Latest grants to 29
projects raise program’s lifetime funding total above $5.2 million
CONWAY, Arkansas
(May 10, 2024)—The Hendrix College Committee on Engaged Learning has announced $97,900.72
in Odyssey funding to 29 projects for its April 2024 funding cycle. These
projects involve a range of academic, professional, and personal explorations through
experiences with local and state government entities, local and international
nonprofit organizations, campus-based projects, and more.
Since 2005, the
Committee on Engaged Learning has awarded more than $5 million – $ 5,270,236.29
to be exact – in competitive Odyssey grants to support 1,590 projects by
Hendrix students, faculty, and staff. This cycle’s grants include:
Odyssey Category:
Professional and Leadership Development
Mylee
Brown ’26
Official Hendrix Internship: The Pediatric Clinic,
Sherwood, Arkansas
Supervisor:
Rick Murray
Mylee will spend 13 weeks
learning basic phlebotomy, running labs, taking vitals, and interacting with
patients in a pediatric setting.
Lace Chaffin ’26
Official Hendrix Internship: Arkansas National Heritage
Commission
Supervisor:
Maureen McClung
Lace will work
alongside conservation biologists at the ANHC, discovering how natural systems
operate first-hand, how development of human society impacts ecosystem
function, and ways to conserve and restore natural areas.
Bowie Neal ’26
Official Hendrix
Internship: Arkansas Department of Finance
Supervisor:
William Haden Chomphosy
Bowie will work
for the state finance department to facilitate taxation and financial
situations and experience multiple branches including state revenue, sales tax,
investment on infrastructure, and insurance.
Lily Parson ’25
Official Hendrix Internship: Arkansas 6th Circuit Court
Supervisor: J.J.
Whitney
Lily will spend
the summer working with one of the offices of the district court based in
Little Rock to further her understanding of the legal system and gain
real-world experience.
Sarah Ross ’25
Professional
Field Experience: FUMC Frisco
Supervisor: Bobby
Williamson
As the pastoral
intern at First United Methodist Church Frisco (Texas), Sarah will be growing
in the skills needed to become a pastor including work in the outreach,
hospitality, discipleship, and preaching facets of pastoral ministry.
Diogo Sa ’25
ETH Global Health
Experiential Fellowship
Supervisor:
Andres Caro
During this
8-week hybrid summer program in Mpunde Village, Eastern Uganda, Diogo will work
alongside an intercultural team to conduct an immersive, collaborative project
that includes research, community educational programs, and direct project
implementation.
Madison Turner ’25
Official Hendrix
Internship: Conway Regional Cardiovascular Clinic, Conway, Arkansas
Supervisor: J.D.
Gantz
Madison, who is
interested in becoming physician assistant after graduation from Hendrix, will
support the day-to-day operations of the cardiovascular clinic, and become more
familiar with the role of a PA in a clinic setting.
Natalie Vailes ’26
Official Hendrix
Internship: TurnUp Activism and Central Arkansas Legal Services
Supervisor: Kim
Maslin
Natalie will spend
the summer working with TurnUp Activism and the Center for Arkansas Legal
Services to develop civic engagement skills and legal knowledge. She will work
on grassroots voting initiatives and assist at legal aid events benefiting the central
Arkansas community.
Betsy Van Meter ’25
Official Hendrix
Internship: Registered Dietician
Supervisor: Laura
MacDonald
Betsy will intern
alongside a registered dietician at Baptist Health Community Outreach assisting
with nutrition classes, working in the food pantry, designing informative
nutritional handouts, and more.
Odyssey Category:
Service to the World
Henry Keeler ’26
Building and
Sustaining the Public Safety Garden
Supervisor:
Candice Thomas
Henry will work
with Dr. Thomas to build and maintain a new garden on the Hendrix campus.
Abby Patterson ’25
Service with
Victim Witness Department at the Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney's
Office
Supervisor: J.J.
Whitney
Abby will work
with Victim Witness Services at the Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney’s
Office this summer. She will assist the attorneys in this office with
victim meetings, paperwork, court appearances, and more.
Odyssey Category:
Special Projects
Anna Eichenberger
’25
Athletes in
Action Outreach in Central Arkansas and Alaska
Supervisor: Jenn McKenzie
Anna is working
with Athletes in Action Central AR as a student-staff member creating and
implementing plans to improve the organization's outreach to athletes in
Conway. She will travel to Eagle River, Alaska, for two weeks during the summer
with the National AIA Soccer Project Team, where she will work with a team of
collegiate athletes conducting youth soccer clinics as well as developing her
leadership skills and growing in her faith alongside other Christian-athletes.
Rod Miller
Senior Art Major
NYC Trip
This three-day trip to NYC is designed to expose senior art majors
to the contemporary art world in Chelsea and SoHo as well as museums and
collections. The group will reflect on what art is being shown and how it
is displayed to encourage and invigorate students’ own art making during their
Senior Capstone and Senior Show.
Odyssey Category:
Undergraduate Research
Adam Andrews ’26
Arkansas INBRE
Mentored Summer Research Program
Supervisor:
Andres Caro
Adam will
participate in Arkansas INBRE (Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research
Excellence), a 10-week-long mentored research program at UAMS. He will work
with Dr. Linda Larson-Prior in her Neurocognitive Dynamics research lab where
he will process and analyze EEG data from ongoing research projects.
Madeline Caldwell
’26, Ben Curtis ’26, Emily Davidson ’26
Project
Paranormal
Supervisor:
Celeste Reeb
Madeline,
Ben, and Emily will study the effect of social media on the belief in the paranormal
and hope to gain insight into the influence of paranormal content on everyday
life.
Andres Caro
Cytochrome P450
modulates NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase-mediated ferroptosis
Dr. Caro and
Aubrey Bailey ’26 will investigate a recently discovered mechanism by which
cancer cells die, based on lipid damage caused by iron.
Chloe Chandler ’27
Fact, Fiction,
Faith: An Investigation into the Combination of Neuroscience Information and
Fundamentalist Beliefs
Supervisor: Sarah
Irons
Over the summer, Chloe
and Dr. Irons will investigate the combination of complicated neuroscience
jargon in psychological explanations and commonly held religious fundamentalist
beliefs. They hope to view whether or not a group that is notoriously
anti-science will opt to employ neuroscience to bolster their beliefs even when
the neuroscientific information does not back up their statements.
Joelle Fahoum ’25
Psychonomic
Society Research Presentation: Examining Articulatory Competition Using
Phonetic Measures of Tongue Twisters
Supervisor: Sarah
Irons
At the
Psychonomic Society’s annual conference in New York City, Joelle will present
her research on the time course of language production through tongue twister
produced forced errors. She used phonetic measurements to approximate mouth
movements allowing her to investigate traces of articulatory competition.
Casi Gee ’25
Synthesis of
Novel Chalcones and their Antimicrobial Properties
Supervisor:
Latorya Hicks
Casi will
synthesize chalcones with N-sulfonamide derivative attached to it. She will
experiment to see that the product will serve as an anti-microbial.
Megan Gray ’25
2024 UAMS
Department of Pediatrics/ACRI Summer Science Program
Supervisor: Rick
Murray
Through the
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Research
Institute, Megan will participate in an 8-week summer program to complete
a guided research project, shadow physicians and researchers, and attend
informal lectures on medical research and pediatrics. This opportunity will
provide practical experience in research and healthcare and supports Megan’s
plans to attend medical school upon graduation from Hendrix.
Justin Grubbs ’24
Implementing
Randomness in Disco, a Programming Language for Teaching Discrete Mathematics
Supervisor: Brent
Yorgey
In order to
enhance the learning of students taking Discrete Mathematics, Justin will
research randomness in programming languages and will attempt to implement and
control randomness in Disco, a programming language developed by Dr. Yorgey.
Marleigh Hayes ’25
Understanding the
Value of Faith-based Re-entry Programs
Supervisor:
Delphia Shanks
During the month
of July, Marleigh will be beginning her Politics senior thesis research project
by conducting interviews with the leaders of faith-based programs in Arkansas
Department of Corrections. In doing so, she will better understand how the
utilization of faith-based programs impact the accessibility and effectiveness
of programming for the general incarcerated population.
Sarah Irons
Neuroplasticity: Understanding Organization of Language
in the Brain Using Single-Case Neuropsychology
Dr. Irons and students Emilie Watkins, 2025, Emma Callahan, 2025, and
Shermar Simmons, 2025, will spend the summer learning about and applying the
principles of cognitive neuropsychology, working with people with language
deficits following stroke to study the organization of language in the
brain.
Kaitlyn Kelley ’25
Understanding the
Effects of Social Support on Distress Toleration
Supervisor:
Leslie Zorwick
As a research
assistant at the University of Arkansas’ Treating Emotion and Motivational
Processes Transdiagnostically laboratory (TEMPT), Kaitlyn will assist in
studying the effects of social support on distress toleration.
Satya
McCarthy-Rotella ’26
Title: Synthesis
and Characterization of a Non-Heme Ni-N4 Model Complex of Ni F430 Cofactor
Supervisor: Phan
Truong
Methyl coenzyme M
reductase utilizes the redox-active Ni F430 cofactor to catalyze the formation
of methane; however, the exact mechanism of operation is still a matter of
debate. Satya will use a variety of organic and inorganic synthetic techniques
to synthesize analogues that mimic Ni F430 cofactor for investigating the
mechanism of methyl coenzyme M reductase.
Kelsey Sample ’25
Measuring the
Oxidative Capacity of the Locomotor Muscle of Spinner Dolphins
Supervisor: Jenn
Dearolf
Kelsey will look
at the oxidative capacity of spinner dolphin locomotor muscle to determine how
it grows as the mammal ages.
John Schaller ’25
A continuation of
studying replication of G-quadruplex DNA by translesion polymerases
Supervisor: Julie
Gunderson
Over the summer,
John will work with Dr. Eoff at UAMS on his research on translesion polymerases
through the Arkansas INBRE summer mentored research program. He will spend ten
weeks gaining hands-on research experience and refining his scientific
communication skills.
Cecelia Schneider
’24
Exploration of Cultural Discourses on Sexuality in
Chile
Supervisor: Ruth
Yuste-Alonso
Cecelia
will explore culturally influenced motivations to engage in and refrain from
having sex in Valparaíso, Chile. Investigating how religious, political,
folkloric, and other factors influence motivations to have sex and how these
motivations correlate with women's rights, LGBTQIA acceptance, and sex
education levels in Chile will help inform her thesis project.
Emma Self ’25
Analyzing and Comparing Muscle Fiber Profiles
Within Adult and Calf Spinner Dolphins
Supervisor: Jenn Dearolf
Over the summer, Emma will analyze the muscle
fibers within samples of adult and calf spinner dolphins to understand how
these differences affect spinner dolphin swim speed and then use this information
to gain insight into recorded calf mortality rates within the tuna fishing
industry.