Whitman Students Showcase Student-Faculty Research at Murdock Conference

On Nov. 7–8, more than 20 Whitman College students across four majors attended the 2025 Murdock College Science Research Conference in Vancouver, Washington, to present the results of their collaborative research. The annual conference, which is hosted by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, is dedicated to sharing advances in the natural sciences discovered through undergraduate student-faculty research. This year’s theme was “Smarter Science: Interdisciplinary Innovation in the Age of Big Data.”

Mentoring Future Scientists

Associate Professor of Chemistry Mark Hendricks, Associate Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of Brain, Behavior and Cognition (BB&C) Nancy Day ’05 and Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Rachel Wilson selected and/or traveled with students to the Murdock conference. 

Brain, Behavior & Cognition Researchers

From the BB&C program, poster presentations were given by: 

• Eddie Buchko ’26: “Modeling Neuroinflammation Using hiPSC-Derived Neurons and Astrocytes” advised by the Dr. Robert F. Welty Professor of Biology Ginger Withers
• Ella Corcoran ’26 (Seattle) and Sophia Curtis ’26 (Bellevue, Washington): “Area X Auditory Activity in Response to FOXP2 Overexpression and Its Effects on the Song Learning Process” advised by Associate Professor of Psychology Nancy Day
• Isabella Lucky ’26 (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho): “Developing Bats as an Animal Model for Female Reproductive Biology” advised by Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Rachel Wilson
• Ella Tyroler ’27 (Santa Fe, New Mexico): “Implementation of Accelerated, fMRI-Guided iTBS for PTSD: Acceptability” advised by David Quinn, M.D., Vice Chair of Adult Clinical Services at the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center
• Sean Walsh ’26 (Seattle): “Assessing Rapid Cellular Responses in the Rat Brain Following 4 Days of Complex Environment Housing” with Lillian Garcia Vargas ’27, advised by the Dr. Robert F. Welty Professors of Biology Chris Wallace and Ginger Withers
• Jesus Zamora Ochoa ’26 (Cle Elum, Washington): “How Timing Shapes Procedural Memory: Serial Response Learning and Midsession Reversal in Pigeons” advised by Professor of Psychology and Herbert and Pearl Ladley Endowed Chair of Cognitive Science Wally Herbranson

Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology Researchers

From the Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology (BBMB) program, poster presentations were given by: 

• Micaela Brown ’27 (Aurora, Colorado): “Defining a Temporal Relationship Between E-cadherin Loss and Cell Lineage Identity-Associated Gene Expression in Invasive Lobular Carcinoma Oncogenesis” advised by Matthew Sikora, Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz
• Lilian Garcia Vargas ’27 (Desert Hot Springs, California): “Assessing Rapid Cellular Responses in the Rat Brain Following 4 Days of Complex Environment Housing” with Sean Walsh ’26, advised by the Dr. Robert F. Welty Professors of Biology Chris Wallace and Ginger Withers 
• Shahin Hamzeh ’26 , Davis United World College (UWC) Scholar (Swaida, Syria): “Glucose Transporters as Mediators for Reprogramming Glucose Metabolism in CAR-T Cells in Glioblastoma Therapy” advised by Loic Deleyrolle, Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine at Mayo Clinic
• Angela Roberts ’27 (Salt Lake City): “The Effect of Zinc on Apoptosis and Caspase Activation in a Series of Breast Cancer Cell Lines” advised by Amy E. Palmer, Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder
• Anna Shimkus ’25 (Rimrock, Arizona): “Investigating Uranium Concentration in Soil and Mutton Within Navajo Nation” advised by Associate Professor of BBMB Jim Russo

Davis UWC Scholar Osama Abdelhamid Ali Elhassan ’26 (South Sudan) gave a platform talk: “Controlled Induction of Adventitious Roots Reveals Temporal and Spatial Regulation of PIRL9 Expression in Arabidopsis thaliana” advised by the Arthur G. Rempel Professor of Biology Dan Vernon.

Biology Researchers

From the Biology program, poster presentations were given by: 

• Marika Cartier ’26 (Redmond, Washington): “The Influence of NOTCH1 and MYH6 Genetic Variations on the Origins of Coarctation of the Aorta” advised by Associate Professor of Biology and BBMB Brit Moss
• Arushi Narinder ’26 (Marysville, Washington): “Effects of Temperature and Wolbachia Density in the Rate of Recombination of Drosophila melanogaster” advised by Visiting Assistant Professor of Microbiology Sabrina Mostoufi
• Chase Schubert ’26 (Mercer Island, Washington): “Detection of Ciguatoxin-Contaminated Tissue by Ant Species” advised by Visiting Assistant Professor of Biochemistry Michele Costantino

Chemistry Researchers

From the Chemistry program, poster presentations were given by: 

• Colin Dunlap ’26 (Seattle): “Synthesis of Novel Metal Chelating Hydrogels for Use in Diffusive Gradients in Thin Films Analysis” advised by Associate Professor of Chemistry Nate Boland
• Jara Moreno Arostegui ’26, Davis UWC Scholar (Managua, Nicaragua): “Effect of Low Molecular Weight Organic Acids on Rates and Pathways of Nickel Ion Uptake” advised by Associate Professor of Chemistry Nate Boland
• Toby Schneider ’27 (Spokane, Washington) and Lillian Villiott ’27 (Seattle): “Biocatalytic Dihydroxylation of Benzoate Substrates with Engineered P. putida in Lyophilized and Whole-Cell Systems” advised by Associate Professor of Chemistry Jonathan Collins
• Sebastian Squire ’25 (Walnut Creek, California): “Synthesis and Optimization of Antipodal Amidation Reactions for the 1-carba-closo-dodecaborate Cluster” advised by Professor of Chemistry Mark Juhasz
• Daniel Sutton ’26 (Bellingham, Washington): “Microwave Assisted Esterification of the CB11H12 Cluster” advised by Professor of Chemistry Mark Juhasz

Keenan RiggsTurpin ’27 (Eureka, California) gave a platform talk: “Exploring the Lack of Size Control in Zinc Sulfide Nanocrystals” advised by Associate Professor of Chemistry Mark Hendricks.

Research at Whitman

Regardless of major or area of interest, students at Whitman have many opportunities to partner with faculty members on research that will have an impact on their field. Students often co-author papers with their professors, publish in leading peer-reviewed journals and present at prestigious conferences. Learn more about student-faculty research at Whitman.