The UROP program promotes intensive undergraduate research opportunities for university students. Through these research experiences, our goal is to enhance the recruitment and retention of undergraduates in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines, particularly those related to solar energy and its effects on water resources and the environment in general.

Summer 2017 – Lower Division

Kevin Chau, Design of a fluidized bed photoreactor for the application of advanced oxidation processes to water treatment, Mentor: Erick Bandala, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Edward Cruz, Investigating the function of protein O-fucosyltransferase family members during vegetative and reproductive development in Arabidopsis thaliana, Mentor: Ian Wallace, University of Nevada, Reno

Thomas Iida, Genotypic Analysis of Eragrostis Tef and Examining Productivity and Root Formation Under Water-Deficit Stress Environments, Mentor: John Cushman, University of Nevada, Reno

Summer 2017 – Upper Division

Austin Bassett, Synthesis of Peropyrene-based Nanographenes, Mentor: Wesley Chalifoux, University of Nevada, Reno

Brittany Blair, Improved Digestion of Opuntia Biomass for Bioenergy Production, Mentor: John Cushman, University of Nevada, Reno

Carlos Carrasco, The Generability of the Retro-Cue Effect, Mentor: Marian E Berryhill, University of Nevada, Reno

Camille Catelo, The Presence of Naturally Occurring Asbestos is Likely Affecting Health of Local Wildlife, Mentor: Sean Neiswenter, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Anthony Chang, Design and Synthesis of Ionic Liquid Crystals, Mentor: Haesook Han, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Andrea Darby, Gut Microbiome Effects on Desiccation Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster, Mentor: Allen Gibbs, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Cassandra Dasmarinas, Multivariate Geometric Analysis of Head Shape Variation in Recombinant Hybrids of Hawaiian picture-wing Drosophila, Mentor: Donald K. Price, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Nathan Ebiya, Temperature Sensitivity of Citrate Synthase Activity, Mentor: Frank van Breukelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Kristen Kujat, Influence of Treated Wastewater in Hydroponic Systems on Contaminant Bioaccumulation in Edible Plants, Mentor: Jennifer Edmonds, Nevada State College

Armon Latifi, Improving a 7-point Stencil Algorithm from Intel with Chisel-Based Hardware Encoding, Mentor: Sarah Harris, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Jessa Li, Design and Synthesis of Polypyridyl Ligands for the Development of PhotoluminescE Materials, Mentor: Pradip K. Bhowmik, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Sean Paulo Medina, Characterizing Antibiotic Resistance of Enterococcus Bacteria in Wastewater Treatment Plants, Mentor: Daniel Gerrity, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Kristie Menjivar, Determination of Gender Affects on ADH1, Mentor: Amber Howerton, Nevada State College

Matthew Newell, Can Nevada Meet Agriculture Water Needs with Smaller Snowpacks? A Hydrologic-Economic Modeling Effort Across a Gradient of Surface Water to Groundwater Basins, Mentors: Adrian Harpold and Kimberly Rollins, University of Nevada, Reno

Connor Nyman, Exploring the role of O-GlcNAc in mitochondrial membrane potential, Mentor: Patricia Berninsone, University of Nevada, Reno

Matthew Palmer, Biosynthesis and Role of Polyacetylenes in Defense Against Plant Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens, Mentors: Dylan Kosma and Patricia Santos, University of Nevada, Reno

Alhan Rezazadeh, Documenting the Ancestral features of Tenrec Ecaudatus, Mentor: Frank van Breukelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Charles Ronkon, A perfect model: blood cell dynamics in Tenrec ecaudatus, Mentor: Frank van Breukelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Natali Salas-Espana, A soft crawling robot with enabled dynamical movement through the use of a dry adhesion tuning device, Mentor: Wanliang Shan, University of Nevada, Reno

Alexis Sauceda-Quintero, Regrowing a Tail: Does Regeneration Catch Up to Normal Size?, Mentor: Ai-Sun Tseng, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Daylin Sigler, Directly Testing the Nutrient Assimilation Model for the Evolution of Endothermy, Mentor: Frank van Breukelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Catlene Smith, Investigation for evidence of active immunity in torpid Tenrec ecaudatus, Mentor: Frank van Breukelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Eric Soto-Harrison, Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) Modified of Tantalum Oxides to Enhance Visible Spectrum Photo-Catalytic Activity for Solar Clean Fuel Production, Mentor: Ravi Subramanian, University of Nevada, Reno

Brandon Walls, Synthesis of Novel Fluorinated Pyronins, Mentor: Zachary Woydziak, Nevada State College

Academic Year 2017-2018 – Lower Division

Mercedes Anderson, This Robot Stinks! Mistreatment Part 3, Mentor: David Feil-Seifer, University of Nevada, Reno

Mackenzie Kohler, How Will Shifts From Snow to Rain Affect Precipitation Intensity Across the Western U.S.?, Mentor: Adrian Harpold, University of Nevada, Reno

Bryan Remick, Understanding Water Quality in Carson City Using GIS Mapping, Mentor: Christopher Ryan, Western Nevada College

Kimberly Tran, Modeling and Algorithm for Optimization of Solar Energy Systems, Mentors: Eric Wilcox and Rajat Mehrotra, Truckee Meadows Community College

Academic Year 2017-2018 – Upper Division

Camille Adajar, Effects of Ambrosia psilostachya Pollen on Airway Smooth Muscle Function and miR-25 Expression, Mentor: Cherie Singer, University of Nevada, Reno

Sophia Araujo-Hernandez, The role of extracellular matrix proteins in protecting the biofilm against antimicrobial agents, Mentor: Boo Shan Tseng, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Shaina Bird, Using Quantum Mechanical Calculations to Identify Copper Oxide and Hydroxide (CuxOx & [CuxOxHx]+) Catalytic Sites in Cu-Exchanged Zeolites, Mentor: Samuel Odoh, University of Nevada, Reno

Sally Hamry, Investigating Bacterial Interspecies Communication within the Oral Cavity, Mentor: Yftah Tal-Gan, University of Nevada, Reno

Isaiah Henry, Solution Processed Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Materials for Tandem Solar Cells, Mentor: Shubhra Bansal, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Maranatha Malonzo, Analysis of Gasket Pressure Distribution for High-Pressure Studies, Mentor: Ravhi Kumar, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Richard Mannschreck, Feasibility of coupled HTC-WAO for Wastewater Treatment, Mentor: Charles Coronella, University of Nevada, Reno

Taylor Murray, GerH Receptor of Bacillus anthracis and Spore Germination, Mentor: Amber Howerton, Nevada State College

Henry Ng, Regulation of extended G-oα47a extended 3′ UTR biogenesis, Mentor: Pedro Miura, University of Nevada, Reno

Shawn Roj, Validating Forecast Reference Evapotranspiration in Nevada using the Nevada Integrated Climate and Evapotranspiration Network, Mentor: Daniel McEvoy, University of Nevada, Reno

Christopher Romo, Oxygen Metabolism by-Product: Role of O-GLcNAc cycling in generation of superoxide anion, Mentor: Patricia Berninsone, University of Nevada, Reno

Brittany Russ, Selectively Trapping Residual Vancomycin with Peptide Analogs to Prevent Colonic Bacterial Stress, Mentor: Yftah Tal-Gan, University of Nevada, Reno

Peter Sbraccia, Lake Mead Sediment Phosphates and Nutrient Pollution, Mentor: Elisabeth Hausrath, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Chris Stevens, Observing the Effects of Amazonian Rainforest Burning on the Surface Albedo of High Altitude Tropical Glaciers, Mentor: W. Patrick Arnott, University of Nevada, Reno

Jared Stimac, Catalytic Wittig Reaction, Mentor: Laina Geary, University of Nevada, Reno

Alexandra Tierney, Stress-Induced toxins in milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.) and their indirect effects on plant-predator mutualisms, Mentor: Elizabeth Pringle, University of Nevada, Reno

Eduardo Torres, Optimization of Responsive Hydrogel Actuators, Mentor: Wanliang Shan, University of Nevada, Reno

Jeremy Vergara, Characterization of Alcohol Dehydrogenase by Bile Salts Containing Lysine Residues, Mentor: Amber Howerton, Nevada State College

Sarah York, Markers of Liver Function During Hibernation in Common tenrecs, Tenrec ecaudatus, Mentor: Frank van Breukelen, University of Nevada, Las Vegas