2024 Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Awards

The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has announced the winners of its new annual scientific research awards at the 2024 MCSR Conference. The awards are open to invited nominations from private undergraduate institutions within the Pacific Northwest, encompassing Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. The Swanson Award is intended to recognize a senior faculty exemplar with an established, productive, and nationally recognized research program, while the Swanson Promise Award is aimed at recognizing a junior faculty who has demonstrated an exceptional potential in establishing an exemplary, productive, and sustainable research program. The latter award is intended to honor a junior professor with less than 10 years experience as a faculty member.

A panel of national experts evaluates the nominations, and the criteria for these awards are focused on research accomplishments that include the following.

• Discovery research accomplishments with national recognition
• Substantial engagement of undergraduate students
• Recognized leadership in developing and promoting research at undergraduate institutions
• Evidence of continuing growth in productive research

The awards honor the longtime work of Dr. Lynwood Swanson, who retired after serving as a Trustee at the Murdock Trust for 30 years. Dr. Swanson began his career as a professor at Linfield College, before moving his research to Oregon Graduate Institute. In 1971, he co-founded FEI, a world-leader in electron optics and focused ion beam technologies in scanning and transmission electron microscopies.

2024 Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Award

The 2024 Lynwood W. Swanson Scientific Research Award was given to Dr. Andreas Madlung, Distinguished Professor of Biology, University of Puget Sound, for his outstanding scholarship in and commitment to the field of plant biology and his exceptional ability to inspire scientific curiosity and passion in students.

Learn more about Dr. Madlung’s research in this video.

2024 Lynwood W. Swanson Promise for Scientific Research Award

The 2024 Lynwood W. Swanson Promise for Scientific Research Award was given to Dr. Samuel Fey, Associate Professor of Biology, Reed College, for cutting-edge basic and applied exploration of the responses of populations and communities to environmental change and for inclusive research mentorship and inquiry-based undergraduate teaching.

Learn more about Dr. Fey‘s research in this video.

2024 John Van Zytveld Oral Presentation Awards

At each annual MCSR conference, students giving oral presentations compete for two awards: The John Van Zytveld Physical sciences Award and the John Van Zytveld Life Sciences Award. The awards consist of a ribbon, a cash prize for the students and their academic departments, as well as a gift for their faculty research advisors. The criteria used by judges of faculty and students in selecting the awardees are as follows:

• Knowledge of material (understanding the background, research question, hypothesis, data collection and analysis, and limitation of the research)
• Creativity of the project
• Effective communication (clarity – slides and verbal presentation; organization; pace; answering questions)
• Level of preparation
• Ability to keep me interested

These awards are made in recognition of Dr. John Van Zytveld, a longtime Senior Program Director at the Murdock Trust and a champion for undergraduate research and science education in the region.

Here are the award winners at the 2024 MCSR Conference:

2024 John Van Zytveld Award in the Life Sciences

Kieran Kranzow, Northwest Nazarene University, in collaboration with Dr. John Cossel

“Sound of a New Species: Using Bioacoustics to Assess a Unique Population of Poison Frog”

2024 John Van Zytveld Award in the Physical Sciences

Fiona Kovisto, Seattle University, in collaboration with Dr. Joanne Hughes

“Tidal Disruption of the Globular Cluster NGC 6544“

Murdock Poster Prizes

Students presenting their research in a poster format were also recognized at the 2024 MCSR Conference. One Murdock Poster Prize is presented to a poster in each research field, and it consists of a ribbon, a cash award, and a gift for the faculty research advisor. The criteria used by faculty judges in selecting the awardees are as follows:

• Graphics’ relevance and visual impact
• Spelling and grammar
• Informational content
• Presentation content and research outcomes
• Presentation delivery
• Answering questions
• Overall presentation

2024 Murdock College Science Research Poster Awards

Here are the award winners from each category of the 2024 MCSR Conference.

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Ecology-Evolution-Biodiversity (Section A, two prizes) 

Name: Jeff Schell

Institution: Eastern Washington University 

Mentor: Dr. Krisztian Magori

Collaborator(s): Paul Spruell 

“A Novel Case Study for the Biotic Resistance Hypothesis in a Host-Parasite System at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge”

Name: Isabella Burnside

Institution: Seattle Pacific University

Mentor: Dr. Eric Long

“Succession and Forest Daturation Decreases Population Density of Black-tailed Deer on Blakely Island, WA”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Developmental Biology-Physiology (Section B) 

Name: Emily Allen and Ainsley Patrick 

Institution: Gonzaga College 

Mentor: Dr. Nancy Staub 

Collaborator(s): Karli Bortner and Ethan MacVicar 

“The Presence of Amylase in the Heads of Eurycea wilderae”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Molecular and Cell Biology (Section C, two prizes) 

Name: Jessie Bailey

Institution: George Fox University

Mentor: Dr. John Schmitt

“Regulation of AMP-Kinase and Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase in Osteosarcoma Cells”

Name: Mel Lowe

Institution: Western Washington University

Mentor: Dr. Matthew Zinkgraf

“Development of Ribosome Sequencing in Populus to Investigate Plant-Microbe Interactions”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Neuroscience-Psychology-Exercise Science (Section D)

Name: Sam Holmes and Teo Medoza

Institution: Willamette University

Mentor: Dr. Lucas Cordova

“Reimagining Education with AI”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Biochemistry (Section E), two prizes 

Name: Nicholas Sysum

Institution: George Fox University 

Mentor: Dr. Micah Donor

“Investigating RNA Binding Affinities and Stability of Viral Silencing Suppressor Protein p19 with Native Mass Spectrometry”

Name: Aneel Al Fatayri and Denzel Chinyemba

Institution: Whitman College

Mentor: Dr. Marion Gotz

“Investigating the significance of epoxyketone stereochemistry in the mechanism of inhibition of the 20S proteasome”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Organic Chemistry (Section F) 

Name: Katherine Pearson

Institution: Whitman College 

Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Collins

“Investigation of Facial Selectivity in the Diels-Alder Cycloadditions Used in the Derivatization of Diene Metabolites from Microbial Dihydroxylation of Arenes.”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Analytical-Inorganic-Physical Chemistry-Computational Chemistry (Section G, two prizes) 

Name: Molly Brocious

Institution: Pacific University

Mentor: Dr. Brendan Stamper 

“Melatonin Consistently Dampens Gene Expression Related to Oxidative Stress Pointing to its Potential Utility in Treating a Wide Range of Health Conditions”

Name: Kaylee Gunderson and Pearl Hilton

Institution: University of Portland

Mentor: Dr. Paige Hall

“Fabrication of Composite Nanoparticle:Polymer Thermoelectric Films by In-Situ and Ex-Situ Methods”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Environmental Science-Geology (Section H) 

Name: Olivia Ernst

Institution: Western Washington University

Mentor: Dr. Casey Saenger

“Understanding Magma Origins and Pre-Eruption Processes at Middle Sister Volcano, Oregon”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Microbiology (Section I) 

Name: Benjamin Chung

Institution: Trinity Western University 

Mentor: Dr. Laura Onyango 

“Antivirulent Activity of Cuminaldehyde (CMA) and 2-Hydroxy-4-Methoxybenzaldehyde (HMB) Against Staphylococcus Spp.”

2024 Murdock Poster Prize for Physics and Engineering (Section J) 

Name: Emma Falk

Institution: Lewis & Clark College

Mentor: Dr. Ben Olsen

“Custom Electromagnets: Design, Simulation, Construction, Testing”

2024 Neal Thorpe Memorial Lecture

Dr. Lucas Ellis

Assistant Professor, Callahan Faculty Scholar School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering, Oregon State University

Title: “Tandem Catalysis for Waste Plastic Recycling & Upcycling”

Biographical Sketch

Lucas completed his B.S. in Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, M.S. in Engineering Sciences at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Colorado-Boulder. During his undergraduate education he founded a student club to make biodiesel from waste vegetable oil called the Biodiesel Project.  

He then took that experience national as a Co-Founding member and Co-Chair of the Next-Generation Scientists for Biodiesel, a National Biodiesel Board sponsored educational and professional organization, which held educational webinars and organized poster sessions at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo. Before beginning his Ph.D., he worked for two years as a research associate at a cellulosic ethanol start-up company, Mascoma Corporation, gaining real-world experience, at both the bench and pilot scales by helping translate novel academic research to commercial operation in lignocellulosic pretreatment technology. After completing his Ph.D., he served as a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developing novel catalysts and processes to upcycle waste plastics.  During his career he has authored peer-reviewed publications in journals like ACS Catalysis, Nature Catalysis, and a co-first authored publication in Science, in addition to four patents (including 1 provisional), and received several awards & fellowships including the USDA-NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship, the NREL Director’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, NREL Director’s Award, and currently serves as the Callahan Faculty Scholar in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering at Oregon State University as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering.