Nine Wartburg College students presented at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR) April 13-15 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Those presenting were:

• Emma Alpern, who presented “The relationship between personality and problematic binge-watching behaviors in college students.”
• Brooklyn Ferrie, who presented “Adjustment to College: The role of parental reciprocity and gender.”
• Hidaly Hernandez, who presented “The Effects of Voluntary Exercise on Memory and Anxiety in Young Adult Female C57BL/6 Mice.”
• Emma Hickman, who presented “The Study of a Bacteriophage on the Wartburg College Campus.”
• Pedro Martinez, who presented “Enlarged Perivascular Spaces in Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Characterization with 7T MRI and Relationship with Neurobehavioral Outcome.”
• Robby Munoz, who presented “Vidutolimod uptake by leukocytes: elucidating the role of granulocytes & the impact on their activation.”
• Zef Ngove and Chai Reddy, who presented “Isolation, Characterization, and Host Range of Novel Microbacterium foliorum Bacteriophages.”
• Lindsey Spolidoro, who presented “Analysis of LNS2 protein domain conservation through bioinformatic annotation of Lpin in Drosophila species.”

“Conducting research was a really helpful lesson in learning how to solve problems using critical thinking. NCUR was my first exposure to presenting a project in a professional setting to people other than my peers and professors,” Spolidoro said. “I think this experience will help me in grad school when I’ll need to speak scientifically about the work I’m doing. Overall, going to NCUR was a good way to learn about disciplines that I don’t get to hear about typically and recognize the importance of being a well-rounded learner in the future.”

The conference features thousands of presenters from around the country in a variety of fields. The students were accompanied by professors Stephanie Toering Peters and Sean Coleman.