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Atlanta
Chapter

Current Scholars

2021-2022 ARCS Atlanta Scholars
ARCS® Foundation Atlanta Chapter is honored to present the 2021-2022 Scholar Awards to these outstanding candidates from Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, and the University of Georgia.
Aaron Bosse ARCS Foundation Emory University
Aaron Bosse

Meet Aaron here.

  • Glenn Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Organic Chemistry
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interests: C–H functionalization applied to total synthesis and method development.
Aniruddha Deshpande
Aniruddha Deshpande

Meet Aniruddha here.

  • Donnell Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Epidemiology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interest: the impacts of climate on the epidemiology of enteric diseases such as rotavirus and cholera.
Ariel Gale
Ariel Gale

Meet Ariel here.

  • Hawkins/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Chemistry
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interests: method development for high-pressure calculations, as well as, protein structure-function relationships and renewable energy innovation.
Jessica Hoffman Emory University ARCS Foundation
Jessica Hoffman

Meet Jessica here.

  • Northside Hospital Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Molecular and Systems Pharmacology
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: building computational models to predict stem cell therapy outcomes for pediatric heart disease patients.
Kate Holmes ARCS Foundation Emory university
Kate Holmes

Meet Kate here.

  • Klamon/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: emerging and re-emerging zoonotic viral pathogens, and influenza virus diversity and evolution.
Nicole Hood
Nicole Hood

Meet Nicole here.

  • Gillin/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Epidemiology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: public health and infectious disease/HIV research.
Logan Kavanaugh
Logan Kavanaugh

Meet Logan here.

  • McGowan/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: understanding and combating the rise of bacterial antibiotic resistance.
Alicia Lane
Alicia Lane

Meet Alicia here.

  • Reid/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Neuroscience
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the relation of copper dysregulation and mitochondria to neurodegenerative disease.
Cameron Mattingly
Cameron Mattingly

Meet Cameron here.

  • Liss/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: lung tissue-resident CD8+ T cells and their role in the immune response to respiratory pathogens.
Hemali Oza
Hemali Oza

Meet Hemali here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Environmental Health Sciences
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: measuring and building climate resilience, particularly resilience as it pertains to water systems and water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Selma Piranej
Selma Piranej

 

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Chemistry
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: DNA nanotechnology and leveraging it to create synthetic systems for sensing applications.
Zerleen Quader ARCS Foundation Emory University
Zerleen Quader

Meet Zarleen here.

  • BlackRock Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Epidemiology
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: to understand how social determinants of health and structural factors play a role in childhood cardio-metabolic health.
Sarah Strassler Emory University ARCS Foundation
Sarah Strassler

Meet Sarah here.

  • Petter Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • National Science Foundation predoctoral fellow
  • Research interests: the structural basis of RNA-protein interactions, and bacterial enzymes that confer antibiotic resistance.
Julia Tanquary
Julia Tanquary

Meet Julia here.

  • McGonigle/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the role of bacterial toxin-antitoxin complexes in bacterial survival and their influence on the ability of bacteria to survive stress.  Julia seeks to identify the cellular targets of these toxins.
Sophie Yount
Sophie Yount

Meet Sophie here.

  • Herz Award Honoring Lundeen ARCS National Presidency
  • Ph.D. Student, Molecular and Systems Pharmacology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: to understand circuit-level control of decision-making. New knowledge could shed light on innate learning systems that are “hijacked” by drug abuse.
Nolan Barrett
Nolan Barrett

Meet Nolan here.

  • Wahlen/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Ocean Science and Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: marine natural products chemistry and chemical ecology
Carmen Chen ARCS Foundation Georgia Tech
Carmen Chen

Meet Carmen here.

  • Burke Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: improving hierarchical silica materials to collect water vapor from the atmosphere under arid conditions.

 

Kenneth De Jesus-Morales
Kenneth De Jesus-Morales

Meet Kenneth here.

  • Graves Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: optimizing a bio-printed aortic heart valve model capable of regeneration and repair for the pediatric population.
Alli Gombolay ARCS Foundation Georgia Tech
Alli Gombolay

Meet Alli here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Bioinformatics/Biological Sciences
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: developing and applying computational tools to study DNA repair and genome stability. 
Hannah Holmes ARCS Foundation Georgia Tech
Hannah Holmes

Meet Hannah here.

  • John and Mary Franklin Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: improving the efficiency of CO2 capture technologies using solid adsorbents in structured contractors.
Sydney Popsuj
Sydney Popsuj

Meet Sydney here.

  • Doyle/Easterly/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biology
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the evolution and loss of photosensory systems in the development of certain species of tunicates.
Ziad Rashed ARCS Foundation Georgia Tech
Ziad Rashed

Meet Ziad here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Ocean Science and Engineering/Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: how to use tools from nonlinear/chaotic dynamics to gain a greater understanding of the complex interactions between glacier and ocean systems.
Kantwon Rogers
Kantwon Rogers

Meet Kantwon here.

  • BlackRock Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Computer Science
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: artificial intelligence and robotics with a focus on investigating the influences that prosocial deception has on human-robot interaction.

Watch a presentation of Kantwon's research here.

Christopher Roper
Christopher Roper

Meet Chris here.

  • UPS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Aerospace Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: plasma instabilities in high-speed plasma dynamic sources for propulsion.
Kevin Shu
Kevin Shu

Meet Kevin here.

  • Hardin/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: applying ideas from pure math, in particular algebraic geometry, to solve optimization problems more efficiently.
A. Lynnae Luettich Stypulkowski
A. Lynnae Luettich Stypulkowski

Meet Lynnae here.

  • Dodson/Plummer/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Civil Engineering
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: urban stormwater management through the focus of Geo-Environmental Engineering.
Sarah Sundius
Sarah Sundius

Meet Sarah here.

  • Lundeen/Chambers Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Quantitative Biosciences
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: developing novel mathematical models for dynamic microbial species interactions incorporating realistic variation in space and time, with the goal of better understanding human microbial infections and informing therapeutic strategies.
Tony Wang ARCS Foundation Georgia Tech
Tony Wang

Meet Tony here.

  • Siemens Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: to develop micro-robots to perform neurosurgery.
Erik Wijmans
Erik Wijmans

Meet Erik here.

  • BlackRock Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Computer Science
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: to develop fundamental techniques, algorithms, and large-scale systems for robotic assistants.
Katie Young
Katie Young

Meet Katie here.

  • Northside Hospital Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the correlation between single cell mechanics and gene expression to better understand cancer metastasis.

Malcolm Brown
Malcolm Brown

Meet Malcolm here.

  • ARCS Award
  • Physics Major, Mathematics Minor
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: design, controls, and robotics in aerospace or ocean applications
Storm Chin ARCS Foundation Morehouse College
Storm Chin

 

  • BlackRock Award
  • Computer Science and Mathematics Major
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: neuroscience, data analytics and machine learning
Alonzo Frederic
Alonzo Frederic

Meet Alonzo here.

  • Georgia-Pacific Award   
  • Biology Major, Public Health Minor
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: pathology, particularly infectious and chronic diseases
Jordan Lawton
Jordan Lawton

Meet Jordan here.

  • Genuine Parts Award
  • Dual Degree Mechanical Engineering and General Science Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: general engineering
Christian Lubin ARCS Foundation Morehouse College
Christian Lubin

Meet Christian here.

  • BlackRock Award
  • Chemistry Major
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: designing and synthesizing new drugs for the pharmaceutical industry
Malik McRae
Malik McRae

Meet Malik here.

  • Davis Award
  • Biology Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: Malik has broad research interests which include innate immune memory.
Jeffrey White ARCS Foundation Morehouse College
Jeffrey White

 

  • Glenn Leadership Award
  • Biology Major, Neuroscience Minor
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: neglected tropical diseases that are endemic in low-income subpopulations of developing regions, especially visceral leishmaniasis and the biochemical modalities that underpin its pathogenesis
Elijah Williams
Elijah Williams

 

  • BlackRock Award
  • Dual Degree Mechanical Engineering and General Science Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interest: environmental engineering

Alyssa Baugh ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Alyssa Baugh

Meet Alyssa here.

  • Sartain Lanier Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Microbiology
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: genetically engineering bacteria to make biofuels. She hopes to do research on microbially-mediated bioremediation and bioproduction.
Amy Briggs ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Amy Briggs

Meet Amy here.

  • Olchowski/Potter Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Ecology
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: how humans and changing environmental conditions affect ecosystems, working in coral reefs in the tropical Pacific. She is investigating drivers of reef microbial communities and how microbes affect the broader reef ecosystem.
Amanda Caulfield
Amanda Caulfield

Meet Amanda here.

  • Henry/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Infectious Diseases
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: immunomodulation in Bordetella pertussis and identifying immune correlates of protection that will inform the development of improved vaccines against whooping cough.
Kendall Clay
Kendall Clay

Meet Kendall here.

  • Boyd/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Neuroscience
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: neural regeneration, specifically, elucidating the genetic mechanisms of regeneration of dopaminergic neurons in planarians.
Megan Douglass ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Megan Douglass

Meet Megan here.

  • Hinkle/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the development of antimicrobial and blood-compatible surface modifications for biomedical devices.
Katie Duval ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Katie Duval

Meet Katie here.

  • Leake/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Genetics
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the establishment and regulation of chromatin states in vertebrate development.
Christian Freeman
Christian Freeman

Meet Christian here.

  • Goodhew/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Chemistry
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the effects of phospholipid composition on antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
Morgane Golan
Morgane Golan

Meet Morgane here.

  • Cooper/Mukharji Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Regenerative Medicine
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: investigation of neural stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles as a therapeutic for the treatment of traumatic brain injury.
Nicholas Haynes ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Nicholas Haynes

Meet Nicholas here.

  • Burtchaell Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Industrial-Organizational Psychology
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: the psycho-physiological pathways and outcomes of workaholism and workplace health interventions.
Mathew Liju ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Liju Mathew

 

  • Dick Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: characterizing the molecular mechanism of a reaction pathway in pathogenic E. coli, with broader interests in enzyme structure-function relationships and natural products discovery.
Megan Meany
Megan Meany

Meet Megan here.

  • Jobe/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Genetics
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the molecular mechanisms underlying sex determination and gonad differentiation in the brown anole lizard.
Michael Mills

Meet Michael here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Microbiology
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: to understand and develop medicines against the organisms involved in the neglected tropical disease, Lymphatic filariasis.
Judith Reyes Ballista
Judith Reyes Ballista

Meet Judith here.

  • Northside Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Infectious Diseases
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the role of phospholipids and glycosylations in the entry and budding of RNA viruses.
Kate Sabey ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Kate Sabey

Meet Kate here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Infectious Diseases
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: combining genomics and veterinary medicine to investigate how the microbiome shapes infection processes in African wildlife.
Aarya Venkat
Aarya Venkat

Meet Aarya here.

  • Frances Swensson ARCS Light Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry and Microbiology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: glycoenzymology. Aarya works on projects using bioinformatics and structural biology methods.