51ĀŅĀ×

The 51ĀŅĀ× Student Research and Creative Activity Expo was once again virtual this year, and University Libraries was excited to give out six of its annual awards to outstanding student researchers, recognizing three graduate and three undergraduate students. The awards are supported by the . This year, students were able to participate via social media such as Twitter and Instagram, by uploading videos, or a combination of social media and video content. 

The first-place winner in the graduate category is Cassandra Thompson, is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Biological Sciences Department with a focus on ecology and evolutionary biology. For the Student Expo this year, Thompson created a three-minute video presentation, titled ā€œ,ā€ about her research on wood frogs.

ā€œBroadly, I study how different environmental stressors like climate change & chemical pollutantsā€™ impact amphibians at multiple life stages,ā€ she said. 

The second-place winner, Anika Gurrola, is a masterā€™s student in the environmental studies program. Her presentation was titled, ā€œ,ā€ and was about her thesis research. For Gurrolaā€™s research, she looked at streams that had been restored by being reconnected to a flood plain, which creates a complete, healthier ecosystem. 

The third-place winner in the graduate category was Prateek Kulkarni, a third year Ph.D. student who studies the effect of growth hormones on parts of cancer cells. He works with Dr. John Kopchick in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, and for this yearā€™s Expo, he created . 

In the undergraduate category, first place winner was Audrey Peters, a senior in the Honors Tutorial College, majoring in translational health, specializing in exercise physiology. For her honors thesis, Peters studied new therapies to integrate into working with children with autism.

ā€œWeā€™re looking at treatments that will help improve the quality of their lives. My focus is something called proprioception ā€“ thatā€™s the sense of your bodyā€™s location in space,ā€ she said. 

Petersā€™ presentation was titled ā€œAutism & Occupational Therapy: Effects of Proprioceptive Interventions on Behaviors in Children with Autism.ā€&²Ō²ś²õ±č;

ā€œWhen I saw that I won first place, I thought, ā€˜This canā€™t be real, how did I do that?ā€™ and it gave me some reassurance about what Iā€™m doing and made me feel excited that people recognize my work,ā€ she said.

Riley Corrigan, who is also majoring in translational health in the Honors Tutorial College, and Zoe Johanni, who studies exercise physiology in the School of Applied Health Sciences and Wellness, won second place in the undergraduate category. Their presentation was titled, ā€œ.ā€ Along with Dr. Cheryl Howe, they assessed potential changes in physical activity and behavior due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The third-place undergraduate winner was Alexis Lowe, a senior Honors Tutorial College student who studied why some people emerge as leaders and how effective these leaders are, specifically in college. Her presentation was titled ā€œ.ā€&²Ō²ś²õ±č;

University Libraries offers many students the resources and information they need to complete their research and to succeed in their studies. 

ā€œWe are very lucky at 51ĀŅĀ× to have many resources available to access the information and literature we need to complete our creative research projects,ā€ said Thompson.