Contact:
Jeremy Craig, 404-413-1357
University Relations
ATLANTA — Georgia State University undergraduate Nicole Dingels was one of seven teams of winning students who garnered top prizes at the 2011 GSU Undergraduate Research Conference.
“It definitely takes a lot of dedication, and we spent long hours not only in the lab but also outside of it,” Dingels said. “You always have to have it on your mind, just so that you can be moving forward with it.”
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| Georgia State Undergraduate Research Conference Winners: Top row from left: Nicole Dingels, Thomas Polstra, Kamica Ross and Isaac Boring. Bottom row from left: Pattie Acevedo, Alexis Kelley and Eva Jones. |
Nearly 150 undergraduates from across 25 university departments came together to present their research and artistic work.
“The reason that undergraduate research is so important to us is that as a research university, it is the culmination of the combination of teaching, work with undergraduate students, and scholarly and creative work, which is what we are all about,” Provost Risa Palm said.
“I truly believe that students learn most, and learn best, when they are actively involved in creating the work that we then publish and that we then use as the basis for our scholarly work,” she added.
The winners included:
• 1st place poster presentation and Provost’s Award: Nicole Dingels, nutrition
• 1st place oral presentation: Gretchen Lawhorn, art history
• 1st place artistic presentation: Pattie Acevedo and Blacki Li Miglozzi, graphic design
• 2nd place poster presentation: Thomas Polstra, mathematics
• 2nd place oral presentation: Tyler Theus, communication
• 3rd place poster presentation: Eva Jones, Alexis Kelley, Andrew Matey, Chinwe Ohanu, Eleanor Carr, Joanna Farah, Kamica Ross, Obiannauju Nduka and Renee Johnson; nursing
• 3rd place oral presentation: Isaac Boring, economics
The process of completing research is not only beneficial to the student, but also beneficial to the sponsoring faculty member or graduate mentor, said Tim Bartness, Regents’ Professor of biology, who was also honored with the University Faculty Award for Undergraduate Research.
“They work really hard, and get really turned on to science,” said Bartness, an obesity researcher whose students have gone on to pursue science and medical careers. “And they are really instrumental in the success that we’ve had in my lab.”
For more information about the GSU Undergraduate Research Conference, visit http://www.gsu.edu/gsurc.
Published March 16, 2011