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Atlanta
Chapter

Current Scholars

ARCS® Foundation Atlanta Chapter is honored to present the 2022-2023 Scholar Awards to these outstanding candidates from Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, and the University of Georgia.
Anna Cole

Meet Anna here.

  • Glenn Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Cancer Biology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interest: novel T and B cell interactions in cancer immunotherapy.
Aniruddha Deshpande

Meet Aniruddha here.

  • Donnell Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Epidemiology
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interest: health impacts of extreme weather events from climate change with a special emphasis on floods and droughts.
Ariel Gale

Meet Ariel here.

  • Hawkins/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Chemistry
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interests: method development for high pressure calculations, as well as, protein structure-function relationships and renewable energy innovation
Nicole Hood
Nicole Hood

Meet Nicole here.

  • Gillin/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Epidemiology
  • Second 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
  • Second 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
  • Second 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. Candidate, Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: lung tissue resident CD8+ T cells and their role in the immune response to respiratory pathogens.
Will McFadden

Meet Will here.

  • BlackRock Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry, Cell, and Developmental Biology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: novel antiretroviral compounds with the potential for treating HIV-1 infection.
Hemali Oza
Hemali Oza

Meet Hemali here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Environmental Health Sciences
  • Second 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
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: DNA nanotechnology and leveraging it to create synthetic systems for sensing applications.
Sarah Strassler

Meet Sarah here.

  • Northside Hospital Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology
  • Third 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/Goodhew Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology
  • Second 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.
Courtney Victor

Meet Courtney here.

  • Klamon/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Environmental Health Sciences
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interest: understanding the impact of water quality on health among children in low-resource settings

 

Simone Wien

Meet Simone here.

  • Petter Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Epidemiology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: social epidemiology, epidemiologic methods, and reproductive and perinatal health.
Sophie Yount
Sophie Yount

Meet Sophie here.

  • Lundeen/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Molecular and Systems Pharmacology
  • Second 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.
Noam Altman-Kurosaki

Meet Noam here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Biology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: to understand the processes that drive coral reef decline and recovery.

 

Nolan Barrett
Nolan Barrett

Meet Nolan here.

  • Wahlen/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Ocean Science and Engineering
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: marine natural products chemistry and chemical ecology
Kenneth De Jesus-Morales
Kenneth De Jesus-Morales

Meet Kenneth here.

  • Deede Stephenson ARCS Light Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: optimizing a bio-printed aortic heart valve model capable of regeneration and repair for the pediatric population.
Anjana Dissanayaka

Meet Anjana here.

  • Northside Hospital Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: leveraging and applying microfluidic techniques to develop low-cost diagnostic devices. 
Hannah Holmes ARCS Foundation Georgia Tech
Hannah Holmes

Meet Hannah here.

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

Meet Tawfik here.

  • Boice Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: The mechanics of the heart, specifically, simulating computationally the mechanical changes in the heart of patients with heart failure to help predict early stages of heart failure.
KC Jacobson

Meet KC here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Bioengineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the neural mechanisms of impaired sensory processing in a human-relevant mouse model of autism spectrum disorder.
Kantwon Rogers
Kantwon Rogers

Meet Kantwon here.

  • BlackRock Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Computer Science
  • Third 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.

  • Dodson/Plummer Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Aerospace Engineering
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: plasma instabilities in high-speed plasma dynamic sources for propulsion.
Cassandra Shriver

Meet Cassandra here.

  • Chambers/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Quantitative Biosciences in Biological Sciences
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: comparative biomechanics, specifically mammalian climbing mechanics, with an emphasis on conservation applications.
Kevin Shu
Kevin Shu

Meet Kevin here.

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

Meet Eudorah here.

  • Burke Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biomedical Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: understanding the biophysical processes that underlie blood diseases/disorders and developing point-of-care diagnostics for them.
Tony Wang ARCS Foundation Georgia Tech
Tony Wang

Meet Tony here.

  • Dasher Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: to develop micro-robots to perform neurosurgery.
Naoki Yokoyama

Meet Naoki here.

  • BlackRock Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Robotics in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: training virtual robots within realistic simulators using deep reinforcement learning, and deploying them on robots in the real world.
Nathan Zavanelli

Meet Nathan here.

  • Imlay Foundation Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Bioengineering in Mechanical Engineering
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: studying soft, skin-like electronics and sensors for wearable healthcare.

Justin Bromell

Meet Justin here.

  • Graves Award
  • Biology Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: cancer, virology, and genetic therapies.  Currently researching obesity as it relates to cancer.
Wisler Charles

Meet Wisler here.

  • Easterly/Doyle Award
  • Biology Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: building the foundation for becoming a doctor in an effort to make things easier for the Black community.
Jordan Coney

Meet Jordan here.

  • Jones/ARCS Award        
  • Physics Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: optical and electronic materials
Malik McRae
Malik McRae

Meet Malik here.

  • Glenn Leadership Award
  • Biology Major
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: developing a novel biomolecule delivery device
Christian "Chris" Moore

Meet Chris here.

  • Genuine Parts Award
  • Computer Science Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: Computer Science and Climate Change
Amani Talbert

Meet Amani here.

  • John and Mary Franklin Award
  • Chemistry Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research Interests: biochemistry, nuclear remediation, and computational chemistry.
Damico Waters

Meet Damico here.

  • Georgia-Pacific Award
  • Biology Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: neurodegenerative diseases, pluripotent stem cells, and regenerative biology
William Whitfield

Meet William here.

  • Davis Award
  • Biology Major
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: microbiology with an emphasis on the microbiome

Alyssa Baugh ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Alyssa Baugh

Meet Alyssa here.

  • Sartain Lanier Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Microbiology
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: genetically engineering bacteria to make biofuels. She hopes to do research on microbially-mediated bioremediation and bioproduction.
Jana Carpenter

Meet Jana here.

  • Olchowski/Potter Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Bio-Analytical Chemistry 
  • First Year ARCS Scholar 
  • Research interest: the relationship between bacterial metabolism and antibiotic resistance. 
Amanda Caulfield
Amanda Caulfield

Meet Amanda here.

  • Henry/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Infectious Diseases
  • Second 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. Candidate, Neuroscience
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: neural regeneration, specifically, investigating how worms called planarians regenerate their complex nervous system after injury.
Katie Duval ARCS Foundation University of Georgia
Katherine "Katie" Duval

Meet Katie here.

  • Leake/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Genetics
  • Third Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: chromatin regulation in vertebrate development.
Christian Freeman
Christian Freeman

Meet Christian here.

  • Burtchaell Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Chemistry
  • Second 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
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: studying and optimizing the therapeutic potential of neural stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles (NSC-EVs).
Reagan Haney

Meet Reagan here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: discovering the mechanism of action of a novel antimalarial and identifying and validating the molecular target(s) of this novel therapeutic.
Megan Meany
Megan Meany

Meet Megan here.

  • Jobe/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Genetics
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the molecular mechanisms underlying sex determination and gonad differentiation in the brown anole lizard.
Judith Reyes Ballista

Meet Judith here.

  • Northside Hospital Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Infectious Diseases
  • Second Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the role of phospholipids in the entry and budding of RNA viruses.
Mariah Salcedo

Meet Mariah here.

  • Herz Global Impact Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interests: neurodegenerative disease and computational biology.
Colleen Sedney

Meet Colleen here.

  • Hinkle/ARCS Award
  • Ph.D. Student, Infectious Diseases
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: host-pathogen interactions between infants and the bacteria responsible for whooping cough.
Matthew Treaster

Meet Matthew here.

  • Dick Award
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Genetics
  • First Year ARCS Scholar
  • Research interest: the evolution of sex chromosomes and genetic sex determination using threespine stickleback fish.
Aarya Venkat
Aarya Venkat

Meet Aarya here.

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