Senior Independent Study Theses from 2026
Voluntary Exercise does not Impact Hippocampal or Amygdala Function as Measured in a Middle-Aged Rodent Model, Joe Ahmann
Department: Neuroscience
A Transcriptional Investigation of the Complex and Elusive Etiology of Pain in Schwannomatosis., Chrissa L. Baldy
Department: Neuroscience
Behind Closed Doors: Do Pornographic Habits Predict Ejaculate Parameters and Desensitization?, Anaya L. Brady
Department: Neuroscience
Investigating the Neuroanatomical and Behavioral Consequences of Motherhood, Laila Burrell
Department: Neuroscience
Examining Reproductive Health Through a Neuroimmune Lens: Microglial Activity in the Rat Dentate Gyrus, Annabelle L. Buyck
Department: Neuroscience
Coping Through Unpredictability: Physiological, Morphological, and Behavioral Consequences of Unpredictable Feeding in Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata), Flynn Robert Cowie
Department: Neuroscience
A Deeper Connection Between Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases? How GBA Silencing in Drosophila Impacts Tau-Mediated Alzheimer’s Pathology, Zane A. DeMercurio
Department: Neuroscience
Cognitive and Neural Markers of Executive Control and Vigilance in OSA-Symptomatic Young Adults, Elissa Halpin
Department: Neuroscience
Intrinsic Memorability of Music: An Investigation of Recall and Recognition in Musicians and Non-Musicians, Jacob K. Hankin
Department: Neuroscience
Examining the relationship between Nab2 expression and Tau abundance in a tauopathy model of D. melanogaster, Katie V. Haynes
Department: Neuroscience
The Effects of Binge-Drinking on Memory and Attention, Cianán Hensley
Department: Neuroscience
Enteric Glial-Vascular Interactions in the Murine Intestine across Postnatal Development, Maryam O. Jimoh
Department: Neuroscience
Integration of Spatial Transcriptomic Mouse Brain Atlases to Characterize Interneurons in the Hippocampus, Natalie Katzenmeyer
Department: Neuroscience
Yoga and the Improvement of Manual Dexterity in Individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Rye J. Kral
Department: Neuroscience
The Production Effect on Memory is Located at Memory Encoding and Memory Retrieval: An ERP Study, Alexis A. Kulin
Department: Neuroscience
A Bayesian Pragmatics Account of Common Ground: Behavioral and EEG/ERP Evidence, Shui Mauser
Department: Mathematics; Neuroscience
Examining the Effects of Tau-mediated Neurodegeneration on CircRNA Formation, Mckinnon Mead
Department: Neuroscience
Role of the Anti-Inflammatory Cytokine IL-10 in Fear Learning, Ruhee Mehta
Department: Neuroscience
The Effects of Chronic Blue Light and Exercise on Learning, Memory, and Anxiety Behaviors, Sophia Mellis
Department: Neuroscience
Weekly Yoga on Working Memory and Symptomology of ADHD, Lilly Moody
Department: Neuroscience
The Relationship Between Autonomic Functioning and Cognitive Functioning Using the COMPASS-31 as a Measure of Autonomic Functioning, Kaz Newell
Department: Neuroscience
“From Reflexes to Reasoning”: Hierarchical Emergence of Decision-Making in Multi-level Agent-Based System, Huy Phan
Department: Computer Science; Neuroscience
The Role of Tau and the RNA-Binding Protein Nab2 on Cholinergic Degeneration in GAL4-UAS Drosophila melanogaster Models, Bhumika Ramesh
Department: Neuroscience
Fear engrams are formed in the Locus Coeruleus under Contextual Fear Conditioning, Mako Shimizu
Department: Neuroscience
The Effects of Different Types of Light at Night on Learning and Memory, Brynne Snaguski
Department: Neuroscience
Sensory Embodiment Response to Visual Metaphors of Varying Context Lengths, Soren L. Stover
Department: Neuroscience
Have You Tried Yoga?: The Wellness Effects of a Yoga Intervention on Young Adults with ADHD, Dov Wallack
Department: Neuroscience
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2025
Risky Brains, Risky Behavior: Exploring Adolescent Alcohol Use Through Neuroscience, Angel Asamoah
Department: Neuroscience
Neural Responses to Disturbances of Musical Phrase in Musicians and Non-Musicians: An ERP Study, Emma Barnard
Department: Neuroscience
The Effects of a 5-HT1A Receptor Agonist on Fear Memory Recall, Jayden A. Barr
Department: Neuroscience
Evaluating the crosstalk of Amyloid-β Oligomers, Glutamate and Neurofibrillary Tangles in Alzheimer’s Disease using a Boolean Model, Guinevieve Beatrice Beecher
Department: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Neuroscience
Synthetic Hormones and the Female Brain: A Neurobiological Study of Oral Contraceptive Effects on Memory and Plasticity, Rishika Daruwala
Department: Biology; Computer Science; Mathematics; Neuroscience; Psychology; Statistical and Data Sciences
Sex Differences, Brain Activity, and the Role of Childhood Maltreatment in Borderline Personality Disorder, Amaya Day
Department: Neuroscience; Psychology
A Drosophila Model of Neurodegeneration: The Effects Of Nab2, An RNA-Binding Protein, On Tau Dependent Circadian Rhythm Phenotypes, Isabelle Lucille Dwyer
Department: Neuroscience
Investigation on Acute Subjective Sleep Quality's Impact on Default Mode Network Activity and Creativity, Somarr Elliott
Department: Neuroscience
The Effects of an 8-Week Yoga Intervention on Young Adults with ADHD, Sofia Fazazi
Department: Neuroscience
Investigating Nab2’s Interactions with the Spliceosomal Protein SmB, Logan Dean Fickes
Department: Neuroscience
A Critical Examination of the Underutilization of Occupational Therapy in the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Motor Disorders: Parkinson’s Disease and Atypical Parkinsonism, Cassandra E. Frangella
Department: Neuroscience
The Impact of Partial Loss of Rrp40 Function on Drosophila Larvae Locomotion: A Model for Pontocerebellar Hypoplasia Type 1b, Ruth Getachew
Department: Neuroscience
ADHD-like Behaviors Across the Rat Estrous Cycle, Ari H. Machurov
Department: Neuroscience
The Influence of the Microbiome: An Analysis of the Immune System Response to External Pathogens, Kaitlyn McBride
Department: Neuroscience
Effects of 5-HT1A Receptor Activation on Fear Memory Acquisition, Elijah Meredith
Department: Neuroscience
Man, Machine, or Something in Between? The Effects of Induced Emotions and Advisor Identity on AI Utilization, Zachary Napora
Department: Neuroscience
The Benefits of Montessori: A Study on the Effects of Montessori Education and Psychological Well-Being on Age-Related Episodic Memory Loss, Maddie O'Brian
Department: Neuroscience
Phylogenetic Relationships of Voltage-Gated Ion Channels and Their Links to Epilepsy-Associated Genes, Antriksh Poogalia
Department: Neuroscience
Sex Differences in Decision-Making Following a Concussion Among Collegiate Athletes, Abbey Quick
Department: Neuroscience
A TRAPped & DREADD-ed Memory: A Chemogenetic and Pharmacological Approach to Understanding the Role of the Dorsal Hippocampal Engram and 5-HT1A Receptors in Fear Memory, Alexis Sarne
Department: Neuroscience
Nicotine and the Nucleus Accumbens: A DREADDs Study of Conditioned Place Preference in a Mouse Model of Addiction, Caroline Seaman
Department: Neuroscience
Perfectionism and Past Trauma: Predictors of Eating Disorder Risk in College Students, Haku Yamane
Department: Neuroscience
Identifying the Physical Interaction between the RNA Binding Protein, Nab2, and the Nuclear RNA Exosome, Andre Yazhbin
Department: Neuroscience
Ethanol-Induced Conditioned-Place Preference Reveals Alcohol-Seeking Engram Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area and Centrally-Projecting Edinger-Westphal Nucleus, Mariam Zayour
Department: Neuroscience
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2024
Effects of Gap Junction Deletion on Seizure Severity and Sleep in Drosophila melanogaster: Implications for Epilepsy in Humans, Chamari Abercrombie
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
How Deep Can a Tattoo Go? The Perceptual Processing of Tattooed Individuals Through the Lens of College Students, Alona Abufarha
Department: Neuroscience
The Effects of Magnesium on Alcohol Intake and Locomotor Sensitization in Mice, Selali Adjoa Blege
Department: Neuroscience
Morphological Measurements of Vision in Juvenile Carolina Grasshoppers, Liliana Burlingame
Department: Neuroscience
Differentiating the Effects of Androgenic and Anti-Androgenic Oral Contraceptives on Rodent Behavior, Rachael N. Dudziak
Department: Neuroscience
Genetic Interactions Between Disease Prone RNA Binding Proteins in Drosophila Melanogaster, Andrew Nicholas Esber
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
Effects of a 5-HT1A Receptor Agonist in Contextual Fear Memory, Lindsi N. Filippi
Department: Neuroscience
She Means Business: Investigating Name-Race Biases Towards Black American Women in the Job Market on Its Impact on The Semantic Processing of Job Prestige, Munesu H. Kuzanga
Department: Neuroscience
The Effects of Benfotiamine on Motor Impairment in a 6-OHDA Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease, Aymane Lachhab
Department: Neuroscience
Adaptive Responses to Unpredictable Feeding: Exploring Metabolic Adaptations, Glucocorticoid Dynamics, and Body Mass Modulations, Tudor Lungu
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
"I’ve Seen It All!”: The Effects of Clinical Empathy on the Other-Race Effect, Eden Netz
Department: Neuroscience
If You Give a Mouse a Virus: An Investigation of the Role of the Dorsal Hippocampus in Anxiety-Like Behavior through DREADDs, Hannah Ollech
Department: Neuroscience
Music is More Than a Hobby: The Efficacy of Music as a Form of Stress Reduction, Emily Pistorova
Department: Neuroscience
A Study of Antidepressive Impacts After Dextromethorphan Administration in a Learned Helplessness Rodent Model, Adam Romano
Department: Neuroscience
Neuroscience and Public Health: Exploring the Neuroscience of Motivation and Consumption as a Tool for Developing Food Desert Interventions, Tyara Thompson
Department: Neuroscience
Investigating How Multiple Concussions Affect Executive Functioning in Young Adults, Nick Tress
Department: Neuroscience
Boolean Modeling and Microglial Matters: Replicating Microglial Behavior in Inflammation and Testing Model Validity, Nina Sahita Reddy Yeduguri Sandinti
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
Short-Term vs Long-Term Effects of DREADDs in the Mouse Motor Cortex, Christa Zianni
Department: Neuroscience
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2023
Axon Pathfinding in Drosophila melanogaster Wing Sensory Neurons, Jade Baek
Department: Neuroscience
Do You Get Déjà Vu? Examining the Effects of Context and Time on Contextual Generalization in a Mouse Model of PTSD, Natalie Ibrahim Belle
Department: Neuroscience
It's the Little Things in (a Grasshopper's) Life: How the Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina) Visually Signals to Conspecifics While Minimizing Predation Risk, Claire Campbell
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
Prognostic Factors Related to Meningioma Growth: A Meta-Analysis, David Dotson
Department: Neuroscience
On the Interaction Between Tau and Nab2 Proteins: Implication on AD, Mahmoud ElAchwah
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
Heart Rate Recovery of DIII Collegiate Soccer Players: Potential Effects of Biological Sex and Time Period, Theodora Farson
Department: Neuroscience
The Role of CB1 Receptors in the Antidepressant Effects of Sleep Deprivation Therapy in Rats, María Dolores Ferreira
Department: Neuroscience
Instating Natural Reward-Induced Conditioned Place Preference in C57BL/6J Mice, Sydney Fitzcharles
Department: Neuroscience
An Overworked Powerhouse: A Boolean Model of Mitochondrial Dysfunction Associated Senescence in the Context of Aging Microglia, Katherine H. Fleig
Department: Neuroscience
Beyond the Body: The Effects of Creatine Monohydrate Supplementation on Anxiety Through the Elevated Plus Maze, Max Glass
Department: Neuroscience
Stressed Out and Struggling to Concentrate: The Relationship Between Cortisol Reactivity and Cognitive Control in College Students, Katiasofia Gonzales
Department: Neuroscience
The Development of an ADHD Treatment Application, Nour Kherfi
Department: Neuroscience
The Effect of Innexin Mutations on Seizure Recovery in Drosophila Melanogaster Model of Epilepsy, Isabel Manche
Department: Neuroscience
Analyzing the Effects of DNT1 on the overproduction of Tau within Drosophila Melanogaster, Malik J. Moore
Department: Neuroscience
Investigation of the Other-Race Effect and Other-Race Classification Advantage in Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces, Kimberly Nguyen
Department: Neuroscience
Greedy Gamblers and Bayesian Bandits: A Quantitative ERP, EEG, and Behavioral Analysis of the Iowa State Gambling Task, Noah Pounds
Department: Neuroscience
“What’s in a name?”: How Just the Word “Autism” affects Autism Stigma, Allison Elnora Ringold
Department: German Studies; Neuroscience
Can We Reverse Aging? Using Cognitive Training in Rodents to Enhance Overall Cognitive Performance, Sarah Snider
Department: Neuroscience
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2022
Decreased Expression Of Innate Immune Response Rel/Nf-Kb Transcription Factor Genes Relish And Dif In Cholinergic Neurons Alter Sleep Patterns In Drosophila Melanogaster., Kayla Audette
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
Tau Masks Sleep Differences Found In High And Low Expression Of Drosophila Neurotrophin 1, Nathaniel James Berle
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
Tau Masks Sleep Differences Found In High And Low Expression Of Drosophila Neurotrophin 1., Nathaniel James Berle
Department: Neuroscience
Are The Eyes The Window To The Soul? An Investigation Into The Importance The Eyes Play In Emotion Recognition, Katherine A. Billetdeaux
Department: Neuroscience
Studying The Effect Of The RNA-Binding Domain And Expression Level Of Nab2 On Tau-Mediated Neurodegeneration In The Fruit Fly, Drosophila Melanogaster, William C. Bodary
Department: Neuroscience; Biology
The Sound Of Study: Examining The Effect Of Music On Attention, Learning, And Memory, Elly H. Ciesinski
Department: Neuroscience
Time Flies: An Analysis Of Circadian Impact Upon Cell Cycle Regulation Using Boolean Modeling And A Developmental Drosophila Model, Emma Elizabeth Davidson
Department: Neuroscience
Building Resistance: An Examination Of Characteristics And Mechanisms Of Alzheimer's Disease And Intervention Methods Which Can Provide Resilience Against Alzheimer's Pathology, Marc R. Dehoorne
Department: Neuroscience
Dance Dance Evolution: Investigating The Effects Of Dance On Cognitive Inhibition Functions, Olivia Gates Friedman
Department: Neuroscience
Analyzing A Possible Role Of Nab2 RNA Binding Protein In Regulating Transposition In D. Melanogaster, Seokyoung Ji
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
The Effect Of Perceived Loneliness On Oxytocin Levels In Humans Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic, Kelsea Johnston and Sharon Lynn
Department: Biology; Neuroscience
The Effects Of Venlafaxine And Voluntary Exercise On Chronic Unpredictable Stress Induced Anxiety, Marly McGowan
Department: Neuroscience
Developing Yeast As A Cellular Based Neurotransmitter Flourescently Engineered Reporter (Cnifer) For Acetylcholine, William Valentine McMichael
Department: Neuroscience