Congratulations to Heather Sayles (mentored by Dr. Dalen Agnew), Dylan Luce (mentored by Dr. Victor DiRita), Lydia Kapeller (mentored by Dr. András Komáromy), and Carolyn Stults (mentored by Dr. Katheryn Meek), who were awarded first-place prizes in their respective categories at the 24th University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF, pronounced you-raf) at Michigan State University. Sayles, Luce, Kapeller, and Stults accepted their awards at the ceremony on Wednesday, April 13.
Additional congratulations are due to Dr. András Komáromy, who won the 2022 Research Mentor of the Year Award for his dedicated mentoring of Lydia Kapeller. Komáromy was nominated by Kapeller in February for the award, which was presented before the UURAF ceremony.
"Andras is such an incredibly kind person, I am so happy he could be recognized. It was an incredible event between his award and my project under him winning first place in my division. I am a junior and planning on applying to MSU's vet school this summer to hopefully pursue a career like his as a DVM/PhD scientist. We have many more projects in the works!" says Kapeller, who also previously was awarded the AAVMC National Research Scholarship for her same UURAF project within the same time frame.
From Komáromy's nomination package:
“Andras has been the driving force behind my transition from interested student to confident professional... He is professionally renowned, but what sets him apart from others is his compassion and kindness to both people and animals... Andras bridges the gap between scholastic achievement and selfless mentorship; I hope to be a fraction of the kind of veterinarian and researcher he is one day.”
UURAF provides Michigan State undergraduate students with an opportunity to showcase their scholarship and creative activity. Held each spring, UURAF brings together an intellectual community of highly motivated students to share their work with faculty, staff, peers, and external audiences. UURAF provides a unique educational opportunity for aspiring researchers. MSU undergraduates gain experience in presenting their research, answer questions about their work from audience members and guests, and receive constructive feedback from judges.
On Friday, April 8, presenters and guests gathered for UURAF at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center. There, more than 750 undergraduate students from 17 different colleges who were mentored by more than 500 faculty, staff, post-doctoral candidates, graduate students, and industry partners, presented their research and creative projects.
2022 UURAF College of Veterinary Medicine and affiliate department research mentors, mentees, and awards
- Dr. Dalen Agnew mentored Heather Sayles, first-place winner, Integrative and Organismal Biology category, “The Influence of Cooperative Breeding Strategies on Reproductive Health in the Meerkat”
- Dr. Victor DiRita mentored Dylan Luce, first-place winner, Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Disease category, “Enterobacter Desiccation Resistance and Persistence on Fomites”
- Dr. András Komáromy mentored Lydia Kapeller, first-place winner, Health Sciences category, “Validation of the eyeTelemed IOPvet indentation tonometer for use in dogs”
- Dr. Katheryn Meek mentored Carolyn Stults, first-place winner, Cell Biology, Genetics & Genomics category, “Disruption of a putative caspase site within DNA-PKcs results in increased resistance to DNA damaging agents”
- Dr. Natalia Duque-Wilkens mentored Zak Dairi and Vidhula Srinivasan
- Dr. Jack Harkema mentored Anna Skedel
- Dr. Norbert Kaminski mentored Darla Martinez
- Dr. András Komáromy mentored Ava Cabble
- Ryan Lewandowski mentored Anna Skedel
- Dr. Chima Maduka mentored Max Kuhnert
- Dr. Shannon Manning mentored Bailey Bowcutt
- Dr. Linda Mansfield mentored Mia Van Allen
- Dr. Adam Moeser mentored Vidhula Srinivasan
- Dr. Martha Mulks mentored Stephanie Cicci
- Dr. James Pestka mentored Riley Spalding and Anna Skedel
- Dr. Margaret Petroff mentored Natalie Spence
- Dr. Janani Ravi mentored Ethan Wolfe and Kewalin Samart
- Dr. Pamela Ruegg mentored Drake Haase
- Dr. Azam Sher mentored Mia Van Allen
- Dr. Srinand Sreevatsan mentored Ethan Hall
- Dr. Michael Vandehaar mentored Sydney Puda
- Dr. James Wagner mentored Anna Skedel
- Dr. Christopher Waters mentored Drew Beckman, Elise Trost, Ram Sanath Kumar, and Brennan Grimes
UURAF is sponsored by the Office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Honors College.