Maple and Hickory Scholars pursue research across disciplines this summer

Lily Berkey

Lily Berkey is a junior majoring in environmental and marine science with a minor in marine biology conducting research alongside Andy Ammons, professor of biology. This research project tested the antimicrobial potential of three pure honey bee products — honey, wax and propolis (a resinous mixture honey bees produce that functions as a glue and an antibacterial for the colony) — and various solutions fight against different gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria that live on the skin, in the throat and in the gut.

This year marks the last of the three-year long Maple Scholars project. Berkey hopes to have contributed important findings to the research by experimenting with different controls to see if they enhance the antimicrobial potential.

Adrian Candia Ayllon

Adrian Candia Ayllon is a sophomore business major. His faculty research advisor was Elizabeth Miller, assistant professor of history. The goal of this research project was to preserve and expand access to a collection of Latin American Anabaptist oral history interviews conducted by Costa Rican historian, Jaime Prieto. 

Building on the ISGA’s 2021 digitization of more than 200 interviews and the database work of previous Maple Scholars, Candia Ayllon had been cataloging and indexing interviews, preparing the database for migration to the Hyku digital repository, transcribing select interviews in full and creating an interactive GIS map featuring 10 interviewees. He also wrote biographies of two interviewees for publication in the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.

About Jaime Prieto: Since the mid-1990s, Prieto has interviewed hundreds of members of Anabaptist churches across Latin America. Prieto has entrusted the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (ISGA) at Goshen College with making this collection accessible to a new generation of researchers. For more information, check out the ISGA Newsletter.

Kat Columna

Kat Columna recently graduated with an art major and marketing minor. As a Hickory Scholar this summer, Columna completed an artist residency at the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College. Her faculty research advisor was Sara Method, associate professor of art.

The goal of her residency was to be artistically immersed in Merry Lea’s diverse habitats, learning more about native species, their behavior and environmental changes. Research involved readings by naturalists and scientists like Robin Wall Kimmerer and Gene Stratton-Porter, researching field guides, sketching the environment and learning to build routine in a residency program. Columna’s creative process included plein air watercolor paintings, acrylic paintings, prairie leaf monoprints and embroidery portraits of different animals and plants she saw at Merry Lea. 

“This was a creatively rewarding experience,” Columna said. “I got to slow down and pay attention to the natural world.” 

Max Estep

Max Estep is a junior physics engineering major. His faculty research advisor was Manu Bhattarai, assistant professor of physics. The goal of his research project was to study active matter — material that uses its own energy to move — by building a low-cost shaker plate. A shaker plate is a platform suspended on a machine that vibrates active matter at selected frequencies and amplitudes. Commercial versions can cost thousands of dollars, so an affordable alternative could open this area of study to many more researchers. Estep was drawn to the project because it challenges his engineering skills and gives him the freedom to create something unlike anything he’s built before.

Adrian Gonzalez Martinez

Adrian Gonzalez Martinez is a senior computer science major. His faculty research advisor was Robert Brenneman, professor of criminal justice and sociology. The goal of his Maple Scholars research project was to study the social and economic impact of Goshen’s First Fridays events. The project focused on estimating event attendance, collecting survey responses from attendees, exploring foot-traffic and local spending patterns to better understand how these events affect downtown Goshen local businesses and the broader community. Through this research he hopes to help provide useful data and visualizations that can support future planning and decision-making for community events.

Julia Miller

Julia Miller is a senior majoring in biochemistry, with a minor in women’s and gender studies. Her faculty advisor was Kendra Yoder, professor of sociology and women’s and gender studies. From 2015 to 2025, the Prevention Intervention Network (PIN) trained GC students as peer educators to provide comprehensive bystander education for all incoming first-year students to prevent sexual violence, and host awareness events on campus. Miller’s Maple Scholars project is focused on identifying and recording key pieces of PIN’s 10-year history. The project also aims to understand the PIN’s long-term impact on the professional development of student leaders involved in its founding and continuation. To do this, Miller has been analyzing historical PIN documents and conducting interviews with alumni, faculty and administrators who have played important roles in the establishment of PIN.

Sara Nunez

Sara Nunez is a junior majoring in biochemistry. Her faculty research advisor was Deana Baker, associate professor of biology. Nunez and Baker developed a reliable laboratory protocol that will be used to measure two saliva-based biomarkers of stress: cortisol, a hormone that rises in response to stress, and salivary alpha-amylase, an enzyme that signals the body’s more immediate stress response. 

Using ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test kits, Nunez refined each step of the process to make it more efficient and reduce the chance of technical error. Her research project produced a versatile, tested method that future Goshen College students can pick up for their own senior research. Beyond individual research, the protocol could also support our future immunology courses, giving students a smoother, more accessible way to practice ELISA in the classroom.

Timothy Okiror

Timothy Okiror is a sophomore with a double major in computer science and engineering physics. His faculty advisor was Paul Meyer Reimer, professor of physics and department chair. Focusing on the Kongwa District in central Tanzania — a dry farming region that relies almost entirely on rainfall – the research project is aimed at exploring how the landscape holds water and recovers from drought. Okiror used NASA’s GRACE satellite data — which detects water stored underground by sensing tiny changes in gravity — to determine the water weight on the landscape. A water model dataset was also used to sharpen the satellite data, revealing finer details.

The research project data also tracked drought patterns over time. Building on a study conducted by previous Maple Scholars, Kevin Lidell ’25 and Drew Hackman ’24, the two found that a drought in the region ended sooner than expected. This lined up with a surprising drop in harmful toxins known as mycotoxins in local crops. If the research can explain what natural water sources made that possible, it could help protect local crops and guide water management in other dry farming regions.

Ru Sung

Ru Sung is a senior majoring in public health. Her faculty research advisors were Kendra Yoder, professor of sociology and women’s and gender studies, and Anna Shetler ’18. The research project explored the relationship between historical racial exclusion, demographic change and community health in Elkhart County. Through their research, she and her collaborators hope to better understand how residents and community members view this history, and whether they see connections between past and present-day conditions in the community.

Elkhart County is a key focus of the study because Goshen has been identified by historians as a former sundown town, where Black residents were largely excluded during much of the twentieth century. 

Sophia Yoder

Sophia Yoder is a senior with a double major in film production and art. Her faculty project advisor was Kyle Hufford, professor of communication and department chair. She created a new promotional video for Goshen College’s  J.N. Roth Marine Biology Station in the Florida Keys to promote the marine biology program at Goshen College. She and Hufford captured footage of the class over May Term, and used that footage to create the video. Her goal was to create an exciting, engaging and enticing video for prospective students looking to major in marine biology.