MSS is a paid summer research or creative experience for undergraduate Honors students. Students work with an assigned faculty mentor for 5 weeks or 10 weeks to conduct independent research or to undertake a creative project. The program is designed to help students start or continue their research journey, and no previous experience is required.

Martinson Summer Scholars are paired with a faculty mentor and sign a contract in the spring outlining their summer project. MSS students commit to 20-25 hours of work a week between late May and early August and regular contact with their faculty mentor. The stipend for 5 weeks is $2,000; for 10 weeks it is $4,000.

MSS students commit to 20-25 hours of work a week between late May and early August and regular contact with their faculty mentor. They will also be asked to check in with the MSS coordinator on a weekly basis.

MSS students are also required to attend two in-person events: the cohort meets in late Spring for a community-building dinner and discussion of projects, and the cohort reconvenes in late July for a formal MSS poster session. Faculty mentors, families, and guests are all invited to listen to MSS students’ presentations of their work and to celebrate their accomplishments.

Applications are due December 1^st of the previous year. Current Honors students graduating in December of the following year (or after) are eligible.

In their applications, students will be asked to describe the topic they would like to study, accomplish, or research and their motivation to be a part of Martinson Summer Scholars.

Selection is contingent upon the availability of funds and the number of applications received. Your proposed project might not align with faculty availability, but every effort will be made to pair you with a faculty member who can provide mentorship and support as you pursue academic research or creative expression.

You may apply to MSS more than once, and you may be accepted and complete the program a maximum of two times. You may apply at the same time to receive Alternative Course Experience (ACE) credit, but only for the 10-week MSS position.

If you have questions or would like further information, please contact honors@rowan.edu or reach out directly to Dr. Emily Hyde at hyde@rowan.edu.  

• Arpita Adhikari 
  • Major - Finance
  • Project - Crypto Sensitivity: Insights into Macroeconomic Exposure
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Richard Ogden
• Isai Balamurugan 
  • Major - Biological Sciences
  • Project - Photoluminescent behavior of Na₃AlCl₆: analysis of emission spectra, thermal behavior, and structural properties
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Kandalam Ramanujachary
• Evelyn Buonamici 
  • Major - Neuroscience
  • Project - Histological methods to understand the effects of social isolation on the relationship between brain and behavior in a rat model
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Daniel Chandler
• Vincent DeGennaro 
  • Major - Sociology
  • Project - Understanding the Needs of Immigrants Across New Jersey: A Case Study of the Recent Immigrant Experience
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Sandra Joy 
• Alexander DeStefano 
  • Major - Music Education
  • Project - To You: Evoking Poetic Expression Through Choral Music Composition
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Christopher Thomas 
• Lucius Dinzeo 
  • Major - Mechanical Engineering
  • Project - Development of Soft Robotic Actuators for Education
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Mitja Trkov
• Elizabeth Le
  • Major - Biological Sciences
  • Project - Peptide-Mediated Inhibition of Feline Herpesvirus 1 (FeHV) in Crandell-Rees Feline Kidney (CRFK) cells
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Claude Krummenacher
• Olivia Loguidice
  • Major - Biological Sciences
  • Project - LPS Induces TLR6 Expression in Mouse Primary Glia
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Melissa Manners
• Liam Murphy 
  • Major - Biomedical Engineering
  • Project - Clinical Imaging Analysis of an Investigational Novel Spinal Prosthetic
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Erik Brewer
• Kayleigh Naprawa 
  • Major - Political Science
  • Project - Words as Weapons: A Critical Feminist Examination of Online Gendered Harassment, Violent Language, and Alt-Right Rhetoric
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Danielle Gougon
• Dakota Neuls 
  • Major - Chemistry
  • Project - Detection of PTSD Biomarkers in Human Plasma with Capillary LCMS
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. James Grinias
• Chimnecherem Obiadazie 
  • Major - Molecular & cellular Biology
  • Project - Oncogenic E-cadherin Dependent Metastasis
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Mary Alpaugh
• Amy Ortiz Ramirez 
  • Major - Biological Sciences
  • Project - Behavioral and Physiological consequences of CTCF Overexpression in Mice
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Thomas Keck
• Diya Patel 
  • Major - Biomedical Engineering
  • Project - Characterization of Hypoxia-Responsive Lipid Nanoparticles for Targeted Drug Delivery
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Rachel Riley
• Palak Patel 
  • Major - Biological Sciences
  • Project - Investigating a role for the Parkinson’s disease risk factor LRRK2 in a Drosophila model of Huntington’s disease
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Maggie Panning Pearce
• Rishima Raval 
  • Major - Biological Sciences
  • Project - Testing GFP-tagged Glial Expression in Adult Drosophila Brains
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Maggie Panning Pearce
• Ashia Reid
  
  • Major - Writing Arts
  • Project - Through the Eyes of Someone who was Broken: A Collection of Short Horror Stories about Mental Health
  • Faculty Mentor - Professor Megan Atwood
• Angelena Revas 
  • Major - Geology
  • Project - Geochemical analysis of the Pennsylvania Piedmont
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Aaron Barth
• Andrew Surgan 
  • Major - Biological Sciences
  • Project - Utilization of peptides in the inhibition of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in Vero cells
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Claude Krummenacher

• Vera Caruso
  • Major - English, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Project - David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Emily Hyde
• Maggie Cortes
  • Major - Biochemistry, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Survey of Antimicrobial Properties of Metals
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Ben Carone
• Armaine Dela Cruz
  • Major - Radio, Television, & Film & Writing Arts, Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts
  • Project - The Enigma of Color: Color Theory & its Elements in Visual Media & Narrative Writing
  • Faculty Mentor - Professor Nancy Sophy
• Marina Demidova
  • Major - Marketing, William G. Rohrer College of Business
  • Project - Examining Traditional and Non-traditional Student Experiences at Rowan University
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Vincent Jeseo
• Alexander DeStefano
  • Major - Music Education – Instrumental, College of Performing Arts
  • Project - Our Glass: Exploring the Idea of Sustainable Glass through Musical Concepts 
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Joe Higgins
• Michael Greenbaum
  • Major - Computer Science, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Accelerating Maximal Quasi-Clique Mining Using GPUs 
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Guimu Guo
• Preet Jariwala
  • Major - Information System & Analytics, William G. Rohrer College of Business
  • Project - Innovating Yarn Industry Invoices: The Generative AI Revolution 
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Tony Lin
• Glenn Johnson
  • Major - Chemical Engineering, Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
  • Project - Glass Recycling Initiative 
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Jim Newell
• Jamie Kahle
  • Major - Computer Science, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Bees, Drones, and Vanilla
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Hieu Nguyen
• Scarlett McCourt
  • Geology, School of Earth & Environment, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Exploring the Origins of the Spechty Kopf – Upper Devonian Ice or Not?
  • Faculty Mentors - Dr. Lily Pfeifer & Dr. Aaron Barth
• Lindsay McLean
  • Law & Justice Studies, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Project - Reconsidering the Constitutionality of the Death Penalty: How the Death Penalty May Violate the 8^th and 14^th Amendments and Yield Traumatic Effects on Those Impacted
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Sandra Joy
• Juliana Nanni
  • Physics, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - A High-Throughput Study of Advanced Catalysts for Oxygen Evolution Reaction: Structural Properties
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Sam Lofland
• Chimnecherem Obiadazie
  • Molecular & Cellular Biology, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Characterization of an Invasive-Independent Metastasis Using a Pre-Clinical Inflammatory Breast Cancer Model
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Mary Alpaugh
• Abigail Popoff
  • Biomedical Engineering, Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
  • Project - Laser Treatment and Mechanical Testing of Electrospun Polylatic Acid Nanofibers
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Vince Beachley
• Nadia Spearman
  • English Accelerated, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Project - Analyzing Book Banning through the Lens of Queer Young Adult Literature
  • Faculty Mentor - Professor Megan Atwood
• Sabriye Yilmaz
  • Biomedical Engineering Accelerated, Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
  • Project - Designing Materials that Guide 3-Dimensional Cell Alignment 
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Sebastian Vega

• Krisha Darji
  • Major - Biomedical Engineering Accelerated, Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
  • Project - Closed-Loop Wearable Device for Automatic Detection and Treatment of Opioid Overdose (at Purdue with the National Institute on Drug Abuse)
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Rachel Riley
• Adam D'Souza
  • Major - Molecular & Cellular Biology, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - An Antiviral Approach to Herpesviruses Infection Inhibition
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Claude Krummenacher
• Ethan Gray
  
  • Major - Chemical Engineering, Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering
  • Project - Development of Biological Substitutes for Polymer Coating Applications
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Emre Kinaci
• Michael Greenbaum
  • Major - Computer Science, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Accelerating Maximal Gamma Quasi Clique Enumeration Using the GPU 
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Guimu Guo
• Shannon Jordan
  • Major - Biological Sciences, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Bioisosteric Replacement of Amide Linkers with 1,2,3-Triazoles for Improved Pharmacokinetics without Losing Dopamine D4 Receptor Potency or Selectivity
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Thomas Keck
• Amanda McNally
  • Major - Exercise Science, Virtua Health College of Medicine & Life Sciences
  • Project - Assessment of Self-Reported Gastrointestinal Distress as a Function of Running Kinematics in Endurance Runners
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Dylan Klein
• Cindy Nguyen
  • Major - Biochemistry, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - ICP-MS Test of Gold Nanoparticles Adsorbed by Cells
  • Faculty Mentors - Dr. Lei Yu & Dr. Xiaoyang Mou
• Nicolas Samson
  • Major - Biochemistry, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - The Rising Resistance: Towards the Vancomycin Linear Heptapeptide
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Rashanique Quarels
• Luke Tonon
  • Major - Computer Science, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Blueberry Drone AI: Smart Farming of Blueberries Using Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Drones
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Hieu Nguyen
• Elliot Ward
  • Major - Physics, College of Science & Mathematics
  • Project - Master Flats for Ground-Based Near Infrared Imaging 
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. David Klassen
• Emerson Woody
  • Major - Sociology, College of Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Project - Primary Care Physician Understanding of Transgender Patient Needs: A Preliminary Study
  • Faculty Mentor - Dr. Seran Schug