CHS Announces Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

The College of Health Sciences Undergraduate Research Experiences Program is excited to announce the recipients of this year's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF). The SURFs are competitively judged by a panel of faculty and awarded to UG students to conduct mentored research over the summer with a selected faculty mentor. Each award is worth $5,000 and provides a living stipend and resources for research-related expenses that students may incur during their full-time summer research work. The diversity of topics in this year’s awarded projects is impressive and an outstanding reflection of the wide range of research performed in our college. Funding for the SURFs is generously provided by the UK Office of the Vice-President of Research and the central UK Office for Undergraduate Research.  

For 2026, the College of Health Sciences SURF awardees are:

• Olivia Wilkins (Mentor: Dr. Meredith Owen - Physical Therapy)
  Project: Body Mass vs. Muscle Cross-Sectional Area and Quality as Predictors of Strength and Performance Following ACL Injury
   
• Ryan Griesinger (Mentor: Dr. Chris Fry - Athletic Training & Clinical Nutrition)
  Project: Defining the influence of sex on muscle stem cell abundance following joint injury
   
• Marilyn Wells (Mentor: Dr. Joneen Lowman - Communication Sciences & Disorders)
  Project: Student Perspectives on the Integration of Virtual Reality in Graduate Speech-Language Pathology Coursework: A Qualitative Interview Study 
   
• Harry Sanjeevan (Mentor: Dr. Ming Chih - Health & Clinical Sciences)
  Project: Co-designing a Retrieval-Augmented Generative AI Dietary Navigator for Immunocompromised Bone Marrow Transplant Survivors
   
• Addison Durham (Mentor: Dr. Ming Chih - Health & Clinical Sciences)
  Project: Evaluating the Use of NotebookLM to Improve Health Literacy and Competence Among Urologic Cancer Patients in Appalachian Kentucky
   
• Lily Buffa (Mentor: Dr. Christen Page - Communication Sciences & Disorders)
  Project: Increasing Awareness of Aphasia Through Podcast Media: A Qualitative Study of Engagement and Satisfaction
   
• Nya Hammons (Mentor: Dr. Megan Graham - Physical Therapy)
  Project: Identifying Modifiable Determinants of Shoulder Injury and Performance in Collegiate Club Swimmers

Congratulations to all this year’s recipients!