Mentor Appreciation Notes

We acknowledge that mentorship is imperative to undergraduate research

We asked our student presenters to help us honor the work undergraduate research supervisors do by writing 1 to 2 sentences to recognize their mentor(s).

Here are their responses:

• My mentors were very supportive and worked with me in an understanding and helpful way.
• We’re so thankful for Christy Suciu and her design thinking class. Without this exceptional class, I would be missing some extremely valuable tools from my belt after graduation.
• Thank you to Natalie Mourant for her mentorship throughout our project. Her insights have been invaluable in the creation of our research project.
• My mentor Dr. Mary Pritchard guided our team of research assistants with a steady hand, and never let her faith waver in us. I couldn’t have had a better mentor throughout this process than her.
• Thank you Christy Suciu for all of your encouragement and support throughout this project. Your development process stimulated confidence, trust, and assurance.
• Dr. Kristin Snopkowski was an amazing mentor. She helped me tremendously to gather and analyze my data, as well as interpreting the results and communicating these results. She was instrumental to my research and I am lucky to have her as an advisor.
• Leah Dunn, Carolina Granthon and Chris McClure have been my mentors at The Peregrine Fund. They have been amazing in teaching me about California Condor rehabilitation and I am so grateful for them.
• I appreciate all the time, support, and care Dr. Allen Robin has shown towards me not just as a student, but as a person as well.
• Karen Wadley has blessed us by creating an open and productive environment for the research and discovery of this project. Her guidance and experience have been invaluable in deciphering all sorts of information.
• Christy has guided us in our research every step of the way, providing invaluable guidance and advice. She is a great resource for us and never fails to answer any and all questions we might have.
• I would like to thank all of my incredible mentors and collaborators for providing me with key data and information and for making this project possible.
• Thank you to Dr. Jillian Moroney for inserting energy into our project. We would also like to thank Jen Schneider and Ashley Orme for helping shape and navigate the challenges at the end.
• Dr. Megan Smith was so supportive while we were working on our research. I could not imagine going through this process without such an amazing faculty adviser like her.
• Lisa Beymer has been very supportive and encouraging throughout this research process. She has also done an immense amount of work to help me guide my research in a good direction and teach me research knowledge that did not know before beginning this project.
• Dr. Brown has done a lot to facilitate this research, from sharing the initial idea to answering the questions that inevitably came up during the course of the project to working on the format of the poster. This would not have been finished without him.
• Thank you for all of your hard work during these challenging times. They do not go unnoticed!
• Thank you Dr. Liljana Babinkostova, Dr. Marion Scheepers, and Jay Radcliffe for sharing your expertise, time, and resources with our team. Your passion for education has positively impacted this research and each member of our team.
• Thanks to my mentors, Edward, Kelly, and Neil for their unwavering support, encouragement, and guidance.
• Dr. Julia Oxford was incredibly helpful and supportive throughout this entire process by providing feedback at each stage of the poster draft and being approachable for questions. Thank you, Dr. Oxford, for making the transition to an online research project and a virtual undergraduate research poster presentation fun and doable.
• Dr. Warner is one of very few professors that challenges his students to excel, not because he wants perfection, but because he knows that we are capable of exceptional work. We are incredibly appreciative of his kindness and commitment to our growth as researchers. Our higher level of character developed under Dr. Warner’s tutorship will remain as we pursue our future endeavors.
• Christi Sucui was our mentor and teacher for this project. She is a great teacher!
• Dr. Iryna Babik is one of the most inspiring educators I have ever met. Not only did she push me to achieve a higher level of excellence with regard to statistical writing in psychology, but she nurtured further interest in potential career fields.
• I would like to thank Dr. Juliette Tinker for being a knowledgeable and encouraging mentor during my research project.
• I would like to recognize my mentor Dr. Jesse Barber for allowing me to work on this pipeline independently. Also, for being there for when I have questions on sound files and collaborating to come up with how the archived files will be named.
• Lonny is always looking for new research opportunities to better the respiratory therapy field. He is passionate about involving students, who are the next generation of research and protocol development leaders.
• Christy Suciu has been nothing but incredibly supportive of our ideas from the beginning. She has given us the tools to succeed and pushed us to be at our best. Consistently providing constructive feedback has allowed us to develop and hone our product into one we feel can thrive on the open market.
• We would like to thank Paul Robertson for bringing us this opportunity as well as thank our teachers for supporting us through a unique situation
• Christy Suciu has been instrumental in our success when creating our idea. She has been a wonderful source of information and has provided us with critical feedback to improve our ideas and visual elements.
• My undergraduate research supervisor, Jared Romero, is untouchable. He has a compassion for people that is arguably unmatched. He is insanely capable, yet completely humble. Quietly motivating, filled with patience and understanding, the very fact that Jared Romero exists brings me joy. My poster is not professional in quality. I can see that, but it is a success because of where I started from. And, thanks to Dr. Romero’s belief in me, I have no doubt I will only improve from here.
• We could not have succeeded in this experiment or poster without the help of our mentor, Luke Montrose. He helped, encouraged, and challenged us to do our best throughout the entire process.
• My supervisor, principal investigator, and mentor, Dr. Brian Jaques, has provided me with the opportunity of a lifetime and a love of Engineering. He has given me a glimpse into the future of everything I would never have realized it could be.
• Dr. Krishna Pakala and Dr. John Gardner serve as amazing mentors to our team. They empower us to explore a variety of research topics and serve in many different roles on the team, all while providing guidance and support. They also enable us to explore first hand and work directly with a myriad of manufacturing facilities in the area.
• My supervisor for this project is Jared Romero who was very helpful in connecting me with the team of biologists working on the sturgeon project at Idaho Power.
• Madyson Preston was my supervising graduate student and Dr. Julia Oxford was my supervising Principal Investigator. Both of those women are incredible people who I learned a lot from. Dr. Oxford is the kindest college professor and scientist I have ever met. Madyson is incredibly dedicated and hard-working. Both of these people inspire me to be a better person and student.
• Dr. Steve Swanson, Gus Engstrom, Megan Gambs, and Dr. Gunes Uzer have been the driving force behind our project. They have taught our team so much and helped us at every roadblock we have faced.
• Dr. Jared Romero has done a great job of introducing the topic of One Health to me and he has been a major help with the creation of this presentation.
• Megan Smith was my professor for the 2019 Fall semester. We wrote and presented the research we conducted during the class. She was so easy to work with, no matter what obstacle. After that class, I saw her in the hallway and she encouraged me to share this research in this showcase, and I will forever be grateful for the experience.
• Dr. Warner has helped me expand my abilities as a researcher thanks to the environment he provides. Thanks to his mentorship and support, I developed skills in critical thinking, which is necessary to be successful in my future schooling and career.
• My mentor helped me find my interest in research, helped me develop skills in and outside the lab, and is all around caring and wants me to find success in my future career. Doing undergraduate research was the most rewarding thing I did at Boise State in my four years.
• We want to thank Dr. Emily Wakild for helping guide our research and for always being enthusiastic in teaching our course about beavers.
• Dr. Masarik has been a tremendous help for my academic growth because she is caring, encouraging, helpful, passionate, and so much more. She goes above-and-beyond for her students and I would not be where I am now without her guidance. Thank you Dr. M!
• It is well known among students in the education department at Boise State University that Lisa Beymer is someone that will make you a better person and future educator simply by taking her ED-ESP 250 class. Her giant heart and enthusiasm for supporting the individual needs of students permeates out of her, out of her work, and into the minds and hearts of her students and colleagues.
• Special thanks to Chris Taylor of the Boise School District for providing data and being an essential part of the sustainability effort for the BSD. Special thanks to Jen Pierce for providing support and being an essential member of the Geoscience department.
• We appreciate the hard work and cooperation of Christy Suciu, and the people who have put this showcase together. We are grateful and honored to be able to partake in this event.
• Dr. Jeffrey B. Johnson is a constant source of inspiration to me, and I am privileged to work with him. Very few professors have the passion that he has about his area of expertise.
• Amy Vecchione has been absolutely fantastic. She has always been there when we needed her and cares about us beyond the scope of the project by taking an interest in how we are doing in our personal lives. Whatever supplies we need for the project she has always been eager to help and get us the things we need to succeed. She lets us know very often that she is proud of the work we have done. Honestly, we could not be any happier to have such a wonderful mentor! :)
• This project was one of my first introductions to research. The skills I gained are invaluable to my future career as a scientist.
• Dr. Pei-Lin Yu and Dr. Mark Plew, your valuable advice, guidance, and patience were greatly appreciated. James Eschenbrenner, this would not have been possible without you. Thank you.
• I would like to thank my mentor, Nirmala Kandadai, alongside my fellow lab mates James Lamb, Marcus Pearlman, and Attila Rektor. They all contributed large amounts to making this project successful and encouraging my personal growth and progress.
• I would like to thank my mentor Dr. Gena Nelson for not only assisting me through this research project but also teaching me a lot about working with students with disabilities. Dr. Nelson’s mentorship has made a positive impact on me and has instilled in my brain that I can truly help every student.
• Thank you Dr. Julia Oxford for being such a great mentor and research supervisor!
• My faculty supervisor was incredibly supportive of my research. He was always available when I had questions or wanted feedback, and he has helped me improve every part of my research project, including my abstract and poster.
• Natalie Mourant has been a great mentor throughout our research and poster process.
• Thank you for supporting me in doing this work. I am really passionate about the research that I’m doing, and I’m grateful to have found a space where I have the agency to continue to explore what I am passionate about. Your mentorship has been integral in the work that I’ve done this semester.
• Christy Suciu has been such an advocate for Design Thinking and has pushed the team to think bigger. There is so much knowledge and passion behind her that it is inspiring as a student to learn from Christy.
• Thank you to our mentors, Dr. Julia Oxford, Stephanie Tuft, and Akina Fujimoto for their committed guidance throughout this project.
• My mentor has been very helpful and encouraging throughout the research process and I want to thank them for being there to guide me along the way.
• Dr. Pritchard made this learning experience a very valuable and enjoyable time. She is extremely dedicated to all of her students.
• Having Dr. Daniel Fologea as my mentor is such a blessing. Daniel never fails to help when it is needed, and always provides endless encouragement, thank you Daniel.
• Dr. Mike Hurley has been an invaluable mentor throughout the course of this titanium project. He has allowed us to remain self-directed while simultaneously being available and willing to help us when we need guidance. Dr. Hurley has been the most impactful mentor I have had during my undergraduate career.
• Dr. Jared Romero has always provided guidance and insight, as well as challenging his students to think about concepts in new ways.
• Dr. Julia Oxford cultivates a friendly, hard working, and ambitious learning environment that kept us all motivated even during these difficult times. We are incredibly grateful for all of her guidance.
• Dr. Pei-Lin Yu has been extremely supportive and given me great guidance all throughout this project. She was always available to meet with me and discuss different approaches or answer questions that I had. Her vast knowledge of archaeological methodology and how this can be tied to climatic influences was extremely helpful. Along with her introducing undergraduate students to Dr. Lewis Binford’s Database as a tool to aid them in their research. I really appreciate the opportunity she and university have provided me. I would also like to thank Dr. Mark Plew, who made himself accessible for discussions and questions I had at any time. His vast experience in the Great Basin was a huge asset to the completion of this project.
• Mentors are definitely important to undergraduate research. My mentor’s guidance and insight is a great contribution to this project.
• My supervisor Dr. Barney Smith has always shown that I’m welcome to the group, and allowed me various opportunities for my career.
• Special thanks to Dr. Brad Morrison and Alex Soto for their time, help and support throughout the entire process and for being my mentors who I can look up to. I’ll never forget my time working in the lab with such great people.
• Our mentors are Dr. Bieter and Dr. Müllner and they have been excellent teachers, mentors and friends during my semesters involved with VARScent. They always strive to advance us as learners and have focused on the two prototypes; us as individuals and the physical prototype of the VARScent device.
• Sincere thank you to Dr. Sandina Begic, for her mentorship and guidance throughout this project, for without her this research would not have been possible.
• Dr. Snopkowski and Dr. Volsche have been amazing throughout this entire process. They have kept me on track, asked questions that I did not know needed asking, and have helped me accomplish my goals. Thank you!
• Dr. Samia Islam was our faculty sponsor for this service learning project and provided us the tools and knowledge necessary to be successful.
• Amy Moll, Vicki Stieha, John Stieha, Susan Latta, and Noah Salzman were all mentors to our group in this project. They assisted us by suggesting how to format the poster and what information was necessary.
• Dr. Mary Pritchard has been an amazing mentor and confidant. She is always willing to help and provides the best responses to my many questions. I would like to thank her for all the times she has taken out of her busy schedule to help me with my goals. Thank you, Dr. Pritchard, you are very much appreciated!
• Our supervisors were great at guiding us through our thought process and helped us create a project we really cared about. Their constant support is why our project continued even with our current circumstances. Thank you!
• Dr. Jorcyk has been an amazing mentor to the both of us. She continually gives us more responsibilities so we can grow as researchers, and pushes us to take advantage of every opportunity that we can.
• I would like to thank Dr. Jennifer Pierce and Pamilla A. Cedillo, P.G., for their endless encouragement and hard work with me on this project. I am incredibly grateful for their constant and continued support.
• My research would not have gotten this far without the aid and guidance of my research supervisors; Dr. Jennifer Pierce, BSU Department of Geosciences, and Cindy Busche, Boise WaterShed Education Program Manager.
• The dedication Dr. Castellano has to student success is remarkable. He is changing lives and helping first-generation students of color like me achieve their goals and dreams every day.
• I would like to thank Dylan Mikesell and Joe Champion of Boise State University and Sergio Arispe of Oregon State University Extension Service. This project would not have been possible if it wasn’t for their contributions and guidance through this process and I am very grateful to have learned from them about scientific research.
• Dr. Wakild has been an exceptional mentor throughout my research. I was extremely intimidated and lost at the beginning of my project. Her willingness to brainstorm with me and ask challenging questions throughout my research helped me create something I am very proud of. Thank you Dr. Wakild!
• Our group wants to thank out undergraduate research supervisor in helping us find an effective direction to take this project.
• Thank you Natalie Mourant and Cathy Masters for all of your help in making this research happen!
• My mentor’s guidance and hard work was instrumental to my poster and research. He has consistently pushed me beyond what I believed I was capable of; motivating me to achieve a higher level of knowledge, perseverance, and hard work. I especially want to thank my mentor for going above and beyond to stay in touch with me during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. He continued to answer my questions and regularly scheduled Zoom meetings so our research could continue.
• Dr. Hurley is a spectacular mentor who always supported me to be the best that I could be in my endeavors as a student and researcher.
• This research would not have been possible if it were not for the incredible advisers that were there to help every step of the way; I’d just like to take a moment to say THANK YOU!
• Jeff Johnson has given me opportunities that I never thought would be possible at the undergraduate level and I hope to reach the potential that he sees in me. Jeff’s guidance and encouragement will echo through my future.
• I am so thankful I had the opportunity to work with Juliette Rubin, Brandt Quirk-Royal, and Jesse Barber. I have learned so much about bats and I have learned skills I will be able to take with me anywhere I go.
• A giant thank you to Lisa Meierotto for her encouragement and patience, as well as her valuable guidance for this project.
• The mentorship that I have received from Dr. Schmitz has allowed me to follow my passions and challenged me to become a better researcher. He is an excellent teacher who makes time to address the individual needs of each mentee and their projects.
• We would like to thank Dr. Samia Islam for her positive and impactful guidance on this project.
• Emily Wakild fosters a diverse Environmental Studies program. This research project was a part of an experimental Capstone research course and we thought it was very beneficial to our education.
• My mentor Megan Smith was always so supportive and constructive. I learned so much from her and really enjoyed being in her class.
• Dr. Ford guided us through the process of initiating a research based intervention to a student and allowed us the time and space to understand the data and its importance. With this experience, we now feel more prepared to be in the classroom and make instructional decisions grounded in data.
• Our mentors have been influential both in our growth as teacher-researchers and professionals. They have provided us with the opportunity to embrace the world of education through the lens of a quality teacher as we have expanded our interests.
• Thank you to Yookyung Lee, our amazing 선생님, for providing us this opportunity. Without her instruction, guidance, and kindness we would not be blessed with the gift of a new language and culture.
• Thank you to Dr. Brian Jackson of the Boise State Physics Department for his guidance through my first experience with astronomical research. He has been so patient and understanding while working with me, while also helping me grow as a research assistant and as a student. I would not be where I am today without him.
• Lisa Meierotto has been extremely helpful in this project. She has taken on this adversity with full online school with patience, grace and determination and has shown those qualities to her students.
• Christy Suciu has been a great mentor throughout this entire project. Her guidance and encouragement have been greatly appreciated.
• Dr. Julia Oxford has been an amazing mentor and professor. Most of my group would have never even considered this type of opportunity for ourselves and now we have gained experience and knowledge that will expand into our future careers. Thank you Julia for inspiring us to thrive.
• My mentor pushed me to explore areas that I hadn’t thought of. Dr. Babik was always there to support me when I needed it.
• My mentor has done an amazing job supporting me through this research and ensuring I was set up for success in every possible way. I learned so much about education working with them.
• Throughout the undergraduate research process, the supervisor that has helped the most is our professor Dr. Wakild.
• Dr. Robertson has been a phenomenal mentor. I am thankful for the education and support he’s provided me throughout my undergraduate research experience.
• Special thanks to Lisa Meierotto for her excellent guidance and wisdom during this research process.
• Our mentor helped point us in the right direction of research and helped us navigate out of pitfalls we had found ourselves in.
• We would like to thank Dr. Lisa Meierotto for her guidance throughout this project. Her help during this process has been incredibly beneficial to our team and we could not have finished this without her.
• I would like to thank my mentor, Laura King for guiding me while I have been working on my research. I would also like to thank my McNair cohort and Sarah Ritter for all the support.
• Thank you to Dr. Cynthia Curl for introducing me to the world of Epidemiology and for allowing me to be a part of your amazing research! Thank you also to Meredith Spivak for the experience in the lab as well as being so supportive!
• Dr. Benjamin Johnson was very encouraging and supportive this semester. Without his mentorship I would not have learned as much as I did. In addition to giving me the opportunity to learn about piezoelectricity, he also taught me valuable skills such as technical writing. I am extremely grateful to have been granted this opportunity as it made me more confident and eager to continue pursuing an electrical engineering degree.
• Without my mentors, I would not have been able to complete this presentation. I’ve been able to work with all kinds of different peers ranging from students to faculty and learn so much from all of them. I would like to recognize all the contributors to my research and everything that they have done for me.
• Dr. Browning, Dr. Cornell, and Dr. Plumlee were all very helpful in this research process and gave meaningful feedback. I appreciate their dedication to the project and their commitment to learning and the sciences.
• My research supervisors have been incredibly helpful throughout this entire project, and have helped me learn skills and topics that I wouldn’t have had the chance to learn in the classroom. My undergraduate experience would have been completely different without this opportunity!
• My research supervisors have been amazing mentors throughout this project. They’ve taught me technical and soft skills, and they’ll remain role models of mine beyond the duration of the project.
• I would like to express my gratitude to Matt Kohn and Sam Couch for the immense help they have given me to accomplish my undergraduate research. In addition to teaching me the foundations of metamorphic petrology, they have taught me the research process from gathering data to interpretation.
• This project would have never been achievable without the insight and guidance of Dr. McDougal. His dedication to mentoring undergraduates is exemplary and encourages those pursuing careers in research.
• Kunst an Kunst couldn’t have happened without the help and shared passion of Dr. Beret Norman. Kunst an Kunst is a large combination of the elements of her class taught on Berlin art and literature during the Weimar Republic along with personal research.
• I would like to thank my music composition professor Dr. Eric Scott Alexander for guiding me through the music writing process and helping me find my own voice in music. I would also like to thank my viola professor Dr. Linda Kline for helping me significantly improve my viola performance abilities, and providing extra feedback for the composition this presentation is based on.
• I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Donna Calhoun, and to perform undergraduate research at Boise State University. She is patient and present as a research mentor and helps to push me to my potential. I look forward to continuing to conduct research with her over the next year.
• Dr. Kendall House was always available as a sounding board and helped me brainstormed different ways to make this research meaningful and has an impact for the clients and clients’ employees.
• My mentors assisted me throughout the process of my research and helped me expand on my own skills of accumulating data and analyzing those results. They hold so much knowledge on what well produced research looks like and were always there to help me produce the same kind of work.
• My supervisors were invaluable to me in the process of completing my research. I could not have completed this project without their dedication to making sure a quality project was submitted even in this crazy time.
• Without my supervisor I never would have been introduced to the wonderful, intellectually stimulating world that is research, or even considered a career in it. Thank you for all you do!
• I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Jen Pierce and Erin Murray for mentoring me throughout this undergraduate research project. Both Jen and Erin have taught me so many valuable lessons and have helped me enormously through this stage of life.
• Thank you so much to Tim O’Donnell, my mentor for this project. Thank you for guiding me, trusting me, and allowing me to follow my curiosity – despite some shakey mental math, overuse of tape, and the occasional melted plastic.
• Dr. Mailani has done amazing things in the field of biophysics and has furthered the scientific knowledge and understanding of eye lens membranes.
• Christy Suciu is an outstanding professor at Boise State University. She puts in so much effort to make sure her students succeed both in and out of the classroom.
• Thank you for motivating me and helping me get to the point where I can be more independent in my research and encouraging me when I felt confused or lost! I have come a really long way since I first began and I owe you gratitude for pushing me to learn and grow at every opportunity.
• Owen, thank you so much for your guidance on more than research, but the navigation of a chemistry degree and my future plans as well. I wouldn’t have had half the opportunities I was granted while at Boise State if it weren’t for you pushing me to reach my full potential. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
• Thanks to Dr. Jared Romero for all the helpful feedback with this project.
• Brad Morrison has been an incredible mentor throughout this research experience. He has answered all my questions with ease and made me feel valued in his lab. I’m very blessed to have worked in Brad’s lab!
• Dr. Oxford has been a great teacher and mentor throughout this process. She is kind, understanding, and extremely knowledgable. She has been accomodating and encouraging since we began working with her.
• Dr. Cynthia Curl is an incredible mentor in research, education, and life in general. My BSU experience would not be the same without her.
• My mentor has made an incredible impact on my professional and personal career. I would not be the researcher I am today without their support and encouragement, and I’m so thankful to them for believing in me.
• Lonny Ashworth has been an incredible mentor throughout the research & educational process. He knows when to step in to give beneficial advice, as well as when to push and challenge you to critically think on your own. He loves watching his students grow and is a great motivator to put in your best effort and attitude!
• Thank you to Dr. Jim Browning and Dr. Don Plumlee for your guidance and support.
• My advisor offered me guidance and assistance with any research questions I had. He allowed this to be a fun and educational experience for me.
• I worked with Dr. Krishna Pakala on my research and I want to thank him for his mentorship and everything he has taught me throughout my time at Boise State.
• Thank you to Vicki Stieha, Amy Moll, and Noah Salzman.
• Dr. April S. Masarik has been an extremely supportive mentor. Her leadership and stimulating teaching style nurture her student’s minds. She cares for her students beyond what is required by her job.
• We want to acknowledge Dr. Jae Ryu for providing mentorship and resources to support this project. We want to thank Mrs. Stutzman for revisions and Dr. Warner for sponsoring our poster.