The 16th annual A&S Summit for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (URSCA) was held April 12, 2019, in Moody Music Hall.
Download list of award winners as a printable PDF.
Oral Presentations
Humanities and Fine Arts
1st Place, Dr. Laura Busenlehner Award, $500 total
MOLLY BUFFINGTON
Department: Modern Languages and Classics
Faculty Mentor: Kirk Summers
(Modern Languages and Classics)
A War of Words: The Lutheran-Calvinist Debate on Acts 3:21 and the Eucharist
2nd Place, $300 total
SOFIA DE FARIA
Department: Religious Studies
Faculty Mentor: Theodore Trost
(Religious Studies)
Doctrine, Practice, & Hispanic Catholics in the South: A Preliminary Investigation
3rd Place, $200 total
GRAY WOOD
Department: Modern Languages and Classics
Faculty Mentor: Kelly Shannon-Henderson
A Study of Deified Roman Emperors’ Titles in Roman Literature
4th Place, $100 total
JACOB INGLIS
Department: Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Steven Ramey
(Religious Studies)
National Identity and the Construction of National Groups in the South Korean Public Sphere
Natural Sciences and Mathematics
1st Place, Dr. Laura Busenlehner Award, $500 total
HOPE BURNHAM
Department: Chemistry
Faculty Mentors: Shane Street (Chemistry)
David Dixon (Chemistry)
A Phase-Changing Borane Containing Fuel
2nd Place, $300 total
LAUREN HARPER
Department: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Stanislava Chtarbanova
(Biological Sciences)
Investigation of NF-KB pathways following brain infection in Drosophila
3rd Place, $200 total
TYLER MORGAN
Department: Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: Silas Blackstock (Chemistry)
Effects of ortho-fluorination on bis-(azobenzene)amine molecular switching
4th Place, $100 total
GARRISON HUGHES
Department: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Stephen Secor
(Biological Sciences)
After 100 million years of carnivory, snakes can still regulate blood glucose
Honorable Mentions
KYLE MAAS
Department: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Ryan Earley
(Biological Sciences)
Embryonic Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Compounds: Behavioral and Physiological Consequences in Mangrove Rivulus Fish, Kryptolebias marmoratus
ASHLEY EBERLY
Department: Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: David Dixon (Chemistry)
Predicting the Properties and Covalency of High Oxidation State An(OH)x Complexes
Social Sciences
1st Place, Dr. Laura Busenlehner Award, $500 total
MATHEW CIESLA
Department: New College
Faculty Mentor: Spyridoula Cheimariou
(Communicative Disorders)
Lexico-Semantic Integration in Late, Elementary English-Spanish Bilinguals: An N400 Study.
2nd Place, $300 total
JASON CASTILLO
Department: Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Richard Fording (Political Science)
The Effects of Insurer Competition on Healthcare Premiums
3rd Place, $200 total
MARGARET LAWSON
Department: History
Faculty Mentor: John Giggie (History)
Mississippi Memories: The Legacy of Lynching in Hinds County, 1880 to 1934
4th Place, $100 total
BOWEN GISSENDANER
Department: Religious Studies
Faculty Mentor: Steven Ramey (Religious Studies)
Han, Hui, and Uyghur: Ethnic Conflicts in the Chinese West
Poster Presentations
Humanities and Fine Arts
1st Place, Dr. Laura Busenlehner Award, $500 total
MARY GARRISON, Department: History
Faculty Mentor: John Giggie (History)
The Cartography of Southern Queerness
2nd Place, $300 total
LINDSEY HOWARD
Department: Theatre and Dance
Faculty Mentor: Sarah Barry (Theatre and Dance)
“IRL”- Dance at the Fringe
3rd Place, $200 total
OLIVIA WYATT
Department: History
Faculty Mentor: Heather Kopelson (History)
Exchange of Medical Knowledge in the British Colonies During the Early 18th Century
4th Place, $100 total
ABIGAYLE WILLIAMS
Department: Music
Faculty Mentor: Andrew Minear (Music)
The Effectiveness of Kinesthetic-Visual Exercises on the Expressivity, Accuracy, and Enjoyment of Singers in the Choral Rehearsal
Natural Sciences and Mathematics
1st Place, Dr. Laura Busenlehner Award, $500 total
ABBIE RUESY
RYAN O’ROURKE
Department: Biological Sciences and Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Laura Reed (Biological Sciences)
The Influence of Natural Diet and Microbiota Community on Metabolic Phenotype of Drosophila melanogaster
2nd Place, $300 total
RYAN PARTAIN
Department: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Kevin Kocot (Biological Sciences)
Using microscopy and histology to describe a novel species of Wirenia (Mollusca, Aplacophora) from New Zealand.
3rd Place, $200 total
MADELINE VAJI
Department: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Kim Caldwell (Biological Sciences)
Guy Caldwell (Biological Sciences)
Investigating ApoE-associated regulation of neuroprotection and survival from AÎ.-mediated neurodegeneration in transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans.
4th Place, $100 total
CARTER BURTON
MALLORY MAZA
Department: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Katrina Ramonell
(Biological Sciences)
Influence of ATL9 Protein Expression on Fungal Infection of Arabidopsis
Social Sciences
1st Place, Dr. Laura Busenlehner Award, $500 total
ALYSSA DICK
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Joan Barth (Psychology)
He STEM, She STEM: Exploring Gender Differences in Academic Motivation for High Achieving Students
2nd Place, $300 total
ABIGAIL KAPPELMAN
Department: Anthropology
Faculty Mentor: Jason DeCaro (Anthropology)
Morbidity and Mortality in the United States: How Inequality Produces Health Disparities
3rd Place, $200 total
KYLIE SURGOT
Department: Anthropology
Faculty Mentor: William DeVoe (Anthropology)
Keith Jacobi (Anthropology)
Assessing Handedness and Individual Finger Dominance Between the Archaic and Mississippian Components of the Perry Site (1Lu25) from the Middle Tennessee River Valley of North Alabama
4th Place, $100 total
OLIVIA RUSH
ASHLYN COATS
ANNA PEEPLES
Department: Communicative Disorders
Faculty Mentor: Memorie Gosa
(Communicative Disorders)
Correlations Between Manufacturer’s Stages and IDDSI Levels for Commercially Available Baby Food