Twenty-two University of Alabama at Birmingham students were selected to participate in the UAB Honors College’s Presidential Honors Fellowship (PHF) program based on their outstanding research proposals. 2024 Honors College Presidential Honors Fellowship participants

The Presidential Honors Fellowship program allows students from different majors and disciplines to conduct research and creative activity while receiving first-hand experience with UAB faculty members serving as their mentors. Selected participants are awarded a stipend of $2,500 to engage in research or creative activity focused on their majors or academic interests.

“Through our Presidential Honors Fellowship program, our honors students gain valuable resources and experiences that support their dreams and aspirations of becoming trailblazing scholars, researchers, and leaders in the community,” said Shannon L. Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “Benefiting from mentorship by outstanding faculty at UAB, our students were able to explore and investigate challenging issues and research puzzles that they personally find intriguing.”

For the first time in the PHF history, the UAB Honors College partnered with the Department of Microbiology. This new partnership provided funding and faculty mentors to support two fellowship positions dedicated to research in the vast areas of microbiology.

Students were offered eight professional development workshops during the summer fellowship that included: Good Stress, Bad Stress, and How to Manage Both; Breaking Down Your Project! You're Studying What?; Interview Skills: Telling Your Story; You Should Absolutely Apply for Nationally Competitive Awards!; Self-Care Isn't Selfish: It's Neurobiological; Study Strategies; Giving a Proper Poster Presentation; and Money Basis for Students.

“The PHF program was a great experience for me, offering invaluable support and opportunities that have deeply enriched my academic journey at UAB,” said Keegan Williford, a sophomore majoring in immunology and 2024 PHF participant. “This dedicated time was crucial for me to build a strong relationship with my research mentor, Dr. Kevin Harrod, and engage with UAB staff through specialized professional development opportunities, amplifying my confidence and abilities in future challenges. The fellowship not only provided financial support but also gave me the freedom to immerse myself in my research and grow both personally and professionally. Additionally, the PHF cohort connected me to like-minded peers for invaluable peer mentorship and support.”

Keegan Williford presenting his research, “Iron dysregulation by influenza A virus” at the 2024 UAB Summer ExpoPresidential Honors Fellowship awardees participated in the UAB Summer Expo as one of the requirements of the program. Two participants placed as winners in their respective categories, reflecting the excellence of their scholarly work.

2024 Honors College Presidential Summer Fellowships recipients:

• Lalitha Appana “Targeting Retinoid X Receptor Pathways in T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia”

Mentor – Ksenia Matlawska-Wasowska, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

• Shrijith Balasundararajan “O-GlcNAc regulation and expression of electron transport chain subunits”

Mentor – Jianhua Zhang, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Pathology

• Mason Bayles “Amide Compounds to Inhibit Symbiotic Interactions Between Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans”

Mentor – Sadanandan Velu, Ph.D.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry

• Sathvik Bodepudi “Exploring Circadian Variations in Autonomic Input Preceding Ventricular Tachycardia and Ventricular Fibrillation: A Pathway to Predictive Models for Sudden Cardiac Death”

Mentor – Steven Pogwizd, M.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Disease

• Anabel Byars “The impact of exercise on cancer survival”

Mentor – Nicole C. Riddle, Ph.D.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology

• Sakshyat Chhetry “Unraveling the role of the chromatin regulator HIRA in stem cell maintenance”

Mentor – Melissa Harris, Ph.D.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Biology

• Pranav Danasekar “Role of Parkinson’s Disease-Linked PINK1 in Gene Transcription”

Mentor – Matthew Goldberg, Ph.D. ; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurology

• Amelia Davidson “Investigating Lysosomal Markers in a Novel Progranulin Knock-in Mouse Line”

Mentor – Andrew Arrant, PH.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurology

• Ananya Deshpande “Unraveling the Link between Adipocytes in the Bone Marrow, Visceral Obesity, and MM Risk and Survival”

Mentor – Elizabeth Brown, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Pathology

• Forrest Hilton “Pullback Trees”

Mentor – John Mayer, Ph.D.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Mathematics

• Gayatri Kavumkal “Evaluating Human Immune Response to Epstein-Barr Virus in Xenograft Human/Mouse Model”

Mentor – Angela Wahl, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology

• Amitis Moradkhani “Interrogating the Role of Astrocytic Cilia in the Astrogliosis Response to Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury”

Mentor – Stefanie Robel, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology

• Pooja Mudigonda “Using semantic models for the decoding of semantic information from the brain”

Mentor – Matthew Nelson, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery

• Om Muzumdar “Racial disparities in dim light melatonin onset in smokers and nonsmokers”

Mentor – Karen Gamble, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurobiology

• Kapil Nathan “Spine Reconstruction and Morphology during Maturation of Adult-Born Granule Cells”

Mentor – Harshad Panikkaveettil Ashraf, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Neurobiology

• Vidhi Patel “Quantification of Cadherin Expression in Human Cardiac, Dermal and Lung Fibroblasts based on Ca2+ concentration”

Mentor – M.K. Sewell-Loftin, Ph.D.; School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering

• Geethika Polepalli “Characterization of hyaluronate lyase in Streptococcus Pneumonia”

Mentor – Carlos Orihuela, PH.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology

• Nicholas Reyes “Design and characterization of immuno-modulatory glycosylated biomaterials to mitigate neuroinflammation in ischemic stroke”

Mentor – Juhi Samal, PH.D.; School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering

• Anna Vogler “First Steps in Meaningful Living: A Qualitative Review of Living Plans at Crisis Stabilization Centers”

Mentor – Jennifer Lockman, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurobiology

• Keegan Williford* “Iron dysregulation by influenza A virus”

Mentor – Kevin S. Harrod, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

• Audrey Womack "Introducing Healthy Coping Mechanisms for Anxiety Disorders in Children through Picture Books"

Mentor – Kerry Madden-Lunsford, M.F.A.; College of Arts and Sciences, Department of English

• Shushruth Yellumahanthi* “Non-Invasive Identification of High Risk Human Papilloma Virus associated Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia”

Mentor – James A. Mobley, Ph.D.; Heersink School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine

Every summer, the PHF concludes with a celebratory breakfast to honor student participants and their mentors. Students provided presentations of their work, research findings, accomplishments and future plans to further their research.

“It was a delight to oversee the 2024 PHF program, which supported 22 remarkable students pursuing exciting scholarly projects,” said Mark Bevensee, Ph.D., assistant dean of the UAB Honors College. “The program is high-impact experiential learning by providing dedicated summer time for scholarly work, as well as professional development workshops and activities for students to hone important skills for success in research, college, and beyond.”

* denotes PHF student winners who placed in the 2024 UAB Summer Expo