EngelPalooza 2020

On Thursday, October 29, 2020, we hosted our second annual student research showcase: EngelPalooza! This year, the event was held online via Discord and we wanted to thank everyone who joined and made this such a great virtual event. We were extremely pleased with the turnout; 140+ people registered and attended!

Throughout the evening, we had 10 undergraduates and 12 graduate students present and share their expertise with others in the department. We're so proud of their research accomplishments and enjoyed hearing more about the work that they're doing. We also had 4 informational networking sessions covering topics such as getting involved in undergraduate research, study abroad opportunities, graduate student life, and ABSMB certification. Thank you to those who faciliated and particpated in these sessions!

In addition to presentations and informational networking sessions, we had a live-streamed Nanopore Sequencing run, pet photo contest, and several channels open for free discussion and networking among students, faculty, and alumni!

Special thanks to Dr. Anne Brown, Dr. Sasha Marine, Dr. Chevon Thorpe, and, Ph.D. Candidate, Amanda Sharp for setting us up for success for this year's EngelPalooza!

Undergraduate Presenters

Ian Hicklin
Kevin Williams
Fahd Mohamed
Jeamin Jung
Taylan Tucker
Ash VanWinkle
Carter Gottschalk
Jiwoo Kim
Erin Collins
Moriah Heifetz

Graduate Presenters

Forde Upshur
Aleksei Gendron
Caitlin Cridland
Sydney Johnson
Joanna Reinhold
Rowen Wooldridge
Justin McKinney
Darcy Davidson
Tam Nguyen
Kelsie King
Morgen VanderGiessen
Mecaila McClune

At EngelPalooza, every presenter and attendee was entered into a raffle to win a special prize from the Department. Four winners were randomly selected, with two of them being presenters and two of them being attendees. Additionally, we had a Biochemistry Pet Contest! Attendees were encouraged to post a photo of their pets and to vote for their favorites! The pet with the most votes at the end of the night would also win a special prize. Here are all of our winners!

Prize Winners

Forde Upshur

Forde is a graduate researcher in the Lahondere Lab and presented on Sugar-Feeding by Invasive Mosquitoes on Goldenrod at EngelPalooza. Thank you for sharing your presentation with us, Forde!

Kathleen Cardaci

Kathleen is a Junior and enjoyed EngelPalooza because the event is "a great opportunity for faculty and students to interact. It allows us, students, to show how dedicated we are to what we study." Thank you for attending, Kathleen!

Fahd Mohamed

Fahd is an undergraduate researcher in the Klemba Lab and presented on Expression and Characterization of Plasmodium falciparum Protein Depalmitoylase ABHD17A at EngelPalooza. Thank you for presenting, Fahd!

Tucker Coffey

Tucker is an undergraduate student with aspirations to go to dental school in the Fall of 2022. Tucker liked EngelPalooza because "the event covers diverse topics that highlight the hard work of undergraduate and graduate students and gives students a time to highlight what they study while interacting with faculty.” Thank you for joining us, Tucker!

Biochemistry Pet Winners

Mr. Peepers (Owner: Catherine Freed)

Without feather ado, let's celebrate our 1st place pet winner: Mr. Peepers! Catherine Freed shared this photo of her bird and received 18 votes!

Safarie (Owner: Dr. Chloé Lahondère)

Coming in second place in our EngelPalooza Biochemistry Pet Contest with 17 votes was Dr. Chloé Lahondère’s cat, Safarie! Fun fact: Safarie is 20 years old! Isn’t that paw-some?!