Meet the 2024-25 OUR Ambassadors

Teagan Ames-Majeski '26

Major: Biomedical Health Sciences (pre-med)

Minor: Biological Sciences

Research Project Experience: 

Advice for Getting Started in Research:

Rygel Ginete '25

Major: Data Science

Research Project Experience: 

I’m currently working as a research intern with Dr. Garrison’s Sleep Equity Lab in Purdue’s College of Health and Human Sciences. I’ve been involved in several projects related to data analysis and collection, including the creation of a screen time data collection protocol. I’m currently working on a secondary data analysis on college student health data regarding sleep disorder prevalence across different demographics.

Advice for Getting Started in Research:

I think the best piece of advice would be starting to get connected with people! Talking to TA’s or students already in labs is super useful in figuring out what kind of work you might be interested in doing, and for finding out more about opportunities that are available. Another useful bit of advice is to be flexible. Your first research experience might not be exactly in your field of study, and that’s okay! In fact, branching out can give you a lot more exposure to different fields and expand your horizons.

Krttika Goel '25

Major: Chemical Engineering

Minor: Management

Research Project Experience:

I am participating in research outside my discipline with the Altman Lab to synthesize and develop routes to organic compounds that are relevant scaffolds in medicinal chemistry. 

Advice for Getting Started in Research:

Explore various fields and find a way of thinking you are passionate about! Research areas that spark your curiosity and align with the attributes you can bring as an undergraduate researcher. TAs are a great resource that streamline the search process as they can underscore what research projects demand and how you would fit into those. 

Lillian Ji '27

Major: Electrical Engineering

Research Project Experience:

I have done research during high school but during my freshman year I joined a research group working on experimenting on Lithium ion batteries. With this opportunity I got the First Time Researcher fellowship which allowed me to present my research in the end of the Spring semester at the Spring Undergraduate Expo.

Advice for Getting Started in Research:

I would say to engage with your fellow researchers. I've learned so much from my mentors and It has been an amazing experience not just learning from them but also spending time with them outside the lab.

Kathryn McGregor '25

Major: Computer Science

Minor: Psychological Sciences

Research Project Experience:

I started in research with the SURF program under Dr. Arielle Borovsky working on a project investigating toddler word learning and at-home language interventions. I have continued working on this project throughout my time as a student. Additionally, I work with Dr. Greg Francis on a project that investigates visual processing through an activation spreading network.

Aishwarya Menon '26

Major: Biological Engineering

Minor: Biotechnologhy

Research Project Experience:

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (Summer '24)

• Conducted research on recovering active pharmaceutical ingredients from expired drugs under Dr. Gintaras Reklaitis 

Dr. Philip Low's Lab, Undergraduate Research Assistant (2023-2024)

Focus: Anti-tumor immunity in dendritic cells and its role in cancer immunology.

Specific projects:

• Worked on a mouse antibody targeting folate receptor-beta for imaging and therapy in rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.
• Collected and analyzed compounds using LCMS, UPLC, and HPLC to assess efficacy.

Data visualization and Modelling of the Crystallization Process (Fall 2024)

• Reconstruction of data obtained from crystallization and modeling using CrySiV and MATLAB.
• Designing a framework for the process development of drug substances and producing a data structure for experiments under crystallization.

For anyone looking to begin research, I recommend exploring topics that interest you first. Connecting with professors and attending research conferences are excellent ways to get started.

Jason Packard '25

Major: Chemical Engineering

Research Project Experience:

Advice for Getting Started in Research:

Sarah Staller '25

Major: Biomedical Engineering (pre-med)

Research Project Experience:

I worked in the Bone Biology and Mechanics Laboratory led by Dr. Joseph Wallace at Purdue-Indianapolis. My work involved designing a novel method of murine vertebral compression testing.

I joined the Chan Musculoskeletal Research and Innovation Laboratory led by Dr. Deva Chan at Purdue-WL. My research focuses on investigating the axis between the gut microbiome and spinal health in a mice model.

I spent a semester abroad at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zürich) in Switzerland. I joined the Laboratory for Orthopaedic Technology led by Dr. Stephen Ferguson and conducted research in spinal biomechanics.

Advice for Getting Started in Research:

My advice for students interested in research is to first identify your interests, review some of the current literature out there that pertains to your interests to build your knowledge, and then reach out to professors who conduct similar research at Purdue. Also, don't be afraid to cold-email professors; this is how I started all of my research experiences. However, it is critical to be able to provide specific details as to what your interests are and why you want to join their laboratory in particular.

Kirsten Strout '25

Major: Psychological Sciences

Minor: Philosophy

Research Project Experience:

Working on collecting data and running research experiments on spatial attention and cognition. I have done extensive literature reviews and employed advanced neural networks, such as multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and long- short-term memory (LSTM), for the goal of improving the prediction of cardiac arrest within emergency departments.

Shruthika Sundar '27

Major: Biomedical Engineering

Research Project Experience:

My passion for research began in high school, where I had the opportunity to research potential cancer therapies. In my junior year, I studied the effects of Tagamet HB—a common acid-reflux medication—on thyroid cancer cells, aiming to leverage cimetidine's anti-tumor properties. Later, I collaborated on a machine learning project that identified the most impactful nanoparticle features for inhibiting cancer cell growth, sparking my commitment to pursue research further at the undergraduate level.

At Purdue, I work in Dr. Estelle Park’s biomedical engineering lab, studying stem organoid cell models to test treatments for age-related macular degeneration, a prevalent retinal disease. Additionally, I am involved in research at the University of Wyoming under Dr. Diksha Shukla in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. This project explores using EEG brainwave signals as a secure alternative to typed passwords for authenticating users in virtual reality. I was an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) student at the University of Wyoming over the summer continue to work remotely with Dr. Shukla and her lab during the school year at Purdue.

Advice for Getting Started in Research:

Start by consolidating your interests and looking up professors whose work excites you. Do not be afraid to reach out over email and speak with them—you may be missing out on valuable opportunities if you do not take that first step. Take advantage of the OUR's resources to learn about different research opportunities on campus, and if you are debating whether to dive into research, come talk to an OUR ambassador!