Each year the LSU Discover program recognizes undergraduate students for outstanding research in different majors. Recipients must submit an application, be nominated by professors and be chosen by a panel of University faculty and staff. This year’s 10 recipients received a $1,000 travel stipend and a plaque honoring their achievements.
Their areas of interest range from environmental issues and dietary concerns to politics. The Daily Reveille sat down with a few of the scholars to discuss their ongoing research endeavours.
Brittany Craft
Craft is a nutrition and food sciences senior focusing in dietetics. Her research analyzes Americans’ willingness to consume whole grain food as part of their daily diets.
According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, around half of daily grain consumption should come from whole grains. Craft’s project centers around the Whole Grain Willingness Questionnaire, which assess the public’s attitude towards consuming whole grain pasta, bread, rice and other food.
Craft said by observing people’s whole grain intake, researchers may actually be able to detect certain behavioral traits.
“This is significant because it allows nutrition educators to identify a shift in willingness to consume whole grain items,” Craft said. “This may precede actual behavior changes.”
Kurt Ristroph
Kurt Ristroph is a liberal arts and chemical engineering senior. His research studies the effects of biodegradable nanoparticles on soybeans. 
Through his research, Ristroph hopes to minimize the use of harmful pesticides on crops to benefit the environment and the economy. Ristroph said by studying the behavior of a pesticide in a nano-sized protein, scientists can improve the pesticide’s efficiency.
“You could spray less of it, less often, and have the same level of crop protection,” Ristroph said.
Christopher James
Christopher James is a third-year architecture student studying the relationship between architecture and Louisiana’s coast. His project focuses on preserving and protecting the state’s wetlands by using oyster beds as a foundation for coastal buildings.
“The research is trying to create positive relationships between the natural environment and the built environment through architecture,” James said.
James said these oyster buildings could function as research stations for coastal scientists in the future.
Nikka Khorsandi
Nikka Khorsandi is a biological sciences junior researching similarities between the cellular structures of alligator and chicken retinas. Khorsandi worked with biological science professor Evanna Gleason, who has studied chicken retinas for years.
“Since the alligator is the closest non-avian relative of the chicken, the retinal structures of the two organisms should be relatively similar,” Khorsandi said.
Because the retina structures of all vertebrates are similar in many ways, Khorsandi said his research could bring about a better understanding of the retina as a whole.

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Photo courtesy of Kurt Ristroph

Liberal arts and chemical engineering senior Kurt Ristroph is one of the 10 LSU Discover scholars for 2016.