Learn By DoingOpportunities ResearchStudent ResearchTollJohn S. Toll Research Program

John S. Toll Research Program

The JSTF Program funds collaborative research opportunities between Washington College students and faculty.

These fellowships provide funding to undergraduate majors in the sciences and mathematics who are engaged in campus-based research projects under the direct supervision of a faculty mentor. Such projects may occur during the academic year or in conjunction with the College’s ten-week summer research program. The Fellows, in collaboration with their faculty mentors, determine the nature of the research and receive funding to help support acquisition of equipment and supplies needed for the project. Fellows who are selected to participate in the summer program also receive a stipend of $4,000.

Recent John. S. Toll Research Projects

  • 2020 - 2021 was a challenging year, but students still took advantage of opportunities at the College for independent research in collaboration with our faculty. The following video includes presentations from four of these students describing the work they accomplished.
  • Student presenters included Evan McCarthy, Peyton Stewart, Shannon Thomas, and Martina Towers.

  • Several students in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics division collaborated with faculty to perform independent research during the 2021 - 2022 academic year.
  • Each student created a video summary of their project that can be viewed via a link below.
Matthew Hutter and Dr. Kyle Wilson

Computer ScienceLatent Jumps in DDPM Interpolations

Lauren Maynor and Dr. Mala Misra

BiologyCoordinating motor neuron muscle growth during development

Michael Roseman and Dr. Dung Do

ChemistryOne-pot synthesis of 1,3-oxazolidines via formal dearomative [3+2] cycloaddition of aminophenols

Kyle Rufo and Dr. Robin Van Meter

BiologyWood frog developmental metabolomics & Marbled salamander swabbing methodology

  • Rachel Chambers and Michelle Ly '20
    • The emergence of chaos on stochastic time domains
      and the 3-D SuPeR fractal
      Faculty advisor: Shaun Ramsey
  • Nate Braddock, Adam Brown, and Libby Witham '21
    • Parental age and nesting success in field sparrows (Spizella pusilla)
      Faculty advisor: Jennie Rinehimer
  • Anna Gjertsen '18
    • How surprising: Mild TBI impacts scan path during facial emotion recognition
      Faculty advisor: Lauren Littlefield
  • Drake Harrison '20
    • Convergence of piecewise linear approximations in Lyapunov and super fractals
      Faculty advisor: Kyle Wilson
  • Lauren Maynor
    • The role of miR-34 and miR-277 in neuromuscular junction development in Drosophila melanogaster
      Faculty advisor: Mala Misra
  • Emilee Cramer
    • Social design for conditioned color preference in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
      Faculty advisor: James Windelborn
  • Julie St. Clair
    • Effect of depth and size on oyster growth
      Faculty advisor: Jill Bible
  • Sarah Noman '19
    • The role of telomere repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) during meiosis in budding yeast
      Faculty advisor: Jennifer Wanat
  • Eniya Jaber
    • Designing and constructing the plasma generation apparatus
      Faculty advisor: Derek Thuecks
  • Megan Rowan '19
    • Predictors and outcomes of helicopter parenting
      Faculty advisor: Tia Murphy
  • Lindsay Wiecki '20
    • The association of the retromer protein complex with
      traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease
      Faculty advisor: Cynthia Gibson
  • Haley Wilt '21
    • Structural and kinetic analysis of VHR phosphatase
      Faculty advisor: James Lipchock
  • Gabriel Johnson, Chloe Sass, and Max Tucker

    • The role of miR-34 and miR-277 in neuromuscular junction development in Drosophila melanogaster
      Faculty advisor: Jordan Tirrell