COS Shines at Student Research Week

Student Research Week celebrates the research and creative projects of UCF undergraduate and graduate students. From April 4 through April 7, graduate and undergraduate students attended workshops, presented research, developed research skills, and met with researchers.

On April 5 and April 7, students from all disciplines, shared their research with the UCF community at the annual Graduate Research Forum and the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE). Student were encouraged to present current or recently completed academic projects showcasing the diversity of topics, approaches, and interests at UCF.

The presenters received faculty feedback, competed for cash awards in multiple categories and shared their research and creative projects to the broader university community.

The annual Graduate Research Forum, hosted by the College of Graduate Studies, and SURE, hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research, demonstrate to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the greater Central Florida community that student research enriches the UCF experience.

First place winners in the Graduate Research Forum were invited to present at the Statewide Graduate Student Research Symposium on April 22, 2016 at the University of Florida. At this event top graduate students, selected from ten universities in Florida, competed for awards on the state level. Anthropology master’s student Abigail Woltering won first place at the symposium for the Life Sciences category. Abigail is set to defend her thesis in May, 2016.

The College of Sciences had a wonderful showing in the Graduate Research Forum and SURE, with 17 students receiving awards and many honorable mentions:

Graduate Research Forum:

Mathematics, Optics and Physical Sciences:

• First Place Doctoral: Zeinab Sanjabieznaveh, Physics, Few Mode Multicore Photonic Lantern Mode Multiplexer
  • Mentor: Rodrigo Amezcua Correa, Ph.D.

Social Sciences:

• Second Place Doctoral: Mallory McCord, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, An Alternative Model of Emotional Intelligence: Evidence of Traditional and Discrete Emotion Factors
  • Mentor/Co-Author: Dana Joseph, Ph.D.
• First Place Masters: Abigail Woltering, Anthropology, Biological Sex Determination from Trace element Analysis in Human Hair
  • Mentor/Co-Author: Tosha Dupras, Ph.D.
• Second Place Masters: Zorina Manoni, Anthropology, Living in the Kingdom of Bosnia (AD 1377-1463): A Study of Activity Patterns of Agro-pastoralists at Mistihalj
  • Mentor/Co-Author: J. Marla Toyne, Ph.D.

Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence:

Life Sciences I:

• First Place: Amanda Cox, Improving Sensitivity and Detection Limits of Deoxyribozyme 10-23 Binary Sensor by Using DNA Antenna Tile
  • Mentor: Dmitry Kolpashchikov, Ph.D.
• Second Place: Grace Avecilla, An Investigation of the Correlation Between Temperature, Cuticular Melanization, and Immune Function in the Asian Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina citri
  • Mentor: Ken Fedorka, Ph.D.

Life Sciences III:

• Second Place: Michelle Shaffer, Evaluating Black Mangrove, Avicennia germinans, Northern Range Expansion Impacts on Shoreline Bird Communities Along the Eastern Coast of Florida
  • Mentor: Richard Klemm, Ph.D.

Physical Sciences and Mathematics I:

• Second Place: Robert Bauer, Geodesics of the Projective Models for the Cayley-Klein Geometries of the Plane
  • Mentor: Costas Efthimiou, Ph.D.

Physical Sciences and Mathematics II:

• Second Place: Tyler Townsend, Exploration of the Temperature Dependence for Spin Pumping in a Superconducting Niobium Thin Film
  • Mentor: Enrique del Barco, Ph.D.

Social Sciences I:

• Second Place: Shirley Dorsainvil, Does Distance Matter?: Predictors of Infidelity and Jealousy in Geographically Close vs. Long-Distance Romantic Relationships
  • Mentor: Grace White, Ph.D.

Social Sciences II:

• First Place: Melissa Gomez, Stable Isotope Analysis of the Extracted Collagen from the Bahamian Hutia; Determining Role in Indigenous Agricultural Development
  • Mentor: Pete Sinelli, Ph.D., Lana Williams, Ph.D.
• Second Place: Tamar Nir, Hebrew and Computer-Mediated Communication: The Effects of a Linguistic Manipulation on Perception, Identity, and Preservation
  • Mentor: Valerie Sims, Ph.D.

Social Sciences III:

• First Place: Angel Sanchez, Can Independent Redistricting Commissions Lead Us Out of the Political Thicket?
  • Mentor: Barry Edwards, Ph.D.
• Second Place: Bethany Wedlund, Student Perceptions of Birth Mothers of Adopted Children
  • Mentor: Shannon Carter, Ph.D.

Peer Choice Recognition:

• Andrew Letter, Refining Camera Trap Identification of Bobcats
  • Mentor: Gregg Klowden, Ph.D. 

Audience Choice Recognition:

• Victoria Brodie, What Our Eyes Can’t See: Distribution of Microplastic Pollution Within Mosquito Lagoon and the Eastern Coast of Central Florida
  • Mentor: Linda Walters, Ph.D.
• Zachary Loeb, The Impact of Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds Found in Wastewater Effluent on the Embryonic Development of Oryzias latipes (Medaka fish)
  • Mentor: Donovan Dixon, Ph.D.

To view all the winners and honorable mentions from the Graduate Research Forum, click here.

To view all the winners and honorable mentions from the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence, click here.