Research and Honors

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UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

More than 60% of our biology students are actively engaged in a research or field study project each semester, both on-campus in state-of-the-art labs and off-campus with local scientists and doctors, getting the hands-on experience that makes them stand out in the job market.

Hobart and William Smith students benefit from the HWS’ long and valuable relationship with  Cornell’s AgriTech, located right in Geneva. Our students work and study alongside AgriTech scientists during the school year and summer, gaining significant exposure to applied research while making important contributions to experiment station projects.

Students interested in pursuing careers in medicine also have access to clinical internships, skill training and direct patient care experiences through a special partnership with Finger Lakes Health, a local health system with 75 staff physicians and a broad range of primary and specialty services located just one mile from campus.

Here’s a recent sampling of student projects:

  • Lindsey Balman '25 and Nataly Vargas '24: - Phylogeographic Relationships of Two Eastern North American Milkweeds (Asclepias syriaca and Asclepias tuberosa)
  • Kevin Frost '25: Shedding Light on Water Clarity: The Impact of Turbidity on Light-Based Trapping of
  • Juliette Pike '25: An Update on Alzheimer's Disease: Moving Away from the Central Dogma
  • Victoria Smith '25: Comparison of Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) Diet in Seneca and Cayuga Lakes Hemimysis anomala
  • Marcella Venettozzi ’25 and Delaney Williams ’26: Assessing the Cytotoxicity of Halogenated Compounds.
  • Claudia Kalina '23 and Malak Fadlou-Allah '24: Phylogenetic relationships and species boundaries of the temperate North American clade of milkweeds (Asclepias; Apocynaceae).
  • Erika Sipos '23 and Deirdre O'Malley '22: Untangling evolutionary relationships within the Parsonsiinae subtribe of Apocynaceae using chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes and rDNA
  • Malak Fadlou-Allah ’24: Investigating a Potential Partnership of Sine Oculis and Sobp in Transcriptional Regulation of Drosophila Eye Development.
  • Regina Hashim ’24 and Mark Suchewski ’22: Using camera trap data to detect an urban-rural cline in melanism in a widespread mammal
  • Molly Dexter ’22: Biological Evaluation of Indole-Substituted Furanone Compounds on Cancer Cells
  • Maegan Manning ’22: Determining Antibiotic and Anti-cancer Potential of Small Compounds
  • Matt McNulty ’22: Assessing Unique Contact Residues of Chemotaxis-Like Proteins in an Escherichia coli model
  • Mark Suchewski ’22: Habitat selection by color morphs of eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) after translocation
  • Mackenzie Howie ’21: Testing the Antimicrobial Activity of Indole Compounds
  • Meg Quint ’21: The Puzzling Plastomes of Periplocoideae
  • Mimi Smith ‘21: Investigating Lake Trout Diet in the Finger Lakes
  • Meredith Fennell ’20: Resolving phylogenetic relationships of Apocynoideae (Apocynaceae) using genome skimming
  • McKenzie Frazier ’20: The effect of Round Goby on benthic macroinvertebrate lake communities
  • Meredith Steinfeldt ’20: Plastome phylogenomics of the common milkweed clade of Asclepias (Apocynaceae)
  • Charmaine Chung ’19: Comparison of de novo and reference-guided assembly in the characterization of the chloroplast genome of Gelsemium sempervirens
  • Susan Garber ’19: Identifying the critical amino acids required for protein binding between Sobp and Sine oculis, a transcription factor required for the formation of the Drosophila eye
  • Andrew Herrmann ’19: Assessing anti-cancer potential of newly synthesized staurosporine analogs containing a 3-furan-2-one group
  • Gurpawan Kang ’19 and Minna Kim ’19: Evaluating the effects of Xyzistatin and Vorinostat on U937 cells
  • Elizabeth McAnaney ’19: Macroinvertebrate Communities Across Three Sites in Castle Creek
  • Marissa McFadden ’19: Synthesis and Reactions of Tetramic and Tetronic Acids
  • Nhung Nguyen ’19: Round goby diet composition in various water temperatures as a reflection of biological energy requirements
  • Ifunanya Okeke ’19: Does the transcriptional regulator Teashirt-2 function in the specification of the Xenopus retina
  • Alvin Randall ’19: Researching D. melanogaster genes required for antenna formation to determine possible H. virescens male antenna gene pathway
  • Morgan Ross ’19: Phylogenetic relationships of waxy milkweeds (Asclepias)
  • Parke Schweiter ’19: Threats to Ash Trees and The Future of The Understory
  • Chris Stedry ’19: Molecular evolution of the plastid accD gene in milkweeds (Asclepias; Apocynaceae)
  • Jonathan Thrall ’19: A molecular analysis of the Grape Berry Moth’s navigation through a noisy chemical environment

HONORS

Under the guidance and mentorship of Biology professors, students may choose to perform Honors. Most will complete a summer of research followed by research in their senior year. The work culminates as a written and defended Honors thesis, and the work is often presented at conferences or published as scientific articles.

2022-2023

  • Erika Jean Sipos (Adviser: Straub): A Phylogenetic and Biogeographical Study of Parsonsia (Apocynaceae)

2019-2020

  • Alessandra Bryan (Adviser: Cosentino): Effects of Urbanization on the Evolution of Coat Color in Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis)
  • Katherine Foley (Adviser: Cushman): Competition for Food Resources between the Native Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) and Invasive Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus)
  • Brianna Hurysz (Adviser: Mowery): Assessing Anti-cancer Potential and Mechanism of Action of Novel Staurosporine Analogs
  • Rizky Kafrawi (Adviser: Straub): Investigating the Interplay between Chloroplast and Mitochondrial Genomes in Asclepiadoideae (Apocynaceae)
  • Allie Seminer (Adviser: Cushman): Mercury Bioaccumulation in Fish Food Webs of New York State Finger Lakes’ Tributaries

2018-2019

  • Madison Cullinan ’19 (Adviser: Straub): Evidence of a mitochondrial insertion in the chloroplast genome in the genus Alyxia (Apocynaceae)
  • Anna Leffler ’20 (Adviser: Droney): Variation in Exploratory Behavior of Red-Backed Salamanders
  • Grace Marshall ’19 (Adviser: Cosentino): Relationship of Movement Behavior to Water Balance in Red-Backed Salamanders
  • Penelope Murphy ’19 (Adviser: Brown): Fraternal Twins: The Food Webs of Two Neighboring Ponds
  • Carl Wagner ’19 (Adviser: Straub): Further Resolution of Phylogenetic Relationships Within the Temperate North American Clade of Milkweeds (Asclepias, Apocynaceae)

2017-2018

  • Rachael Best ’18 (Adviser: Brown): The Influences of Taxonomic Composition and Environmental Factors on Methylmercury Concentrations in Zooplankton in Seneca Lake, NY
  • Banan Otaibi ’18 (Adviser: Cosentino): Adaptive Evolution and Population Genetic Structure of a Woodland Salamander in Regenerating Landscape

2016-2017

  • Kayleigh Buffington ’17 (Adviser: Brown): Methylmercury Bioaccumulation and Tropic Position of the Non-native Bloody Red Shrimp (Hemimysis anomala) in the Finger Lakes (New York)
  • James Cooper ’17 (Adviser: Carle): CD28 Induces Metabolic Fitness in Multiple Myeloma via a NF-kB/IRF4-Dependent Signaling Axis to Promote Survival
  • Noland Michels ’17 (Adviser: Cushman): The Ecological Effects of the Invasive Neogobius melanostomus in the Finger Lakes
  • Namita Neerukonda ’17 (Adviser: Mowery): Biological Evaluation of Simplified Analogs of Protein Kinase C Inhibitor, Staurosporine
  • Madison Sutton ’17 (Adviser: Deutschlander): Is Mass Gain in Migratory Warblers Influenced by Sex, Season, or Arrival Date?

2015-2016

  • Nicolette Andrzejczyk ’16 (Adviser: Cushman): Histological effects of Endocrine Disruptors on Male Blacknose Dace (Rhinichthys atratulus) in the Seneca Lake, NY Watershed.
  • Alexander Gatch ’16 (Adviser: Brown): Age and Size as Predictors of Mercury Accumulation in Lake Trout from the Finger Lakes.
  • Kathryn M. Mendez ’16 (Adviser: Brown): The Potential Use of Environmental DNA for Detection of Hemimysis anomala.
  • Lauren Walter ’16 (Adviser: Straub): Comparative genomic analysis of Apocynaceae plastomes.

2014-2015

  • Stephanie L. Cramer ’15 (Adviser: Mowery): Examining the Amino Acids in Bacterial Motility-like Receptors.
  • Bridget E. Logan ’15 (Adviser: Kenyon):Examining Protein Interactions of Candidate Genes Implicated in Branchio-oto-renal (BOR) Syndrome.
  • Alison J. McCarthy ’15 (Adviser: Cosentino):Do Edge Effects Impact the Behavioral Traits of Red-backed Salamanders in a Fragmented Forest.
  • Caitlyn E. Mitchell ’15 (Adviser: Carle): Testing Xyzistatin, a Novel Depsipeptide, for Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor Activity on Cancer Cells.
  • Amanda L. Rappaport ’15 (Adviser: Droney): Mating decisions: Alternate Courtship Strategies and Sexual Conflict in Drosophila sulfurigaster (tropical fruit flies).
  • Carly E. Rolph ’15 (Adviser: Mowery): Biological Evaluation of Simplified Analogs of Protein Kinase C Inhibitor Staurosporine.
  • Kaitley A. Wozer ’15 (Joint Honors in Biology (Mowery) and Dance (Davenport):
    Viral Bodies: Socially Conscious Bio-Specific Choreography.