Penn State Altoona research lab repeats sweep of two competition categories

ERIE, Pa. — Members of the Penn State Altoona Integrated Social Science Research Lab (ISSRL) were successful once again at the annual Penn State Behrend-Sigma Xi Undergraduate Student Research and Creative Accomplishment Conference held in Erie on Saturday, April 25. The competition is open to Penn State students and undergraduates from other colleges and universities in the Erie region.

The ISSRL swept both the humanities-social sciences and psychology poster presentation categories for the second year in a row.

Lilliana DeMarco and Madison Adamiak, both third-year criminal justice students, along with Dawson Coventry, a third-year international politics major at University Park, presented the psychology session's award-winning poster, titled, “Do Words Matter? Understanding the Impact of Language Used in the Substance Use Treatment Community on Those with Lived and Vicarious Experience.”

“Presenting our research to such a large crowd was nerve-racking, but it felt great to know that the judges and patrons were interested in the work we are doing in the lab,” DeMarco said. “It was such an awesome experience and placing first in our division was incredibly rewarding. I am already looking forward to next year.”

Riley Fegley, Abigail Hayes and Frankie Stricker, second-year criminal justice students; Emily Proctor, a first-year student majoring in psychology and in human development and family studies; and Maura Smith, a third-year psychology major, took second place in the competition for their project titled, “College Students’ Pornography Consumption: Examining the Relationship Between Aggressive Pornography, Rape Myth Acceptance (RMA), and Mental Health.”

“Presenting with my lab mates, who have worked diligently throughout this academic year on the RMA project, was a rewarding and gratifying experience,” Smith said. “I feel that my group was well prepared for the competition, and it showed in our collaboration to make our presentation the best it could be.”

Fegley has competed in and placed at the competition each year since she started at Penn State Altoona.

“It is always such a great experience to not only share our research but also explore research that other students are conducting," Fegley said.

In the humanities-social sciences session, Hayes, DeMarco, Devlin Glenn, a fourth-year criminal justice student, Ally Black, a third-year student studying criminal justice, and Indira Barros, a second-year criminology major, won with their poster, “How Has Law Enforcement Responded to the Opioid Crisis? An Empirical Assessment of Evidence-Based Strategies in Pennsylvania.”

“This competition was a great experience to showcase our research and learn from the other competitors,” Hayes said. “It was also great to hear feedback from the judges that will help my research in the future.”

The team of Glenn, Black, Smith, Hayes, Stricker and Allan Golden, a second-year criminal justice major, rounded out the competition with a second-place finish in the humanities-social sciences session for their poster titled, “Increasing Police Preparedness for Mental Health Crises: An Assessment of the Keystone Model of Crisis Management.”

“Seeing the success of not only my own projects but also the others in the lab was extremely rewarding,” Black said. “We put countless hours into these projects and watching them develop from an initial idea or dataset into polished, successful posters showed that all of our hard work paid off.”

This was Glenn’s final research competition.

“Being part of the research lab has been one of the most rewarding, challenging, and educational experiences of my undergraduate career," Glen said. "It truly allowed me to develop my skills in public speaking and leadership.”

The Integrated Social Science Research Lab is embedded in the criminal justice and sociology programs at Penn State Altoona. It is coordinated by Nathan E. Kruis, associate professor of criminal justice, and Nicholas J. Rowland, distinguished professor of sociology. The ISSRL is made possible by Penn State Altoona's Division of Business, Health, Humanities, and Social Sciences, headed by Nicholas L. Pyeatt, professor of political science.