The Magellan Scholar Program was created by USC to enrich the academic experience of our undergraduates through research opportunities in all disciplines from science, technology, and medicine, to theatre, music, and art. By providing access to faculty mentoring relationships and a professional research experience, USC enables students to creatively explore their interests at a more in-depth level than can be attained in the classroom. Each Magellan Scholar receives up to $3,000 to help fund the research project, competing for this award with the submission of a research, scholarship, or creative project proposal developed in collaboration with the Scholar’s faculty mentor.

Congrats to ou undergraduate researchers who were announced as Magellan Scholar Award winners this year:

• Catherine Alexander has conducted a project in the Spring focused on "Quantifying Urban Artificial Light on Pollination Success of Glandularia bipinnatifida" under the guidance of Dr. Eric LoPresti.
• Ashutosh Arora will conduct research to test whether "ATF4 Downstream Effects are Cell-Context Specific in Neurons and Glia" under the mentorship of Drs. Pabitra Sahoo and Jeff Twiss.
• Owen Cole will study "Plant responses to volatile fatty alcohols with different side chains – a Structure-Function Analysis" with Dr. Johannes Stratmann. 
• Marshall Coppage has conducted research in the Spring on the "Effects of Spectral Quality on Light Absorption by cryptophyte microalga Hemiselmis cryptochromatica" under the mentorship of Dr. Tammi Richardson.
• Kasey Gillespie has worked during the Spring on "The Function of Paxillin in Neuronal Development" under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Welshhans.
• Varsha Gowda and Craig McPherson have analyzed "The Effects of Attenuating sST2 Levels on the Metastasis of Colorectal Cancer with CT26-FL3 Cells" this Spring with their mentor Dr. Marj Pena.
• Adara Grant will conduct research on the "Visual Ecology of Mud and Porcelain Crabs" under the mentorship of Dr. Dan Speiser.
• Zane Joudeh will conduct a research project on "The Impact of Progerin on DNA Repair" under the guidance of Dr. Waldman.
• Claire Kunkle has conducted a project in the Spring focused on "The effects of endocannabinoids and gut E. coli growth in a mouse model of Crohn's disease" under the guidance of Dr. Melissa Ellermann.
• Jessica Leaning has worked in the Spring on the "Morphological Divergence of Daphnia obtusa After 21 Years (500 generations) of Spontaneous Mutation" with Dr. Jeff Dudycha.
• Ashley Loomis will conduct a research project on "The identification of RNA binding proteins associated with axonal localization of prenyl-Cdc42 mRNA" under the mentorship of Dr. Jeff Twiss and Matthew Zdradzinski.
• Riya Machimada has been "Investigating the role of post-translational modifications of KHSRP on regulating mRNA stability and translation" in the Spring under the guidance of Dr. Lauren Vaughn.
• Emma Mason has conducted a project in the Spring focused on "The role of localized mRNA translation for axon growth under non-optimal conditions" with her mentors Drs. Jeff Twiss and Terika Smith.
• Jenna Mazza has worked in the Spring on the "Chromatophore regulation by the grass shrimp’s accessory eyes" under the guidance of Dr. Dan Speiser.
• Ansley McKay has received a Magellan Mini-Grant in the Spring to work on the "Effects and Interactions of FUBP1" under the guidance of Dr. Lauren Vaughn and Courtney Buchanan.