Record crowds attend undergraduate research symposium
LAWRENCE — More than 600 students, faculty, and guests attended KU’s 18th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 25 to hear student presenters share the results of their research and creative projects. The event took place in the Kansas Union; 167 students presented their projects, representing more than 30 departments from across campus.
Attendance at this year’s event nearly doubled from last year, due in large part to several instructors who gave extra credit to their classes for attending the symposium.
“In just a few short years, we’ve gone from having students present to mostly empty rooms to having standing-room-only in many of the presentation rooms,” said John Augusto, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research. “Research can seem intimidating to a lot of students, and opportunities to see their peers present their work is a great way to make research seem more approachable. We are grateful to have the support of so many faculty members in introducing students to undergraduate research.”
Student presenters prepared for the symposium by attending workshops with staff from the Center for Undergraduate Research and working with their research mentors to refine their oral presentations, poster presentations and performances. Graduate student judges selected 30 presentations to receive Outstanding Presentation Awards, listed below. Award recipients were recognized at the Symposium Banquet later that day and will receive either a $25 or $50 award.
KU’s Undergraduate Research Symposium is sponsored by the Center for Undergraduate Research and the KU Office of Research. The full list of student presenters can be found on the Center’s website.
The 2015 Outstanding Presentation Award winners:
Logan Abbott, Synthesis of Pharmacologically Active Analogs of Salvinorin A, mentored by Thomas Prisinzano, professor in medicinal chemistry
Jessica Allison, Abstinence Only Programming Perpetuates Rape Culture, mentored by Rachel Vaughn, visiting assistant professor in women, gender, & sexuality studies
Lauren Arney, Discovering the Structure of the Allosteric Sites in Pyruvate Kinase, mentored by Audrey Lamb, professor in molecular biosciences
Jennifer Beck, The Havanas: A Typographic Comparison, mentored by Tim Hossler, assistant professor in design, and Andrea Herstowski, associate professor in design
Ashley Bennett, Inducing Empathy Via Self-Other Overlap to Encourage Pro-environmental Action, mentored by Rachel McDonald, assistant professor in psychology
Taylor Broadhead, Passive Acoustic Monitoring of North Atlantic Right Whales, Eubalaena glacialis, mentored by Douglas Nowacek, Duke School of the Environment
Sean Brungardt, Vortex: Science Fiction Cinematic Arts Museum, mentored by Kapila Silva, associate professor in architecture
Austin Cataudella, Nathan Ellis and Randi Nimz, Community Resilience of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, mentored by So-Min Cheong, associate professor in geography
Patrick Clement, The 7786-Burrough, Wm. Project, mentored by Luke Jordan, lecturer in visual art, and Tamara Falicov, associate professor in film & media studies
Kimberly Cole, An Absorption Study of the Htau40 Protein on a 2-D Silicon Dioxide Surface, mentored by Prajna Dhar, assistant professor in chemical & petroleum engineering
Jenna Crusinberry and Haris Vrahliotis, Undocumented Health Care, mentored by Kathryn Rhine, associate professor in anthropology
Renee Dinsmore, Defining Justice Over Time, mentored by Shannon Portillo, associate professor in public affairs & administration
Jeffery Durbin, Working Memory Correlates of Functional Low-frequency Fluctuations: An Exploratory Resting-state fMRI Study, mentored by Rutvik Desai, University of South Carolina
Ashley Farris, Muscle Progenitor Cell Regenerative Capacity in the Torn Rotator Cuff, mentored by Michael Detamore, professor in chemical & petroleum engineering
Nichole Flynn, "Strong Female Characters": An Analytical Look at Moffat's Representation of Women in :Doctor Who,” mentored by Rachel Vaughn, visiting assistant professor in women, gender, & sexuality studies
Carina Fowler, Better Adherence, Better Outcome: Adherence to the Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC) Protocol is Associated with Magnitude of Reduction in Depressive Symptomatology, mentored by Stephen Ilardi, associate professor in psychology
Wesley Gibson, Analysis of Bison Bone form an Archaeological Site in Southwest Nebraska, mentored by Jack Hofman, associate professor in anthropology
Scott Glass, Candice L’Ecuyer and Alexander Warren, Assessing the Health Impacts of Diesel Exposure Considering Seasonal Wind Variability around Kansas City Area Railyards, mentored by J. Christopher Brown, associate professor in environmental studies, and Nate Brunsell, associate professor in geography
Rebecca Griffith, Let's Be Friends: An Examination of Why People Stay Friends with their Ex-partner, mentored by Omri Gillath, associate professor in psychology
Katherine Gwynn, Not Born This Way: On the Self-Constructed Identities and Communities of Deaf LGBT People, mentored by Rachel Vaughn, visiting assistant professor in women, gender & sexuality studies
Jordan Koch, Why do Women Leave Computer Science?, mentored by Donna Ginther, professor in economics
Avery Koerner, A Review of the Flower Longhorn Beetle Genus Typocerus LeConte (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Kansas, mentored by Bryan Foster, professor in ecology & evolutionary biology, and Zack Falin, Biodiversity Institute
Dina Lyne, Sintering of High Loading TCP:HAP Particles, mentored by Michael Detamore, professor in chemical & petroleum engineering
Maija Mallula, Mitochondrial DNA Variation in Coastal Iranian Apis florea, mentored by Deborah Smith, professor in ecology & evolutionary biology
Allison McKinnon, Tigers and Assimilation: Looking at the Relationship between Human Capital, Authoritarian Regimes, and Economic Growth, mentored by John Kennedy, associate professor in global & international studies
Micah Melia, Racial, Socioeconomic, and Institutional Factors in the Disproportionate Representation of Low Income Minority Students in Stigmatized Mild Disability Categories, mentored by Argun Saatcioglu, associate professor in educational leadership & policy studies
David Szczucinski, Can We Dump Smarter? An Examination of Receptacle Design on Post-consumer Compost Contamination Rates, mentored by Derek Reed, assistant professor in applied behavioral science
Betsy Tampke, ¿Se Comportan de Manera tan Extraña?: Examining the Speech-to-Song Illusion in Spanish, mentored by Michael Vitevitch, professor in psychology
Dory Tuininga, From Dred Scott to Mike Brown: How Systemic Racism Continues to Function in the St Louis Area, mentored by Margaret Pearce, associate professor in geography
Kayla Wilson, The Role of Fasciclin III (Fas3) in Drosophila melanogaster Septate Junction Organization and Function, mentored by Rob Ward, associate professor in molecular biosciences.