Ashley Zeek, Anthem, Ariz., will teach high school biology  in St. Louis, Mo., for Teach For America, the national teacher corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in under-resourced urban and rural public school districts. A biology/chemistry major and basketball player who spent summer 2011 conducting research in Madagascar through Pfeiffer’s biology department, Ashley will fulfill her teaching commitment before applying to and completing medical school.

Zach is junior chemistry and math double-major. Previous research includes the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay and an in depth look at early 20th century atomic models. Zach is currently finishing up a summer research stint with Dr. Riemann involving Flash Vacuum Pyrolosis (FVP) and Phenyl Popargyl Ethers (PPEs). Zach anticipates graduation in 2014 after which he hopes to pursue further education. Zach is also a peer-tutor in the learning center, an EPA-OSHA work study and a member of the honors program

Learn more about Zack's research project.

Kaleigh Featherstone is from Albemarle, N.C. She plans to graduate from Pfeiffer University in 2014 with majors in pre-med and biology. She then plans to go onto medical school. She is a member of the women’s tennis team, an honors student, a Francis Center Scholar, an Angel Tree coordinator for Pfeiffer and is involved in the Campus Crusade for Christ.

As a freshman, she worked on basic microbial techniques and searched for bacteriophages from soil and water samples that would kill the S. Maltophilia bacteria with Dr. McCallum, Tyler Turner, and Jacob Parks. During her sophomore year, she continued this work and learned new isolation and enrichment techniques. This year she plans to successfully isolate and characterize a phage from the environment and also characterize phage XMM1 and SMM1.

Learn more about Kaleigh's research.

Gracie Herbert
Freshman
Exercise Science

Whitney Jaffe
Freshman
Exercise Science/Biology

Whitney Jaffe is from Cohasset, Mass., and anticipates graduating in the spring of 2016 with a double major in exercise science and biology. Whitney is a member of the women’s lacrosse team at Pfeiffer and is a part of the Honors Program. Upon graduating from Pfeiffer, she plans to attend medical school to receive her doctorate of physical therapy. This year, Whitney plans to work with Dr. Justice and fellow Milton Rose Scholar and teammate Gracie Herbert on a project involving non-dominant hand use (off the lacrosse field) and the correlation to the changes in the kinematics of  lacrosse players’  non-dominant fluidity and form while playing.

Samantha Jarmusch was born in Youngstown, Ohio but now lives in Greensboro, N.C.  he plans to graduate from Pfeiffer University in 2015 with majors in chemistry and mathematics, with plans to go onto graduate school. She is a member of the women’s softball team at Pfeiffer University. When she isn’t working on her studies she is likely to be out on the softball field or spending her time outdoors. 

This year she plans on continuing research under Dr. Riddle along with Sam Maness from last year on the amount of BPA found in local receipts and the amount transferred to skin.  Also researching what precautions we need to take to prevent this transfer of BPA to skin.

Samantha Manness
Senior
Chemistry/Mathematics

Samantha Maness is a senior, majoring in chemistry and mathematics. During the 2009-2010 school year, Caroline Lambeth and Samantha Maness worked together measuring the amount of calcium in various liquids such as juice and milk. During the 2010-2011 school year Caroline Lambeth and Samantha Maness started a project measuring the BPA content present on local receipts.

This year Samantha Maness will continue the study on BPA with Samantha Jarmush; measuring the amount of BPA transferred to the skin by touching receipts and what actions can be taken to prevent the transfer of BPA.

Samantha Maness has conducted research at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis and at University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography.

In addition to being a student, Samantha Maness is a distance swimmer and IMer for Pfeiffer University’s swim team. She is also a member of the Honors Program and residence life. After graduating from Pfeiffer University in 2013, Samantha plans to attend graduate school to study marine chemistry.

Learn more about Samantha's research project.

Rebecca Pigg is from Midland, NC. She plans to graduate from Pfeiffer with a degree in exercise science. She then plans to go onto graduate school to study physical therapy or clinical exercise physiology. She currently works part-time at INTRAFITT, a health and wellness center located in Midland, NC.

Her previous research focused on contextual interference in learning a skill. She currently is researching the differences in the kinematics of running in running shoes, running barefoot, and running in Vibram Five Finger Shoes. Through her research she was able to confirm the different foot-strikes, ankle flexion and knee flexion in each condition through videotaping subjects running on a treadmill and analyzing the video with Dartfish software. She is excited to continue her research comparing these different running conditions through different methods.

Learn more about Rebecca's research project.