New category and double winner highlight research symposium

The inaugural Dean’s Choice Awards were among the highlights at the 26th annual Student Research and Creative Endeavor Symposium held Friday on the Skybridge. Sixty-five students participating individually or as part of a group presented their projects during the day-long event, with hundreds of fellow students, faculty, staff, and interested parties studying a gallery of posters representing their collective passion for research.

“The idea for the Dean's Choice Awards arose after the planning committee identified an opportunity to better incorporate campus leaders in the symposium in an effort to spotlight research across colleges and increase participation in future symposia,” said planning committee member Alexis Murrell, assistant librarian. “Many of our deans have avidly supported our event over the years, and with the introduction of the Dean's Choice Award, they now have the chance to not only recognize the exceptional research of students within their disciplines, but also utilize their position to inspire participation.”

Murrell said the new awards have given faculty and students a greater level of engagement and enthusiasm for the event.

In the undergraduate division, first place was awarded to senior psychology majors Taylor Norman and Brayden Langdon for their work “Prenatal Ethanol Exposure Does Not Influence DRL Performance.” They were sponsored by Department of Psychology professor Amy Perkins.

Second place was given to senior psychology major Haley Crouch for her project “The Consequences of Emotions and Limited Working Memory on Gambling.” She was sponsored by Michael Bendele of the psychology department.

Amirhossein Mokhtarpour, a sophomore electrical engineering major, received third place for “Design and Implementation Process of a Binary Clock.” The project was sponsored by Bin Chen of the electrical and computer engineering department.

The overall winners in the graduate division were paced by Jacob Bushur of the computer engineering department for “Hardware/Software Co-Design for Keyword Spotting on Edge Devices.” The project was sponsored by Choa Chen of the electrical and computer engineering department.

Venkateshwar Rao Madasu, a computer science student, was awarded second place for “Medical Expert System as a Chatbot for Diagnosis of Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents.” Mohammadreza Hajiarbabi of the Department of Computer Science sponsored the project.

Third place was awarded to special education graduate student Amy Graff for “Investigation of Research-based Communication Strategies for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in an Early Childhood Setting.” Her work was sponsored by Jeong-il Cho of the counseling and graduate education department.

The Dean’s Choice Award part of the competition produced the first double winner, as Bushur’s computer engineering project was also honored by the College of Engineering, Technology and Computer Science.

Anthropology senior Rob Stone was honored by the College of Liberal Arts for his project “Irishtown a Neighborhood Reborn.” It was sponsored by Noor Borbieva of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology.

Rashmika Gunda, a biology student, received the College of Science award for “Effect of Carbon Nanomaterials on Oxidative Damage of Lipids and Proteins and Efflux Pump Activity in Mycobacterium smegmatis.” The project was sponsored by Jaiyanth Daniel from the Department of Biological Sciences.

Senior theatre major Stephanie Spotts won the College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean’s Choice Award for her work on “Eleemosynary: I Fly with Costume Design.” Austin Rausch of the Department of Theatre was the sponsoring faculty member.

Special education graduate student Kailey Robinson was honored by the School of Education for her “Teachers’ Opinions on Habits of Mind for High School Students with Disabilities” research. Her work was sponsored by Jeong-il Cho of the counseling and graduate education department.