MARC scholars

Elizabeth (Liz) Ballmann was appointed to the MARC program in May 2023 and is pursuing an honors biochemistry and chemical biology degree with a Minor in Chemistry. 

She is currently conducting research in the Material Structural Dynamics Laboratory (MSDL) under the advisement of Professor Aaron Rury in the Department of Chemistry. Using Fourier transformations, Liz is researching the effects of terahertz radiation on the biological structural dynamics of 2-trifluoromethylbenzimidazole (TFMBI), a hydrogen-bonded antiferroelectric crystal. Liz aims to obtain her Ph.D. in Astrochemistry and aspires to work for the Center for Emergence of Life (CEL) at NASA, studying carbonaceous chondrites for biological trace mechanisms relating to the origins of life. 

Emma Velasco was appointed to the MARC Program in May 2024 as a junior pursuing a bachelor's in biomedical engineering. Emma is currently conducting research in the Smart Sensors and Integrated Microsystems (SSIM) Lab under the advisement of Dr. Gregory Auner. She is studying antimicrobial resistance to develop a rapid 30-minute test compared to the current three to five days required under standard laboratory procedures. Emma plans to pursue a graduate degree in biomedical engineering to study biomedical instrumentation. She is interested in creating and improving medical devices to improve women’s healthcare.

John was appointed to the MARC Program in 2023. They are currently pursuing a major in biochemistry and chemical biology with a Minor in Computer Science. John has performed research in Dr. Alice Walker's research laboratory, studying ground and excited state dynamics of cyan-fluorescent protein and now is actively engaged in a proteomics project on cyanotoxins under the direction of Dr. Jeremy Kodanko and his associates. John plans to obtain a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics to integrate their cell biology and data science interests in their future research endeavors. 

As a junior neuroscience major, Mohamad Rahal is dedicated to advancing research in the biomedical field. His goal is to pursue a Ph.D. and contribute to neuroscience findings. Under the mentorship of Dr. Hanaa Hariri at Wayne State, he is immersed in groundbreaking research on autophagy in mutated yeast cells where he hopes to push the boundaries of our understanding of cellular processes. 

Morgan was appointed to the MARC Program in October 2023 and is majoring in biochemistry and chemical biology honors, working in Dr. Alice R. Walker's lab. The research group focuses on the creation of fluorescent dyes for biological imaging. Morgan's project involves an information extraction system called the Librarian of Alexandria (LoA), available on GitHub which uses large language models to collect structured CSV data from research papers. The goal is to extract a significant amount of fluorescence measurements and utilize the data in a reinforcement learning pipeline Morgan developed to predict novel molecules based on desired properties.

Morgan aims to pursue a Ph.D. in Biochemistry or Physical Chemistry, with a focus on developing machine-learning chemistry tools. 

Rune was appointed to the MARC program in May 2023 and works with Dr. Carolyn Harris to develop hydrogel(s) for use in studying hydrocephalus.

Rune plans on getting a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering – after which he will work in the field of regenerative medicine. Rune is focused on improving and developing better outcomes in gender-affirming surgeries.

As a neuroscience major and a computer science minor, Sarah is currently planning to continue to research in the biomedical field. She hopes to progress on the Ph.D. and combine her interests in both biomedical science and engineering to contribute to the neuroscience field and more specifically aid in neurodegeneration research for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s via machine learning. 

Sarah desires to obtain her bachelor of neuroscience soon and then eventually get into graduate school to study computational neuroscience. In the future, Sarah seeks to be part of Google’s brain team for their health and science department. Her current mentor at Wayne State is Dr. Ryan Insolera.

Savannah Lane is a MARC scholar majoring in nutrition and food science who is looking to attend graduate school to obtain her Ph.D. in Nutrition. She is currently working in the lab of Dr. Nerissa Viola at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. Her project is focused on IBS and the Western diet in relation to cancer.

A junior double major in psychology and anthropology, Sophia was appointed to the MARC Program in May of 2024.

She's working in the DYAD (Detroit Youth Across Development) lab mentored by Dr. Christopher Trentacosta, where she is conducting a longitudinal research study of emotional competence and self-regulation in children between the ages of nine and eleven. The study focuses on the adolescents’ psychopathology, developmental and environmental factors that could inhibit emotional competence and programs to help improve self-regulation and emotional competence. Sophia hopes to obtain a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and would like to conduct research that examines the relationship between environmental influences and psychopathology in adolescents. 

Victoria is a junior who is majoring in public health and minoring in urban studies. Her interest is in social epidemiology – a branch of epidemiology that examines the impact of social and societal frameworks on public health. Victoria would like to research what social determinants cause disease and identify individuals impacted by these, to develop a holistic approach to public health within underserved communities. She is being mentored by Dr. Patricia Wren and Dr. Sarah Vaughan.