The University Libraries, Honors College and Division of Research and Innovation are pleased to announce the winners in each of the Undergraduate Research Week Poster Competition categories.
Undergraduate students from all disciplines were invited to submit research abstracts for the U of A’s poster competition in celebration of National Undergraduate Research Week April 19-23. Prizes of $100, $75 and $50 were awarded to the top three winners in each category, respectively. All presentations and posters can be viewed online.
Agriculture, Arts and Design, and Business
First Place: Ethan Collins, Honors College Fellow
Major: Environmental, Soil, and Water Science and Poultry Science
Mentor: Samuel Rochell
Presentation: Influence of Encapsulation of Supplemental Amino Acids on their Utilization in Broilers
“The experiences provided by my undergraduate Honors research have been invaluable. I have learned the intricacies of conducting an experimental trial, laboratory analysis, and data statistics. I feel very prepared to move forward into graduate-level research!”
Second Place: Elle Rottman, Honors Student
Major: Animal Science and Spanish
Mentor: Lauren Thomas
Presentation: Efficacy of Low-Level Laser Therapy Compared to Carprofen in Reducing the Effects of Osteoarthritis in Dogs
“I am honored to have been able to work alongside such amazing professors and veterinarians to complete this project. I hope to implement what I have learned in the future as a veterinarian. Additionally, I am very interested in rehabilitation, and I hope to expand my research on laser therapy and the different ways it can be used in practice.”
Third Place: Alexis Campbell, Honors Student
Major: Journalism
Mentor: Jee Young Chung
Presentation: Alcohol Advertisements on Social Media: A study of how alcohol advertisements on social media platforms appeal to young people
“This experience made me even more passionate about my field and sparked my interest in research as a whole. I know that this experience will help me tremendously both in graduate school and my future career.”
Education and Health
First Place: Jillian Prince, Honors Student
Major: Kinesiology
Mentor: Kaitlin Gallagher
Presentation: The Effects of Interventions on the Physical and Mental Health of Undergraduate Engineering Students in North America
“This experience has given me a lot of insight on the struggles that many undergraduate students face in terms of mental and physical health. This has highlighted the importance of my future career in Physical Therapy and I hope to guide my patients to a healthier and more sustainable life.”
Second Place: Ashley Berghoff, Honors Student
Major: Human Development and Family Sciences
Mentor: Amanda Terrell
Presentation: Parental Autonomy-Granting and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents with Chronic Conditions
“I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to do undergraduate research at the University of Arkansas. Presenting my own research has felt really rewarding, and is great practice for my future as a graduate student next year. My goal is to be a professor, so it was valuable for me to perform this research from the beginning steps all the way to presenting it to my mentors and peers.”
Third Place: Haley Stanton, Animal Science, and Kayla Simon, Public Health, Honors Students
Mentor: Samantha Robinson
Presentation: Analyzing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment in Healthcare Using Structural Change
“This experience has provided me with a great foundation of what presenting research looks like and has inspired me to continue research in my undergraduate years,” said Stanton. “It also helped me learn the connections between my field of pre-veterinary medicine and the broader public health.”
“I have enjoyed my experiences presenting at the Arkansas Bioinformatics Consortium this year and last,” said Simon. “It has been a great opportunity to network with other researchers in the state. I have learned a lot from this project and can use this experience to stay inspired in the future.”
Engineering
First Place: Katherine Miranda Munoz
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Mentor: Jorge Almodova
Presentation: Design, characterization, and modeling of a chitosan microneedle patch for transdermal delivery of meloxicam as a pain management strategy for use in cattle
“The research experience during the past 2 years was the result of a lot of learning and opportunities. Thanks to this, I have learned many skills such as presenting and focusing my mind to develop projects awakening my interest and passion for research. This research experience has led me to my next step in my academic life with the admission, that I recently accepted, for doctoral studies in the Biomedical department of our University of Arkansas.
Once again thanks to Dr. Jorge Almodovar and his recently graduated student Dr. David Castilla-Casadiego, who instructed, guided, and inspired me throughout the research journey of the different projects that we have developed at the Almodovar’s Lab.”
Second Place: Kayla Wood, Honors Student
Major: Biology
Mentor: Morten Jensen
Presentation: Stroke prevention through blood clot removal devices: designing model blood clots
“I never thought when I started my research two years ago that I would end up submitting my work to be published or that I would be recognized in a competition in a division outside of my field of study. The time I have spent with the Biomedical Engineering Department has prepared me for my future in ways I cannot begin to describe, and I am forever grateful.”
Third Place: Kristen Trinh, Honors Student
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Mentor: Ben Runkle
Presentation: Estimating Irrigation in Rice Fields with a Water Balance Approach
“This research has given me the opportunity to explore my interests all while preparing me with a number of skills I know I will use as I continue on to my future endeavors. The experiences I had in this lab have been invaluable to my personal development, and I am excited to see where I can take this in the future.”
Humanities
First Place: Madison Whipple, Honors Student
Major: History
Mentor: Louise Hancox
Presentation: We, Too, Have Deeds of Heroism to Tell Our Children: The Role of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in the Confederate Lost Cause in Fayetteville, Arkansas
“I am so grateful to have been a part of this research project and this competition. It has given me insight into what exactly presenting my work looks like, and how I can present it in different ways in my future career.”
Second Place: Addison Mahaffey, Honors Student
Major: English and Creative Writing
Mentor: Lisa Corrigan
Presentation: Respectability, Rhetoric, and Resistance: White Segregationist Women and the Little Rock Central High Crisis
“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to expand and develop my research skills through doing this project. These skills will serve me well in my future academic pursuits and in graduate school.”
Third Place: Elijah Conley, Honors Student
Majors: Journalism and Political Science
Mentor: Lucy Brown
Presentation: “Separate But Equal”: A Content Analysis of the Portrayal of the Integration of Little Rock Central High School in the Press
“Completing my undergraduate research has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences of my undergraduate career.”
Natural Science
First Place: Ashley Lieber, Physics, and Logan Siems, Physics, Honors Students
Mentor: Julia Kennefick
Presentation: Observations and Classification of the Variable Star V1719 Cygnus
“As a physics major with aspirations to attend graduate school and work in research, presenting research in a concise and easily digestible way is a crucial skill. This competition provided me with a great opportunity to practice my skills in presenting my research and has bolstered my confidence to pursue more conferences and opportunities to share my research! Since education and teaching are a critical part of the degree I am pursuing here, this poster competition allowed me to see different ways that research can be presented to students in an effective way. Additionally, I am very grateful that we were able to participate in this event even amid the pandemic.”
“It was great to be able to participate in this virtual poster competition,” said Siems. “I plan on teaching high school physics in the future, and hope that experiences such as these will help me be able to guide students through their own experiences with research.”
Second Place: Grace Roberts, Bodenhamer Fellow
Major: Biology and Anthropology
Mentor: Peter Ungar
Presentation: Evaluating Population-Level Differences in Dental Morphology and Wear Patterns Between Genetically Distinct Human Samples
“Participating in this competition offered a perfect opportunity for me to better contextualize my research within my areas of study, brainstorm its implications for public health decision-making, and prepare to draft compelling publications on my study in the near future.”
Third Place: Amanda Tomanek, Honors Student
Major: Biochemistry
Mentor: Colin Heyes
Presentation: Investigation of the Binding Domain Interfaces of the C-terminus of the Albino3 Insertase and the 43kDa Chloroplast Signal Recognition Particle Subunit via Single Molecule
“I want to begin by thanking my research mentors Dr. Dustin Baucom and Dr. Colin Heyes for their continued support on this project. This opportunity allowed me to better my presentation skills to prepare for presentations in my future career as well as my thesis defense. I am grateful for the continued opportunities such as this competition that challenge me and my project.”
Social Science I
First Place: Lucas Bellaiche, Sturgis Fellow
Major: Psychology and Mathematics
Mentor: Darya Zabelina
Presentation: Electrophysiological Differences when Viewing Artistic versus Computer-Generated Fractal Images
“I am honored that the research my fellow lab members and I carried out has been recognized by the Office of Undergraduate Research to be as important as I personally believe it to be. Among all of the fascinating work being done across Social Science departments, this prize truly signifies a lot to me, and I am very grateful. In this project, we studied the perception of Jackson Pollock paintings and its neural correlates, bringing in mathematical and physical concepts of fractals within Pollock’s paintings. This research was especially important to me in that it inspired me to pursue neuroscience (in particular, interdisciplinary work that investigates art perception) in graduate school: next year I will be attending Duke University to obtain my PhD in this domain. With the recognition of this award, along with the presentation skills it helped me shape within this virtual environment, I feel more confident than ever to tackle the numerous research questions that lie in this novel field.”
Second Place: Amy Hendricks, Honors College Fellow
Major: Psychology
Mentor: Lauren Quetsch
Presentation: Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Latinx and non-Latinx families: A Comparison of Barriers, Treatment Attitudes, and Behavioral Outcomes
“Participating in undergraduate research, specifically the undergraduate research poster competition, really helped me understand what research is and how to conduct it. I am so thankful for the opportunity to study my topic in-depth and add knowledge to the field. I hope it will have real-world impacts.”
Third Place: Jihan Rashed, Honors Student
Major: Psychology
Mentor: James Lampinen
Presentation: The Influences of Attention, Expectations, and Memory Decay on the Sighting Rates of Missing Persons
“Thank you so much for this award. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to share my research with our incredible University of Arkansas faculty and other hard-working students whose presentations have made me appreciate how energizing it is to share and support one another’s research. This experience has affirmed for me how important and fascinating research is, and it will continue to inspire me as I work toward a future career in the field of psychology.”
Social Science II
First Place: Mandeep Kaur, Honors College Fellow
Major: Biochemistry, Anthropology and Spanish
Mentor: Amelia Villaseñor
Presentation: Exploring the correlation between carbon and oxygen isotopes to reconstruct Pliocene northern Kenyan environments: Implications for hominin evolution
“In general, research helps me build my ability to think creatively. However, what I have gained from this experience is the ability to present my research in a clear and efficient manner that is comprehendible with little background knowledge. In the future, I plan on going to medical school, and as a doctor, it is essential that you can boil down something complicated into something your patient can easily understand.”
Second Place: Morgan Browning, Honors Student
Major: Social Work
Mentor: Kimberly Stauss
Presentation: A Multi-Method Approach to Increasing the Recognition and Knowledge of White Privilege Among College Students: A Mixed Methods Research Study
“This experience has allowed me to further understand my own white privilege and work towards racial equality and justice while also teaching and promoting these important concepts to others on campus. I will be able to use this knowledge to implement culturally competent and anti-racism endeavors throughout my future social work career.”
Third Place: Ashlyn Barton, Anthropology, and Owen Knox, Anthropology, Honors Students
Mentor: Claire Terhune
Presentation: Analysis of inter- and intraobserver error when scoring tooth wear in the Cayo Santiago macaques
“I am very honored to have had the opportunity to work with Dr. Terhune, Ashly Romero, and Owen Knox the past few semesters to create and present this information. The skills I have learned and the time and effort we have put into this small project has made me reevaluate what I want to do in the future and what steps I must take to get there. I know the skills and pride I have gotten from this research will motivate me to push myself at the University and in the future in medical school.”
“This experience has allowed me to gain more knowledge and understanding of the research and presentation process,” said Knox. “With this I’m now better equipped for future research in school and in my career.”