Alyssa Coulter (PhD Wannabe)
AKA “Rowdy” – from Connecticut
Rowdy’s Project (described by her Dad): “You look at $hit under a microscope.”
Rowdy’s Project (described by her Mom): For a visual interpretation, see Misc Photos.
Nadine Lebek (PhD wannabe)
AKA “Carl Jr” – from New York (Long Island Arm-Wrestling Champion)
Nadine’s Project (described by her Dad): “Are you still doing the Salmonella thing? I was gonna say you grow and kill E.coli. I would say my daughter grows and kills E.coli and then does it all over again to see what does it the best. Somehow that’s gonna save the world. That’s how I would describe what you did. You feed it, care for it, kill it, then find a sneakier way to kill it. It’ll cure whatever disease because you’ll find the sneakiest way to kill it. You nurture it, tell it bed time stories, then you kill it. Wow, you’re sadistic.” (Upon discovering that Nadine does not actually do anything with Salmonella or E.coli…) You grow human cells? That’s creepy. You’re messing with God stuff. That’s a little touch and go.”
Nadine’s Project (described by her Mom): “I often picture her at her lab desk, adding this chemical and that to a petri dish to produce and manipulate cells with names I cannot pronounce. I wonder if she ever thinks of adding a touch of mashed potatoes just to get that moldy effect. I am convinced, one day, she will be running around that lab with excitement, showing everyone what she had developed and can one day cure a horrible disease with whatever she names the non-moldy results. I just hope that she will name it something I can pronounce.”
Rosemarie Mirabella (PhD Wannabe)
AKA “Rookie” – from New Jersey
Rosie’s Project (described by her Dad): “I don’t have a clue what Rosie does. I asked her when she would start her residency, and she tells me that is the wrong type of Doctor. She loves her microscope and spends all of her time in the lab running tests and I imagine she is complaining because the tests aren’t coming out right.”
Rosie’s Project (described by her Mom): “I know Rosie looks at cells under the microscope and not microbes. At Susquehanna (her undergrad) she used to look at fruit flies under the microscope. Currently, I’m not sure what creatures she looks at.”
Corey Theodore (PhD)
AKA “White Shail” – from Massachusetts
Corey’s Project (described by his Dad): “Something to do with cellular biology. That’s all I know.”
Corey’s Project (described by his Mom): “Cells? Looking for protein? It’s very interesting…trying to get a certain protein to react to some sort of receptor thing to give us more information about something? I’m very proud and very interested, but I can’t repeat it because it’s not a language that I speak.”
Ryan Frier (Undergrad)
aka “RBF” – from Connecticut
Ryan’s Project (described by his Dad): “You do image processing of cells that have been stained to show you intracellular structures. You run the experiments to get those images. And you’re trying to use that to determine senescence, somehow. Or to test senescence behaviors.”
Ryan’s Project (described by his Mom): “Mainly you organize social events and joke around and get tips on which courses to take.”
Lianna Wagner (Undergrad)
Eleanor Boyd Undergrad)
Almaas Ghafoor (Undergrad)
Ken Campellone (Associate Professor)
AKA, “Leighton Core” – from Rhode Island
Ken’s Project (described by his Mom): “In a lab coat at your computer surrounded by petrie dishes, maybe flasks, and a microscope, cross-checking cells and molecules.”
Ken’s Project (BONUS description from his Kids): “Dad just sits around drinking iced tea… while Mom makes potions to cure the Coronavirus.”