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Student Research Scholarships
Intro
The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs offers three research-based scholarships. All three scholarships have the same deadline and application process.
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Liam Lamb
Liam Lamb was awarded the 2026-27 Kell Container Corporation Scholarship for his research entitled “Apparent competition between two native prey species in California – with a carnivorous twist!” with faculty mentor Dr. Jennifer Smith. His research is an observational field study on the population dynamics of the California ground squirrel testing apparent competition among voles, ground squirrels, and shared predators. Alongside an analysis of physiological and microbiome markers to quantify direct or indirect predator mediated effects on ground squirrel demography and health.
Maddie Mueller
Maddie Mueller was the recipient of the 2024-25 Kell Corporation Scholarship for her work entitled “Linking Human Activity to Behavioral and Stress Reactivity in Social Mammals” alongside Dr. Jennifer Smith. This research collaboration seeks to understand the impact of human disturbance on wildlife and what behaviors are correlated with increased human tolerance.
Yaotian Zhang
Yaotian Zhang was the recipient of the 2026-27 James R. Larson and Vicki Lord Larson College of Business Fellowship for their research entitled “A Tale of Two Motivations: How Goal Orientations Shape Language Barrier Effects in Global Virtual Teams” with faculty mentor Dr. Longzhu Dong. Her research investigates how language barriers shape leadership and communication dynamics in global virtual teams — finding that internal language diversity undermines stable leadership while communication drives leadership emergence, especially in the mid-to-late project phase. In a separate line of work, she examines how members' goal orientations interact with language barriers to affect communication and leadership emergence, revealing that a learning goal orientation consistently improves communication while a performance-approach goal orientation acts as a double-edged sword depending on whether barriers are internal or external.
Greta Wright
Greta Wright was the recipient of the 2026-27 James R. Larson and Vicki Lord Larson College of Arts and Sciences: Non-STEM Fellowship for her research entitled “CVHM Art Exhibit” in collaboration with Professor Jyl Kelley. She worked to develop and curate a gallery exhibition in collaboration with the Chippawa Valley Historical Museum. Her responsibilities included researching and selecting artists, developing the organization of the gallery, and formally presenting the exhibition with a reception.
Vivienne Lewis
Vivienne Lewis was the recipient of the 2026-27 James R. Larson and Vicki Lord Larson College of Arts and Sciences: STEM Fellowship for her research “Assessing opioid-receptor mechanisms in naltrexone-discriminating rats with chronic, intermittent access to sucrose” with faculty mentor Dr. David Jewett. Her research uses operant discrimination training to measure the effects of naltrexone in rodents and aims to aid in the treatment of opioid use disorders.
Savannah Dworshak
Savannah Dworshak and Maddelyn Webster are the co-recipients of the 2026-27 James R. Larson and Vicki Lord Larson College of Health and Human Sciences Fellowship for their research entitled “Preparing Wisconsin Psychiatric Clinics for Implementation of Psychiatric Advance Directives: Evidence Synthesis and Statewide Provider Readiness Assessment” alongside their mentor Dr. Mimi Sward. Savannah will be working with Dr. Sward to conduct research regarding psychiatric advanced healthcare directives. They will be conducting psychological research with medical doctors about the use and effectiveness of PADs through surveys to aid in future psychiatric medical care.
Maddelyn Webster
Savannah Dworshak and Maddelyn Webster are the co-recipients of the 2026-27 James R. Larson and Vicki Lord Larson College of Health and Human Sciences Fellowship for their research entitled “Preparing Wisconsin Psychiatric Clinics for Implementation of Psychiatric Advance Directives: Evidence Synthesis and Statewide Provider Readiness Assessment” alongside their mentor Dr. Mimi Sward. Maddelyn Webster's research prepares Wisconsin psychiatric clinics to implement Psychiatric Advance Directives (PAD) by assessing provider readiness, synthesizing evidence-based strategies, and developing practical workflows. The project aims to strengthen patient autonomy, continuity of care, and crisis planning across psychiatric settings.
Samuel Scheidler
Samuel Scheidler was awarded the 2026-27 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Project Award for his research entitled “Determining the mechanism of viral inhibition of human RNA-sensing proteins RIG-I, and MDA5” with faculty mentor Dr. Sarah Vinnik. In this research, the Yeast Two-Hybrid method was utilitized to identify whether candidate VSRs interact with the RLRs RIG-I, MDA5, LGP2, and Dicer.
Rachel Horejsi
Rachel Horejsi was awarded the 2024-25 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Project Award for her research entitled “The Necessity and Sufficiency of the Snail Peptide P12 in Host-Seeking by Schistosome Miracidia” with faculty mentor Dr. Nicolas Wheeler. Her research is making efforts to identify a molecular pathway that parasitic flatworms called schistosomes use to find compatible snail hosts essential to their life cycle. Schistosomes infect hundreds of millions of people globally every year and this research could help reveal critical moments in the parasite life cycle to help eliminate their spread.
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