Illinois State University

10/14/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/14/2025 08:08

Fall 2025 FIREBird and BirdFEEDER Grant winners announced

Each semester, the Office of Student Research (OSR) at Illinois State University awards research grants to support undergraduate and graduate projects. These grants are part of ISU's commitment to fostering academic excellence, innovation, and community engagement.

FIREbird Awards provide undergraduate students with funds for Faculty-mentored Independent Research Experiences. Up to $1500 may be used for student hourly wages, research incentives, supplies, or travel. This semester's FIREbird recipients are:

  • Matilda Guerrero, School of Biological Sciences "At Risk Fall for older adults in a Community Setting." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Susana J Calderon (Mennonite College of Nursing).
  • Rene Wilderman, School of Biological Sciences, "Investigating the Impact of Corticosteroids on Smooth Muscle in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Vidal Vidal-Gadea.
  • Madi Sapp, Department of Psychology, "False memories for stereotypes: Effects of attention and delay." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dawn McBride.
  • Bailey Center, School of Biological Sciences, "Understanding localization properties of a phosphate transport protein." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kevin Edwards.
  • Aspen Behm, Department of History, "Social Networks with the Svoboda Diaries Project." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Camille Cole.

The BirdFEEDER Awards (Fund for Experimentation, Enquiry and the DEvelopment of Student Research) provide graduate and undergraduate students with up to $500 to use for research supplies, materials, or travel to conduct research. This semester's BirdFEEDER recipients are:

  • Brandon Abbs, Department of Psychology, "Humor Style Usage as Related to Hopelessness and Meaninglessness." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Eric Wesselmann
  • Ian McLauchlan, Department of Chemistry, "Regulating the removal of damaged mitochondria through studying PINK1-TOM mitochondrial supercomplex formation." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mohamed Eldeeb
  • Warren Clinton, School of Biological Sciences, "Assessing morphological and physiological variation of the invasive round goby along their Illinois River expansion front" Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kara Andres
  • Jacey Griffith, Department of Psychology, "Secret-Keeping Research: Differences in Abuse and Normative Non-Disclosure" Faculty Mentor: Dr. Greg Braswell
  • Getrude Senu, School of Communication, "Extending the Organizational Listening Canons Using Afrocentrism" Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mary Beth Deline
  • Dante Caruso, Department of Psychology, "Comparing the Phenomenological Experience of False Memories and Veridical Memories with Different Presentation Modalities and Delays." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dawn M. McBride
  • Hope Omoniyi, School of Biological Sciences, "Investigating the role of N-terminal dependent degradation of toxic BAX protein fragments in counteracting cancer cell death" Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mohamed Eldeeb
  • Emmanuel Oladokun, School of Biological Sciences, "Exploring Synergistic Interactions between a Novel Silver-Ruthenium containing Antimicrobial and Aminoglycosides in Extraintestinal Escherichia coli" Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jan Ulrik Dahl

Illinois State's Center for a Sustainable Water Future has sponsored an additional BirdFEEDER research grant, naming Danny Wood, Department of Health Sciences, as the recipient for a project titled "Designing Lead Pipe Loop Reactors: A Hands-On Study of Lead Release into Drinking Water." Faculty Mentor: Dr. Yeunook Bae

Find out more about applications and grants at the Student of Office Research (https://studentresearch.illinoisstate.edu/).

For more information and for application dates for the 2025-26 academic year, visit Office of Student Research.

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