On Friday, Mar. 26, the Office of Research and Creative Scholarship hosted the Undergraduate Research and Honors Scholar Poster Symposium. This informational session allowed presenters and attendees to learn more about the research projects their peers have participated in. The J. N. Andrews Honors scholars had pre-recorded their presentations at the J. N. Andrews Honors Poster Symposium, while the undergraduate research award scholars presented their work in real-time via Zoom. Through a link, virtual session attendees were able to choose from an array of topics and sign up for presentations that piqued their interest. Links categorized students' research endeavors by color to indicate their respective departments and schools. The links for each student’s research provided the presenters’ abstracts, an online version of their poster, and a recording of their presentation.
Emma Tennyson (senior, psychology) was an Honors Scholar Symposium presenter who represented the Department of Biology. Her presentation was entitled, “Enamel Corrosion Levels on Squirrel Teeth from the Fox Canyon Locality, Pliocene of Kansas.” Dr. Tom Goodwin was her faculty advisor who provided ample support during this research journey. For her research, she arranged the enamel corrosion of squirrel teeth into various category groups to determine if there was statistical significance among the distribution of corrosion categories. Concerning how her faculty advisor assisted her during this process, she remarked, “We meet weekly to inspect my research progress and to confirm that we had a good timeline for everything.”
Nathaly Manrique (senior, Spanish, biology) was an undergraduate research scholar award recipient and an Honors Scholar Symposium presenter. She also represented the Department of Biology. Her research presentation was entitled, “Modulation of apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells MDA-MB-157, 93A and 93B by Aqueous Extract of Chinese Medical Herb Scutellaria barbata.” Her study investigates the modulation effect that Scutellaria barbata has on breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-157 and its APC mutants 93A, and 93B. Concerning her involvement with research at Andrews, she shared, “I’ve been involved with the photochemical and chemoprevention research in the Department of Biology since junior year. Presenting my data was a rewarding experience because I was able to showcase my work, as well as progress that has been made in the laboratory.”
Lily Burke (sophomore, English, anthropology) was another Undergraduate Research Scholar Award scholarship recipient and represented the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Her presentation was entitled, “Emergence of entrepreneurship in Transjordan during the late Ottoman empire.” She was assisted throughout this process by her faculty advisor, Dr. Øystein LaBianca. Her research analyzed how entrepreneurship emerged in Transjordan during the late Ottoman period. Her project was a case study on early globalization through the spread of capitalism. She shared some advice for future student researchers. “Have a really solid methodology. Once you’ve got your methodology, you have a guide for your efforts and can focus on presenting your results coherently,” she said.
After each presenter unveiled their findings, virtual attendees had a designated moment to converse with the presenter, asking thought-provoking questions or providing constructive feedback on their research. Students interested in becoming involved in the next Undergraduate Research and Honors Scholar Symposium should contact a faculty advisor and ask to apply for an Undergraduate Research Scholar Award for summer 2021 or fall 2021 as soon as possible.
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