Office of Undergraduate Research

OUR Staff

AMY CHILDRESS, PHD

Director
childres@purdue.edu
765-496-3590

Dr. Amy Childress is director of the Purdue Office of Undergraduate Research.  She has held numerous administrative positions at the university supporting education at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate student levels.  She most recently spent several years with Purdue’s Discovery Learning Research Center, where her work involved managing undergraduate and graduate research internship programs, contributing to grant proposal development, and coordinating multiple sponsored research projects.  She has co-authored manuscripts and presentations on experiential learning program administration and evaluation.  She has also co-edited a book addressing the transformation of undergraduate STEM education for the 21st Century.

JJ SADLER, MS

Associate Director - Student-Focused Programming
jjsadler@purdue.edu
765-494-6505

JJ Sadler joined Purdue in September 2017 in the Office of Undergraduate Research. Before coming to Purdue, JJ had served as the Assistant Director of Career Services – Internships & Undergraduate Research and the Experiential Learning Team Chairman at a liberal arts college, Illinois College. He received his Master’s degree in Environmental Horticulture with an emphasis on Experiential Learning from the University of Florida while mentoring undergraduate researchers and his Bachelor’s degree in Biology/Chemistry from Illinois College where he was an undergraduate researcher. When he is not helping prospective and current undergraduate researchers at Purdue, he enjoys watching movies at theatres, reading sci-fi novels, and spending time with his family in Lafayette.

CRAIG ZYWICKI, MEd

Associate Director - Faculty-Focused Programming
czywicki@purdue.edu
765-496-1452

Craig Zywicki joined the Office of Undergraduate Research as Associate Director in March 2022. He has >20 years of experience in higher education at four different institutions, with responsibilities specialized in: research/assessment, teaching and learning, and holistic student development.

In this role with the OUR, Craig supports mentors of undergraduate researcher experiences across an array of topics inclusive of URE program management, URE proposal development and support, mentoring and training development, and research on UREs.

ANGIE WELSHIMER

Operations Manager
aseldrid@purdue.edu
765-494-6503

Angie joined the Office of Undergraduate Research in September 2017.  She spent a year in Digital Education at Purdue and prior to that 13 years working for Aramark, a management company in Lebanon, IN.  When not working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends and everything outdoors.

LAYLA DANG

Graduate Student

Layla joined the Office of Undergraduate Research in September 2021 as a Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant. 

MEGAN ZHOU

Graduate Student

Megan joined the Office of Undergraduate Research in August 2022 as a Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant.

 

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