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, the program 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 $2,500 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 were announced as Magellan Scholar Award winners:

• Mary Archambault will be "evaluating how endocannabinoids alter key microbes and functions in the ileal microbiome "" under the mentorship of Dr. Melissa Ellerman and Mary  Mitchell.
• Shyam Ganesh Babu and Victoria Zottoli will study the "impact of combine effects of antibiotic exposure, high fat diet, and probiotics on risk of developing early onset colorectal cancer"  with Dr. Marj Pena.
• Hannah Lewis will conduct research on the "applications of near-infrared spectroscopy to cryptic species management" with Dr. Joe Quattro.
• Sophia Siciliano will be "characterizing ELP3 protein as G3BP1 acetyltransferase and its role in the regulation of stress granules to improve nerve regeneration" under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Twiss.
• Lauren Tallmadge will study the "fear memory formation and retention in fiddler crabs" under the mentorship of Dr. Dan Speiser.