These are the graduate posters winners, pictured with Northern Michigan University faculty, in the recent Celebration of Student Scholarship competition. From left are Danny LeBert, Kristian Choate, Mandy Joslyn, Dr. Jane Harris and Garrett Lundteigen. (Photo courtesy of NMU)

MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University has announced the poster presentation winners from its Celebration of Student Scholarship held April 20.

The Celebration of Student Scholarship is an annual event held on the NMU campus to recognize the academic contributions of undergraduate and graduate students in all disciplines. Students share their work with the NMU and Marquette communities by presenting research posters and oral presentations, which include creative written work and artwork.

This event is an important opportunity for student scholars to share their work in a way that is accessible to the general public. The mission is to improve the way students communicate about academic topics and ideas while recognizing the hard work performed by NMU students under the guidance of faculty.

Categories included undergraduate lower division, undergraduate upper division, graduate projects, group projects and the people’s choice award.

Undergraduate lower division:

≤ first place, Jason Andary, freshman, clinical laboratory science, “Comparative Analysis Between Ccolorimetric LAMP and RPA Diagnostic Methods to Detect

IDH1 R132H mutation in GBM”;

≤ second, Skylar Grubb, sophomore, biology (concentration in zoology), “Relative Abundance of Black Bears, Bobcats and Coyotes in Relation to Human Modification”; and

≤ third, Gabriela Moreno, freshman, biology, “Urbanization in the Southwest and Its Effects on the Relative Abundance of Competing Species and Their Prey.”

Undergraduate upper division:

≤ first, Leah Gibbons, senior, biology, “The Relative Abundance of Gray Wolves, Coyotes and Red Foxes in Urbanized Areas of the Great Lakes.”;

≤ second, Calandra Bungart, junior, biology, “The Impact of Urban Landcover on Coyotes (Canis latrans), Red Foxes (Vulpes Vulpes) and Eastern Cottontails

(Sylvilagus floridanus) Within the Northeast Region of the U.S.”; and

≤ third place,: Mary Kelly, junior, environmental science, “Assessing the Effects of Forest Land Cover Change on Nine-Banded Armadillo (Dasypus

novemcinctus), Bobcat (Lynx rufus) and Coyote (Canis latrans) Populations in the Southeastern United States.”

Graduate projects:

≤ first, Garrett Lundteigen, graduate, psychology, “Effect of Positive Imagery

on Self Efficacy.”;

≤ second, Kristian Choate, graduate, biology, “Optimization of Lysis for Detection of Staphylococcus aureus via Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification”; and

≤ third, Mandy Joslyn, graduate, biology, “How Does Human Decomposition Affect the Soil Microbiome?”

Group projects:

≤ first, Nicole C. Thomas, graduate, psychology, Bella Enger, sophomore, neuroscience; Peyton Osborn, sophomore, biology; and Rebecca Balinski, senior,

psychology, “Genetic Alterations Associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder”;

≤ second, J.D. D. Payne, senior, behavioral and cognitive neuroscience; Ender

Harris, junior, cognitive neuroscience; Lily Briggs, junior, interdisciplinary psychology; and Brandon Godin, graduate, non-degree seeking, “Discrimination Reversal Task Training in C57 and CD1 Mice Strains”; and

≤ third, Christina Ferrera, senior, biology (concentration in physiology), and Anne Carrier, freshman, biology (concentration in microbiology), “Utilizing Digital PCR to Detect Mpox Virus in Wastewater.”

People’ s choice:

≤ first, Teni Ajayi, sophomore, biology (concentration in physiology), “Human-Wildlife Interactions in the Context of Population Density: A Study of Three Species”;

≤ second, Grace Robinson, freshman, biology, “A New Collection of Freshwater Crabs fom Northern Madagascar That Includes a Possible New Species (Brachyura: Potamoidea: Deckeniidae)”; and

≤ third place, Brady Rudh, senior, fisheries and wildlife Management, “Waterbody Type as a Determinant of Contiguous Balsam Fir Growth Rate.”

This was the 27th annual iteration of the Celebration of Student Scholarship, which returned to an in-person format. Nearly every academic department on campus submitted a presentation.