Department of Biology
Department of Biology

Announcing the Winners of the 39th Annual Richard D. Katz Undergraduate Research Symposium

August Kahle, Lily Kauffman, and Victoria Feist
August Kahle, Lily Kauffman, and Victoria Feist

Congratulations to the winners of the 39th Annual Richard D. Katz Undergraduate Research Symposium, held May 3, 2023. The Katz Symposium gives Distinguished Majors in Biology, under the direction of Prof. Michael Wormington, an opportunity to present their independent research findings to the Biology faculty, fellow students, and family.

  • 1st Place – Lily Kauffman: Dorsal motor vagal neurons can suppress heart rate and anxiety-like behavior in mice. (Campbell Lab)
  • 2nd Place – August Kahle: Analysis of inflammation-induced glial signaling and phagocytosis by single cell mass cytometry (Deppmann Lab)
  • 3rd Place – Victoria Feist: Identifying variation in host defenses against infection in C. elegans (Gibson Lab)

In total, 20 Distinguished Majors (see below) presented this year. Congratulations to all, and best wishes for your future endeavors!

(First Row L-R): Victoria Feist, Keely Pattisall, Nicole Freeman, Cristen Huynh, Lily Kauffman, Shuwen Shan, Laila Latifi (Second Row L-R): Olivia Keenan, Daria Gundermann, Christopher Heron, Samantha Olmsted, Jesus Near, August Kahle, Christopher Xie, Leila Shepard, Phillip Reeves, Caroline Tyndall, Charan Vemuri, Matthew Smith, Rija Jain
(First Row L-R): Victoria Feist, Keely Pattisall, Nicole Freeman, Cristen Huynh, Lily Kauffman, Shuwen Shan, Laila Latifi | (Second Row L-R): Olivia Keenan, Daria Gundermann, Christopher Heron, Samantha Olmsted, Jesus Near, August Kahle, Christopher Xie, Leila Shepard, Phillip Reeves, Caroline Tyndall, Charan Vemuri, Matthew Smith, Rija Jain