Wooster’s Senior Research Symposium returns in person for Class of 2022

The College of Wooster welcomed back its annual in-person Senior Research Symposium on Friday, April 29, as students from the College presented their Independent Study projects with a poster session, live presentations, and demonstrations on campus, and virtually on the College’s website.

The symposium featured 179 posters displayed on the indoor track of the Scot Center, 141 virtual projects on Wooster.edu, and more than 50 live presentations and demonstrations in four locations on campus, including gallery talks at The College of Wooster Art Museum.

The online presentations garnered more than 61,000 page views as students presented their work virtually, giving the audience a chance to comment on each project page and giving students the opportunity to share responses regarding their research. In total, the projects received nearly 700 comments from a worldwide audience.

Established in 2008, the symposium was designed to give students a special forum to share their journeys through Independent Study, Wooster’s renowned senior capstone experience. This rigorous project gives each student, not just those in an honors program, an opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty mentor to conceive, organize, and complete a significant research project on a topic of the student’s own choosing. The process has proven to develop a wide range of skills, from independent judgement and analytical ability to project-management and time-management skills, as well as strong written and oral communication skills, all highly valued by employers and graduate schools.

While so many of the projects were outstanding, the following received awards from a panel of judges made up of faculty and staff at the College.

Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Awards:

• Hannah Nguyen (Communication Studies, advised by Dr. Denise Bostdorff) Not Liberating Women Means the Building of a Socialist Society is Only Half-Way Done”: A Feminist Analysis of Ho Chi Minh’s Advocacy for the First Law on Marriage and Family in 1959 Vietnam
• Annays Yacamán (Political Science: US National Politics, advised by Dr. Avi Muñoz) Still Awaiting Justice: An Analysis on the Impact of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment on the Reproductive Autonomy of Migrant Women (in-person oral presentation)
• Eraj Sikandar (Economics, advised by Dr. Melanie Long) The Impacts of Diversity and Inclusion Policies on Business Performance (in-person poster presentation)

Dr. Melissa Schultz Sustainability and the Environment Awards:

• Riya Joshi (Chemistry, advised by Dr. Jennifer Faust) Multiphase Oxidation of Squalene and Diphenylamine in the Presence of Ozone Gas by Using ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy (in person oral presentation)
• Lia McGrath Kahan (Environmental Studies, advised by Drs. Iemanja Brown and Carlo Moreno) Deep Roots in Eroding Soil: Building Decolonial Resilience Amidst Climate Violence and Displacement in a Louisiana Bayou Indigenous Community
• Becky LaRue (Political Science, advised by Dr. Bas Van Doorn) From the Parks to the Polls: National Parks, Place Attachment, and Environmental Voting Behavior

Critical Digital Engagement Awards:

• Benton Thompson IV (Archaeology, advised by Dr. Siavash Samei) A Digital Solution to Partage: A Case Study of the College of Wooster’s Pella Collection (see a demo here)
• Bang Nguyen (Computer Science, advised by Dr. Kowshik Bhowmik) Queering NLP: A Non-Heteronormative Approach to Quantifying and Investigating Sentiment Bias against LGBTQ+ Identities in Word Embeddings
• Margaret Jagger (Computer Science & Music, advised by Drs. Drew Guarnera & Sofia Visa) Developing a Virtual Modular Synthesizer for Sound Waves and MIDI (see a demo here)

These are a few of the others that caught the 25 judges’ eyes:

• Most Engaging Narrated PowerPoint: Meghan Wright (Biology, advised by Dr. Laura Sirot) Seminal Fluid Adipokinetic Hormone Influence on Remating Behaviors of Female Ae. aegypti
• Best Explained Technical Project: Justine Paul Berina (Geology, advised by Drs. Mark Wilson & Greg Wiles), Unearthing the Effects of European-American Settlement on a Northeast Ohio Kettle Lake through Diatom Stratigraphy
• Most Visually Appealing Poster: Kylie E. Keller(Biochemical & Molecular Biology, advised by Dr. Marie Southerland) The Influence of Silver (I) Carboxylate Ligand Structure on Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Most Inventive Title: Audrey Holder (Anthropology, advised by Dr. Seiko Matsuzawa) Meat Your Vegetables: An Exploration into Food Sustainability on a Small Liberal Arts Campus
• Most Innovative Podcast: Cecelia Bagnoli (Communication Studies & Environmental Studies, advised by Drs. Oscar Mejía & Dr. Denise Bostdorff) Women of Appalachia: Common Ground, Different Matriarch
• Most Visually Stunning: Catie Rogan (Studio Art, advised by Dr. Bridget Murphy Milligan) Botanical Reverie: Radical Transcendentalism Grown from Water, Ancestry, and Light
• Most Timely: Shankar A. Bhat (Political Science, advised by Dr. Michele Leiby) Healthy Democracy, Healthy Citizens: Examining How the Quality Of Democracy Impacted the Public Health Responses In South Africa’s HIV/AIDS Epidemic
• Best Reading of an Original Work: Zoe Dudack (English, advised by Drs. Kate Beutner & Christopher Kang) Little Boxes: A Gothic Horror Novella
• Best Blend of Art & Science: Megan E. Zins (Chemistry, advised by Sarah Sobeck & Lilliana Morris) The Fading of Intention: Photodegradation Studies of Carmine Colorants and Their Implications in Art Conservation
• Best Incorporation of Study Abroad Experience: Megan Tuennerman (Sociology & Environmental Studies, advised by Dr. Heather Fitz Gibbon) Puffins, the Charismatic Clowns of the Sea: Examining the Relationship Between Community Identity and the Social Construction of Animals
• Best Focus on Accessibility: Griffin Carnett (Studio Art & Education, advised by Drs. Daren Kendall & Gretchen Tefs) Tactilely Tubular Passageways: An Exploration of Accessible Play Spaces
• Best All-Around Presentation: Shelby Jones (Anthropology, advised by Dr. Siavash Samei) PaleoliTHICC: Understanding the Woman of Willendorf using contemporary fat studies

Posted in News on May 2, 2022.