John C. Young Scholars Program

Current Scholars and Projects

[Faculty mentors are listed in brackets.]

2012-13
  • Ben Boone, “MurA: Production, Purification, and Characterization of Antibiotic Potential” [January Haile]

  • Haley Crigger, “Throw Away the Book: A Psychological Survey of Life and Literature through Poetry” [Lisa Williams]

  • Kaitlyn Elizabeth Lee, “An Analysis of Regional Dialects: Owensboro, KY and Evansville, IN” [Phyllis Bellver]

  • Nathan Likert, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: The Oxymoron in Romantic Literature” [John Kinkade]

  • Cara Monical, “Computer Science Genetic Coloring of Dynamic Graphs” [Forrest Stonedahl]

  • Natalie Orms, “A Computational and Synthetic Investigation of Potential Inhibitors of the MurA Enzyme” [Jennifer Muzyka]

  • Kate Wintuska, “An Evaluation of the Administration of Non-Educational Services in Kentucky Schools” [Sarah Murray]

Former Scholars and Projects

[Faculty mentors are listed in brackets.]

2011-12Journal Papers (PDF)
  • Kara Beer, “Exploring Qualitative Ethnography: Student Narratives of Study Abroad Experiences” [Phyllis Passariello]

  • Trish Bredar, “The Female Protagonist and the Journey Motif in the Early Novel” [Helen Emmitt and John Kinkade]

  • James Kalb, “Philip K. Dick’s Journey from Perceptual Skepticism to Theological Uncertainty” [Dan Manheim and Nathan Link]

  • Brian Klosterboer, “‘Difficult to Repair’: Applying African Models for Transitional Justice to Peace and Restoration Prospects in the Congo-DR” [Lori Hartmann-Mahmud]

  • Kelsey Lownds, “If You're Happy and You Know It: Understanding the Relationship Between Music Production and Emotion in 3rd-5th graders” [Larry Bitensky and Mykol Hamilton]

  • Evis Muhameti, “In-Depth Interviews with Juvenile Offenders Participating in At-Risk Youth Program” [Sarah Goodrum]

2010-11
  • Benjamin Thomas Cocanougher, “Developmental Origin and Function of Tyrosine Hydroxylase-Producing Interneurons in the Human Cerebral Cortex” [Steve Asmus]

  • Emily Jordan Gregory, “Parent-Offspring Kin Recognition in Japanese Quail: The Role of Parental Care” [Melissa Burns-Cusato]

  • Maria Elizabeth Kennedy, “The Winning Plan and the Iron-Jawed Angels” [Brianna Leavitt-Alcantara]

  • Morgan Perryman Lynn, “Best Methods: Assessing the Impact of Microfinance Projects and Programs” [Lori Hartmann-Mahmud]

  • Elisabeth Louise Randall, “Perhaps in Lesbos’: Lesbian Identity and Novelistic Production in Inter-War France and England” [Helen Emmitt]

  • Rachel Elizabeth Skaggs, “Livin’ the Dream: Nashville Songwriter Culture in Film” [Beau Weston]

  • Samuel Ryan Yates, “From Page to Stage: Adapting Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted” [Patrick Kagan-Moore]

2009-10
  • Zach Bechtle, “Evaluation of Nest Bond in Ring Neck Dove through Conditional Place Preference Using Hormonal Injection” [Melissa Burns-Cusato]

  • Victoria Christine Crowell, “An den Mann Bringen: The Construction of an Ideal Nazi Masculinity” [Steve Beaudoin]

  • Evan Kutzler, “Tennessee Prepares for Defeat: Governor Harris, Mobilization and the Collapse of Tennessee” [Rick Bradshaw]

  • Joseph Glenn McGill, “Music as Narrative Voice in Lost” [Nathan Link]

  • Bethany Neal, “‘Quarrelsome, Rowdy, Drunken, Brawling, Chicken-Stealing Papists’: 19th Century Irish Immigration and the Rejection of the Irish-American Identity” [Clarence Wyatt]

  • Morgan Smith, “From al-Quran to Al-Gebra” [Tom McCollough]

  • Sami Jiryis Sweis, “Dismantling the Tent: British Colonialism and the Tribes of Transjordan, 1920-1946” [Mike Hamm]

2008-09
  • Sarah Baird, “Appalachian Folk Medicine from Mineshaft to Mountaintop” [Phyllis Passariello]

  • Dan Burkey, “MultiMedea: Retelling an Ancient Story in Digital Film” [Patrick Kagan-Moore]

  • Talha Ijaz, “Characterization of Tyrosine Hydroxylase Interneurons in the Developing Cerebral Cortex of Rats” [Steve Asmus]

  • Jillian Kenyon, “Women and Offender Re-entry Programs” [Sarah Goodrum]

  • Molly Lindle, “Elucidation of the Role of Atmospheric Particulates in the Chemistry of Volcanic Gases” [Keith Dunn]

  • Virginia Reynolds, “Unraveling the Fabric of Fortune: Textiles in Virginia during the American Civil War, 1861-1865” [Clarence Wyatt]

  • Qianyu Yang, “An Empirical Analysis of the Chinese Housing Market” [Dave Anderson]


2007-08
  • Kerri Howard, “Here and There: The Interaction of Class and Acculturative Processes in Central Kentucky Hispanic Immigrants” [Beau Weston]

  • Anne Maggard, “The Things that Remain: A Poetic Triptych of Art, Nature, and Culture” [Lisa Williams]

  • Joshua Qualls, “Plasma Particle Accelerators: A Study on the Progress of Plasma and Laser Wakefield Accelerators” [Andre Wehner]

  • Will Rall, “Blood and the Book: The German Christians' Attack on the Old Testament” [David Hall]

  • Mandy Smith, “Persistence Barcodes and Learning Algorithms for Digits” [Anne Collins]

  • Candice Steiner, “Taking the Hula to Heart: A Study of Hawaiian Music in Light of the Western World” [Larry Bitensky and Nathan Link]

2006-07
  • Miles Barger, “The History and Mystery of Contemporary Electronic Music” [Larry Bitensky]

  • Ben Durham, “Choral Music in Kentucky's Public High Schools” [Barbara Hall]

  • Mary C. Morgan, “Bali: The Anthropology of the Exotic and the Exotification of Anthropology” [Gareth Barkin]

  • Brandon Stephenson, “Ideals of Kingship in Fifteenth-Century England: Political Reality and Literary Invention” [Mark Rasmussen and Amos Tubb]

  • Joseph C. Yeager, “A Spectroscopic Study of Carbon Monoxide on a Thin-film Salt Surface” [Keith Dunn]

2005-06
  • Mark Ball, “Investigation into the Mechanism of Neurotransmitter Selection in the Developing Rat Cerebral Cortex” [Steve Asmus]

  • Jeff Briggs, “The Science and Economics of Nuclear Fusion” [Dave Anderson and Andre Wehner]

  • Nathan French, “A Look into Terror: The Evolution and Application of Al-Qaeda's Jihad” [David Hall]

  • Kristie Kachler, “Orange Peel in Snow” [Lisa Williams]

  • Matt Steinfeld, “Cologne, Stockings, and Ice Cream: Consumerism and the Soviet Union” [Mike Hamm]

  • Ellen Wisner, “An examination of the Hybrid Zone Between the Crayfish Species Orconectes juvenilis and Orconectes cristavarius” [Rob Ziemba]

2004-05
  • Jared A. Cutright, “The Potential for Long-Term Peace and Stability in the Taiwan Strait” [Mike Hamm]

  • Ashley Kingsolver, “Thomas Jefferson: An American Heretic” [David Hall]

  • Robert P. Murray, “Post-War Kentucky: Civil War and Vietnam” [Larry Matheny]

  • Jamie Ray, “Zionist Discursive Practices” [Nayef Samhat]

  • Ryan Steed, “Changes in Neurotransmitter Expression during Rat Brain Development” [Steve Asmus]

  • Karen Wicke, “Irish Traditional Music and Socio-Political Consciousness” [Larry Bitensky]

  • Jenn Wolford, “Virginia Woolf: A Shift from Androgyny to Anonymity in the Artist Figure” [Helen Emmitt]

2003-04
  • Lauren Crosby, “Neoliberalism, the IMF, and Cameroon” [Rick Bradshaw]

  • Sarah Hermann, “Portrayals of Childhood in Northern Irish Poetry” [Helen Emmitt]

  • Zach Hoy, “Oxidative Destruction of Phthalate Esters” [Joe Workman]

  • Meghan Langley, “Land Use and Water Quality in the Kentucky River Drainage Basin” [Endre Nyerges and Rob Ziemba]

  • Angela Ratliff, “Successes and Failures of Mexican Development: A Case Study of Yucatan” [Lori Hartmann-Mahmud]

  • Sherri Rose, “Translation of Voleur des Guirlandes” [Ken Keffer]

2002-03
  • Eva Bookjans, “Saturated Laser Spectroscopy” [Marshall Wilt]

  • Susan Courtwright, “Written in Stone? The Impact of Sharia Law on the Rights of Women in Nigeria” [Lori Hartmann-Mahmud]

  • Katherine Fegley, “Stable Democratic Reform in Kuwait” [Nayef Samhat]

  • Neil Parrish, “Sir Gareth of Orkney: The Key to Arthur's Kingdom” [Mark Rasmussen]

  • Brandi Stearns, “Transcendental Convergences: Emerson's Influence Upon Whitman” [Mark Lucas]

2001-02
  • Michael Dennis, “Effects of Species Interactions on Reproductive Behavior and Success” [Chris Barton]

  • Kent Barnett, “The Sincerest Form of Flattery: The Historic, Philosophic, Social, and Market Implications of Major 20th-Century Art Forgeries” [Bill Levin]

  • Matt Wilson, “Paragon or Monster: Images of Powerful Women in Ancient Rome” [Jane Joyce]

  • Stephanie Rednour, “An Applied Simulation of Quantum Cryptography and an Examination of a Component of a Quantum Cryptography Apparatus” [Marshall Wilt and Phil Lockett]

  • Les Fugate, “Centre of Attention: An Economic Impact Study of the 2000 U.S. Vice Presidential Debate at Centre College” [David Anderson]

  • Thomas Hobbs, “Late Roman and Byzantine Galilee: From Archaeology to Social Arrangement” [Tom McCollough]

  • Kate Lacy, “A Critical Edition of Grace Norton's Letters to Lucy Paton (1905-1925)” [Ken Keffer]

  • Erin Slinker, “Last Stand of the Lacandones: The Changing Face of a Culture” [Phyllis Passariello]

  • Steve Anderson, “Natural Language Abstraction of Computer Functionality” [Christine Shannon]

  • Tony Hokayem, “Subsidies, Stadiums, and Sports: The True Connection” [Bob Martin]

2000-01
  • Colleen Susan Harris, “International Order and Deviant States: Reconciliation through Ideological Discipline and Avenues for Challenge” [Nayef Samhat]

  • Cary Lee Hearn, “The U.S. Embargo of Tourism to Cuba: Consequences and Future Possibilities” [Robert Brownlee]

  • Joseph Hill, “Dendrimers as Carriers for Anti-Cancer Drugs” [Joe Workman]

  • Clifford R. Jenks, “Experimental Games with Children” [Robert Martin]

  • Lucas V. Mentzer, “Mapping the Villages of Sepphoris” [Tom McCollough]

  • Juliana E. Meyer, “The Responses of Barbados Green Monkeys to Models of African Predators” [Brent White]

  • Carrie Morgan, “Pathogenicity on Soybeans and Pectin-Degrading Enzyme Activity in Fusarium Solani” [Peggy Richey]

  • Jeremy Reed, “Genetic Algorithms and the Stock Market”
    [David Binger]

  • Brandi Rollins, “Comparative Analysis of Women's Prisons in Ecuador and the United States” [Phyllis Passariello]

  • Kevin Wood, “Transient Expression of Catecolamines During Development” [Steve Asmus]