PUMA-STEM Summer 2021 Faculty Research Descriptions

Biology:

Name of Mentor: Jim Fackenthal, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Department of Biological Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Students in the Fackenthal group study regulation of tumor suppressor genes at the level of alternate mRNA splicing. Students will use cancer and non-cancer derived tissue culture cells to learn basic cell culture techniques, end-point and quantitative RT-PCR, ELISA, and flow cytometry. We explore the effects of DNA damage repair pathways and epigenetic genomic modifications on regulation of alternative splicing, cancer risk models, and therapy outcome predictions.

Research could be in-person or remote at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: Leigh Anne Harden, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Department of Biological Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Harden Lab conducts integrative ecological research on reptiles and amphibians (herps). Our lab’s central research questions revolve around of how these organisms function and interact with their increasingly modified environment, by studying them on a physiological, behavioral, and spatial/temporal level. We use field-intensive (e.g. aquatic surveys) and laboratory-based (e.g. ELISAs, microscopy) approaches to investigate how abiotic factors influence the physiology, behavior, and habitat preferences of herps, with applications to their conservation and management.

Research would be in-person/field research at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: Tiara Perez Morales, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Department of Biological Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Undergraduate students in the Perez Morales lab research cell-cell communication or quorum sensing pathways present in Lactobacillus sp., a commensal microorganism of the gastrointestinal tract. Our focus is to determine how these quorum sensing pathways affect Lactobacillus sp. social behavior in vitro. Currently, our research projects provide students with knowledge in general microbiology techniques, bacterial genetics, cloning, 96- well transcriptional and phenotypic assays, RNA preparation, RT-PCR and qRT-PCR.

Research would be in-person at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: Jayashree Sarathy, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Department of Biological Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Sarathy lab works on two main projects involving how bile salts affect the physiology of colon cells. In the first project, a student will work with colon cancer cell line and study the effect of various primary and secondary bile acids on paracellular permeability (in-person). The second project will work on a case study to highlight the importance of having an epithelial barrier and how bile acids in excess can compromise this barrier as seen in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (remote).

Research could be in-person or remote at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: Scott Kreher, PhD Institution: Dominican University Department: Department of Biological Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Kreher lab’s research is focused on the genetic basis of behavior. Our specific research goal is to investigate the molecular, genetic and cellular basis of the sense of smell, using the fruit fly, Drosophilia melanogaster, as a model system. The sense of smell, or olfaction, is crucial for animals to find food, avoid predators and to find potential mates. Understanding the sense of smell is a fundamental question in neuroscience, as it relates to the mechanisms by which stimuli are coded by the sensory nervous system. It is especially worthwhile to investigate the basis of olfaction in insects, since pest insects use their sense of smell to find crops and blood- feeding insects use their sense of smell to find crops and blood-feeding use their sense of smell to find their hosts. We use various approaches in our research, such as classical genetics, molecular biology and behavioral analysis.

Name of Mentor: Irina Calin-Jageman, PhD, Robert Calin-Jageman, PhD Institution: Dominican University Department: Department of Biological Sciences, Department of Psychology i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Calin-Jageman lab’s research interests focus on the regulation of gene expression in the central nervous system. Understanding the biological mechanisms of memory is an important goal in neuroscience and fundamental to understanding how nervous systems adapt behavior to novel conditions. Specifically, we study the transcriptional changes that accompany the maintenance and decay of long-term memory in the simple marine mollusk, Aplysia californica. Our research program integrates multiple methodologies, including bioinformatics, cell culture, molecular biology, and biochemistry.

Name of Mentor: Christopher Anderson, PhD Institution: Dominican University Department: Department of Biological Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Anderson lab’s research interests include ecology, evolution, and behavior found in natural systems. Our primary study subjects are insects in the order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies). Our field sites have included locations in the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (Illinois) and at the Sinsinawa Mound Center (Wisconsin). Our studies have included biodiversity surveys, documenting internal and external parasite prevalence & intensity, and experimental investigations of reproductive and territorial behavior. While primarily field based, our research group’s laboratory approaches have included population genetic studies (e.g. microsatellite development and analysis), laboratory dissections, and image analysis.

Name of Mentor: Zomary Flores-Cruz, Ph.D. Institution: Dominican University Department: Department of Biological Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Both pathogenic and beneficial microbes utilize similar molecular “toolkits” to colonize and interact with their respective hosts. Likewise, eukaryotic hosts engage identical responses to both beneficial and pathogenic partners. Although beneficial microbes are necessary for host development, biology and health, most research has focused on pathogenic interactions. The Flores-Cruz lab’s research interests lie in understanding how beneficial host-microbe interactions are established and maintained. Currently, we examine the role reactive oxygen species (ROS) play in the beneficial Vibrio fischeri-Hawaiian Bobtail squid model system. Undergraduate students in the Flores-Cruz laboratory generate mutant strains in different oxidative stress response genes to determine their role in ROS stress response and symbiotic fitness. To test the role in oxidative stress response, mutant strains are exposed to different ROS and compare growth and survival to the wild-type strain. In addition, biochemical tests are performed to quantify oxidative damage and ROS generation and consumption.

Name of Mentor: Dr. Amy Hebert Institution: Elmhurst University Department: Biology i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. In our lab we are exploring the role of inflammation and how it can affect learning and memory. We use the model organism C. elegans, which is a small nematode, to examine how exposure to inflammation changes various aspects of learning and memory such as gene expression, cell abundance, and synaptic function. Our hope is that exploring the impact of inflammation on learning and memory, it can further our understanding of how neurodegenerative diseases work.

Name of Mentor: Dr. Patrick Mineo Institution: Elmhurst University Department: Biology i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Climate change is already affecting biodiversity and these effects will continue to intensify. Because temperature affects biological processes at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of organization, organisms that allow their body temperature to change with the temperature of the environment (e.g. insects, fish, amphibians and reptiles) are particularly vulnerable to global climate change. My research aims to understand how these organisms can tolerate or adapt to climate change by investigating the molecular, cellular, and organismal responses to both short-term and long-term changes in environmental temperature in amphibians and reptiles.

Name of Mentor: Dr. Kelly Mikenas Institution: Elmhurst University Department: Biology/Environmental Studies i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Green technologies, such as green roofs, can help to support local plants and animals that have lost their habitats due to agriculture and urbanization. However, it can be difficult to establish plants on green roofs because they tend to be very hot, dry, and windy. Elmhurst University installed a 4000 square foot green roof on top of its student center building in the Fall of 2019. Currently, the plants on the green roof are non-native succulent species but a selection of local native species with the potential to survive in harsh conditions will be added in the spring of 2021. This research project will test the hypotheses that although green roofs are habitats with harsher microclimates than ground-level locations, they can still support local plant species with drought-tolerant traits. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. The student must be comfortable working outdoors and in a variety of climatic conditions. Data collection for this project will take place outdoors and is somewhat physically- demanding. The student will need to pick up and carry heavy trays filled with soil and plants and occasionally carry supplies up and down a 3-story ladder. Data collection can be dirty and conditions on the roof can get very hot during the summer months. Insects, including honey bees will likely be present. Familiarity with the Microsoft office suite, particularly Excel, is needed as is an internet connection to work on remote data analysis. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Research will be conducted in person and online. The student should plan on tending to plants and collecting data on campus 1-3 days per week. Data collection will occur both in a garden and on a green roof. Data interpretation and analysis will occur virtually.

Name of Mentor: Mallory A. Havens, Ph.D. Institution: Lewis University Department: Biology

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. This is an interdisciplinary project between chemistry and biology. We are synthesizing ligands that reduce the production of reactive oxygen species in an attempt to reduce neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. We are in the stage of this project where we have proven the effectiveness of the ligands in vitro. The research student will work on validating the effectiveness of the ligands in vivo using C. elegans. The student will treat healthy C. elegans and those expressing the human Amyloid-Beta protein associated with Alzheimer’s with the ligands and monitor worm mobility and lifespan. The worms live for approximately 21 days.

ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. The student should be proficient with a microscope and be willing to learn how to handle C. elegans.

iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Research will be conducted in person at Lewis University with weekly lab meetings online.

Name of Mentor: Margaret Gill Institution: North Central College Department: Neuroscience i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Gill lab is interested in how neural changes due to rearing environment alter rat’s susceptibility to drug addiction. Rearing environment causes neural changes that produce a “protective effect.” By discovering what these neural changes are, the hope is to develop pharmacological treatments that target those areas in the future. The goal of the summer 2021 study is to investigate changes to a glutamatergic pathway from the basolateral amygdala (BLA) to the nucleus accumbens shell (NAshell), and determine how this pathway is altered following differential rearing, impacting susceptibility to cocaine addiction. Rats will be reared in enriched, impoverished or social conditions for 30 days, and will then undergo the self-administration. Prior to cocaine reinstatement, rats will be receiving infusions of an AMPA antagonist into the BLA. We hypothesize that BLA inactivation will attenuate drug seeking behavior in impoverished rats to levels found in enriched rats following reinstatement.

Key project duties • Handling rodents daily • Daily care and housing of rodents • Conduct self-administration including flushing catheters, connecting catheters to operant chambers and running self-administration computer program • Learning and conducting micro-infusions in rat • Data analysis • Slicing, plating, and staining brains • Checking brain slices for cannula placements • Presenting data at summer research symposium ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. • Comfortable working with rodents • Successfully completed a neuroscience, physiological psychology, biopsychology course, or a course that covers neural communication in that brain. • Weekday and Weekend availability (weekends rotate between lab members)

iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Research will be conducted in person at North Central College, and will include all aspects of animal research and care. A proposed schedule is included below. Week Primary Experiment Secondary Experiments Spring Term 32 rats will arrive in the lab and reared in EC, IC or SC conditions for 30 days (not the responsibility of the PUMA- STEM student) Week 1 24 rats undergo When not conducting self- catheterization and administration and animal cannulation surgery care, students will learn to Week 2 Rats Recover & Sucrose slice brains, plating, staining, Training and determining cannula Week 3 Self-administration placements Week 4 Self-Administration Week 5 Self-administration & Extinction Week 6 Extinction Week 7 Extinction & Reinstatement Week 8 Reinstatement & Data Analysis

Name of Mentor: Michael T. Stefanik Institution: North Central College Department: Psychology and Neuroscience i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Over the last decade, prescription opioid abuse and dependence has increased to epidemic levels. In 2014 alone, more than 10 million people reported non- medical use of prescription opioids, and there were approximately 19 thousand overdose deaths (NIDA 2017). A prominent contributor to this trend is oxycodone (Oxy), a semisynthetic opioid analgesic that is the most widely prescribed opioid painkiller. My lab is interested in understanding the neurobiological basis for the progressive intensification of craving for drugs of abuse following prolonged periods of abstinence. This intensification (or “incubation”) is seen in both human and animal models for multiple drugs of abuse including cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and nicotine. However, it has not been studied for oxycodone. In my lab, we train rats to self-administer the drug in an operant chamber, and then utilize a variety of behavior, pharmacological, and biochemical techniques to examine the molecular changes that take place in the brain’s reward system. Current projects in the lab center around examining changes in excitatory signaling in the brain that are shown for other drugs to play a role in relapse to drug seeking. Specifically, do the brain’s major family of excitatory neurotransmitter receptors (AMPA receptors) change in a similar fashion following oxycodone self- administration and abstinence to what is observed for other addictive substances? My previous work has shown that these persistent behavioral alterations following cocaine self-administration led to a dysregulation of protein synthesis (specifically key AMPA receptor subunits) in reward-related brain regions like the nucleus accumbens (NAc). It is not known if similar dysregulation occurs following exposure to oxycodone, and if it does, if the fundamental mechanisms that regulate translation are impacted. Importantly, my previously published work has shown that translational regulatory machinery operates differently in the NAc, so it is important from a fundamental perspective to study how these operate in both health and disease. Over the past three years, we have established a behavioral paradigm to train the animals to take oxycodone. Now, we utilize this to look at state and changes in AMPA receptor translation at various time points following drug use and examine the molecular mechanisms that contribute to their differential expression. All students are instructed in how to handle, care for and train the rats in the self-administration procedure. Then, depending on their personal interests/course background, they then are assigned a variety of molecular/biochemical studies to examine the consequences of drug exposure on the brain. Techniques they can be trained in include immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, immunoprecipitation, non-canonical metabolic labeling (BONCAT, FUNCAT), proximity ligation assays (PLA), viral pathway tracing, and in vivo optogenetics. These techniques are a combination of fundamental neuroscience lab skills and cutting-edge tools to examine brain structure and function. Together, this broad training that spans behavior to biochemistry and molecular biology positions students well to succeed in graduate or professional schooling in the future. i. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Students must have completed at least an introductory-level neuroscience course in order to be considered for a position. Additional course work in biology, chemistry, and neuroscience are encouraged. A willingness and ability to work with rats is a imperative. ii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). My research, as it involves training animals, will be conducted in person. We have purchased additional PPE for researchers, and all students are assigned their own lab coat, face shield, and supply of nitrile gloves and disposable face masks. Students will be paired up with one individual to minimize exposure. Wet lab experiments will be conducted in a socially-distanced manner. Additional bi-weekly lab meetings and individual meetings will be held virtually as a safety precaution.

Name of Mentor: Joanna Weremijewicz Institution: North Central College Department: Biology i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. This summer, our lab will be working on one of the oldest questions in plant ecology – when are plant interactions competitive and why? Our lab works to answer this question from the perspective of symbiotic, root-inhabiting fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and their effect on the tallgrass prairie species Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii). AM fungi have associated with plants for 460 million years (Redecker et al., 2000) and impact plant nutrition, defenses, and survival. They exchange nutrients like phosphorus that they obtained from the soil for sugars and fats provided by their plant hosts. While foraging for nutrients in the soil, the fungi likely encounter other root systems and colonize them, thereby connecting the plants belowground in “common mycorrhizal networks” or CMNs.

This summer, our project will investigate if CMNs or roots have stronger effects on competition for mineral nutrients between plants. When plants are interconnected, the fungi ultimately divide up the mineral nutrients they obtained from the soil. My research has found that the largest plants ultimately obtain the most mineral nutrients (Weremijeiwcz and Janos, 2013; Weremijewicz et al. 2015). But, this was in the absence of root interactions. In this experiment, we will have plants interacting via CMNs only or roots and CMNs in microcosms. Our control treatment will be absolutely no belowground interactions because we will sever CMNs and prevent root overalp. We will measure plant height throughout the experiment, and measure biomass, root colonization, and mineral nutrients in leaf tissues at the end of the experiment to piece together if plants were competing via CMNs and for which mineral nutrients. This project will require maintenance (keeping the plants alive and imposing severing CMNs), collecting leaf length measurements to track plant growth, and inputting leaf length measurements into Excel. In our “down time”, we will meet to discuss AM fungi and read peer-reviewed literature. We will also spend time statistically analyzing our leaf length measurements when we collect them to gather an understanding of how the plants are responding to treatment. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Students should have an interest in working with plants, although no experience is necessary. Students should be responsible and self-motivated. Occasionally, this work calls for some repetitive work, such as measuring the height of hundreds of plants, so it is best if students are prepared iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). I intend to conduct the summer research mostly in person with the exception of potential journal club-like meetings being online, depending on the status of the pandemic. Most of the work will take place in a greenhouse facility and laboratory, but the occasional field work is a possibility. Chemistry:

Name of Mentor: Brooks Maki, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Physical Sciences

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Organic Chemistry Synthesis of a Bridged Heterocycle Library: Inspired by the novel structure of Lycojaponicumin A, we are investigating and developing a dipolar cycloaddition reaction to allow synthetic access to analogs of the novel structure of the naturally occurring compound, Lycojaponicumin A, which is isolated from a club moss found in China. Molecules of this nature have been relatively unexplored, but show some activity as anti-inflammatory compounds. Creating a viable synthesis of these bridged heterocycles will allow further medicinal study. Students should have completed at least one semester of Organic Chemistry, and have some familiarity with organic chemistry lab techniques (separation, distillation, chromatography).

Research would take place in-person at the organic synthesis lab at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: David Rubush, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Physical Sciences

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Rubush Lab conducts medicinal and organic chemistry research to create new organic molecules that investigate the following areas: cancer, malaria, bacterial quorum sensing and irritable bowel syndrome. Undergraduate researchers use organic chemistry techniques to synthesize, purify and characterize novel organic molecules, which are tested for biological activity by research collaborators. The research in my lab relies heavily on skills developed in organic chemistry lab. Students should have successfully completed organic chemistry 1 and 2 lectures and labs.

Research would be in-person at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: Amartya Chakrabarti, PhD Institution: Dominican University Department: Department of Physical Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Nanotechnology deals with development, characterization, and application of nano- dimensional materials in diverse fields including energy, electronics, space, and medicine. Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials are emerging as materials of immense interests due to their unique electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Among a variety of 2D nanomaterials, graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and many transitional metal sulfides are particularly useful in energy applications. Chakrabarti’s research is focused on developing methodology to synthesize 2D metal sulfide-based nanomaterials using a hydrothermal route. Hydrothermal synthesis involves high pressure synthesis of crystalline materials in aqueous medium. The influence of incorporating surfactant molecules in the reactant mixture and variation of polarity of the solvent system on product morphology is currently being investigated in Chakrabarti’s research laboratories.

Name of Mentor: Álvaro Castillo, Ph.D. Institution: Elmhurst University Department: Chemistry & Biochemistry i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Ozonolysis of alkenes is a very useful and well understood reaction. Curiously enough this process for alkynes is not well known or comprehended. This project aims to change that by using quantum mechanical calculations to help elucidate the reaction mechanism for the ozonolysis of alkynes. We expect to create a complete reaction energy diagram by means of computations and simulations and to rewrite organic chemistry textbooks. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Familiarity with general chemistry ideas: thermochemistry, Gibbs energy and reaction mechanisms. Basic proficiency on using computers and how to troubleshoot software problems using the internet. Skills needed to carry out the computations/simulations will be acquired during the research experience. Having take Organic Chemistry I is a plus but is not required. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Calculations will be carried out by a dedicated machine (accessed remotely); thus, the project can be carried out online 100%. However, if the interested parties prefer to have in person meetings, this can be done. In other words, the modality will be decided in accordance with the preferences of both the student researched and the advisor.

Name of Mentor: Duy (Zoey) Hua Institution: Elmhurst University Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. This summer research project is a continuation of previous projects in which structural differences between multiple antigen-binding fragments (Fabs) are quantified. The student will mine the Protein Data Bank for amino acid sequences and X-ray crystallography structures of the Fabs. Then, the student will utilize computational tools such as ClustalW (for amino acid sequence alignment) and PyMol (for structural alignment and measurements). At the end of the project, the student will have data tables reflecting quantified differences and figures displaying these differences in structures to share in presentations. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. The student will receive training on using computational tools. However, the first-semester knowledge of Biochemistry (i.e. knowledge of protein structure and function) as well as a willingness to learn new methods are required. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). This project can be completed remotely/online.

Name of Mentor: Sharada Buddha Institution: Saint Xavier University Department: Chemistry i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Title: Accelerated degradation studies of Triclosan in antibacterial products. This is a continuation of the project studying the safety of Triclosan and its substitutes in the environment. The excessive use of disinfectants due to Covid-19 is a concern about the environmental fates of these molecules. Though triclosan was banned it has been used in some cleaning products like the 2x Dawn Dish Detergent as an example. Therefore, we plan on setting up accelerated degradation studies of the molecule Triclosan as a control and several products that use Triclosan. The studies will be conducted using GC-MS and LC-MS, both if which are available at SXU. If the project needs to be remote, we will use some already known degradation products and study safety of these chemicals using databases like ToxNet, EPA regulations and NEIHS databases alongside molecular modeling. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Generally, an interest in environmental chemistry, knowledge of analytical chemistry and higher chemistries is an advantage.

Name of Mentor: James J Kiddle Institution: Saint Xavier University Department: Chemistry i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Pandemics increase specific drug use in a given region for specific periods, resulting in sharp increases in that drug’s load in wastewaters. Some of these events are reported, but continuous monitoring of these events is highly variable due to pandemics’ unpredictability. In light of the highly publicized use of chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir it would be expected that numerous regions of the world will see a spike in their concentrations in wastewater. Therefore, active removal of these compounds from contaminated water is essential. To accomplish the removal of these compounds using advanced oxidation processes, used in water treatment, it is vital to have a complete understanding of the radical kinetics and reaction mechanisms. In this study, we will determine the absolute second-order rate constants for these three compounds, as well as similar compounds that increase in use, and their potential metabolites that are expected to occur in wastewater and their impact on the environment.

This project has components that can be completed remotely. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. The student should have completed at least one semester of organic chemistry, completion of the two-semester course is preferred.

Name of Mentor: James J Kiddle Institution: Saint Xavier University Department: Chemistry i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Electronic cigarettes continue to gain popularity among adults with one in twenty U.S. adults currently using some form of electronic nicotine delivery system (e-cigarette). It is commonly perceived that the use of e-cigarettes is less harmful than traditional forms of tobacco use. However, the human health effects of e-cigarettes require detailed evaluation, particularly in view of recent reports that they generate significant levels of highly reactive free radicals. Based on the established importance of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS) in oxidative stress, tissue damage and inflammation, our research focuses on characterizing the ROS and RNS species present in e-cigarette liquids, determining their, reactivity and elucidating the fate of these radicals in these complex e-cigarette liquids and connecting these data to the harmful effects of e-cigarettes.

This project has components that can be completed remotely. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. The student should have completed at least one semester of organic chemistry, completion of the two-semester course is preferred.

Name of Mentor: James J Kiddle Institution: Saint Xavier University Department: Chemistry i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The absorption of ionizing radiation by matter typically promotes ionization and electronic excitation followed by a cascade of chemical events, ultimately changing the chemical identity of the absorbing species and its surrounding environment. However, there are a number of chemical species that demonstrate enhanced stability and/or radioprotection mechanisms, rendering them more resistant to the effects of radiation. These mechanisms are not fully understood. Fundamentally, understanding these mechanisms provides insight into the evolution of life, especially on our own planet, where the assembly of complex biological molecules and systems occurred in the presence of an intense solar/cosmic radiation field. From an applied stand point, understanding radiation resistance aids in the design and development of pharmaceuticals that could serve as radioprotective agents in radiation therapy for cancer patients. Radioprotective agents, although studied, have not reached a level of providing the field of medicine with an agent that conforms to all criteria of optimal radioprotection, including effectiveness, toxicity, availability, specificity and tolerance. These deficits in therapies warrant the further development of chemical and molecular pharmacological agents that could be effective in protection and treatment of radiation damage to surrounding normal tissues in radiotherapy and unplanned radiation exposure. It is presumed that the molecules created in this project will guide the understanding of the radioprotective mechanism of organophosphorus compounds and drive the identification of lead structures to address an unmet need in medicine.

This project has components that can be completed remotely.

ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. The student should have completed at least one semester of organic chemistry, completion of the two-semester course is preferred.

Engineering, Computer, and Mathematical Sciences:

Name of Mentor: Grace Mirsky, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Mathematical and Computational Science

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. • Computer Vision / Robotics: Lightweight, inexpensive robots and drones have grown in popularity in a wide variety of applications. Being able to quickly locate and identify an object of interest using one of these platforms is challenging. These challenges arise from the limited processing capabilities of inexpensive hardware and the inability to include additional hardware due to weight requirements. This project involves designing algorithms to facilitate accurate object detection using a low-cost platform (robot or drone). Extensive programming experience is required as well as some hands-on hardware experience. • Reconstruction of Absent or Corrupt Physiologic Signals: Signal corruption or dropout can cause issues in continuous patient monitoring in the ICU. As a result, the ability to accurately reconstruct absent or corrupt signals as well the ability to detect if a signal is becoming corrupt as a result of noise, drift, etc. can greatly enhance critical patient care. Continuous monitoring is important because in the ICU, patient condition can quickly degrade, and continuous monitoring is necessary in order to detect problems and administer treatment immediately. In this project, we will work with a variety of different signals (electrocardiogram (ECG), respiratory rate, blood pressure, etc.) to determine how to best reconstruct the lost signal data. An important application of this work, in addition to providing robust, continuous patient monitoring, is the continuous estimation of heart rate, even when the ECG signal is missing. This project will be accomplished using predictive analytics techniques from machine learning. Extensive programming experience is required. • Reduction of False Arrhythmia Alarms: Frequent false cardiac arrhythmia alarms in the ICU have been shown to result in reduced patient care by diminishing attentiveness of the staff, due to the so-called “crying wolf” effect. In addition, these alarms often negatively affect the patient’s ability to sleep, thus also interfering with the patient’s recovery. As such, reduction of false alarms could potentially greatly improve care, but the criterion of not removing any true alarms creates a difficult constraint. In this project, we will work with the electrocardiograms and their associated alarms to develop robust algorithms to reduce the frequency of false alarms, while ensuring that no true alarms are removed. This project will use Matlab to develop and test appropriate machine learning algorithms. Extensive programming experience is required.

Research would be remote at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: Jeremy Nadolski, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Mathematical and Computational Science

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. The Nadolski group focuses on three main topics: outlier detection in multivariate data, using Markov Chains to strategize on how to control an invasive species and the creation of topics and preliminary feasibility of capstone data science projects. These projects will use linear algebra, probability and statistics, stochastic processes and R programming.

Research would be remote at Benedictine University.

Name of Mentor: Dr. Dean Jensen Institution: Elmhurst University Department: Computer Science & Information Systems i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Web Log Analysis to Identify Security Risks of WordPress Websites: Every device in the IT infrastructure generates log data which can be used to analyze and troubleshoot performance or security related issues. One of the largest use cases has been Web Log Analysis with the aim of improving a site’s traffic through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This research project will look at Web Log Analysis to identify cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities in Web Content Management Systems (CMS). This will involve setting up, configuring and using the Elastic Search software tool to parse and query Web server logs from various CMS (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, DotNetNuke, etc.) to identify which sites are more susceptible to attacks, such as SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting, or Cross- Site Request Forgery. The intent of this research is not to identify vulnerabilities in the CMS software tools, but instead to determine if a particular CMS (e.g., WordPress) is a larger target for attack – similar to how the Microsoft Windows operating system is a larger source of attacks compared to macOS or Linux because it holds a greater market share, not because it is more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

This project will initially look at setting up an environment to support the Elastic Search tool on a cluster of Raspberry Pi devices, as well as researching available datasets similar to the CDX 2009 dataset provided by the United States Military Academy and the National Security Agency.

ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Ideally students should have basic skills in computer programming (CS 220) and computer networking (CS 360) along with an interest in cybersecurity. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). This research is best done in person, but can be adapted to online.

Name of Mentor: Marion Weedermann, PhD Institution: Dominican University Department: Department of Mathematics

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Prof. Weedermann’s research is in mathematical modeling with difference and differential equations. Her work reaches from establishing models to analyzing models using a variety of approaches (through computer simulations, stability analysis, sensitivity analysis). Current research interests include but are not limited to modeling the spread of the Asian carp population as well as degradation of organic waste material. Questions of interest are established in consultation and many other types of topics can be explored through modeling. Prof. Weedermann is also working on questions related to differential equations with randomly varying parameters and fundamental questions about time-varying global sensitivity analysis of differential equations. Students should have taken courses in linear algebra and differential equations to participate in this research.

Name of Mentor: Dr. Sam Abuomar Institution: Lewis University Department: Engineering, Computing, and Mathematical Sciences (ECaMS)

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Title: Data Analytics for Self-Organizing Maps and Clustering Modeling of Oceanography Data: In this project, data mining techniques will be employed to validate their efficacy in acquiring information about the physical properties of oceans, and/or bio-physical and mechanical properties of different materials such as nanocomposites polymers and preclinical/ clinical brain samples, from data derived from designed experimental studies. The dataset(s) that will be studied consist of different formulation and processing factors as inputs and different responses as outputs. The data analytics algorithms and techniques include visual assessment of clustering tendency (VAT), self-organizing maps (SOMs), and multivariate linear regression techniques (MVLR). VAT algorithm can be used to help discover if there are clusters (groups) in a given dataset. SOMs will be used to extract the input(s) of the most significant effect on the output responses. MVLR will be applied to the dataset to estimate the associations between different dimensions and input parameters with some of the dynamic responses in the dataset under certain conditions. Most importantly, the student should be able to use the results from data mining as either a proof of concept of previous theoretical studies related to the studied dataset(s) or as a new knowledge that has not been discovered a priori. This work will highlight the significance and utility of data mining in the context of informatics and knowledge discovery. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Accepted student(s) is/are preferred to have basic computer programming skills. While Matlab is a preferred environment for this project, the student is free to use any programming environments (platforms) of his/her choice such as Python, R, Java, C++,…etc. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Due to the growing concerns on the spread of COVID-19 among the communities in Chicago area and its surrounding suburbs, I’m initially planning to conduct this research online with a research student where frequent meetings (2-3 per week) will be held via Zoom or Skype. However, if the spread of COVID-19 becomes under control by Summer 2021, then a hybrid approach (both online and in-person) to conduct the research might be considered.

Name of Mentor: Amanda Harsy Institution: Lewis University Department: Math as part of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematical Sciences

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Applying Linear Algebra to Sports Analytics: Ranking sports teams can be a challenging task and using straight win percentage can be misleading at times. Among the many mathematically inspired sports ranking systems, linear algebra methods like Markov Chains and the Massey and Colley methods are among the most elegant and simple. Both involve setting up and solving a matrix system. While at their most basic level, these methods are useful for sports rankings, unfortunately, they are not particularly strong at predicting future outcomes of games. One way to improve these methods for ranking and predicting future outcomes is by introducing weights to these systems. This research involves collecting sports data and adding and testing features and weights to modified linear algebra and probability-based models. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. This research also often involves writing programs to construct huge systems of equations, so some programming experience is helpful, but by no means necessary. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Last year I met with students 3 times a week remotely through google meet and use slack and Overleaf to help my student research teams collaborate. It worked really well. I expect this research will be done completely online.

Name of Mentor: Amanda Harsy Institution: Lewis University Department: Math as part of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematical Sciences

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Project 2: Mathematical Modeling of DNA Self-Assembly: Self-assembly is a term used to describe the process of a collection of components combining to form an organized structure without external direction. The unique properties of double-stranded DNA molecules make DNA a valuable structural material with which to form nanostructures, and the field of DNA nanotechnology is largely based on this premise. By modeling complexes with discrete graphs, efficient self-assembly of nanostructures becomes a mathematical puzzle which can be solved using methods from undergraduate mathematics. This research will apply techniques from graph theory and linear algebra to various graph families to help design optimally created nanostructures. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. This research can be introduced to students with little mathematical background. It involves basic graph thoery and depending on the student's background and interests may also involve programming, computer graphics, art, biology, and geometry. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Last year I met with students 3 times a week remotely through google meet and use slack and Overleaf to help my student research teams collaborate. It worked really well. I expect this research will be done completely online.

Name of Mentor: Marie Meyer Institution: Lewis University Department: Mathematics

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Polytopes are generalizations of polygons and polyhedra, which are polytopes of dimension two and three, respectively. As geometric objects with combinatorially interesting properties, polytopes have applications in diverse areas such as linear programming, optimization, physics, and topology. Recently there is a heightened interest in studying polytopes associated to graphs. We will use the Laplacian matrix of a graph to form a polytope by considering the rows of the matrix as vertices of our polytope. This technique of generating polytopes was introduced in 2017, and there is much to be explored. In this project, we work to discover which families of graphs yield certain polytopes with desirable properties and why those properties are important. We also experiment with known operations on graphs and study their effects on the corresponding polytopes. Our methods include matrix algebra, interpretation of lattice points as code words, and minor computer computations. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. This research involves linear algebra, graph theory, and potentially a small amount of computer programming. It is appropriate for students who have taken either Linear Algebra, Discrete Mathematics, or an Introduction to Proofs course. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). This research can be conducted through in person meetings or remote meetings completely online depending on circumstances and preference. No lab or additional equipment is needed. I plan to meet twice per week with the student to exchange research updates, provide support, and give guidance.

Name of Mentor: Piotr Szczurek Institution: Lewis University Department: Engineering, Computing, and Mathematical Sciences i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on.

TITLE: Feature-based Transfer Learning for Role Discovery in Networks This project involves analyzing network data such as friendships on social networks, links in transportation networks, or connections between routers in computer networks. This will be done by examining the topological properties in order to discover roles played by particular nodes in the network. For example, in a social network, a particular node may refer to a person and the link between nodes may specify friendship. The node role in such a network could be an influencer or someone how serves as a bridge between communities. There are many reasons for why this would be important. In the social network example, automatic discovery of network roles can serve the purpose of increasing understanding of social structure, providing better marketing information, as well as enabling identification of potentially malicious accounts.

Although the concept of role discovery is not new (sociologists have proposed methods for this), role discovery in Big Data has not been heavily studied. This project is a continuation of previous work that has generated features from network data and used machine learning techniques for classifying network functional roles based on those features. The goal of this work would be to develop a generalizable metric called node functionality to identify network roles, which can be applied to different types of networks. The results will be compared with other recent approaches.

The project would involve extensive statistical analysis, programming in Python, applying machine learning techniques, and experimentation with different datasets. The student will have to work with many real-world network datasets. The role of the student in this project would be to implement algorithms, perform experimentation on real-world datasets, and perform statistical analysis of the data. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Student should have some programming experience (Python programming will be required for the project). Previous coursework in discrete mathematics and linear algebra is helpful, but not required. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both). Online using Teams, Zoom, or Collaborate to conduct meetings (usually at least 2 a week). Teams and/or Dropbox will be used for sharing files.

Name of Mentor: Meilin Huang Institution: Saint Xavier University Department: Chemistry

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. We explore the impact of cooperative learning through analyzing mutual help networks among students. Students will learn to visualize and analyze the emergence, evolution, and structure of mutual help networks using Python, Social Network Analysis, modeling, and other tools.

ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Motivated students with one or a combination of the following skills are encouraged to apply: (1) computer programming; (2) network analysis and visualization; (3) graph theory.

Name of Mentor: Imad Al Saeed Institution: Saint Xavier University Department: Computer Science i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Many research studies show that more than 90% of mobile users spend more time on mobile apps than websites. This summer project is to identify, design, and implement different types of tools and techniques for designing mobile applications, customizing them to make it visually appealing, and publishing them to the app store using Android programming. The new app will be used to provide directions and guides for incoming freshman students on how to find the school offices, finding the right people to talk to, how to register for courses, etc. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Some programming skills are preferable, but the faculty member will help. We can do this research project completely remotely.

Name of Mentor: James Vanderhyde Institution: Saint Xavier University Department: Computer Science i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Virtual reality for STEM education: Three-D virtual worlds are easily accessible with new hardware technology for virtual reality. VR allows a user to move and view in 3D. This creates the opportunity for exploring new possibilities for education in computer science, science, and math. We will design and build an app for Google Cardboard and/or HTC Vive that science novices can use to explore new topics. For computer science, we will build an environment to teach programming in VR. For other fields, the student and mentor will decide on a topic together. ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any. Some programming skill will be helpful, but the faculty member will help. Google cardboard is cheap, so we can do this completely remotely.

Name of Mentor: Frank Harwath Institution: North Central College Department: Engineering

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. A combination of environmental, economic, and humanitarian factors is driving demand for affordable housing. Specialized materials that are shipped long distances are cost prohibitive, since building materials are by their nature large and heavy, resulting in high shipping costs. High energy costs as associated with many building materials like concrete and brick. Synthetic materials involve extraction related pollution issues associated with oil and gas production. Until recently, human dwellings were constructed of readily available materials that were modified (if necessary) on site. Examples include Pueblos and Adobe in the southwestern United States, sod homes and log cabins in the American West and Mid- West, timber frames homes in much of Europe, and bamboo houses in tropical climates. Reduced transportation costs, low energy input, and minimal capital investment are common traits for all these approaches. In addition, the materials selected perform so well in their intended environments, that many examples are still intact after several hundred years. If those same structures were transported to another environment, they would likely deteriorate rapidly. For example, Adobe construction is durable and has a high specific heat value so that it levels temperature fluctuations common to deserts. In England, such a structure would erode quickly due to high humidity and average rainfall. A low energy input building material is proposed that would be based on locally available materials.

ii. Please share any necessary qualifications or skills students should have for your research project, if any.

No specific skills are required. iii. Please provide information on how you plan to conduct research over the summer with a research student (online, in person, or both).

We plan on working in person in the lab. However, I will consider students that fell more comfortable with online participation.

Interdisciplinary STEM:

Name of Mentor: Stefan Stefanoski, PhD Institution: Benedictine University Department: Physical Sciences

i. Please share a description of the research project the student will work on. Project 1: Batteries for biomedical applications: Batteries can be used as power sources for motorized wheelchairs, surgical tools, cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators, dynamic prostheses, sensors and monitors for physiological parameters, neurostimulators, devices for pain relief, iontophoresis, electroporation, and related devices for drug administration. Students will investigate the types of battery chemistries used for biomedical applications and test their properties (charge/discharge cycling, internal resistance, operation in hot and humid environments, etc.). Project 2: Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs): This is one of the latest promising solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, focused on the design of solar cells that are light, inexpensive, transparent, and have the potential of achieving desirable efficiencies. The DSSCs will be assembled and their electrical properties measured. Various types of dyes will be tested in order to identify the inexpensive and abundant ones that will help us pave the road toward the next-generation low-cost and high-efficiency solar PV technology. Project 3: Standalone solar PV system for health clinics or schools in remote areas: The project will focus on designing a solar PV system for a health clinic or a school in a remote area, where no alternative sources of power are available. The project will encompass understanding of the operation and properties of solar cells, the components of a typical solar PV system (solar panels, batteries, inverters, charge controllers, etc.), and incorporating them into a final design. This project is suitable for students across a range of disciplines and majors: those interested in the engineering aspects of the design, as well as those interested in its humanitarian aspect, for example by delivering power to areas in third-world countries where power is either inaccessible or prohibitively expensive.

Research could be in-person or remote at Benedictine University.