GoodwinVirtual Hall | July July 29,26, 20212018 || 9:00am9am-4pm - 4:30pm www.research.undergraduate.vt.edu Contents WELCOME FROM ASSOCIATE VICE PROVOST FOR UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION, DR. JILL SIBLE 3 WELCOME FROM DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH, KERI SWABY 4 SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAMS AT VT 5 - 8 INFORMATIONAL BOOTHS 9 ABSTRACTS (ALPHABETICAL) 10 Jill C. Sible, Ph.D. Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Professor of Biological Sciences Welcome With great enthusiasm, I welcome all to the 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Conference at Virginia Tech. This year is particularly exciting to feature both the work of students conducting research remotely as well those who were able to join us in person. Many students presenting today, have spent ten or more weeks immersed in a research project. Summer affords undergraduates the opportunities to dedicate significant time and effort to the planning, execution and analysis of a research project. They have also had the chance to become authentic members of research teams by working with faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and research staff. Many thanks to all who have mentored undergraduates this summer. Your commitment to undergraduate research is always commendable, and especially this year given the extra challenges you overcame to offer safe and engaging research opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Virginia Tech is pleased to offer these summer experiences not only to our own students, but also to undergraduates from all over the country. We hope that you have enjoyed your time working with Virginia Tech research teams, and we appreciate the diversity of ideas and cultures that you have brought to our research programs. Congratulations to all of our presenters! A very special thank you to Keri Swaby, Nicole Bottass, and our peer mentors for their tremendous work in making this summer symposium happen. We have discovered that this virtual medium has in some ways provided a wider audience for student work and allowed deep exchanges of ideas with our presenters. So please avail yourselves of that opportunity. I am looking forward to my time learning from our summer research students! My best, Jill C. Sible, Ph.D. Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Office of Undergraduate Research Keri Swaby Director, Office of Undergraduate Research Welcome to the annual Summer Research Conference at Virginia Tech! After cancelling or moving all activities online last summer, we were so excited to be able to welcome students back onto campus in person this year. Not everyone could be on campus but today we celebrate ALL researchers- remote and in person- who are part of our vibrant summer research community. Today we welcome 167 presenters from 20 organized research programs and many independent labs, who will give 154 video presentations. Over the course of the past 10 weeks, these undergraduate students from Virginia Tech and across the country have been engaged in a wide variety of projects tackling real world problems in many disciplines. I am humbled by the quality of work on show today and invite you to enjoy and marvel at the wealth of research that took place both in person and remotely this summer. In support of our summer researchers, we offered comprehensive professional development programming that would not have been possible without the expertise and time of many folks I would like to thank: Dr. Nikki Lewis (Honors College) and Dr. Donald Conner (VT Environmental Health and Safety) for setting the stage and providing students with critical information during our summer orientation session; Amanda MacDonald (University Libraries) for providing students with valuable training through the online Advanced Research Skills Program, Carrie Kroehler (Center for Communicating Science) for helping to design a brand new and fun communication skill building program, and a number of faculty and students who offered a variety of seminars and workshops throughout the summer including Dr. Justin Grimes (VT Graduate School), Daniel Bird Tobin (Ctr for Comm Sci), Kelsey Reed (PhD candidate in Translational Plant Sciences), Meredith Gerber (Career and Professional Development), Dr. Paul Heilker (Honors College), and Kelsey Hammer (University Libraries) and several research alumni and graduate school panelists. Thank you all for sharing your expertise and insights with our summer students. This summer was not only about research and professional growth. A special thank you to our energetic and creative peer mentors – Danielle, Jared, Maame and Mackenzie - who offered both in person and virtual activities throughout the summer and were instrumental in building a vibrant research community. They organized a cookout and restaurant visits, hikes to Cascades Falls and Dragon's Tooth, trips to go tubing on the New River and swimming at Claytor Lake, disc golf games, as well as virtual movie and game nights. Without these dedicated mentors, this summer would not have been as fun and engaging for everyone. I also want to extend an extra special thank you to Nicole Bottass, who has been instrumental in supporting all OUR activities throughout the summer! The operations of the OUR would not have been possible without generous financial support from the Fralin Life Science Institute. Thank you! Researchers, congratulate yourselves on a productive summer of almost normal! I hope you have been inspired to continue exploring and growing. Good luck next year! Sincerely, Keri Swaby Director, Office of Undergraduate Research SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAMS AT VT PROGRAM DIRECTORS ARMY RESEARCH OFFICE GRANT Michel Pleimling BECKMAN SCHOLARS AT VIRGINIA TECH Amanda Morris (Director) The Beckman Scholars Program, supported by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, is a 15-month mentored research experience for exceptionally talented, full-time undergraduate students in chemistry, biological sciences, or biochemistry at Virginia Tech. In 2021, Virginia Tech was selected as one of 12 institutions nationwide to host a Beckman Scholars Program. The program leveraged the funding provided by the Beckman Foundation to form a partnership with the Fralin Life Sciences Institute to provide a fully-funded research experience like no other on the Virginia Tech campus. Through unique programming in communication, leadership, grantsmanship, and diversity and inclusion awareness, our goal is to create the next generation of scientific leaders. Applicants select from 12 principal investigators from across multiple degree programs. The program provides a generous stipend and research support. More information can be found here - https://www.research.undergraduate.vt.edu/ugr- opportunities/vt-programs/beckman-scholars.html. COMPUTATIONALLY DRIVEN EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY Dr. Kristy Collins Computationally Driven Experimental Biology is a 10-week NSF-funded summer program. Four students with training in applied mathematics, biology, and computer science developed and analyzed computational models of cellular processes. They developed new algorithms and software to determine whether the properties of simulated gene expression datasets matched those of the underlying biological networks. CONFLUENCE REEU co-Directors: Cully Hession, Leigh-Anne Krometis, Brian Badgley, and Erin Ling This eight week USDA Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates (REEU) program brings together students representing multiple disciplines from across the country to explore research, outreach, and education in water sustainability. Our 2021 Confluence REEU program cohort includes twelve students representing seven different home colleges and universities and nine distinct degree granting programs ranging from Civil Engineering to Economics. The virtual format of our 2021 program guided fellows through explorations of water resources close to home via data seminars and remote monitoring kits. Fellows were combined into three interdisciplinary multi-university teams that researched common water quality issues in order to develop stakeholder outreach materials. This enabled fellows to both immerse themselves in the pressing water quality issues in their own “backyards” and to link these observations with water sustainability challenges in other fellows’ home watersheds which represent different ecological landscapes. FBRI NEUROSURF Dr. Michael Fox (FBRI + VT Biological Sciences) Dr. Alexandria Pilot (Fralin Biomedical Research Institute) The FBRI neuroSURF program is a 10-week long program that gives VT and non-VT undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in independent translational neurobiology research at Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in Roanoke, VA. This year, program participants also included one high school student from Roanoke Valley Governor’s School/Salem High School. In addition to independent research, the program includes coursework in translational neurobiology, seminars from VT and Carilion faculty whose research focuses on translational neurobiology, and professional development activities. The 2021 FBRI neuroSURF fellows came from VT, University of Tennessee, University of Florida, Vassar College, Frostburg State, Davidson College, University of Minnesota, The College of William and Mary, Kenyon College, and University of Maryland. The neuroSURF program is funded by the National Institutes of Health. FRALIN SUMMER UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP (SURF) Keri Swaby (Office of Undergraduate Research) The Fralin SURF program is a 10-week training program designed