2018 This is Research: Award Winners

Undergraduate Award Winners

I. Science (Physical, Biological, Forestry and Wildlife, Agriculture), Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Oral Presentations:

1st Place: Gabrielle Gilmer, “The relationship between serum relaxin concentrations and knee kinematics during a single leg squat” (Chemical Engineering/Kinesiology)
2nd Place: Michael Izzo, “Bioinspired and sustainable improvement of the crack resistance of clayey soils” (Civil Engineering)
3rd Place: Madison Gohlke, “Characterization of mitochondrial variation between oocytes harvested from lean and obese pigs” (Animal Sciences)

Poster Presentations:

1st Place: Dorothy Mitchell, “The fine structure of the tentacular apparatus of Mnemiopsis leidyi” (Biological Sciences)
2nd Place: Hua (Amanda) Fang, “Effects of SIRT3 on posttranslational modification in the mitochondria of diabetic hearts” (Biomedical Sciences/Pharmacy)
3rd Place: Jared Hudson, “Effect of Initial Stiffness and Slip Force of Friction Force Damper on Response of Steel Structure to Wind and Seismic Loads” (Civil Engineering)

II. Social Science, Education, and Creative Scholarship in Design, Arts and Humanities

Oral Presentations:

1st Place: Lisa Maggi, “Experiential urbanism: an unaverage approach to understanding cities” (Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture)
2nd Place: Kathryn Cutler, “Small changes, big impact: Development of a research-based infographic with cost-effective interior design solutions for senior living communities in the state of Alabama” (Interior Design)
3rd Place: Haley Todd, “Case study: Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA)” (Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work)

Poster Presentations:

1st Place: Madeline Wrolson, “Body Esteem, Presence of Anxiety and Depression, and Ethnicity in a Rural Population” (Psychology)
2nd Place: Peyton Camp, “Task-Based Learning: a Pedagogical Approach to Second Language Acquisition” (Foreign Languages and Literature)
3rd Place: Jacob Verhine, “The Pedagogical Applications of Absolute Spectral Tone Color: An Analysis of Current Research and Avenues for Future Study” (Music)

III. College and School Awards

1. College of Sciences and Mathematics

a. Oral: Sydney Bergstresser, “Identifying RECQL variants as breast cancer risk factors in European and African Americans” (Biological Sciences)

b. Poster: Drew Bonner, “Mapping enhancer regions for genes associated with neurodegenerative diseases” (Biological Sciences)

2. College of Liberal Arts

a. Oral: Bo Segrest, “Preaching culture: how Methodist missions changed slave culture in Antigua” (History)

b. Poster: Reid Williams, “Adolescent’s willingness to change” (Psychology)

3. Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

a. Oral: Ryan LaGrone, “The relative importance of steric and electronic effects in 1,3-diene photoisomerization” (Chemical Engineering)

b. Poster: Michael Wietstruk, “A novel gust generator design to study the aerodynamic response of birds to turbulent conditions” (Aerospace Engineering)

4. College of Architecture, Design, and Construction

a. Oral: N/A

b. Poster: Isaac Turkington, “Explorations in mass timber through the development of interlocking cross laminated timber (iCLT)” (Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture)

5. School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

a. Oral: Alisia Diamond, “The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in resident and migratory songbirds in the Southeastern United States” (Wildlife Ecology and Management)

b. Poster: Hannah Kelly, “Evaluating Toxoplasmosis gondii: in Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus scorfa)” (Wildlife Ecology and Management)

6. College of Education

a. Oral: Allison Epperson, ““Don’t Stop Believin”: Music style’s effect on physiological and psychological function (Chemistry Education/Music)

b. Poster: Abby Brittain, “Swing mechanics of the offside forehand in professional female polo athletes” (Kinesiology)

7. College of Human Sciences

a. Oral: Holly Parker, “Diet diversity in Andasibe, Madagascar” (Nutrition)

b. Poster: Brooke Polinsky and Connor Koch, “High fat diet with impairing autophagy and induces deposition of oligomeric/fibrillar species of Amyloid-β in Mice Brain” (Nutrition)

8. College of Agriculture

a. Oral: N/A

b. Poster: Mary Toohey, “Stability of rebaudioside a in citrate buffer as affected by iron and UV light exposure” (Food Science)

Graduate Student Award Winners

I. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Oral Presentations:

1st Place: Micah Warren, Fisheries, “Host- switching and cophyly among blood parasites of early branching gnathostomes,”
2nd Place: Jenna Bloemer, Drug Discovery and Development, “Doxorubicin-induced memory deficits are associated with altered hippocampal synaptic plasticity and glutamatergic signalling deficits”
3rd Place: Benjamin McKenzie, Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Title Unknown

Poster Presentations:

1st Place: THREE WAY TIE

Amanda Sterling, Mechanical Engineering, “Repairing valuable parts using additive manufacturing”
Iman Hassani, Chemical Engineering, “Personalized in vitro 3D colorectal cancer model using patient-derived xenografts”
Manoj Govindarajulu, Drug Discovery and Development, Title Unknown

II. Social Science and Creative Scholarship in Design, Arts and Humanities

Oral Presentations:

1st Place: Brian Gillis, Human Development and Family Studies, “The association between sleep and adjustment in adolescence: Physical activity as a moderator of risk”
2nd Place: Julio Yanes, Psychology, “Cannabinoid treatments reduce pain: A meta-analysis of pre-post contrasts”
3rd Place: Anna Kate Edgemon, Psychology, “Increasing eye contact in children and adolescents with autism and related disabilities”

Poster Presentations:

1st Place: Hannah Moss, Audiology, “Pupillometry as a tool to assess listening stress associated with learning a second language”
2nd Place: Steven Boomhower, Psychology, “A developmental comparison of the effects of chronic cannabinoid exposure on impulsive choice in mice”
3rd Place: Jessica Norton, Human Development and Family Studies, “Do adolescent’s perceptions of their parents and attitudes about bullying influence bullying prevention?”

III. College and School Awards

1. College of Agriculture

Oral Winner: Frances Browne
Poster Winner: Ambika Pokhrel

2. College of Architecture, Design, & Construction

NO WINNERS IN NEITHER CATEGORY BECAUSE NO PRESENTERS FROM THIS COLLEGE

3. Raymond J. Harbert College of Business

Oral Winner: Haoran Zhang
Poster Winner: Jack Carson

4. College of Education

Oral Winner: Mariane Bacelar & Jence Rhoads (Presented together so will split award)
Poster Winner: Sarah Brinkerhoff

5. Samuel Ginn College of Engineering

Oral Winner: Matthew Hilliard
Poster Winner: Ferdous Finklea

6. School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences

Oral Winner: Xuechun Feng
Poster Winner: Diego Maldonado

7. College of Human Sciences

Oral Winner (TIE): Shaniel Bernard & Benjamin Burke
Poster Winner: Ekjyot Saini

8. College of Liberal Arts

Oral Winner: Lucia Lazarowski
Poster Winner: Shabnam Habibi & Gena Baker (Presented together so will split award)

9. School of Nursing

Oral Winner: NO WINNER BECAUSE NO PRESENTATIONS
Poster Winner: Natalie Sherrer

10. Harrison School of Pharmacy

Oral Winner (TIE): Quoc- Viet Duong & Mohammed Almaghrabi
Poster Winner: Shahariar Mohammed Fahim

11. College of Sciences and Mathematics

Oral Winner: Sarin Tiatragul
Poster Winner: Isuru Ariyarathna

12. College of Veterinary Medicine

Oral Winner: Elise Diffie
Poster Winner: Henri Giblot Ducray