Published February 28, 2014
The University of Louisiana at Monroe recently announced the winners of the 14th annual
Student Research Symposium.
Used as a vehicle to showcase the outstanding research being conducted by graduate
and undergraduate students at ULM, the symposium presents the unique and high quality
work of ULM students.
The symposium has provided a platform for the presentation of research conducted by
over 3,000 student researchers since the inaugural Student Research Symposium, held
in the spring of 2001.
Researchers are required to conceptualize a research question, work with a faculty
mentor to address the
question, design a research method, identify the subjects, correctly and objectively
collect data, analyze it, reach conclusions and make recommendations.
Student researchers presented their work either by presentation poster or by a platform
presentation in which they read their research aloud to the audience.
In both cases, student researchers were expected to answer questions from judges who
have credentials in the student's research field.
Award winners are as follows:
College of Arts, Education, and Sciences
School of Humanities:
Undergraduate: Oral Presentations
First place: Jillian Allbritton of Monroe, presented “Stinking Lizaveta: the Humble
Saint of The Brothers Karamazov,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Jana Giles.
Graduate: Oral Presentations
First place: Adam Breitenbach of West Monroe, presented “E.M. Forster’s Strategic
Indeterminacy in A Passage to India,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Jana Giles.
School of Education:
Graduate: Oral Presentations
First place: Angela C. Jenkins of Monroe, presented “Identifying Teacher Effectiveness
Using Classroom Observations: A Comparison of Teacher Evaluation Rubrics,” under faculty
mentor, Dr. Timothy Ford.
School of Sciences, Department of Biology:
Undergraduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Erin Rizzo of Mt. Dora, FL, and Amanda Scott of Bossier City, presented
“Department of Biology, School of Sciences, Comparative Analysis of A3, A4, and A10
Mycobacteriophages: Sequence Homology at the Repressor Binding Site Results in Homoimmunity
of Related Mycobacteriophages.” Their faculty mentors are Dr. Christopher R. Gissendanner,
Dr. Allison M.D. Wiedemeier, and Dr. Ann M. Findley.
First place: Ifeoluwa Babatunde of Nigeria presented, “Use of Bacteriophage in the
Control of Crown Gall Disease Caused by Agrobacterium Tumefaciens in Tomato Plants,”
under faculty mentor, Dr. Allison Wiedemeier.
Graduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Anthony Ballard of Brandon, Miss., presented “Recording and Analyzing
Feral Hog Damage in Louisiana’s Southern Marshes,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Kim Tolson.
Graduate: Oral Presentations
First place: Derek Jones of Monroe, presented “A Comparative Genomic Analysis of Novel
Bacteriophage of Agrobacterium Tumefaciens,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Allison Wiedemeier.
Department of Chemistry:
Undergraduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Zachary Streeter of West Monroe, presented “Field Ionization and photoionization
of CH3I perturbed by diatomic molecules: electron Scattering in H2, HD, D2, O2 and
CO,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Gary L. Findley.
Department of Atmospheric Science:
Undergraduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Anthony Viramontez of Benton, presented “Variations in Raindrop Size
Distributions Associated with Diverse Storm Types and Structures,” under faculty mentor,
Dr. Larry J. Hopper.
College of Business and Social Sciences
School of Business, Department of Management:
Undergraduate: Video Presentations
First place: Mika-Meruert Zhumagulova of Kyrgyzstan, presented “You Leave Memories
– ULM,” under staff mentor, Terrance Armstard.
School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology:
Undergraduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Kylen Smith of Shelbyville, Texas, presented “Fear, Disgust, and Ontology:
What kind of Morality is at Stake?” under faculty mentor, Dr. Kilian Garvey.
Undergraduate: Oral Presentations
First place: Cory Williams of Bossier City, presented “Social Media and Racism: A
State by State Analysis of Post-2012 Presidential Election Tweets,” under faculty
mentor, Dr. Kilian Garvey.
Graduate: Oral Presentations
First place: Mary Hall of Monroe, presented “Profiles of Animal Abuse,” under faculty
mentor, Dr. Kilian Garvey.
Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences:
Graduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Mary M. Hall-Medlin of Monroe, presented “Religiosity as a Predictor
of Altruistic Belief and Action,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Jack Palmer.
College of Health & Pharmaceutical Sciences
School of Health Professions:
Graduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Kelly Burda of Modesto, Calif.; Alana Davis of Monroe; Elizabeth Martin
of Tallulah; Jillian Reaux of Port Barre; and Meredith Williams of Monroe, presented
“Acoustic Analysis of the Use of the Southern Vowel Shift in Northeast Louisiana,”
under faculty mentor, Dr. Johanna Boult.
School of Pharmacy:
Undergraduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Katherine Gary of Lafayette presented “Isolation and Analysis of an Oleocanthal-Rich
Fraction from Extra-Virgin Olive Oil and its Standardization as a New Dietary-Based
C-MET Inhibitor for the Control of Metastatic Breast Malignancies,” under faculty
mentor, Dr. Khalid El Sayed.
Second place: Nathan Simpson of Bossier City presented “Studying Protein Interactions
of the Caenorhabditis elegans Protein PAN-1 using an RNA Interference Based Genetic
Screen,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Christopher Gissendanner.
Graduate: Poster Presentations
First place: Priyanka Prathipati of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh presented “Recurrent
Insulin Induced Hypoglycemic Elevation of Interstitial ATP and Angiotensin II Augmenting
Renal Injury,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Keith E. Jackson.
Second place: Pratistha Tamrakar of Kathmandu, Nepal presented “Sex-Specific Basal
and Hypoglycemic Patterns of In Vivo Caudal Dorsal Vagal Complex Astrocyte Glycogen
Metabolic Enzyme Protein Expression,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Karen P. Briski.
Third place: Mohamed Mohyeldin of Alexandria, Egypt, presented “C-MET Inhibitory Olive
Secoirdoids and Semsinthetic Bioisosteres: In Vitro and In Vivo Activities for the
Control of Invasive Breast Cancer,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Khalid El Sayed.
Graduate: Oral Presentations
First place: Baher A. Ibrahim of Mansoura, Egypt, presented “Energy Status Determines
cDVC’s AMPK Regulation, Estrogen Receptors protein expression, and Dependent Signal
Transduction Pathways marker genes transcription in the Estradiol-Treated Ovariectomized
Female Rat,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Karen P. Briski.
Second place: Roshan V.Tiwari of Nasik, Maharashtra, presented “Gamma-Tocotrienol
Induces Autophagy in Malignant Mammary Tumor Cells,” under faculty mentor, Dr. Paul
W. Sylvester.
