URSA announces Fall 2025 Student Project Award recipients
Aug. 8, 2025
The Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity congratulates the following individuals who received an URSA Fall 2025 Student Project Award.
URSA Student Project Awards are available for fall, spring, and summer terms. These awards support undergraduates (individual and group applicants) of all majors and located at all ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ affiliated campuses* to pursue research and creative activity projects at ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ.
Caden Albright
Biological Sciences
Mentors: Mario Muscarella
Title: Antibiotic Resistance, Biofilm Formation, and Their Association with Medical Implants
This project will use small medical implants and S. aureus to determine if there is a relationship between higher levels of biofilm formation, increased antibiotic resistance, and the presence or absence of medical implants.
Chloe Crossen
Geoscience
Mentors: Elisabeth Nadin
Project Title: Map-based storytelling: communicating the risks of landslides and tsunamis in Prince
William Sound, Alaska
This project will report the risk that landslides and associated tsunamis pose for coastal communities in Prince William Sound, Alaska. We will use data on unstable slopes near the ocean and available tsunami risk mapping to create an engaging ArcGIS story map to help improve safety and awareness within communities.
Mark Durango
Biological Sciences
Mentors: Kristin O'Brien
Project Title: Assessing The Anaerobic Metabolic Capacity in Antarctic Fishes in Response to Hypoxia
through Activity Assays
This project will measure a key enzyme involved in anaerobic (glycolysis) metabolism in Antarctic fishes to understand their metabolic adaptations to hypoxia. Through spectrophotometric assays, we will quantify enzyme activities to help us understand the physiological mechanisms underlying the oxygen tolerance of these fishes.
Peter Lowe
Psychology
Mentors: Inna Rivkin
Project Title: Finding Successful Interventions for Indigenous Students’ transition from a Rural
Setting to a University Setting
This project focuses on students’ transition from a rural community to a university and challenges that arise, drawing from interviews with academic advisors and students with both ¾«¶«Ó°Òµâ€™s Rural Student Services and UAA’s Indigenous & Rural Student Center. The goal is to determine the best strategies to address their needs.
Stella Organek
Biological Sciences
Mentors: Sarah Rice
Project Title: Protocol development and recruitment for a pilot study investigating nutritional
dynamics and body composition of climbers on Mount Denali
This project is focused on protocol development, participant recruitment, participant education, equipment testing for a future pilot study with aims of understanding body composition of climbers on a Mount Denali expedition.
Larissa Scatamburlo
Biological Sciences
Mentors: Matthew Gilbert
Project Title: Comparing the diet, growth, and energetics of Northern pike (Esox lucius) in stocked
and unstocked aquatic ecosystems
This project will describe relationships between diet, age, and growth of Northern pike relative to the presence of other sport fishes. We will seasonally sample a broad size and age range and compare diet and energetics in pike captured in stocked (e.g. Peger Lake) and non-stocked (e.g. Noyes slough) water bodies.
Amelia Wagner-Jones
Biological Sciences
Mentors: Matthew Gilbert & Augustus Snyder
Project Title: The effect of acclimation temperature and adrenaline on heart function and heat tolerance
in juvenile Yukon River Chinook Salmon
This project will investigate the effect of acclimation temperature on heart tissue
function as well as the role of adrenergic receptors in modulating cardiac function
and tolerance to acute heat stress events in juvenile Yukon River Chinook salmon.
* ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ-Affiliated Campuses include: Bristol Bay Campus, Chukchi Campus, Community and Technical College, Interior Alaska Campus, Kuskokwim Campus, Northwest Campus and Troth Yeddha’.
Contact the URSA office for more information on how to get involved: uaf-ursa@alaska.edu | 907-450-8772.