Meet Our Scholars and Alumni

Ryan Anderson

Ryan is a "small-town boy" from Belle-vue, Idaho who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemistry. Although he is unsure what he wants to do with his Ph.D., it will be something that revolves around using Chemistry in a way that hopefully benefits a large group of people.

Jake Barnes

When Jake is not studying for school, he's usually studying music on one of the seven instruments he plays. Jake is pursuing a doctorate and career in forensic anthropology.

Katt Bergstrom

Katelyn is a 3rd-year Anthropology and Biology major. After she graduates from Morris, she is hoping to go into Wildlife or Environmental Biology. During her free time, Katelyn loves to read, watch Netflix, or hang out with her friends and family (especially her two Boston terriers). Katelyn is also a co-chair for the Sociology and Anthropology Society, the student rep for Anthropology, and is a peer mentor for Summit Scholars.

Andre Brown

Andre is a statistics major who hopes his research will lead him to his inner passion and a life-long career.

Katie Goose

Spencer Graff

Spencer is a Math and Physics major who wants to minor in either Medieval Studies or Computer Science (maybe both). Spencer plans to get a Ph.D. in Physics and would like to work in academia or research. When not busy studying, he loves to read, play piano, and write stories. Spencer also enjoys spending with his family and loves cats!

Charles Hassinger

Charles studies Sociology with an emphasis in Criminology and deviance. He wants to earn a Ph.D. in sociology, so that he can conduct research on children and adolescents who engage in deviant and/or criminal behaviors with the hope to help them from becoming lifelong criminals or suffering from the adverse effects that are related to criminal and deviant behaviors. Charles hails from Aniak, a small native village in rural Alaska. He notes "being raised in a native village I learned to enjoy my culture's traditional lifeways, that of putting away fish and picking berries to name a few."

Hannah Johnson

Hannah is double majoring in Environmental Studies and Native American Indigenous Studies. She hopes to use her advanced degree to serve indigenous communities in developing indigenous food sovereignty. She loves to travel and once paddled in the Arctic for forty days! She hopes to go on more adventures moving forward.

Danny Kenyon

Danny is a double major in History and Native American Indigenous Studies, an honors student, and a Summit Peer Mentor. They are also working on an Area of Emphasis in Deaf Studies. They hope to use their Ph.D. to help minorities and hopefully one day become a Professor. They are working on getting their interpreter's license and hope to use it to help deaf students succeed in academia. Most of Danny's free time is spent dancing or working on the puzzle at the library.

Marley Lund

Amy Michels

Isabel Montemayor

Isabel is a Psychology major and anthropology minor with interests in multiculturalism and psychopathology. She plans to go to graduate school for Clinical Psychology. When not working on school she can be found
reading or watching Netflix.

Morgan Olson

Morgan is currently double majoring in Physics and Native American Indigenous Studies. She hopes to go on to earn a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and advocate for other Indigenous scientists and youth who love physics as much as she does. She currently works as a Native American Student Success peer mentor and Ojibwemowin language table facilitator on campus.

Sierra Paske

Sierra's primary area of study is Forensic Science with an emphasis in Chemistry and Native American Indigenous Studies. She plans to achieve a PhD in Forensic science and work with the FBI as a Forensic Chemist. In her free time, Sierra likes to craft, mainly in beadwork, and write for fun. She also loves to stay active doing track and field as a hammer thrower.

Emily Robinson

Emily is a chemistry student planning to go into Forensic Science. When she is not working in the lab, she is involved in cheerleading and the chemistry club.

Isaac Sanchez

Isaac is pursuing his Ph.D. in Chemistry. When he is not in the lab, you can catch him playing basketball in his free time. He wants to use his knowledge in chemistry to help solve world problems.

Charlot Shaw

Charlot is a Computer Science major and honors student, occasional juggler, martial artist, and writer.

Lauren Solkowski

Lauren's current majors are Psychology and French, although her McNair research will center mainly around Native American Indigenous Studies. After obtaining a Ph.D., Lauren hopes to work with diverse populations and study their ways of viewing the world, themselves, and others. An interesting tidbit about Lauren is that she loves cows and has a great collection of cow jokes that she is more than willing to share!

Amia Spates

Amia is a biology major planning to pursue a Ph.D. in order to become a biological researcher. She is also a community advisor at Morris.

Makenzie Vorderbruggen

Mackenzie is currently a biology major who would like to do biomedical research, specifically related to cancer biology. When she's not studying, she loves to watch movies (especially Star Wars), read, or even do a little knitting.

Nerissa Welch

Nerissa is double-majoring in Psychology and Native American Indigenous Studies, with a minor in Statistics. She intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology and work with youth, specifically providing counseling services to Native American youth.

Alex Zuk

Alex hails from Maplewood MN and is a proud first-generation student who
plans to be the first in her family to get her PhD. Alex likes art, being
outside and plants. Her long term goals are to be a counselor for Native
and Latina women and to work primarily with those two communities.