CV

Education

Hendrix College, B.A. in Computer Science & Mathematics (expected 2020)
Batesville High School (2016)

Research experience

Undergraduate Research Odyssey, Hendrix College (Fall 2018 - Present) Under the direction of Dr. Adam Schneider

I am studying the parasitic plant Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium). I built a pipeline for assembling Arceuthobium platomes from Illumina Sequencing data. We are using these assemblies to construct a more accurate molecular phylogeny of Arceuthobium. code

Broad Summer Research Program, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (Summer 2018)
Greka Lab, Under the direction of Dr. Jamie Marshall

At the Broad Institute, I created a user-friendly pipeline to identify potentially pathogenic gene variants associated with Kidney Disease. This pipeline significantly reduces the time researchers must spend searching for gene variants online, thereby increasing the time that can be spent conducting experiments in the lab. code

Undergraduate Research Odyssey, Hendrix College (Spring 2018)
Under the direction of Dr. Lindsay Kennedy

I created a pipeline in R for analyzing results of the Hendrix Well Being Survey. After exploring group differences between well-being measures, I compiled a report and presented my findings to Hendrix faculty and students.

ProHealth REU, Indiana University Bloomington (Summer 2018)
StARLinG Lab, Under the direction of Dr. Sriraam Natarajan

I participated in the ProHealth REU the summer after my freshman year. While there, I explored novel interactions between heart disease risk factors using Bayesian networks.

Research Assistant, Lyon College (Summer 2015)
Under the direction of Dr. Cassia Oliveira

I assisted with Dr. Oliviera’s research in 16S rRNA metagenomic analysis of Ozark cave bacteria the summer before my senior year of high school. During this time I helped gather and grow cave bacteria, perform RNA extraction, and analyze sequencing results. Read more.

Teaching

Academic

Computer Science, Teaching Assistant
Hendrix College, Conway, AR (Fall 2017 - Present)

I am a Teaching Assistant for the laboratory portion of the introductory computer science classes at Hendrix. In addition to answering questions during labs, I host tutoring hours weekly. I have assisted the students in mastering the basics of programming in Python and Java, guiding them through the logic and debugging skills required to complete projects.

Genetics, Peer Learning Assistant
Hendrix College, Conway, AR (Spring 2019 - Present)

I host tutoring hours every week for the Genetics course. During this time, I assist students in understanding course concepts, completing homework assignments, and reviewing for tests.

Leadership and service

Academic and Professional

Hendrix Computer Science Club, Founder, President (2017-2018)

The Hendrix Computer Science Club’s mission is to increase community, professional development, and outreach opportunities for students interested in technology at Hendrix. As the President during the first year, I oversaw 3 professional development events, 2 off-campus outreach events, 3 on-campus outreach events, 4 movie nights, and 2 computational projects.

Hendrix Programming Team, Competition Team Member (2017-2018)

Our team meets for 2 hours a week to work through programming competition questions and Kattis problems. My team won 2nd place at the CCSC: Mid-South Programming Contests in Spring 2018.

Hendrix Community

Hendrix Experience Ambassadors Program, Student Ambassador (2016-2018)

I spend a few hours a week showing prospective students around Hendrix and sharing my own experiences.

The Profile at Hendrix College, Staff Writer (2016-2017)

I wrote several articles per month, ranging from alumni profiles to community events.

Music

Hendrix College Choir, Choir Scholar, Social Media Officer (2016-Present)

Christ Episcopal Church Choir, Paid Singer (2016-2018)

Compline Choir, Paid Singer (2016-2018)

Papers and Presentations

Academic Papers

Ben Jelen, Anne Freeman, Mina Narayanan, Kate M. Sanders, James Clawson, and Katie A. Siek. (2019). Craftec: Engaging Older Adults in Making through a Craft-Based Toolkit System. In Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (TEI ‘19). (Acceptance 34%).

Oral Presentations

Sanders KM, Marshall J, and Wang Q. Characterizing Kidney Disease Gene Variants: A Programmatic Approach. Paper presented at: Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students; 2018 November 14-17; Indianapolis, IN.

Poster Presentations

Sanders KM, Marshall J, and Wang Q. Characterizing Kidney Disease Gene Variants: The 5th Annual Arkansas Bioinformatics Consortium (AR-BIC 2019); 2019 February 25; Little Rock, AR.

Undergraduate Poster Session Winner

Sanders KM, Robert LM, Nandini Ramanan, and Sriraam Natarajan. Probabilistic Models for Cardiovascular Events. Poster presented at: Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing Summer Research Programs Poster Symposium; 2017 July; Bloomington, IN. pdf