The Citadel Academy of Science and Mathematics Awards Banquet

CASM Distinguished Alumni Award

• Mr. Steve Lawler ’82
• Dr. Rick Pugh ’85

CASM Distinguished Faculty Award

• Dr. Shankar Banik – Cyber and Computer Sciences

Early-Career Faculty Award

• Dr. Kaelyn Leake – Physics

Staff Award

• Ms. Vanessa McFadden

Non-tenure/Adjunct Faculty Award 

• Melissa Myrick – Mathematics

Student Abstracts

BIOLOGY

Title: Using eDNA to Characterize Amphibian Communities in Isolated Wetlands of the Longleaf Pine Ecosystem
Authors: Grayson S. Dewald and Caleb M. Yon
Faculty: Dr. Danny Gustafson

Title: Assessing the Effects of Interactive Lecture Tools in a Higher Education STEM Classroom
Author: John E. Sheppard
Faculty: Dr. Lauren Hernandez-Rubio

Title: Histone H3 Colocalization with the ER: Insights into Mitochondrial Stress Responses
Author: Edwin Guo
Faculty: Drs. Claudia Rocha, Colleen Quaas, Kathy Zanin

Title: Infection in Unforeseen Waters
Author: Grace Laws
Faculty: Dr. Claudia Rocha

CYBER AND COMPUTER SCIENCES

Title: Combating Misinformation: The ‘Double-Check’ Fact-Verification Bot
Author: Jesus Garcia
Faculty: Dr. Shadi Sadeghpour

Title: Simulating Ghost Injection Attacks using PX4 Autopilot Systems
Author: Kirin Chaplin
Faculty: Dr. Shadi Sadeghpour

Title: SDR-Based GPS Spoofing Attacks on Commercial Drones
uthor: Aidan Lenz
Faculty: Dr. Shadi Sadeghpour

Title: Modeling AI Traffic through GNS3
Author: Jacob Bogle
Faculty: Dr. Shadi Sadeghpour

Title: Defending EEG-BCIs from Adversarial Filtering based Evasion Attacks
Authors: Alison Gallegos, Noah Haynes, Luke Pennisi
Faculty: Dr. Farhath Zareen

Title: Mitigating Data Poisoning Threats in EEG-Based Brain-Computer Interfaces
Authors: Anastasiia Bohachenko, Kseniia Horai, Zion Lindsey
Faculty: Dr. Farhath Zareen

Title: Impact of Malicious AI Use in the 2024 US Elections
Authors: Jonah Dalton, William McLean, Alex Tiberghien
Faculty: Dr. Deepti Joshi, Dr. Jordana Navarro

Title: Discovering Influential Actors conducting Foreign Malign Influence using Social Network Analysis
Authors: Stratton Knuth, Brian Mutua, Sean Welch
Faculty: Dr. Deepti Joshi, Dr. Antara Mukherjee, Dr. Breeanne Swart

Title: Conflict-RAG: Understanding Evolving Conflicts Using Large Language Models
Author: Tobias Wood
Faculty: Dr. Deepti Joshi

Title: Discovering Localized Drivers of Unrest Events using Clustering and XGBoost
Author: Dalton Hazelwood
Faculty: Dr. Deepti Joshi

Title: Accuracy of AI Detectors
Authors: Landon Barnett, Pete Georgakilas, Rhett Kirby, Elisabeth Southern
Faculty: Dr. Jordana Navarro

Title: Awareness, Recognition, and Response to AI-Driven Dis/Misinformation
Author: Colson Combs, Jack Cooper, Jesus Garcia, Tobias Wood
Faculty: Dr. Jordan Navarro

Title: Mapping Human Trafficking Arrests in South Carolina
Authors: Riki Benton, Carmen Dominguez, Jack Ross
Faculty: Dr. Jordana Navarro

Title: Evaluating Resilience of Industrial Control Systems Against Advanced Persistent Threats in Water Distribution Systems
Authors: George Honiotes, Elisabeth Southern
Faculty: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. Will Johnson

Title: Exploitation and Mitigation of Modbus Protocol
Author: Colton Horton
Faculty: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. Will Johnson

Title: Man-in-the-Middle Attacks within Industrial Control Systems: Risk and Mitigations
Authors: Jack Cooper, Colton Horton
Faculty: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. Will Johnson

Title: TITAN – Trustless Infrastructure Technology for Automation Networks
Authors: Colson Combs, Philip Simion-Howard
Faculty: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. Will Johnson

Title: Cryptological Vulnerabilities Among Common Programmable Logic Controllers
Author: Jack Cooper
Faculty: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. Will Johnson

HEALTH AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE

Title: Strength and Discipline: Examining the Relationship Between Physical Fitness and Conduct at The Citadel
Author: Aiden Elder
Faculty: Dr. Ryan Sacko

Title: From the Ground Up: Investigating the Relationship Between CPFT Performance and Supine-to-Stand Tasks
Author: Luke Murphy
Faculty: Dr. Ryan Sacko

Title: Jumping to New Standards: Assessing the Feasibility of the Standing Long Jump in the CPFT
Author: Erin Wayman
Faculty: Dr. Ryan Sacko

Title: Electroencephalography emotion detection
Author: David Ropp
Faculty: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: Scoliosis and Impaired Vision: Unveiling a National Security Threat to Future Military Readiness
Author: Michael Porpiglia
Faculty: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: Semaglutides: The Weight Loss Superdrug – The Good, The Bad and The Future
Author: John Mitchell
Faculty: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: Military Women and Fitness: An Analysis of The Army Combat Fitness Test
Author: Taylor Davis
Faculty: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: WAGs and HABs on Display: Exploring Social Identity and Self- Present Through the Lens of Sport Media
Authors: Aaron Alston, Mecca Jackson, Blake Simokat
Faculty: Dr. Ju Young Lee, Dr. Kwangho Park

Title: From Homesickness to Stress: The Moderating Role of Ethnocentrism in Student-Athletes
Authors: Aaron Alston, Straton Covington
Faculty: Dr. Ju Young Lee, Dr. Kwangho Park

Title: Exploring NIL’s impact, challenges, and opportunities for collegiate stakeholders
Authors: Michael McLendon, Kedron Young
Faculty: Dr. Ju Young Lee, Dr. Kwangho Park

MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

Title: Prime Divisors in the Pseudo Pascal Triangle
Authors: Cheng-Yu Teng, Austin Hitt
Faculty: Dr. Rigoberto Florez

Authors: Everett Babcock, Mitchel Huott
Faculty: Dr. Mei-Qin Chen

Title: Approximations for Leontief Input-Output Model for Economy
Author: William Boyd
Faculty: Dr. Mei-Qin Chen

NURSING

Title: COVID-19 vaccine Compliance Within a South Carolina Military College
Author: Hunter McDonald
Faculty: Dr. Ashley Bukay

Title: Exploring the Perceptions of Male Nursing Students Enrolled in a Baccalaureate Degree Nursing Program
Authors: Silas Lee, Zachary Rockefeller
Faculty: Dr. Kim Subasic, Dr. Robin Matutina

PHYSICS

Title: Application of Quantum Dots in Layer-by-Layer Films as Pressure Sensors
Authors: William Boyd, Tristan Eberbach, Sarah Fink
Faculty: Dr. Kaelyn Leake

Title: Machine learning approach to identifying and classifying secondary eyewall formation
Author: Mitchel Huott
Faculty: Dr. Gabriel Williams

Title: Microcontroller based self-driving pendulum system: The Oscillo-Tron
Author: Joseph Boxx
Faculty: Dr. Kaelyn Leake, Dr. Joel Berlinghieri

Student Posters

CASM Distinguished Alumni Award

• Dr. William H. Porter ‘62
• Dr. Wade H. Sherard, III ‘66

Staff Award

• Col. John Bradham, USAF (Ret.), Physics

Early Career Faculty Award

• Dr. Deepti Joshi, Cyber and Computer Sciences

Non-Tenure Faculty Award Faculty Award

• Mr. Rene Hurka, Physics

Student Abstracts

BIOLOGY

Title: Vitamin 812 Supplementation Impacts Survivability and Growth Rate of IEC-18 Cells in Culture
Author: Edwin Guo
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kathy Zanin

Title: Temperature Impacts on Feeding Kinematics in the Striped Barnacle
Author: Savannah Fisher
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Clinton Moran and Dr. John Zardus

Title: Low-tech Seed Enhancement Technology Could Improve Germination and Establishment of Longleaf Pine Understory Perennial Forbs
Authors: Michael Disilvestro and Madeline Schmuck
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Danny Gustafson

Title: Shrimp and Grits: Microplastics in Roadway Adjacent Salt Marsh Sediments and Their Potential Effects on Salt Marsh Biota
Author: Dana Norton
Faculty Advisor: Dr. John Weinstein

CHEMISTRY

Title: Green Synthesis of Heterocyclic Molecules
Author: Isaiah Allgeyer
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Dung Do

Title: El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Variability Changes during Abrupt Climate Event
Author: Kyle Bernier and Jud Partin
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Lisa Zuraw

Title: Effect of Immobilization pH on Adsorbed Cellulose
Author: Angela
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Thad LeVasicek

Title: Preparation of PLGA Drug Delivery and Capture Efficiency
Author: Jessica Bailey
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Thaddeus Le-Vasicek

Title: Comparison of Adsorbed vs. Covalently-Bound Immobilized Cellulose to Magnetic Nanoparticles
Author: Corbin Snavely
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Thaddeus Le-Vasicek

CYBER AND COMPUTER SCIENCES

Title: Ranking Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Vendors Across CVEs
Authors: Matthew Collins and Richard Owens
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. William Johnson

Title: Characterizing Cyber-attacks in Water & Wastewater Sectors of Critical Infrastructure
Authors: Christian Hines and Elisabeth Southern
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. William Johnson

Title: Securing OT with Software Defined Networks
Authors: Slateon Frederick and William Hall
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Shankar Banik, Dr. Jacob Benjamin, Dr. William Johnson

Title: EGGIS: Expendable Geospatial Guardian Intelligence Systems
Authors: Jonah Dalton and Matthew Decarlo
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Deepti Joshi and Dr. Farhath Zareen

Title: Discovering Drivers of Unrest using Clustering and XGBoost
Author: Dalton Hazelwood
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Deepti Joshi

Title: Email DNA: Analyzing writing style to detect Spear Phishing
Authors: Joshua McKinley, Brian Mutua and Alexander Tiberghien
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Shankar Banik and Dr. Deepti Joshi

Title: LLMs for Situational Awareness in the Arab World
Author: Jacob Tobias Wood
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Deepti Joshi

Title: Discovering Security Breaches using Deep Packet Inspection
Authors: Chad Dailey and Tyler Furches
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jacob Benjamin and Dr. Deepti Joshi

HEALTH AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE – EXERCISE SCIENCE

Title: Is a Cup Enough? Levels of Energy Expenditure During Speed Stacking
Authors: Grace Duncan and Samuel Hines
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ryan Sacko

Title: Correlations of Blink Reflex Parameters with Balance Outcomes after Sport-Related Concussion
Authors: M. N. Haider and Youngho Kim
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Dena Garner

Title: Control of Breathing on Aerobic and Muscular Fitness (C-BAMF)
Author: David Gray, Daniel Groce, and Seth James
Faculty Advisors: Dr. George Grieve and Dr. Kimbo Yee

Title: The Influence of Stress on the Menstrual Cycle in the undergraduate student
Author: Jillian Aylsworth and Eimile Quinn
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: The Impact of Synthetic and Natural Opioids in South Carolina
Author: Connor Amon
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: The Influence of Environmental Physical Activity Opportunities on Diabetes
Author: Briggs Rehome
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: An Analysis of Cardiac Dysrhythmia Disparities
Author: Tyler Blackwell
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: Novel Methods of Injury Prevention in Baseball
Author: George Floyd
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sarah Imam

Title: Exploring the Relationship between Grip Strength, Supine to Stand, and the Citadels Physical Fitness Test: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
Authors: Grace Duncan and Will Templeton
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ryan Sacko

HEALTH AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE – SPORT MANAGEMENT

Title: The impact of turf types on player injuries in the NFL: Astra turf vs. natural turf surfaces
Author: Jay Piontek
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Ju Young (LJ) Lee and Dr. Kwangho Park

Title: The effect of narrative on the process of empathizing with in-game characters in sport video games
Author: Donald Hiers
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Ju Young (LJ) Lee and Dr. Kwangho Park

Title: Exploring the impact of NIL policies on NCAA athletes: Personal, professional, and interpersonal dynamics
Author: Jeffrey Boyd
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Ju Young (LJ) Lee and Dr. Kwangho Park

Title: Analyzing NFL fourth down strategies: Impact on game dynamics
Authors: Alex Dure and Cade Smith
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ju Young (LJ) Lee and Dr. Kwangho Park

MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

Title: Prime Progressions
Author: Sadie Gomez
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Antara Mukherjee and Dr. Breeanne Swart

Title: Patterns in a Number Triangle
Author: Zih-Syun Fu
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Antara Mukherjee and Dr. Breeanne Swart

Title: Star Sums and Collatz’s Cousin Challenge
Authors: Stratton Knuth, Manning Hitt, Pat Knuham and Stu Varab
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Antara Mukherjee

Title: Gauss Sum Type for Trigonometric Identities
Authors: Wei- Shan Lu
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Rigoberto Florez

Title: A unique solution for a puzzle board and the perfect nth power problem
Authors: Garner Page, Aiden Raab, Seamus Steves and Matthew Varney
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Antara Mukherjee and Dr. Breeanne Swart

NURSING

Title: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS): Case Study
Author: Chloe Mckellar
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Ashley Bukay

Title: COVID-19 Correlation to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder within Critical Care Nurses
Author: Shannon Curtis
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jody Smith

PHYSICS

Title: A Model for Identifying Secondary Eyewalls in Mature Hurricanes
Author: Mitchell Huott
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Williams

Title: Pocket deployable human detection device
Authors: Jonah Charles and Vincent Massaro
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kaelyn Leake

Title: Portable weather prediction system
Authors: Tristan Eberbach and Sarah Norton
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kaelyn Leake

Title: Laser Patterning of Electrochromic Layer-by-Layer Polymer Devices
Author: Tristan Eberbach
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Kaelyn Leake and Dr. Hank Yochum

Student Posters

2023 Inductees

Mid-Career Distinguished Alumni Award

Col. Anthony L. Baggiano, USAF, Ret., ‘61
Rev. James R. Lockridge, ‘71

Mid-Career Distinguished Alumni Award

Dr. Matthew N. Thoma, ’98

Early Career Faculty Award

Dr. Antara Mukherjee, Ph.D., Mathematical Sciences

Student Abstracts

Student Posters

2022 Inductees

CASM Distinguished Alumni Award

Dr. Joe Sanders ’62, Pre-Allied Health
RADM Will Rodriguez (USN, Ret.) ’77, Mathematics
CAPT Geno Paluso (USN, Ret.) ’89, Mathematics & Business Administration

Early Career Faculty Award

Dr. Sarah A. Iman, Health and Human Performance

Dr. Charles Darby ’55, Pre-Med/Biology
Dr. Marc Settin ’80, Chemistry
Dr. John Weinstein, Biology
Dr. Rigoberto Florez, Mathematical Sciences

2019 Inductees

MG Wallace E. Anderson ’34
Col. Randolph J. Bresnick ’89
Dr. Douglas M. Carnes ’64
Dr. Louis D. Quin ’47
Dr. Randy Blanton
Dr. Dan Bornstein 

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 2019 annual CASM awards banquet!

2018 Inductees

Dr. D. Michael Johns ’72
Dr. Christopher C. Swain ’81
Dr. David C. Swain, Jr. ’80
MG James W. Duckett ’32
Dr. Isaac “Spike” Metts, Jr. ’65
Dr. Mary Katherine Zanin 

2017 Inductees

COL Charles R. Ball
Lt. Gen. Frank Libutti
Dr. Samuel P. McManus
Dr. Joel C. Berlinghieri
Dr. Shankar Banik

2016 Inductees

Dr. J. Patrick Johnson
Dr. William Bowers
Dr. Dena Garner
Mr. Rick DeVoe

Pictured left to right: Dean Lok Lew Yan Voon, Dr. J. Patrick Johnson, Dr. William Bowers, Dr. Dena Garner, Mr. Rick DeVoe

2015 Inductees

Dr. Thomas Blackwell
Dr. David Fleming
Brigadier General Harvey Schiller
Dr. Richard Porcher

Pictured left to right: BG Harvey Schiller, Dr. Thomas Blackwell, Dr. Richard Porcher, Dr. David Fleming, Citadel President John Rosa

2014 Inductees

The Honorable Senator Fritz Hollings
Dr. Henry Cross
Dr. Edward Bray
Dr. Charles Groetsch

Pictured left to right: BG Samuel Hines, Dr. Hank Cross, The Honorable Senator Fritz Hollings,
Dr. Edward Bray, Dean Lok Lew Yan Voon

2012 Inductee: James D. Bearden, III
2011 Inductee: A. Fred Holland
2010 Inductee: William T. Trotter
2009 Inductee: John M. Palms
2008 Inductee: Harry Y. “Hap” McSween