Home

10%

Undergraduate Research on a National Level

By UNC Asheville

April 12^th, 2022

April is a month when research blooms at UNC Asheville, as the founding University for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) continues to grow our Undergraduate Research Program and bring forth new projects, new knowledge and new discoveries each year.

This spring, four UNC Asheville students and recent graduates presented their work on a national scale at NCUR. The same week, five chemistry students shared their NIH-funded research at the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Social Psychology to Bridge Online Learning Opportunities

Adam Baker a senior majoring in psychology with a minor in philosophy presented “Student Perceptions of Different Classroom Settings.” A nontraditional student from Athens, Georgia, Baker earned his GED and attended his first psychology class in New Haven, Connecticut, when he would have been a senior in high school. He took classes at Piedmont College, followed by Brooklyn College (CUNY), and began classes at UNC Asheville in 2020, finding academic mentors Associate Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Pascoe and Professor of Psychology Tracy Brown.

The spark for his research came during pandemic, when his schedule included a mix of online classes and in-person classes, and he wanted to better understand how learning could work via Zoom.

“My focus is in social psychology, and the idea came to me when I was considering the importance of social cues in learning. It seemed to me that in-person classes were much more engaging due to these social cues, and I felt it was easier to learn that way. I wanted to know how this connection and engagement I felt in-person was different in online classes,” said Baker.

He surveyed students and focused on how connection and engagement worked together and how this changed between formats, finding that performance did not seem to be affected by the class format, but that the relationship between connection and engagement was highly significant, regardless of format.

As Baker summarized, “This means that if connection is increased, engagement will increase in either format. This is important because more engagement usually suggests a better learning experience, and if more connection is achieved in either format, engagement will be better too. Despite the fact that online classes were generally rated lower in learning, connection, and engagement, it shows that if feelings of connection can be improved in online classes, those differences may not be so great.”

Baker also presented research at SEPA in Hilton Head in March and will travel to the Raleigh area to present the Stroop effect study, from Dr. Brown’s research team, at the CPC. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. following graduation in December 2022.

Environmental Studies for Post-Restoration Recovery

Leah Reese is a fall 2021 graduate of UNC Asheville with a major in environmental studies and concentration in ecology, with a minor in history. A native of Hickory, North Carolina, she developed a passion for freshwater ecology, specifically studying micorinvetebrates, while working with research advisor, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies David Gillette.

Undergraduate Research on a National Level

“By understanding the effects restoration projects have on macroinvertebrate populations, we were able to make an overall tolerance assessment. This is important for restoration science because so often the focus leans towards structural modifications when, argued by our study, biological conditions cannot afford to be overlooked and play a key role in the recovery post-restoration,” said Reese.

She continues to work with Gillette to publish their work and further analyze and resample the data to create a multivariate analysis that will give us a more in depth understanding of the effects of stream restoration. Reese begins a master’s in biology at Ball State University this fall 2022.

Ethnographic Study for Greater Understanding

Amanda Mullennix, from Charlotte, North Carolina, graduated in fall 2021 with a major in anthropology and minor in religious studies. For “An Ethnographic Study of the Influence of White Supremacy in a PC(USA) Church,” they combined the skills and knowledge gleaned across her courses of study at UNC Asheville.

“Having taken Dr. Biers' Language and Gender course in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, I decided to incorporate what I learned there into my anthropological research. That class along with Dr. Wood's Ethnographic Methods and Dr. Kelley's Senior Seminar in Anthropology pushed me to find my passion in studying anthropology of religion Religious institutions, practices, and beliefs have a large influence on our society and its structure, and this fascinates me,” Mullennix said.

They examined the language and symbols used by participants to understand how white supremacy is ingrained into a community and then unlearned, and they also presented her research at the Southern Anthropological Society's annual conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Still Life Drawings as Metaphors for Gendered Experiences

Isabella Losskarn, also from Charlotte, North Carolina and currently based in Asheville, North Carolina, graduated in fall 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Bachelor of Arts in Art History. Inspired by the frustrations that arise from gender identities in daily life, she drew from childhood experiences, perceptions of gender and gender-focused research to create "The Binary Absurd: Still Life Drawings as Metaphors for Gendered Experiences.”

“My research and accompanying body of artwork is intended to help open a dialogue on the topics of gender, gendered experiences, and the absurdity of relying on gender stereotypes as a means to create and consume products and media. My visual metaphors are ambiguous and familiar, which helps to access a broad audience that extends beyond people who are already aware of gender issues and contemporary ideas of gender,” said Losskarn, who worked with faculty mentor, Chair and Professor of Art and Art History Tamie Beldue.

Losskarn is working on a new series of pastel drawing next with a new body of research, continuing to widen the scope of contemporary discussions and ideas of gender.

Award-winning Chemistry Developing Antibiotic

Earlier in the spring semester, UNC Asheville announced significant funding from a National Institutes of Health Academic Research Enhancement Award, with more than $380,000 awarded to 2022-2027 GlaxoSmithKline Distinguished Professor in Molecular and Chemical Biology Amanda Wolfe (PI) and Assistant Professor of Chemistry Ryan Steed (CO-PI) to continue their collaborative research to develop a new antibiotic addressing drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Six students will receive stipends to work on the project full time over the next three summers, and many students have contributed to the project already.

Several students presented the research at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego earlier in the spring semester, including seniors Grace Lawhern and Dietrich Jackson and juniors Byrce Pugh and Aliyah Rao.

Steed and five students, seniors Asa Altman, Owen Dowdall, Nick Keppler, junior Sam Shepard, and fall 2021 graduate Ariel Stewart presented their research at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Philadelphia the week of April 4, joining 250 scholars in poster sessions and competition. Dowdall and Shepard both earned honorable mentions for their work, with Dowdall placing in the Protein Structure, Folding, and Degradation category and Shepard recognized in in the Protein Structure & Enzymology category. Amy Defnet, a research & teaching fellow in biochemistry funded through the NC GSK Foundation postdoctoral fellowship attended as well.

Dowdall, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, plans to attend graduate school and pursue and Ph.D., with a goal of returning to the undergraduate classroom to teach at the college-level. They joined the project because of the intersection of two majors in chemistry and physics.

“Basically ATP synthase is a very well known protein but there is still a lot that we don't know about it's dynamics, particularly in the membrane bound portion (Fo). That is essentially what I am trying to study. It is amazing that there is still so much that is unknown about this protein since it is regarded as so important,” said Dowdall.

Shepard, from Sanford, North Carolina, also joined the project to continue exploring questions that hadn’t been answered in class.

“By taking that curiosity to my research I have been able to pursue my questions in a more free and creative way to the end of gaining a better understanding of fundamental life processes,” said Shepard.

“My project is interesting in that it has a potentially large range of impacts. Since the protein I am studying, ATP synthase, is present in all life my findings have the potential to be relevant in a large variety of biological or pharmaceutical fields. Briefly, ATP synthase offers a great target for antibiotics and has an unresolved role in cell death and aging, so my efforts to further elucidate its mechanism could help us develop novel antibiotics or the mechanisms by which cells age, die, or don't die as in the case of cancer cells.”

Shepard plans to pursue a dual M.D./Ph.D. after one more year of classes and research at UNC Asheville.

To read more about this project, click here, or see the day in the life feature here.

Learn more about UNC Asheville’s Undergraduate Research at the spring semester symposium on April 19, 2022 here.

Button Label

Finding Her Place in the Big Cheese

How UNC Asheville helped Shannon Herlihy transform a passion for food systems, health, and justice into a career supporting small-scale cheesemakers around the world

Read

MAHEC Internship Prepares UNC Asheville Students for Careers in Medicine

Undergraduate Research on a National Level

How UNC Asheville helped Shannon Herlihy transform a passion for food systems, health, and justice into a career supporting small-scale cheesemakers around the world

January 26^th, 2026

Senior Chemistry Student Adam Wold Powers Meaningful Change in Sustainability Research

December 2^nd, 2025

An epic journey from UNC Asheville to the prestigious Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program

2025 Alumni-Owned Holiday Gift Guide

How UNC Asheville helped Shannon Herlihy transform a passion for food systems, health, and justice into a career supporting small-scale cheesemakers around the world

January 26th, 2026

Senior Chemistry Student Adam Wold Powers Meaningful Change in Sustainability Research

December 2nd, 2025

An epic journey from UNC Asheville to the prestigious Harvard/MIT MD-PhD Program

2025 Alumni-Owned Holiday Gift Guide

January 26^th, 2026

December 2^nd, 2025