Chemistry

EWU McNair Scholar Devin Mumey Selected for Scholarship

08/04/2022 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Devin Mumey! Devin has been selected to receive the Susan and Richard Stannard Scholarship.

Devin Mumey is working towards a major in Biology with a focus on Plant Sciences and a minor in Chemistry. He is interested in studying hybrid fruits and crossbreeding, as well as disease resistance. For his McNair Summer Research Internship, he is working with mentor Dr. Jessica Allen collecting and identifying lichen species. Future research interests include blueberry scorch disease and blackberry orange rust, as well as creating cold-hardy cultivars of tropical fruits, and the tissue culture and propagation of rare or endangered plants.

Malek Chreiki Selected as an EWU McNair Scholar and Awarded Summer Research Internship

07/12/2022 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

Congratulations to new McNair Scholar Malek Chreiki! Malek was selected by the McNair Scholars’ selection committee on the basis of his passion for research, commitment to attaining a PhD, and overall potential for success in graduate school.

The federally-funded TRIO Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program at EWU selects motivated and talented juniors and seniors who are first-generation and low-income college students, and/or from groups underrepresented at the doctoral level to introduce them to academic research and provide them with effective strategies for getting into and graduating from PhD programs.

Malek Zein Chreiki is double majoring in Biology with Biotech Option and Physics along with a minor in Organic Chemistry at Eastern Washington University. His goal is to earn a PhD in molecular biology to research and develop novo genetic engineering biotech products. His focus is to work with Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas systems to manipulate genomes and study their effects. For his 2022 Summer Research Internship, he will be working under the mentorship of Dr. Jason Ashley engineering Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus (MMLV)-based retroviral transfer plasmids for the expression S. pyogenes Cas9 and guide RNA for targeted knockout of specific genes in RAW264.7 murine macrophages.

We look forward to accompanying Malek as his research unfolds!

Devin Mumey Selected as an EWU McNair Scholar and Awarded Summer Research Internship

06/28/2022 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

Congratulations to new McNair Scholar Devin Mumey! Devin was selected by the McNair Scholars’ selection committee on the basis of his passion for research, commitment to attaining a PhD, and overall potential for success in graduate school.

Devin Mumey is an undergraduate at Eastern Washington University working towards a major in Biology with a focus on Plant Sciences and a minor in Chemistry. He is interested in studying hybrid fruits and crossbreeding, as well as disease resistance. For his McNair Summer Research Internship, he will be working with Dr. Jessica Allen collecting and identifying lichen species. Future research interests include blueberry scorch disease and blackberry orange rust, as well as creating cold-hardy cultivars of tropical fruits, and the tissue culture and propagation of rare or endangered plants.

We look forward to accompanying Devin as his research unfolds!

EWU McNair Scholar Malek Chreiki Awarded Schwalm Scholarship

06/06/2022 by Liina Koivula Leave a Comment

Congratulations to new EWU McNair Scholar Malek Chreiki! Malek has been selected to receive the 2022 Schwalm Scholarship through the EWU Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics. The committee was impressed with Malek’s academic achievements, dedication to interdisciplinary research and community service work.

This upcoming summer, Malek will be researching Design and delivery of Gamma-Retroviral CRISPR Plasmids with faculty mentor Dr. Jason Ashley. Malek presented his research proposal poster for this project at EWU’s 2022 Student Research and Creative Works Symposium.

Malek is double majoring in Biology with Biotech Option and Physics along with a minor in Organic Chemistry at Eastern Washington University. His goal is to earn a PhD in molecular biology to research and develop novo genetic engineering biotech products.

EWU McNair Scholar Mori Williams Awarded Opportunity to Attend Society of Toxicology Program

06/30/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Mori Williams Society of Toxicology Award 2021

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Mori Williams! Mori was given a Committee on Diversity (CDI) Undergraduate Diversity Program Student Award to attend the Virtual Undergraduate Diversity Program (UDP) at the SOT 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting. This included registration for the annual Society of Toxicology (SOT) annual meeting, a three-week special program, and a mentor assignment. Mori attended virtually in March.

This year Mori was accepted by the Toxicology PhD program at Oregon State University as well as by South Dakota Mines (SDM) in their Masters in Atmospheric & Environmental Science Program where he received a graduate student assistantship and will attend Fall 2022.

Mori's research interests focus on finding types of toxins in bodies of water such as lakes, ponds, and the ocean to find solutions for reducing those toxins. He is majoring in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Chemistry and a minor in Japanese. For his 2020 EWU McNair Research Internship, he worked with Dr. Camille McNeely in researching cyanobacteria in local areas such as the Spokane River and the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. Mori has presented his research to the Biology department, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, and the EWU Symposium.

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Mori! Click here to read more about Mori or his research.

EWU McNair Scholar Mori Williams Awarded Graduate Student Assistantship

06/30/2021 by Jaeger, Corinne Leave a Comment

Congratulations to EWU McNair Scholar Mori Williams! Mori has been awarded a graduate student assistantship from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Mori was accepted by South Dakota Mines (SDM) in their Masters in Atmospheric & Environmental Science Program. This is in addition to an acceptance by the Toxicology PhD program at Oregon State University. Mori's research interests focus on finding types of toxins in bodies of water such as lakes, ponds, and the ocean to find solutions for reducing those toxins. Mori plans to attend SDM starting the fall of 2022.

Currently Mori is majoring in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Chemistry and a minor in Japanese. He has worked in an Organic Chemistry lab at Eastern Washington University, which involves saponification, NMR readings, and reflux methods. For his 2020 EWU McNair Research Internship, he worked with Dr. Camille McNeely in researching cyanobacteria in local areas such as the Spokane River and the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge. Mori has presented his research to the Biology department, the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, and the EWU Symposium.

The EWU McNair staff are so excited for Mori! Click here to read more about Mori or his research.