¹û½´ÊÓƵ

While many of their peers enjoyed the summer break by the pool, eight ¹û½´ÊÓƵ students were also doing what they enjoy—and getting paid for it. Thanks to Horace G. McDonell, Jr. ’52, ’02 (Hon.), a former ¹û½´ÊÓƵ Trustee and a retired chairman and CEO of PerkinElmer Inc., these undergraduate science majors spent 10 weeks conducting full-time research. With a $4,000 research stipend and $1,000 for equipment and supplies, the latest class of McDonell Felllows also had the opportunity to work side-by-side with faculty mentors in the lab and in the field.

Here is a list of the 2013 McDonell Fellows, their faculty mentors and their research projects:

Ninkunj Argawal, physics major; Gottipaty Rao, Ph.D.; phase shift studies in cavity ring down spectroscopy

Luke Cotellessa, chemistry major; Brian Stockman, Ph.D.; crowding effects on the structure and function of flavodoxin

Jami DeGrote, chemistry major; Melissa VanAlstine-Parris, Ph.D.; synthesizing derivatives of 4-trifluoromethylcoumarins

John Dellatto, physics major; Matthew Wright, Ph.D.; injection-locking a diode laser

Frances Fan, biology major; Eugenia VIlla-Cuesta, Ph.D.; succinate dehydrogenase mutants in drosphila melanogaster and protection from mutant pathology via rapamycin treatment

Natalia Gmuca, biology major; Heather Liwanag, Ph.D.; morphology of harp seal fur with ontogeny

Sara Kulins, biology major; Aaren Freeman, Ph.D.; range expansion of the rhizocephalan loxothylacus panopaei in the Long Island Sound and surrounding extuaries

Michael Trietsch, physics major; Gottipaty Rao, Ph.D.; incoherent broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy for trace measurements of NO2 with an LED source