8 YSU Honors Students Showcase Research at Conference

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Eight undergraduate honors students and a staff member from Youngstown State University’s Sokolov Honors College presented academic posters showcasing their research last week at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in Kansas City, Mo. 

The conference, a premiere gathering for honors students and faculty nationwide, allowed students to share their academic work with peers and experts from across the country.

The following YSU students and staff member presented their research at NCHC:

• Natalie Dando, senior mathematics major, Applications of Google’s PageRank: Predicting Tennis Outcomes.

• Avinab De, Jake Louis and Muawiyah Shariff, senior biology majors in the YSU-BaccMed program, Stem Cell Therapy for Radiation Induced Skin Reaction.

• Alexis Garcia, sophomore nursing major, Attitudes and Ethical Concerns Regarding Do Not Resuscitate Codes.

• Crescenzo Scheetz and Mason DeBrosse, sophomore biology majors in the YSU-BaccMed program, A Retrospective Study Assessing the Quality of Reporting Materials and Methods in the Preclinical Behavioral Neuroscience Literature.

• James Killmeyer, sophomore physics major, The Creation and Analysis of TiB2 Thin Films.

• Alisha Dodge, Sokolov Honors College assistant director, presented her research, Communication Tactics with International Students, in a faculty/staff poster presentation session.

The students demonstrated their own scholarly work and contributed to important conversations in their fields ranging from health care and ethics to materials science and math modeling. Collectively, they observed how research from various disciplines can work toward a common theme and learned that conversational skills are important for scientists.

“I would describe this experience as incredible because it gave me the opportunity to share my research, meet honors students from other institutions and learn about the experiences of well-known educators such as Erin Gruwell,” Kilmeyer said.

The students also attended a variety of conference sessions, including a keynote address by Grunwell, an American teacher who became famous for mentoring her students to tell their stories through writing.

Pictured at top: The eight YSU students who showcased their research at the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.