Six students have received research funding from Oglethorpe University’s Student Research Development Fund administered through the Office of Academic Affairs. The recipients represent a range of disciplines, including biology, chemistry, physics, sociology, accounting and studio art.
This year’s recipients include:
- Avery Cannon ’28, chemistry
- Nzinga Collins-Dabo ’29, sociology
- Bella Kelly-Stewart ’27, biology
- Isabella Kite-Powell ’27, studio art
- Michelle Ogheze ’29, accounting
- Carlos Ramirez-Morales ’27, physics
Several students will use their funding to attend professional conferences where they will present their research and share ideas with other attendees in their respective fields. Additionally, many of the selected students are preparing to apply for graduate programs; attending and presenting at such conferences help these students stand out when submitting their applications.
Kelly-Stewart, a student in Oglethorpe’s Honors Program, will attend the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology to present recent discoveries about the function of a novel protein in the cilia of a single-celled algae known as Chlamydomonas. Over the past four months of research, she has obtained preliminary data suggesting a role for the protein, known as “FAP93,” in stabilizing cilia on the algae’s proximal end.
Cannon will attend the 2027 meeting of the Georgia Academy of Science at Albany State University. There, she will present her research into new perovskite materials for solar panel cells that could lead to more efficient solar energy.
Ramirez-Morales is developing a portable, low-cost “spectrophotometer” to measure concentrations of iron ions in bodies of water. His funding will support his participation in two American Physical Society conferences in Atlanta.
Collins-Dabo and Ogheze will represent Oglethorpe’s Core program at the Association for Core Text’s and Courses undergraduate conference in Boston next year. Both students will present essays written in their Core classes, which challenge students to reflect on themselves and the broader world.
Kite-Powell, another Honors student who is on the medical and scientific illustration track, will use her funding to complete an independent research project representing the culmination of her academic journey at Oglethorpe: a comprehensive technical illustration and scientific display of a historical sterilization machine lovingly dubbed “Bessie the Autoclave.”
Applications were evaluated by a committee composed of Sarah Morris and Drs. Kendra King Momon, Courtney Mullis Sridharan and Austin Rayford.
Established in 2016, the Student Research Development Fund helps Oglethorpe students defray costs incurred while conducting or presenting research. The student research development fund has awarded more than 100 stipends since it began.
