Norma Slepecky
Slepecky Award Winners
Outstanding undergraduate researchers recognized by the Norma Slepecky Research Prize.
Since 2004, the Norma Slepecky Undergraduate Research Prize has recognized outstanding research by undergraduate students across Syracuse University’s STEM departments. We are proud to celebrate the following recipients and their work.
| Year | Name | Department | Title of Paper | Advisor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tessa DeCicco | Biomedical and Chemical Engineering | Defining Anatomical Relationships of the Tibial Tubercle to Inform Execution of Tibial Tubercle Osteotomy in Revision Total Knees | Dr. Timothy Damron & Dr. Era Jain |
| 2024 | Mariana Isabel Perez Lugo | Nutrition Science | Fish Oil Supplementation Mitigates Paternal Obesity and Enhances Offspring Metabolic Health in Obese Mice through its Effects on Adipose Tissue | Dr. Latha Ramalingam |
| 2023 | Ruohan Xu | Civil and Environmental Engineering | Design, manufacture, and testing of customized sterilizable respirator | Dr. Zhao Qin |
| 2022 | Amber Vandepoele | Forensic Sciences and Biochemistry | Maximizing the Value of Evidence Through the Phylogenetic Differential Separation of Environmental Samples | Dr. Michael Marciano |
| 2021 | Laurel White (1st place) | Physics | The Effect of Spin Priors on the Determination of the Neutron Star Equation of State Using Gravitational-Wave Signals | Dr. Duncan Brown |
| 2021 | Aliza Willsey (2nd place) | Aerospace Engineering | Investigation of Mycelium Growth Network as a Thermal Transpiration Membrane for Thermal Transpiration Based Pumping and Power Generation | Dr. Jeongmin Ahn |
| 2020 | Julia Riley (1st place) | Biology | Elucidating Cellular Stress Responses of ALS-Linked Biomolecular Condensates | Dr. Carlos Castañeda |
| 2020 | Heather Sosnoski (2nd place) | Biology | Cysteine Transporter Compensation Occurs in the Brains of System xc- Null Mice | Dr. Sandra Hewett |
| 2019 | Yongna Lei | Biology & Chemistry | Effects of ALS-Linked Mutations on the Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation Behavior of Ubiquilin-2 | Dr. Carlos Castañeda |
| 2018 | Katie Duggan (1st place) | Civil and Environmental Engineering | Analyzing the Toxicity of Cationic Polyacrylamide vs Cationic Starch on Aquatic Life | Dr. Shobha Bhatia & Dr. Katharine Lewis |
| 2018 | Meghan Lentz (2nd place) | Physics | Floquet Formalism and Perturbation Theory in the Low-Frequency Limit | Dr. Jay Hubisz |
| 2017 | Albanie Hendrickson-Stives (1st place) | Chemistry | Direct and Indirect Photolysis of Aromatic Pollutants in Aqueous Solution | Dr. Tara Kahan |
| 2017 | Genevieve Starke (joint 2nd place) | Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering | Directionality and Pulsing of Acoustic Propagation to the Far-Field of a Supersonic Jet Flow | Dr. Jacques Lewalle |
| 2017 | Anniya Gu (joint 2nd place) | Biology | UBR-5, a Conserved Hect-Type E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, Negatively Regulates Notch-Type Signaling in Caenorhabditis Elegans | Dr. Eleanor Maine |
| 2016 | Snigdha Chatterjee (joint 1st place) | Biology | DDR1, An Arabidopsis Histone Demethylase Negatively Regulates Cell Death, Drought and Defense Against Pseudomonas Syringae | Dr. Ramesh Raina |
| 2016 | Samantha A. Usman (joint 1st place) | Physics | Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger | Dr. Duncan Brown |
| 2015 | Kewei Xu | Chemistry | Computations on the Primary Photoreaction of Br2 With CO2: Stepwise vs. Concerted Addition of Br Atoms | Dr. Mark Braiman |
| 2015 | Emily Tucci | Biomedical & Chemical Engineering | A Comparison of Two Different Push-up Styles for Use in Rehabilitation Practices | Dr. Angela Zachman & Dr. Frederick Werner |
| 2015 | Jessica Ciesla | ESF – Chemistry | Fatty Acid Content in Four Octocorals and Two Scleractinian Corals in Relation to Species and Depth | Dr. Jonathan Cohen |
| 2014 | Katy Austin | SUNY ESF, Environmental & Forest Biology | Effects of Nitrogen Deposition on Nitrogen Acquisition by Sarracenia purpurea in the Adirondack Mountains, New York, USA | Dr. Mark Teece |
| 2014 | Cambria Ziemer | SUNY ESF, Environmental Resources Eng. | Boundary Layer Conditions of a Shrub Willow Evapotranspiration Cover | Dr. Wendong Tao & Dr. Tony Eallonardo |
| 2014 | Kristin Susan Weeks | Biology | Nutrient Limitation of Bean Plant Performance Under Co-Stress: Herbivory and Soil Halogenation | Dr. Mark E. Ritchie |
| 2013 | Korrie L. Mack | Chemistry | Reprogramming EF-Hands for Design of Catalytically Amplified Lanthanide Sensors | Dr. Ivan V. Korendovych |
| 2013 | Nikolay I. Rodionov | Biomedical & Chemical Engineering | Charge Distribution & Surface Properties of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus 4-nm Central Pore | Dr. Shalabh C. Maroo |
| 2012 | Vivian Yaci Yu | Chemistry | Expression and Purification of Recombinant Saposin B for Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) Purification | Dr. Robert Doyle |
| 2012 | Samantha Balakirsky | Biology | Investigating the Roles of Lhx1a/Lhx1b/Lhx5 in Zebrafish Spinal Cord Interneuron Specification and Function | Dr. Katherine Lewis |
| 2011 | Kristin Waller | Civil and Environmental Engineering | Recovery over Time: The long-term response of lakes in the Adirondack region of New York to decreases in acidic deposition | Dr. Charles Driscoll |
| 2011 | Danielle Hare | Earth Science | The effect of beaver dams on geochemistry of the hyporheic zone at varied depth and location over a range of discharges during flood recession | Dr. Lauren Lautz |
| 2010 | Jessica L. Ebert | Civil and Environmental Engineering | The Dynamics of Hydrology and Mercury in Onondaga Creek During Storm Events | Dr. Charles Driscoll |
| 2009 | Caitlin Keating-Bitonti | Earth Science | How warm was the early Eocene? Paleotemperature Reconstructions for the U.S. Gulf Coast from the Shells of Venericardia (Bivalvia) | Dr. Linda Ivany |
| 2009 | Megan Anne Larson | Biology | The Geographic Distribution of Polyploidy in A Pacific Northwest Plant | Dr. Kari Segraves |
| 2009 | Kelly Whitenack | Chemistry | The Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Microporous Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Materials with the Potential of Hydrogen Storage | Dr. John Zubieta |
| 2008 | Lindsay Avery | Chemistry | Using Functionalized Dihydropyrones to Control Diastereoselectivity in the Dihydropyrone Diels-Alder Reaction | Dr. Nancy Totah |
| 2008 | Stephanie Gindlesperger | Civil and Environmental Engineering | The Evaluation of Historical Changes in Mercury in Onondaga Lake, New York | Dr. Charles Driscoll |
| 2008 | Jemella C. Raymore | Biology | The Role of Estrogen Receptor Alpha in Early Mouse Oocyte Differentiation | Dr. Melissa Pepling |
| 2008 | Amy N. Otuonye | Chemistry | Multifunctional Nanomaterials for the Absorption and Release of Drugs | Dr. Teddy Asefa |
| 2007 | Kelsey Breen | Biology | The Role of Estrogen Receptor Beta in Neonatal Oocyte Development | Dr. Melissa E. Pepling |
| 2006 | Lisa Lahtinen | Communication Sciences & Disorders | The Effect of Contralateral Acoustic Stimulation on DPOAE with special attention to differences in DPOAEs for lower and higher-level noises | Dr. Beth Prieve |
| 2005 | Danielle Schuehler | Chemistry | — | — |
| 2005 | Tiffany Jones | — | — | — |
| 2004 | Danielle Jensen | Biochemistry | — | — |
| 2004 | Kate Kowalski | Civil and Environmental Engineering | The Effects of Acidic Deposition on the Diversity and Recovery of Microbial Communities | Dr. Andrea Costello-Staniec |
No prize was awarded in 2003.