Opportunities for Wittenberg University students to partner with faculty members as they conduct research abound each year, including during the summer months. Click here to read our latest feature about philosophy and psychology research.
Check this page regularly as we feature different research projects.
Student-faculty research opportunities abound throughout each school year and beyond. Maddie Pawlak '26 and Victoria (Pip) Pipinich '25 studied with Ray Dudek, professor of chemistry.
Paige Rudolf '25 and Andy Dozal '26 studied under the direction of Daniel Marous, associate professor of chemistry. Both are chemistry majors and worked on investigating antibacterial agents.
Derek Stinefield ’25 and Alex Callahan ’25 studied with Stephanie Eveland Parrot, assistant professor of chemistry, to investigate the effects of heavy metal substitution in the gemstone corundum. “Our research used open-source software called Quantum Espresso to investigate the role of post transition metals in the stability and structure of metal-doped Corundum-type minerals,” Eveland Parrot said.
Maddie Pawlak '26 and Victoria (Pip) Pipinich '25 studied with Ray Dudek, professor of chemistry. The two of them measured the seasonal production of oleuropein (an insecticide) in fringe trees, and Pipinich measured the amount of lead and cadmium in dark chocolate as her summer project.
Guille del Rio Gonzalez '24 recently worked with Kelley Annesley, assistant professor of philosophy, on a research project that touches two academic subject areas. Del Rio Gonzalez and Kelley Annesley conducted research that works at the intersection of philosophy and psychology, a place where the student has been exploring questions about the relationship between empirical studies of character and virtue and the ethical concept of virtue.
Grace Carter '24 studied with Justin Houseknecht, professor and chair of chemistry, measuring the effectiveness of a workshop facilitating the teaching of organic chemistry.
McKenna Boling '24 recently studied with Travis Proctor, assistant professor of religion, on a joint publication. “McKenna wrote a short research essay on the 'Watchers,' a group of fallen angels featured as part of ancient Jewish and Christian mythologies that, pending peer review, will be published on Bible Odyssey (https://bibleodyssey.org/), a public-facing collection of scholarly essays on the Bible run by the Society of Biblical Literature, the leading professional organization for scholarship on the Bible," Proctor said.
William Westermeyer ’26 collaborated with Kunal Chatterjee, assistant professor of biology, on a special class of biomolecule called tRNA. “tRNA are required by cells to make proteins. William is trying to learn what happens when tRNA are not properly made – are they repaired and/or destroyed? He is also trying to discover the proteins that participate in this tRNA quality control mechanism,” Chatterjee said.
Deza Frega ’24 partnered with Stacy Porter, assistant professor of environmental science, this summer to quantify the urban heat island effect in Wittenberg’s hometown of Springfield and determine its possible influence on precipitation.
Hannah Marcin '24 conducted research with Michelle McWhorter, associate professor of biological and environmental sciences, to study obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The research is a continuation of the work previously begun by two students with McWhorter.
Biology majors Lily Bonar ’24, Neil Boyles ’26, and Tori Hinkle ‘24 all researched spotted turtles in southwestern Ohio this summer under the direction of Associate Professor of Biology Richard Phillips. Phillips has let Bonar, Boyles, and Hinkle run the show. The trio trapped, analyzed data, and tracked the turtles.
Sarah Fitterer ’25 collaborated with Matt Collier, professor of biology, department chair, and the 2023 recipient of the University’s top faculty prize, the Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching, to study the impacts of soil iron and manganese exposure on North American dandelion growth.
