WKU News

 

Summertime means that Gatton Academy students are ready to make the most of the season, engaging in STEM opportunities, study abroad, and other academic pursuits.

“I never cease to be amazed at the variety of work our students find to participate in,” says Cheryl Kirby-Stokes, Academic Opportunities Coordinator at The Gatton Academy. “They are already amazing young people, and their summer opportunities will simply build on their already substantial skillsets.”

National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU)

The NSF funds many research opportunities for undergraduate students through its REU Sites program. An REU Site consists of a group of ten or so undergraduates who work in research programs of the host institution. Each student is associated with a specific research project, working closely with faculty researchers. Students are granted stipends, housing, and travel. The following students were selected for a prestigious NSF REU: 

Asa Ashley (’25, Bowling Green HS) will be conducting research at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL, working on materials currently being utilized for energy applications.

Lincoln Potts (’24, Oldham County HS) will be working with the University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy. The program is focused on projects in nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, and astronomy, related through the central theme of symmetry.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Sponsored Grant

With Dr. John Khouryieh (WKU School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) and Dr. Luiz Silva (WKU Department of Agriculture and Food Science), students will participate in research projects at WKU’s food and meat science laboratory, including evaluating the effects of partial replacement of fat with added polysaccharides and proteins on the physicochemical, texture, oxidative stability, and sensory properties of reduced fat emulsion. Student activities will include developing research plans, conducting supervised research experiments, collecting data, completing statistical analysis, and contributing to conference abstracts and peer-reviewed journal manuscripts.

Eb Barrett (’24, Marshall County HS)

Chealsea Gachagua (’25, Model Laboratory School)

Quinn Hartman (’25, Allen County Scottsville HS)

Mara Neace (’24, Model Laboratory HS)

Amy Pan (’24, Bowling Green HS)

Clark Pullen (’25, Marshall County HS)

Gatton Research Internship Grant

In its 15^th year, the Gatton Research Internship Grant program creates summer research opportunities for rising seniors. The grants provide stipends, living expenses, and a small supplies fund. Twenty-four students were chosen for Summer 2024, conducting research at WKU and other institutions across the country.

Ibrahim Ali (’25, South Warren HS) will be working with Dr. Bangbo Yan of WKU’s Chemistry Department, creating new material that will mimic the active site of carbonic anhydrase.

Bailey Amyx (’25, McCracken County HS) will be working with Dr. Hilary Katz of WKU’s Biology Department, looking at how axons can regenerate in lamprey spinal cords.

Aanyaa Arora (’25, Greenwood HS) will be working with Dr. Joseph Marquardt of WKU’s Biology Department, looking at how cells regulate their cycle and shape, specifically in budding yeast.

Luna Asbell (’25, Riverview Opportunity Center) will be working with Dr. Andrew Wilson of the University of Louisville’s Chemistry Department, helping to improve the performance of high-capacity, rechargeable batteries.

Mahmood Ateyeh (’25, Western Hills HS) will be working with Dr. Ali Er of WKU’s Physics and Astronomy Department, studying photodynamic therapy using methylene blue as a photosensitizer.

Ava Blackledge (’25, Rowan County HS) will be working with Dr. Rodney King of WKU’s Biology Department, characterizing the genes of bacteriophage MooMoo.

Bruno Castaneda (’25, Henry County HS) will be working with Dr. Vladimir Dobrokhotov of WKU’s Physics and Astronomy Department, studying volatile organic compounds and gas monitoring.

Alper Er (’25, Bowling Green HS), will be working with Dr. Ali Er of WKU’s Physics and Astronomy Department, studying how to reduce friction on prosthetic devices.

Gabriel Gooden (’25, Oldham County HS) will be working with Dr. Jason Stewart of WKU’s Biology Department, endeavoring to understand the role of the CST complex in telomere repair regulation.

Katie Isaacs (’25, University Heights Academy) will be working with Dr. Renee Fatemi of the University of Kentucky’s Physics and Astronomy Department, aiding in finalizing the design for a future Electron Ion Collider.

Nihal Jacob (’25, South Oldham HS) will be working with Dr. Chintan Kikani of the University of Kentucky’s Biology Department, identifying the biochemical processes related to diabetes, specifically the protein Per-Arm-Sim domain Kinase.

Juwon Joung (’25, West Jessamine HS) will be working with Dr. Moon-Soo Kim of WKU’s Chemistry Department, detecting E. ColiShiga toxin 2 strand.

Varshith Kotagiri (’25, Western Hills HS) will be working with Dr. Ivan Luptak of Boston University’s School of Medicine, investigating the ABCB10 gene as it pertains to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Yegor Lushpin (’25, Campbell County HS) will be working with Dr. Greg Arbuckle of WKU’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, creating solar eclipse simulations of the Baileys Beads on the lunar surface for the Sunsketcher project.

Lola Norman (’25, Greenwood HS) will be working with Dr. Brian Bill of Vanderbilt’s Biological Sciences Department, determining whether M. xanthus differentially regulates secondary metabolite production when grown in the presence of different prey.

Ethan Papp (’25, Apollo HS) will be working with Dr. Bangbo Yan of WKU’s Chemistry Department, creating new compounds to catalyze the reduction of carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide.

Jill Patel (’25, Daviess County HS) will be working with Dr. Martin Schwartz of Yale’s School of Medicine, looking at the effects of systematic accumulation of the provisional extracellular matrix protein fibronectin.

Sydney Putnam (’25, Mercer County HS) will be working with Dr. Ajay Srivastava of WKU’s Biology Department, looking at the contribution of V-type ATPase to the development of air sac primordia in Drosophila.

Taylor Roberts (’25, East Jessamine HS) will be working with Dr. Adam Bachstetter of the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine, identifying which cells express RNA synthesized inflammatory proteins.

Maggie Rowton (’25, Paducah Tilghman HS) will be working with Dr. Chiara Gamberi of the Coastal Carolina University’s Biology Department, identifying pathways leading to renal cyst pathology.

Rehan Shaikh (’25, Ballard HS) will be working with Dr. Shahnaz Aly of WKU’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, creating sustainable architecture design.

Daniel Thelen (’25, Corbin HS) will be working with Dr. Lee Bledsoe of WKU’s Crawford Hydrology Laboratory, identifying areas that contribute flow to the Great Onyx Groundwater Basin.

Mabel Vilt (’25, Oldham County HS) will be working with Dr. Michael Smith of WKU’s Biology Department, describing the morphology of the inner and peripheral ear of the loricariid catfish, Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps K.

Eldon Williams (’25, Grayson County HS) will be working with Dr. Guangming Xing of WKU’s Mathematics Department, proposing centers around automatically grading Entity Relationship Diagrams.

Mammoth Cave

Through a generous community grant from General Motors, Gatton has been able to offer paid internships for students to work at Mammoth Cave National Park. This year, two students have been hired as Operational Management and Communications Specialist interns.

Kate Hans (’25, Glasgow HS)

Lyla Wood (’24, Edmonson Co. HS)

Experiences Abroad

National Security Language Initiative-for Youth (NSLI-Y)

NSLI-Y Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State fund students for six to eight weeks of summer intensive study and immersion in a critical language. The programs are typically carried out through immersive study abroad with participants taking intensive language courses, living with a host family, and visiting sites of cultural significance in their host nation. The following students received NSLI-Y Scholarships for summer language study:

Liz Burgan (’24, Daviess County HS) will continue Russian language studies in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Nolan French (’24, Hancock County HS) will continue Chinese language studies for the Academic Year in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Elizabeth Lanier (’25, Calloway County HS) will continue Russian language studies in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Elizabeth Parker (’24, Boyle County HS) will continue Russian language studies in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Atiana Spivey (’24, Monroe County HS) will continue Chinese language studies in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.

Mabel Vilt (’25, Oldham County HS) will continue Russian language studies in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Study Abroad in England

The Gatton Academy is partnering with Wroxton College in Oxfordshire, England for a three-week study abroad program focused on British Literature. The following students will be taking the course with Drs. Dawn Hall and Ted Hovet of WKU’s English Department:

Ibrahim Ali (’25, South Warren HS)

Austin Anderson (’25, Warren Central HS)

Thomas Ard (’25, Apollo HS)

Luna Asbell (’25, Riverview Opportunity Center)

Brighton Bergner (’25, South Warren HS)

Sam Bowling (’25, Riverview Opportunity Center)

Jamie Browder-Seguin (’25, Bowling Green HS)

Mike Bucks (’25, Conner HS)

Matthew Clark (’25, South Oldham HS)

Carson Cram (’25, Owen County HS)

Jacob DeBrot (’25, Campbellsville HS)

Emily Detre (’25, LaRue County HS)

Jo Elmore (’25, Woodford County HS)

Harlee Evans (’25, Madisonville N. Hopkins HS)

Maggie Ford (’25, Henderson County HS)

Chealsea Gachagua (’25, Model Laboratory School)

Ashley Gledhill (’25, Owensboro Innovation Academy)

Abby Goodin (’25, LaRue County HS)

Elly Grogan (’25, Murray HS)

Ellie Haleman (’25, Owensboro Catholic HS)

Kate Hans (’25, Glasgow HS)

Flynn Harris (’25, duPont Manual HS)

Ally Hauber (’25, duPont Manual HS)

Jace Hawkins (’25, Daviess County HS)

Katie Isaacs (’25, University Heights Academy)

EJ Johnson (’25, Home School)

Michael Kipelio (’25, Madison Central HS)

Eric Mack (’25, Apollo HS)

Irv Mesias-Guzman (’25, Carter G. Woodson Academy)

Eli Mucker (’25, Hancock County HS)

Lincoln Nelle (’25, Woodford County HS)

Kaleb Nenoff (’25, Christian County HS)

Emma O’Nan (’25, Greenwood HS)

Rudra Patel (’25, University Heights Academy)

Frankie Peak (’25, Central Hardin HS)

Jonathan Philpot (’25, Franklin County HS)

Mallory Quinn (’25, Bowling Green HS)

Taylor Roberts (’25, East Jessamine HS)

Maggie Rowton (’25, Paducah Tilghman HS)

Noelle Sanders (’25, John Hardin HS)

Maddox Simpson (’25, Hancock County HS)

Braydon Smith (’25, Scott County HS)

Jack Sternberg (’25, Bowling Green HS)

Daniel Thelen (’25, Corbin HS)

Skylar Turner (’25, Harrison County HS)

Gavin Vittitow (’25, Thomas Nelson HS)

Saylor Wagner (’25, Henderson County HS)

Eldon Williams (’25, Grayson County HS)

Unplugging with the Arts

Unplugging with the Arts is an annual event that The Gatton Academy coordinates with the Speed Art Museum in Louisville that allows students to immerse themselves in the arts. The 3-day experience includes the exploration of the Science of Art, hands-on art activities, and a hike at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. The following students participated in this year’s trip:

Brighton Bergner (’25, South Warren HS)

Jamie Browder-Seguin (’25, Bowling Green HS)

Jacob DeBrot (’25, Campbellsville HS)

Carson Cram (’25, Owen County HS)

Harlee Evans (’25, Madisonville N. Hopkins HS)

Elly Grogan (’25, Murray HS)

Ellie Haleman (’25, Owensboro Catholic HS)

Mallory Quinn (’25, Bowling Green HS)

Jack Sternberg (’25, Bowling Green HS)

Eldon Williams (’25, Grayson County HS)

Other Notable Individual Experiences

Tobi Akangbe (’24, South Warren HS) will be working at the Bowling Green Medical Center in Bowling Green, KY as a nurse assistant.

Austin Anderson (’25, Warren Central HS) will be conducting mathematics research with Dr. Lan Nguyen of WKU’s Mathematics Department, identifying qualitative behavior of solutions to differential equations in Banach spaces.

Savannah Arnold (’24, Spencer County HS) will be working as a full-time Kennel Assistant at Jefferson Animal Hospital, a 24/7 emergency clinic in Louisville, KY.

Elena Baggett (’24, Greenwood HS) will be working at Snodgrass Veterinary Medical Center in Bowling Green, KY, caring for clinic horses and horses in training. She will be taking her third trip to Guatemala with the non-profit (Athentikos), which runs therapeutic art camps for children in need and those in abusive situations, as well as volunteering at New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding for special needs children and adults.

Sophia Beaudoin (’25, Wayne County HS) will be attending the Markey Cancer Center’s Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) Program.

Sam Bowling (’25, Riverview Opportunity Center) will be volunteering at the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, Kentucky.

Mykah Carden (’24, Russellville HS) has an internship with Cave Research Foundation under the guidance of Dr. Pat Kambesis. She will also be taking a week-long Cave and Karst Data Visualization field course in Cave City, KY.

Bruno Castaneda (’25, Henry County HS) has been accepted as a participant in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MITES program.

Zahra Chasmawala (’25, duPont Manual HS) will be attending the ISPEED program at Johns Hopkins, a biomedical engineering high school research program. She will also be conducting bioengineering research at the University of Louisville with Dr. Hermann Frieboes. 

Luke Cissell (‘25, Woodford County HS) is planning lectures and tutoring sessions for his sending school's AP calculus class. He will also be going to Philmont Scout Ranch to participate in a 75-mile backpacking trip and completing his Eagle Scout service project by building a collection of active classroom learning elements for each core subject department at his sending school.

Gianna Claros (’24, duPont Manual HS) will be participating in paid research at Western Kentucky University's Center for Human GeoEnvironmental Studies laboratory using computer science.

Tyler Clifton (’24, Corbin HS) will be participating in the Professional Education Preparation Program (PEPP) Scholars at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY. He will also be working in Baptist Health’s Emergency Room in Corbin, KY as an Emergency Room Technician.

Corey Coleman (’24, Rockcastle County HS) will be a summer counselor for WKU’s Center for Gifted Studies in Bowling Green, KY.

Brycen Daniels (’24, Bavel Virtual School) will be working part-time as a pharmacy technician.

Jacob Dant (’25, Oldham County HS) will be attending the Naval Academy Summer Seminar in Annapolis, MD.

Emily Detre (’25, LaRue County HS) has an internship with a local physical therapy outpatient center in Hodgenville, KY.

Gabriel Gooden (’25, Oldham County HS) will be traveling to Phoenix, AZ to work with Habitat for Humanity building homes.

Abigail Goodin (’25, LaRue County HS) will be job shadowing with a cardiologist at Baptist Health Hospital in Elizabethtown, KY.

Elly Grogan (’25, Murray HS) will be job shadowing a general surgeon at the Murray-Calloway County Hospital in Murray, KY.

Ellie Haleman (’25, Owensboro Catholic HS) will be completing research with Dr. Guangming Xing of WKU’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences creating a website that helps grade computer science homework.

Henry Hurley (’24, Danville HS) will be participating in the Professional Education Preparation Program (PEPP) Scholars at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY.

Emma Hyman (’25, duPont Manual HS) will be participating in the Research Science Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts. She will be researching CO2 capture by biocatalysts with their Chemical Engineering Department.

Lukas Johnson (’24, South Laurel HS) has a 12-week internship at the Kentucky Department of Revenue.

Presley Neagle (’24, Barren County HS) will be job shadowing at the TJ Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow, KY.

Caleb Neitzel (’24, Barren County HS) will be working at Camp John Currie in Benton, KY, a summer camp hosted by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife dedicated to teaching children about safe and sustainable hunting, fishing, and outdoorsmanship.

Rudra Patel (’25, University Heights Academy) will be working with a computer science start-up, Radius, and will be conducting research with Dr. Huanjing Wang of WKU’s Computer Science Department.

Addie Patterson (’24, Woodford County HS) will be working as a summer camp counselor for WKU’s Center for Gifted Studies in Bowling Green, KY. 

Laurel Patterson (’24, North Oldham HS) will be tutoring the Finnish language at the Salolampi Finnish Language Village through Concordia College's Language Villages.

Jonathan Philpot (’25, Franklin County HS) will be participating in research with Dr. Guangming Xing of WKU’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to make an auto-grader for use in the public domain.

Albert-Presley Mbanfu (’24, Greenwood HS) will be shadowing at the Medical Center in Bowling Green, KY.

Mallory Quinn (’25, Bowling Green HS) will be helping with Bowling Green Júnior High School’s summer theatre camp as a counselor and photographer.

Kenneth Richie (’25, John Hardin HS) will be participating in research looking at DPDR disorder with Dr. Mark Simpson of WKU’s XR Lab.

Braydon Scott (’24, John Hardin HS) will be traveling to Colorado as part of a Boy Scout national conference. He will be training and leading other Scouts in various classes.

Dastin Scott (’25, Butler County HS) will be job shadowing with the District Attorney for Butler County, KY.

Hunter Smith (’24, West Jessamine HS) will be job shadowing at the University of Kentucky Hospital’s cardiology unit.

Jacob Thomas (’24, St. Xavier HS) will be shadowing with various physicians in Louisville, KY. He will also be pursuing research with Dr. Sharmila Nair of the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine, learning about glioblastomas and how the zika virus has a unique capability to target these tumors.

Hayden VanHook (’24, Pulaski County HS) will continue operating VanHook 3D Design and Printing. He will be working with local businesses and individuals to create 3D-printed models. He will also be working at Somerset KY Photography and Camera and self-studying photogrammetry in preparation for his WKU engineering research project.

Saylor Wagner (’25, Henderson County HS) has been accepted into the AgDiscovery program at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, KY. She will also be shadowing and assisting an equine veterinarian in Henderson, KY.

Macey Weaver (’24, Marshall County HS) will be banding birds at Clark's River National Wildlife Refuge in Benton, KY.

Jordan Wonka (’24, North Oldham HS) will be shadowing with multiple dental practices.

About The Gatton Academy:  Established in 2007, The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science is Kentucky’s first residential two-year program for gifted and talented juniors and seniors. The Gatton Academy’s students enroll as juniors and are full-time WKU students pursuing their interests in advanced science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Gatton Academy is a recipient of the 2022 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award from Insight Into Diversity Magazine and the Innovation Partnership Award from the National Consortium for Secondary STEM Schools.