For Pre/Teen Learners

This page explores Present Your PhD’s presentations given to audiences in 5th grade or older. If you are interested in presentations for other audiences, please explore our Collaborators Home Page and select the option that best fits your group.

Hello! If you are an educator of learners 5th grade and beyond, below are the PyPhD members who are available this semester to come present their research. Please explore their bios below! After, send us an email with some times you are interested in having PyPhD present, along with your top preferred 3-5 presenters.

If you are an educator of learners outside this age range, we encourage you to explore our other pages to learn more about our presentation for younger learners and how PyPhD establishes new partnerships with educators by exploring our Collaborator page.

If you do not have a specific presenter in mind, let us know of your class’ interests or your curriculum and we will do our best to match you with a Presenter who fits those themes.

Anthropology

Biochemistry / Chemistry

Engineering and Computer Science

Environmental Science

Geology/ Geoscience

Health and Performance

Molecular Biology

Organismal & Environmental Bio

Physics and Math

Psychology and Neuroscience

Statistical Sciences

2023-2024 Presenters

Updated at the beginning of each academic year

Anthropology

Paige Plattner

Paige Plattner

Topics: human health, food insecurity

Paige is a second-year PhD student of the Reynolds lab studying the impacts of epigenetics and food insecurity on human health.

Marcela Pfaff

Marcela Pfaff

Topics: coming soon

Marcela is a fourth year PhD candidate studying anthropology.

Anna Samsonov

Anna Samsonov

Topics: developmental plasticity

Anna is a PhD student in the Anthropology department, working with the Human Evolution, Biology, and Health Lab. They are researching the impact of social environments on developmental plasticity. They hope to pursue a career in public health, following a passion for health promotion and community outreach.

Chemistry / Biochemistry

Emily Alonzo

Emily Alonzo

Topics: RNA, proteins, accessibility, blindness

I am a biochemistry graduate student in the Shaw Lab focusing on RNA and RNA modifications. Additionally, I focus on making the chemistry lab and science materials more accessible to the blind and visually impaired. I work with people with blindness or low vision and help them to feel more confident in scientific careers. 

Thushani Punchipatabendi

Thushani Punchipatabendi

Topics: biochemistry

Thushani is a second-year graduate student in the Trakselis Lab studying biochemistry!

Chloe Sells

Chloe Sells

Topics: organic chemistry, inflammation, transplants

Chloë is a third-year Chemistry PhD student in the the Kane Laboratory. Her research is focused on developing localized drug delivery systems.

Sadia Sinty Disha

Sadia Sinty Disha

Topics: biochemistry

Sadia is a fourth-year graduate student in the Trakselis Lab, which focuses on DNA and DNA enzymes.

Engineering/ Computer Science

Isaac Liu

Isaac Liu

Topics: Additive Manufacturing, Materials Science, Engineering

 

Isaac is a second-year PhD student in materials science, working with the Point-of-Need Innovation Center under Drs. Jordon and Allison. He is studying the process-structure-property relationship of additive friction stir-deposited aluminum alloys and other metal additive manufacturing processes.

 

Environmental Science

Micaela Vavra

Micaela Vavra

Topics:

Coming soon! Check back for updates.

Geology / Geosciences

Nick Wagner

Nick Wagner

Topics: Mars, Planetary Science, Geophysics

Nick is a 5th year PhD student with the Planetary Research Group studying the planetary geophysics. He studies the inside of Mars using gravity and topography measurements along with modeling techniques. This data analysis and modeling work can help figure out what is happening inside the red planet and what it means for how the planet has evolved over the last 4 billion years.

Health, Human Performance, and Recreation

We do not currently have Active Presenters from this semester. We may again in a future semester. Thank you for your understanding!

Molecular Biology

Kayla Haberman

Kayla Haberman

Topics: Biology (genetics, DNA replication, proteins), CRISPR, breast cancer

Kayla is a second-year Ph.D. student in Dr. Joseph Taube’s Lab studying breast cancer. Breast cancer is known to affect 1 in every 8 women. Being a woman herself, she became motivated to understand the mechanisms by which metastasis arises. Through the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, the cells undergo a dramatic change in structure, motility, and protein expression. She is interested in understanding how the cell can modify the DNA, without modifying the genomic sequence. Understanding epigenetic regulation provides insight as to what proteins interact with the DNA, what part of the DNA is considered a ‘hot spot’ for protein binding, and how chromatin accessibility controls the entire process.

Liz Waymire

Liz Waymire

Topics: Global health, genetics, tropical diseases

The mosquito Anopheles stephensi is a carrier for diseases like malaria, and is typically found in south Asia. However, this mosquito was detected in the Horn of Africa starting in 2013. An. stephensi has the threat to increase malaria transmission as much as 50% in the country Ethiopia, so vector control methods need to be implemented. Insecticide is a common method of vector control, but insecticide resistance has already been found in this new mosquito. I am working to investigate the presence of a bacteria in the mosquitoes in Ethiopia to see if it can be used to decrease the mosquito population and control malaria transmission. 

Organismal and Environmental Biology

Lacy Miller

Lacy Miller

Topics: Limnology, Biology, Environmental Science

Lacy is a second year PhD student in the Biology department. Her research focuses on Limnology (the study of inland waters) with emphasis on small water bodies such as ponds as well as environmental DNA collection from water bodies.

Physics and Mathematics

Geeth Ongle

Geeth Ongle

Topics: Black holes, quantum gravity, gravity

Roughly 100 years ago, Einstein came up with a new theory of gravity that succeeded all the previous ones. Apart from explaining everything with more accuracy it also had some remarkable predictions. One of them is the existence of Black holes. Despite all the criticism, we observed these exotic objects with the help of Gravitational waves in 2015. Recently we were also able to take a picture of a Black hole that is a million times heavier than our sun. Although our understanding of these objects has grown by leaps and bounds in these 100 years, we do not have a clear understanding of what happens inside a black hole. It is believed that we need a theory of quantum gravity to understand these regions. Although unfortunately, we do not have such a theory, scientists have been using semi-classical methods to study the interior of a black hole. My research is focused on these aspects

Duncan Miertschin

Duncan Miertschin

Topics: Materials, lasers, magnets

Duncan Miertschin is a second year graduate student in physics specializing in material science using pulse laser deposition, nano magnetic structures, and laser spectroscopy both in the Ferroic Systems lab with Dr. Alan Farhan and the Materials in Extreme Environments lab with Dr. David Hilton. Duncan received his undergraduate degree in physics from West Texas A&M University in Canyon, where he still collaborated with his old advisor. He hopes that his research and outreach can help make people’s lives easier with faster and more efficient technology as well as better ways to produce and store renewal energy.

Psychology and Neuroscience

We do not currently have Active Presenters from this semester. We may again in a future semester. Thank you for your understanding!

Statistical Sciences

We do not currently have Active Presenters from this semester. We may again in a future semester. Thank you for your understanding!