Published March 8, 2016
MONROE, La. — The University of Louisiana Monroe had a large contingent of students present papers
and posters at LSU-Shreveport’s first annual Scholar’s Forum on Friday, Feb. 19.
Funding for the research forum was provided by the Noel Foundation.
The program included 73 presentations by undergraduate and graduate students from
universities in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The five academic categories
were: Science and Mathematics, Arts and Humanities, Business, Education, and Social
Sciences.
$50 prizes were awarded to undergraduate and graduate students in the top poster and
top paper presentation categories.
The following ULM students presented papers and posters:
Undergraduate
- Holly Mallinson (Atmospheric Science)
- Elisa Murillo (Atmospheric Science)
- Stephen Kreller (Atmospheric Science)
- Finola Reed (Marketing)
- Amoi Lyons (English)
- Rachael Maddox (English)
- Jerry Ehlers (English)
- David Brasher (English)
Graduate
- Sir Aaron Mason and Jacinda Whitley (Marriage and Family Therapy)
- Anson Andrews (Humanities)
- Dylan Crowell (History)
- Jillian Marie Allbritton (English)
- Rebekah A. Barnes (English)
Stephen Kreller won the undergraduate poster presentation award with his ULM research
titled “Which Hurricane Attributes are most Strongly Correlated with Maximum Storm
Surge Height?” His ULM faculty advisor was Dr. Ken Leppert.
Elisa Murillo won the top paper presentation award with her undergraduate ULM research
titled “Classification and Analysis of Tornado Outbreaks in Dixie Alley and Tornado
Alley.” Her faculty advisor was Dr. Todd Murphy. Murillo also presented a poster presentation
on her summer research she conducted at the University of Oklahoma titled, “The Sensitivity
of Supercell Simulations to Initial Condition Resolution: Implications for Warn-on-Forecast,”
which was advised by Dr. Corey Potvin, OU/NSSL.
Dylan Crowell won the award for top graduate paper presentation with his ULM research
titled, “Cause and Effects of Pearl Harbor.” His faculty advisors were Dr. Ralph Brown
and Dr. Jeff Anderson.
Elisa Murillo (left) and Stephen Kreller (right) posing
with their certificates following the awards ceremony
Most of the student research was unfunded, meaning that the students gave up their
free time to work on something that they thought was important and/or interesting.
According to Dr. Todd Murphy, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science, this is
an indication of how dedicated these students are to research.
“I’m happy that we are able to provide meaningful research opportunities to our students,”
said Murphy. “The fact that Atmospheric Science had two student winners shows not
only the dedication of the students for their research, but that others in the regional
community believe it is important, meaningful research as well.”
On the Humanities side, Crowell said this achievement says a lot about the History
department. “This achievement only confirms what our department already knew—that
we are one of the best in the region and our faculty are some the best available,”
said Crowell.
A full list of the Scholar’s Forum participants may be found here.
