John C. Young Scholars Program

Current Scholars and Projects

[Faculty mentors are listed in brackets.]

2013-14

• Tony Huffman, A Comparative Analysis of the Top and Bottom Performing Public School Districts in Eastern Kentucky: Closing the Achievement Gap [Sarah Murray and J. H. Atkins]

• Danika Isdahl, The Gothic Tales of Louisville: Writing the Stories of Louisville in the Gothic Genre [Christian Moody]

• Warren McKnight, Phenomenology and the Self-Attribution of Gender [Eva Cadavid]

• Stephen Metcalf, On the Search for Meaning: An Analysis of Major Themes in Spiritual Memoirs and Autobiographies [Lee Jefferson]

• Bailey Nelson, Conservation Genetics of Eastern Pterospera [Matthew Klooster]

• Olivia Palmer, Presentation of the Person and the Persona: Theatrical Analysis of Identity Performance in an Online World [Patrick Kagan-Moore]

• Sarah Welch, An Era of Distrust: Public Reactions to the Pre-Stonewall Gay Rights Movement [Sara Egge]

Former 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]

2011-12 — Journal 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]