Georgia Southwestern undergraduates showcase student research

Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) recently hosted its 3rd Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium featuring student research on topics such as campaigning and social media, public schools and COVID-19, prison policy, racial stereotyping, history and politics, psychoanalysis, app development, mathematic modeling of love, and healthcare.

Students from a variety of majors and fields shared their research projects with in-person oral presentations on Friday, April 23, while virtual poster presentations were uploaded to YouTube. This was the first Symposium in two years, as the pandemic led to the cancelation of the 2020 event.

“The Symposium recognized students and their faculty mentors for the outstanding research they are doing in their areas of study,” said Suzanne Smith, Ph.D., provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “Conducting research as an undergraduate is an important opportunity for our students. While simply conducting the research is impressive enough, presenting it before an audience gave the students valuable experience for their future endeavors.”

The 2021 Research Project Award winners are:

• First Place Presentation Award: Caleb Kot, “Calvin Coolidge, Ronald Reagan, and the Nature of American Conservatism”
• Second Place Presentation Award: Dorothy Bryans, “Factors Affecting Consumer Behavior in The Entertainment Industry During And After COVID-19”
• Faculty Choice Poster Award: Theodore Hendrixson, “Is Perceived Professionalism of the Physician Affected by Their Decision to Wear a White Coat?”
• Students’ Choice Poster Award: Gabriella Lopresti, “Ovipositioning in Cavity Dwelling Mosquitoes at Different Heights”
• Provost’s Choice Poster Award: Olivia Moore, “The Isolation and Pathogenicity Assessment of Entomopathogenic Nematodes in the Genera Steinernema and Heterorhabditis”

Approximately 55 students participated in the Symposium: 10 presented their research in an oral presentation, 43 displayed their work on posters, and 2 presented their research that went into a student-produced newscast.

The Symposium was organized by a faculty committee and the Office of Academic Affairs, and was sponsored by generous donations to the Student Success Fund of the GSW Foundation.