Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Tracking Blandings turtles and monitoring nesting areas.

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Evaluating the health of the Fonteyn Kill, a stream that runs through campus.

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Recreating an ecological laboratory on the Vassar campus. 

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Deploying “oobinators” to combat the emerald ash borer.

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Preparing a protein sample for the atomic force microscope.

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Using lasers to analyze the physical properties of silicon wafers. 

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Preparing soil samples for chemical analysis.

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Building robots to study evolution. 

Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI)

Investigating the safety of “green” pesticides. 

Symposium

2023

Undergraduate Research  
Summer Institute Symposium

September 27, 2023

3:00

Introductory Remarks

Bill Hoynes, Dean of the Faculty

Ben Lotto, URSI Director

3:15

Students’ Oral Presentations on Summer Research

Brynn Conrad, Sharon Luong, and Autumn Cullinan (mentor: Professor David Esteban, Biology) 
Characterizing Diversity and AHR Activity in the Gut Microbiomes of ME/CFS Patients

Vaughn Ramsey and Alex Carr (mentor: Professor Andy Borum, Mathematics and Statistics) 
Discontinuities in the Curvature of a Thin Elastic Ribbon 

Chi Nguyễn and A.J. Erickson (mentor: Professor Evan Howard, Chemistry) 
Curve Balls of Epoxy Alcohols - Rearrangement or Fragmentation

4:00

Keynote Address

RIG-I Receptors: The Tiny Nanomachines that Protect Us Against RNA Viruses

Anna Marie Pyle, Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Professor of Chemistry at Yale University

5:00

Poster Session A (odd numbered posters)

5:30

Poster Session B (even numbered posters)

6:30

Dinner Celebration for Faculty and Students