Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference Showcases Next Generation of Researchers

ATLANTA — As a part of its inaugural campus-wide Undergraduate Research Week, the Georgia State University Honors College recently hosted its 18th annual Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference (GSURC).

GSURC is an interdisciplinary research conference highlighting the breadth of undergraduate research, scholarship and creative endeavors at Georgia State. The conference includes oral presentation sessions, research posters, films and artistic displays along with an Experiential Learning Expo where student attendees can learn more about opportunities to pursue research in their field.

Inclusive and interdisciplinary, GSURC aims to dispel the myth that research only happens in science-related fields. Students from various disciplines — including fine arts, humanities, business, social sciences and STEM fields — came together this year to present their research findings, fostering a cross-pollination of ideas and perspectives.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity at GSURC to present my social science findings, as often research is more focused on the strict sciences,” said senior Maymunah Stroud, whose research focuses on queer hip-hop diagrams.

Student Jeremiah Long’s research compiles and examines artificial-intelligence data to anticipate what the next generation will look like.

“GSURC allows researchers to get invaluable feedback on their work and use that feedback to hone their crafts,'' Long said.

Moreover, student involvement in GSURC is aimed at ensuring the next generation of scholars and leaders is equipped with the skills and knowledge to tackle complex challenges. And, as Honors College student Daniel Khosravinezha put it, GSURC "gives students the opportunity to gain valuable presenter skills that they can take with them to the workplace.”

Participants in GSURC also have the opportunity to win awards in their respective categories. Below, find the winners of each award along with the topic of their research.

— Story by Emily Johnson

ARTIST DISPLAYS

• First Place: (Dis)Unified Perspective/ Adam Sprague
  • Faculty Sponsor: Craig Drennen
• Second Place: Generation Gen: Artistic Processes to Envision Possible Futures Through Ethically Trained Artificial Intelligence/ Jeremiah Long
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Kevin Hsieh
• Third Place: Care-Taker/ Justin Abraham
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ruth Stanford

FILM PRESENTATIONS

• First Place: Souls In Software: Interpersonal Relationships in the Digital Age/ Natasha Reilly
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Robbie Land
• Second Place (tie):
  • A Slight Overreaction/ Alex Hay
    • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Robbie Land
  • Quarks/ Sam Barker
    • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Robbie Land

HONORS EXPERIENCE IN BUSINESS/ROBINSON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS COMPETITION SESSION

• First Place: Open AI in the Education System/ Harshini Kavalakuntla
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Edward Yihuai Wang
• Second Place: The Impact of Cybersecurity Breaches on Trust and Reputation and its Forgotten Effect on Minority-Owned Businesses and Environmentalist Effort/ Preston Cotton
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Edward Yihuai Wang
• Third Place: Ethnic Human Geography and Beauty Standards Across the United States/ Naiya Douglas
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Edward Yihuai Wang

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

• First Place, Applied Research and Entrepreneurship: Development of a Sustainable Mobile Fruit and Vegetable Distribution Program at GSU/ Valeria Alvarado
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Nida Shaikh
• Second Place, Applied Research and Entrepreneurship: Composing Rehabilitation: Innovating Music-Based Therapy for Stroke Recovery Through an In-Home Therapeutic Piano Training App/ Evan Szypulski
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Martin Norgaard

• First Place, Fine Arts and Humanities: Preserving the Memory of the African Ancestors: An Ethnography of Grupo Mantido Oculto Capoeira/ Liam Diaz-Williamson
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ras Michael Brown
• Second Place, Fine Arts and Humanities: The Asexual Venus: Queering Lesbian Poetry in ‘Spring’ from Michael Field’s Sight and Song/ Emma Barrett
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. LeeAnne Richardson

• First Place, Natural and Computational Sciences: A Simplified Mathematical Model for Cell Proliferation in a Tissue-Engineering Scaffold/ Amy Sims, Mona James, Sai Kunnatha, Haniyeh Fattahpour, Paul Joseph, Ashok Joseph
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Pejman Sanaei
• Second Place, Natural and Computational Sciences: Relationship Between Dietary Patterns and Angina Frequency in Women with Angina/ Vishrut Thaker
  • Faculty Sponsor: Rafaela Feresin

• First Place, Social and Behavioral Sciences and Provost Award Winner: Examining the Absence of Support Structures That Account for the Intersectionality of Neurodivergent Black Women’s Triple Marginalized Identity in Higher Education/ Songora Naomi Bazira
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Kathryn Crowther
• Second Place, Social and Behavioral Sciences: The Socioeconomic Health Divide: An In-Depth Analysis of the Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Health Trends in the United States (2019-2022)/ Hannah Ogidigben
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. James Marton

POSTER PRESENTATIONS:

• First Place, Applied Research and Entrepreneurship: Analyzing Tumor Microenvironment in Breast Cancer: Feature Extraction and Correlation in Racial Groups/ Ranjini Ghosh
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jun Kong
• Second Place, Applied Research and Entrepreneurship: Whole Slide Image Machine Learning for Tumor Microenvironment Characterization/ Xuyang Sun
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jun Kong

• First Place, Fine Arts and Humanities: Creating a Historical Ceramic Type Collection: A Case Study From the MARTA Archaeological Collection/ Cloe Ellington
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jeffrey Glover
• Second Place, Fine Arts and Humanities: Comparing the 2nd Industrial Revolution and Emerging AI/ Andrew Failma
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Matthew Sparacio

• First Place, Natural and Computational Sciences: Was the Vitamin C Synthesis Gene Active in Our Primate Ancestors Before it ‘Died’ and Became a Pseudogene ~70 Million Years Ago?/ Allison Lipstein and Hameed Sanusi
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Eric Gaucher
• Second Place, Natural and Computational Sciences: Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in Atlanta's Rivers and Streams/ Madison Gordon
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jessica Joyner

• First Place, Social and Behavioral Sciences and Provost Award: Optimizing and Testing a Smartphone App for Smoking Cessation Among U.S. Adults with Low Socioeconomic Status/ Puja Raol, Jaikanishka Nattamai Subramanian Rajkumar, Liamith Rao Joganpalli
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Claire Spears
• Second Place, Social and Behavioral Sciences: Investigating the Relation Between Financial Well-being and Attitudes Toward Digital Mental Health Treatment Among College Students/ Kylar Hibbert, Heather Quirk, Page Anderson
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Page Anderson

SPECIALTY AWARDS

Global Engagement Awards

• First Place: The Relationship Between Barriers to Psychological Treatment and Depression in a Spanish Speaking Sample/ Jennifer Perez, Madeline Rech, Page Anderson
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Page Anderson
• Second Place: "It's Just a Preference," The Psychology of Colorism and Its Applied Effects/ Kadiatou Cisse
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Laura Salazar

Identity and Belonging Awards

• A Comparative Analysis of the Campus Food Environment of an Urban Multi-Campus University in Southeast U.S./ Harita Yepuri, Sudip Agrahari, Nida I. Shaikh
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Nida I. Shaikh
• Understanding the Socio-Economic Determinants of Sleep Quality of Young Adults/ Sedi Ejuoneatse-Clarke
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Tricia King
• Religiosity and Attitudes Toward Online Psychological Interventions in South Asian College Students/ Touba Kamal, Madeline Rech, Ria Nagar, Page Anderson
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Page Anderson

Signature Experience Awards

• Dissecting Shh and Nkx2.1 Roles in Convict Cichlids’ Monogamous Behavior/ Arkar Zaw
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jonathan Sylvester
• Behavioral Responses of the Chilean Flamingo and the Blue-Throated Macaw to Cold Temperatures/ Haley Sapp
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Rachel Santymire
• SCATGC (Spatial Cued Assisted Temperature Gradient Chamber)/ Dominique Torres
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Sarah Glenn-Clark

Sustainability Awards

• Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in Atlanta's Rivers and Streams/ Madison Gordon
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jessica Joyner
• Variation in E. coli Contamination in the Gwinnett County Streams Before, During and After the COVID Pandemic/ Gabriele Griciute
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Anne-Pierre Goursaud
• Environmental Justice and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice Within U.S. NGOs/ Diana Harden
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Amy Spring
• Are Latinx Communities Vulnerable to Toxic Releases in Atlanta, Ga.?/ Aaron Pacheco
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Taylor Shelton
• Sustainability in the Fizz: An Analysis of Coca-Cola's Business Perspective and Sustainability Approach/ Isabella Rodriguez
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Yihuai Wang
• Messi in Miami: Unravelling the Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of a Football Icon's Transatlantic Journey/ Avishek Sengupta
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Yihuai Wang
• Toxicology and Pathohistology: Studying the Decline of the North Atlantic River Herring/ Josseirys Valentin Rivera
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Ann Petersen