a minor in international development studies, Graham's primary research concerns global influenza with a specific focus on the biological development of a universal influenza vaccine. Graham also has interest in the challenges associated with the vaccinations of populations from developing nations. This summer, Graham will be performing research in the Crowe Lab at Vanderbilt University identifying rare antibodies made by humans that recognize a broad diversity of influenza strains with high affinity. This work will further identify and characterize highly conserved antigens that point toward a universal flu vaccine.
CUSE funding has generously allowed Graham to attend the Global Health and Innovation Conference last spring at Yale University and the Poverty Action Conference at the University of Mary Washington this fall. Both conferences aided Graham in his formulation of a research interest. Graham currently serves on the planning committee for the Notre Dame Student Peace Studies. His previous experiences include researching the chemoresistance of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the lungs in the Massion Lab at the Vanderbilt Ingram Medical Center and investigating Rho proteins involved in breast cancer with Dr. Vargo-Gogola at the Indiana University Medical School South Bend.
Timothy Haller, with faculty mentor, Dr. Philippe Sucosky
Tim is a senior Aerospace Engineering major from San Rafael, California. He worked for the Multi-Scale Cardiovascular Bioengineerg Laboratory directed by Dr. Philippe Sucosky. The focus of Tim’s research was to develop a new protocol for the 3D imaging of the aortic heart valve using micro-CT imaging techniques. The resulting 3D model can be used in computational studies of blood flow through the valve, especially regarding abnormalities that may relate to calcific aortic valve disease. Tim’s research produced a conference poster that was accepted to the Biomedical Engineering Society’s 2012 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Because of the generous funding from CUSE, Tim was able to travel to Atlanta and present his work to a professional society of biomedical engineers. This experience has had a profound impact on Tim’s career and academic goals. After graduation, Tim plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin in pursuit of a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering.