ATLANTA—The 15th annual Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference highlighted 150 student research and creative projects in 35 academic disciplines.
The conference, known as GSURC, allows undergraduates of all majors and from all Georgia State and Perimeter campuses to showcase their work as scientific posters, oral presentations, artistic and film displays, and musical performances. Faculty judges evaluate and score each project to determine award winners based on presentation type and category.
This year, the virtual conference was held April 14 and 15 and included both pre-recorded and live segments. The conference also introduced two new award categories: Signature Experience and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
“We are so proud of our undergraduate researchers, who once again rose to the challenge of crafting high quality presentations,” said Amy Reber, Honors College Faculty Associate for GSURC and a senior lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology.
“We were thrilled to see such a high level of engagement during the live sessions,” she said, noting that GSURC 2021 was redesigned to provide more opportunities for real-time interactions in a virtual conference space. “The GSURC Faculty Advisory Board would like to thank all of the faculty judges, faculty sponsors and everyone who attended the conference for their continued support of undergraduate research at Georgia State.”
The winners of GSURC 2021 are:
Artistic Displays:
First Place: “Crown”
Markiesha Thornton
Studio Arts
Faculty Sponsor: Jill Frank
Second Place: “Unearth”
Tyler Brantley
Photography
Faculty Sponsor: Jill Frank
Third Place: “Women's PTSD Therapeutic Center”
Karhtat Wallace
Interior Design
Faculty Sponsor: Ryan Crooks
Films:
First Place: “Park Mobility Project”
James Ly & Carden Wycoff
Film & Media
Faculty Sponsor: Niklas Vollmer
Second Place (Tie): “Light, Life, and Death”
Paul Bourlet & Edmond Souter
Film & Media
Faculty Sponsor: Robbie Land
Jack Hettinger
Film & Media
Faculty Sponsor: Robbie Land
Musical Performances:
First Place (tie): “Gray Matter”
Anna Spiller
Music Composition
Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Ambrose
Virtual Oboe Lessons: “Musical Beginnings for Young Teachers and Students”
Brooke Owen
Music Education
Faculty Sponsor: Lara Dahl
Oral Presentations:
First place in Applied Research & Entrepreneurship: “How COVID-19 has Changed the Products on Dark Web Markets”
Jonathan Laurent
Computer Science
Faculty Sponsor: Marie Ouellet
Second place in Applied Research & Entrepreneurship: “The Artificial Wide Receiver: An Exploration in the Future of Athletic Training”
Bronson Tharpe
Computer Science
Faculty Sponsor: Anu Bourgeois, Ashwin Ashok
First place in Fine Arts & Humanities: “Two Accounts of Necessary Violence: Comparing Kling and Mitchell’s ‘Communicative Requirement’ and Pasternak’s ‘Only Means Available’”
Davis Homrich
Interdisciplinary Studies: Politics, Philosophy, and Economics
Faculty Sponsor: Andrew I. Cohen
Second place in Fine Arts & Humanities: “‘Off the Pigs'?: The Black Panther Party and Masculinity"
Chandani Desai
History
Faculty Sponsor: Joe Perry
First place in Natural & Computational Sciences: “White Matter Integrity Associated with Empathy: A DTI-based Study”
Neami Tedla
Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Tricia King
Second place in Natural & Computational Sciences: Impact of Psyllium Fiber on Murine Microbiota ex vivo
Larissa Neves
Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Andrew Gewirtz
First place in Social & Behavioral Sciences: “Reimagining Crisis as a Transformation of Contemporary Realities: A Focus on Southern Europe”
Sarah Mendes
Global Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Kathryn Kozaitis
Second place in Social & Behavioral Sciences: “The Inseparability of Butch/Femme Identity from the Erotic and the Political”
Ella Bardin
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Julie Kubala
Poster Presentations:
First place in Applied Research & Entrepreneurship: “Engagement Programming in Assisted Living Communities: Opportunities for Residents with Dementia”
Jasmine Sease
Biology (Gerontology)
Faculty Sponsor: Candace Kemp
Second place in Applied Research & Entrepreneurship: “Addressing Educational Inequities through Corporate Philanthropy”
Victoria Pommells, Maria Gregg, Nneoma Emeka
Actuarial Science
Faculty Sponsor: Steven Dionne
First place in Fine Arts & Humanities: “Ruanda-Urundi Colonial Perceptions”
Chinkuli Munkombwe, Dylan Henderson, Devyn Hidalgo, Nyah Carlson
Neuroscience
Faculty Sponsor: Jennie Burnet
Second place in Fine Arts & Humanities: “Exploring Collaborative Strategies to Improve Communication Between Undergraduate Students and their Non-Native English-Speaking Instructors"
Kobe Ashley & Sarah Pinard
Applied Linguistics & ESL
Faculty Sponsor: Stephanie Lindemann
First place in Natural & Computational Sciences: “Evaluation of polyphenolic and glucosinolate content as well as antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity of oven- and freeze-dried hydroponic- and soil-grown kale-derived extracts"
Alivia Setka, Rami Najjar, Maureen Meister
Nutrition Science
Faculty Sponsor: Rafaela Feresin
Second place in Natural & Computational Sciences: “Nitrite and Heme Proteins”
Lauren Ekeleme
Chemistry
Faculty Sponsor: Dabney Dixon
First place in Social & Behavioral Sciences: Monkey Math: “Discrimination of Proportions by Capuchin and Rhesus Monkeys”
Myah Vogt
Applied Linguistics, Spanish
Faculty Sponsor: Michael Beran
Second place in Social & Behavioral Sciences: “Reimagining Post Classic Teotihuacan Ceramics Through a Digital Lens”
Julisa Rojas
Anthropology
Faculty Sponsor: Jeffrey Glover
Provost’s Awards:
The highest awards presented at GSURC are the Provost Awards. These awards recognize the most outstanding poster presentation and the most outstanding oral presentation from across all categories.
Oral Presentation: “Reimagining Crisis as a Transformation of Contemporary Realities: A Focus on Southern Europe”
Sarah Mendes
Global Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Kathryn Kozaitis
Poster Presentation: “Monkey Math: Discrimination of Proportions by Capuchin and Rhesus Monkeys”
Myah Vogt
Applied Linguistics, Spanish
Faculty Sponsor: Michael Beran
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awards:
Sponsored by the Honors College Committee for the Advancement of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, this new award recognizes outstanding student projects from all disciplines that engage in research endeavors that advance our understanding of practices that improve diversity, inclusion and equity; enhance our understanding of factors that influence the experiences and outcomes of members of underrepresented groups; or attend to issues of inequity with a focus on raising awareness or intervening to reduce inequity.
“Media Coverage of Undocumented Latino Immigrants: Effects on Immigration Policy and Attitudes in relation to Undocumented Youth”
Stefany Alvarado
Journalism
Faculty Sponsor: Ann Williams
Kobe Ashley & Sarah Pinard
Applied Linguistics & ESL
Faculty Sponsor: Stephanie Lindemann
“Get Your Head Out of the Clouds!: Exploring the Legitimacy of Utopia in Black Speculative Fiction”
Daria Dozier
Theater & Spanish
Faculty Sponsor: Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste
Jay Haden
Textiles
Faculty Sponsor: Jess Jones
“Respectability Politics Among Black American Girls in Various Contexts”
A’zure Latimer
Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Ciara Glover
“Ruanda-Urundi Colonial Perceptions"
Chinkuli Munkombwe, Dylan Henderson, Devyn Hidalgo, Nyah Carlson
Neuroscience
Faculty Sponsor: Jennie Burnet
Markiesha Thornton
Studio Arts
Faculty Sponsor: Jill Frank
“Negative Attributional Style and Depression in Black and White Children”
Constance Wilson & Arden Cooper
Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Erin Tully
Global Engagement Awards:
Sponsored by the Office of International Initiatives, this award recognizes outstanding student projects from across all disciplines that address global or international issues.
First Place: Ishiguro’s Metaphor of the Butler and Understanding Brexit
Fletcher Varnson
English Literature
Faculty Sponsor: Randy Malamud
Second Place: Reimagining Crisis as a Transformation of Contemporary Realities: A Focus on Southern Europe
Sarah Mendes
Global Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Kathryn Kozaitis
Third Place: Syn-biodinium: genetic modification utilizing codon optimized vector for the symbiotic S. microadriaticum
Kennex Lam, Jimena Castillo, Malik Gitau, Devadutta Balaji, Wanjun Luo, Jessica Dee
Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Matthew Brewer
Outstanding Climate Project Awards:
Sponsored by the Georgia State University Climate Project, this award recognizes an outstanding student project from any discipline that is related to the study of past, present or future climate, related phenomena of the natural world, and all aspects of humanity's relationship to climate at personal, local or global scales.
Winner: “Syn-biodinium: Genetic Modification Utilizing Codon Optimized Vector for the Symbiotic S. microadriaticum”
Kennex Lam, Jimena Castillo, Malik Gitau, Devadutta Balaji, Wanjun Luo, Jessica Dee
Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Matthew Brewer
Honorable Mention: “Refuge”
Jaclynn Lollar
Art Education
Faculty Sponsor: Kevin Hsieh
Signature Experience Awards:
This new award, sponsored by the Office of Student Success, recognizes outstanding student projects resulting from participation in a Signature Experience course at Georgia State.
Oral Presentations
“Respectability Politics Among Black American Girls in Various Contexts”
A’zure Latimer
Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Ciara Glover
Type of Signature Experience: Honors Thesis
Inducing Cell Death on Crithidia fasciculata Using Short Wavelength UV Light
Merna Ibrahim
Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Ulrich
Type of Signature Experience: CURE (Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience)
“'Off the Pigs'?: The Black Panther Party and Masculinity”
Chandani Desai
History
Faculty Sponsor: Joe Perry
Type of Signature Experience: Senior Capstone Course
Poster Presentations
Amanda Pregibon
Anthropology
Faculty Sponsor: Frank Williams
Type of Signature Experience: Honors Thesis
“Cortisol Coregulation in the Monogamous Convict Cichlid, Amatitlania nigrofasciata”
Nafisa Nawal, Cassidy Hua, Madison Tritt, Jordan Ellison
Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Edmund Rodgers
Type of Signature Experience: CURE (Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience)
Kobe Ashley & Sarah Pinard
Applied Linguistics & ESL
Faculty Sponsor: Stephanie Lindemann
Type of Signature Experience: Internship
Sustainability Awards:
Sponsored by Sustainability Initiatives, this award recognizes outstanding student projects from across all disciplines that incorporate environmental protection, sustainability, or conservation.
“Impacts of Beaver Dam Analogs on Total Suspended Solids in a Highly Incised Urban Stream Channel”
Donata Borsos
Geosciences
Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Ledford
“Rebuilding the Coral Reefs Through Synthetic Biology: A Review of Current Methods and Future Implications”
Chiara Brust, Yilin Lu, Asma Khimani
Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Matthew Brewer
Kinley Davis
Fine Arts | Textiles
Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Jones
“Refuge”
Jaclynn Lollar
Art Education
Faculty Sponsor: Kevin Hsieh
James Ly & Carden Wycoff
Film & Media
Faculty Sponsor: Niklas Vollmer
“Comparing Biodiversity of Land snails and Slugs Across Cities in Georgia”
Megan Rich, Susan Smith, Jann Vendetti
Geosciences
Faculty Sponsor: Christy Visaggi
“The Role of Judeo-Christian Values on Environmental Behaviors in the United States”
Alice Riviere
Religious Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Molly Bassett
Faculty Awards:
The conference also awarded three, full-time Georgia State faculty for their commitment to mentoring and supporting undergraduate students in their research and scholarship endeavors.
Ashwin Ashok, assistant professor of computer science, Faculty Award for Undergraduate Project or Laboratory-Based Research.
Since joining Georgia State in 2016, Dr. Ashok has mentored 37 undergraduate students, several of whom were international students. His mentorship has resulted in students attending graduate school, finding careers in the competitive computer science field and publishing and presenting their research. Twenty of his students have presented at GSURC.
Ashok also has secured funding from the National Science Foundation through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program to give students the opportunity to participate directly in his research project involving visible light communication.
Andrew I. Cohen, associate professor of philosophy, received the Faculty Award for Undergraduate Research in the Fine Arts or Humanities.
During his time at Georgia State so far, Cohen has mentored 34 undergraduate students, 13 of whom have presented their research at GSURC. He also has sponsored five honors theses.
The nominating letter from one of Cohen’s students highlights his dedication as a mentor and his commitment to student success. Since 2010, Cohen has coached the GSU Ethics Bowl team, helping students build critical thinking, communication and leadership skills.
Kevin Hsieh, associate professor of art education, received the Faculty Award for Fine Arts Education and Mentored Research.
Hsieh has been instrumental in the inclusion of artistic displays in GSURC and preparing students for their displays through workshops and personal advice. More than 205 students from the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design have exhibited their creative research projects at GSURC over the past 11 years.
As noted by College of the Arts Dean Wade Weast in a letter of recommendation for the award, Hsieh’s “continuous advocacy for undergraduate research and the importance of it in the College of the Arts, where it regularly takes the form of creative activity, is noteworthy.”
Each award is valued at $300 and winners were selected by a committee of faculty from the GSURC Faculty Advisory Board.