UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Undergraduate students from University Park and Penn State campuses presented their research on Wednesday, April 5 at Penn State’s annual Undergraduate Exhibition in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Heritage Hall and lounge areas. The exhibition featured more than 225 posters and 270 student presenters throughout the day as the Penn State community and the general public were invited to learn about undergraduate research at the University.  

Joining student presenters at the event were faculty and graduate student volunteer judges who evaluated posters based on content and display, as well as students’ oral presentations. Students were encouraged to submit work spanning the categories of arts and humanities, engineering, health and life sciences, physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and course-based projects (all disciplines).

The event culminated in an awards ceremony that celebrated winning poster entries and also the creative accomplishments of Penn State undergraduate students who dazzled the audience with performances of voice, dance, and theater.

“At Penn State, we are fortunate to have an event such as this one to highlight some of the excellent work being done by our undergraduate students,” said Rob Pangborn, vice president and dean for Undergraduate Education. “The work presented here today is a snapshot of what undergraduate students are achieving during their time as students.”

Penn State Provost Nick Jones joined Undergraduate Education leadership to offer remarks and present awards sponsored by various University organizations. Top entries in each category received monetary prizes.

The Gerard A. Hauser Award was given to the entry judged best overall. This year, the Hauser Award was presented to Brendan Sporer from the College of Engineering for his project, Active Neutralization in Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Fusion.

The University Libraries Award for Information Literacy recognizes scholarly work based on a foundation of careful background research and literature review. This year, the John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Information Literacy Award Grand Prize was awarded to Olivia Runk from the College of Nursing for her research, "Exploring the Relationship Between Personality and Subjective Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults Without Dementia."

The Penn State Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society presented the Phi Kappa Phi Peter T. Luckie Award for Outstanding Exhibit by a Junior. The award was started in 2008 to honor Peter Luckie, Professor Emeritus in mineral processing who served as the chapter president for ten years. Please see Peter T. Luckie Award winners listed below. 

2017 Undergraduate Exhibition Award Recipients

The Gerard A. Hauser Award

Brendan Sporer, College of Engineering
Active Neutralization in Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) Fusion

Arts and Humanities

First place

Morgan Nachman, College of the Liberal Arts
Deliberating About Gun Policy

Course-Based Projects

First Place

Zhiyu Zhao, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
From Penrose to Escher -- Visualization of Almost Periodic Structure

Second Place

Katie Jo Smith, College of Health and Human Development 

Examining Primary Care Organizational Structure in Costa Rica: The EBAIS and ATAP

Third Place

Kaiyi Wu, Eberly College of Science
Haici Tan, Eberly College of Science
Estimating HIV Prevalence at Sub-national and Sub-population Level

Engineering

First Place

Rachel Sherbondy, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Corona Poling of Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) Thick Films for Ultrasonic Transducers

Second Place

Katherine Heininger, College of Engineering
Can wearable sensors be used to capture engineering design team interactions? An Investigation into the Reliability of Sociometric Badges

Third Place

Kristen Hagenah, College of Engineering
Characterization of Thrombi through Mri And Histological Analysis of Erythrocyte Ghost Clots

Health and Life Sciences

First Place

Erin Vrana, Eberly College of Science
Characterization of the Role of UIS12 in Plasmodium yoelii Male Gametocyte Activation

Second Place

Daniel Snellings, Eberly College of Science
The Cost of Color: Investigating Pigmentation as a Bioindicator of Bee Nutrition

Third Place

Carley Miller, Eberly College of Science
The Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Partial Agonist Varenicline Alters Ethanol-induced Ataxia and Ethanol Consumption in Adolescent C57BL/6J Mice

Physical Sciences

First Place

Cullen Dixon, College of Agricultural Sciences
Testing the Role of Sorghum 3-deoxyanthocyanidin Phytoalexins as Potential Biopesticides in Combating Foliar Diseases in Zea mays

Second Place

Jacob Mclaughlin, Eberly College of Science
Functionalization of MoS2 with Magnetic Molecules

Third Place

Madeline Nyblade, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Numerical Modeling of the Agricultural-Hydrologic System in Punjab, India

Social and Behavioral Sciences

First Place

Megan Cichocki, College of the Liberal Arts
Territorial Control and Group Goals:  Why Violent Non-state Actors are Lethal

Second Place

Jordan Gibby, College of Health and Human Development
Couple and Family Leisure Time and Adolescent Well-being in India Couple and Family Leisure Time and Adolescent Well-being in India

Third Place

Kelsey Bailey, College of the Liberal Arts
The Effects of Mutual Friendships on Romantic Relationship Outcomes

Phi Kappa Phi Peter T. Luckie Award for Excellence in Research by a Junior

Health and Life Sciences

Lianna Wodzicki, College of Agricultural Sciences
How Does Auxin Signaling Affect Vat Mediated Aphid Resistance?

Humanities and Social Sciences

Yage Zhang, College of Arts and Architecture & College of the Liberal Arts
Niccolo Fazio, Smeal College of Business & College of the Liberal Arts
Shannon Aitcheson, College of the Liberal Arts
Olivia McMahon, College of the Liberal Arts
Viewing and Transmission of Antibiotic Stewardship Messages

Physical Sciences and Engineering

Sumit Pareek, College of Engineering
Pathways to Impact at Scale for Malaria Prevention: Using the Built Environment as a Global Health Strategy

University Libraries Award for Information Literacy

John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Information Literacy Award Grand Prize

Olivia Runk, College of Nursing
Exploring the Relationship Between Personality and Subjective Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults Without Dementia

First Place

Courtney Heidle, College of Health and Human Development
Can an Existing Theory be Adapted to Better Predict Infant Feeding Information Seeking Behaviors of Parents?

Second Place

Jordan Gibby, College of Health and Human Development
Couple and Family Leisure Time and Adolescent Well-being in India Couple and Family Leisure Time and Adolescent Well-being in India

Third Place

Sumit Pareek, College of Engineering
Pathways to Impact at Scale for Malaria Prevention: Using the Built Environment as a Global Health Strategy

Honorable Mention

Elizbeth Hopta, College of the Liberal Arts
The Imperfect Minority: Asian Americans at the San Francisco State Strike

Alison Roby, College of Engineering
The Acute Functional Connectivity Changes in the Rat Brain Following Nicotine Administration

Madeline Nyblade, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Numerical Modeling of the Agricultural-Hydrologic System in Punjab, India

Joshua Riley, College of Engineering
Impact of Shear Rate on Von Willebrand Factor Unfolding

Emily Hentz Leister, College of Health and Human Development
Breaking Down the Barriers of Bike Shares: An examination of Bike Share Operations

The Undergraduate Exhibition is presented by Penn State Undergraduate Education and co-sponsored by the Schreyer Honors College. Learn more about research opportunities for undergraduates supported at undergradresearch.psu.edu.