The Ohio State University at Marion hosted hosted the 10th Annual Undergraduate Research Colloquium on Thursday, April 13, 2023 in the Marion Campus Library.
30 undergraduate researchers in disciplines including evolutionary biology, linguistic and developmental psychology, biochemistry, computer science, mechanical engineering, archeology and service learning experiences took part in the event.
Assistant Dean for Academic Opportunities, John Maharry helped coordinate the colloquium and said, “It is exciting to see the range of research endeavors in which our students on campus are engaged. The colloquium has grown significantly in recent years, and we are glad the campus library offered to host the event. The colloquium worked very well in their space. We were also thrilled that Dr. Charlene Gilbert, Senior Vice Provost for Student Academic Excellence at Ohio State, was able to attend the colloquium and speak with many of the student researchers. She told me that she was very impressed with all of the poster presentations,” said Maharry.
According to biology major Mehak Kaur, who focused her research on mutation signatures of endometiral cancers using algorithms and different types of artificial intelligence at this year's colloquium, believes taking part in undergraduate research will benefit her eventual goal of going to grad school where she hopes to focus in health.
"I think being involved in research will help me get into grad schools and it just looks better when they see you tried to get involved in other types of areas," said Kaur.
"Endometrial cancers are not very studied. They don't know to much about how the mutations in the cancers work, so I'm going to be looking more into that and it will be really beneficial in the future," she added.
Kaur got involved in research after taking a class with faculty mentor, Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics, Dr. Ruben Petreaca who focuses on cancers in general and tries to look at the mutations that occur.
Her goal after grad shool, she is thinking about a master's program for nursing. "Maybe I will get into nursing or NP (nurse practitioner) or something like that.
Students also presented research in areas of social science such as psychology. Junior psychology major Makayla Yake from Marion, Ohio and
Senior psychology major Mallory Saltar from Pataskala worked as a team to focus their poster presentation on the campus program Pride and Life Skills Mentoring (PALS), which provides a mentor mentee relationship between Ohio State Marion students and local elementary students.
Saltar, who wants to be a school counselor, felt her work with PALS and what she has learned through researching the program provided a direct correlation with her future career.
"So, PALS meant alot to me to help grow my listening skills and communication skills with children, the younger set. I did work with a middle schooler as well. I did help with my active listening skills. I learned how to not jump in and try and fix or correct anything and just to listen to what my mentee was saying. It helped me to be self aware of his emotions. For my future career, I really felt that it was going to help me become a better school counselor and be present in the moment, and to just really take the leadership skills and communication skills that I had learned and to become the best school counselor I could be."
Yake shared that she wants to be a clinical psychologist and what she learned through researching and participating in the PALS program would serve her well to improve her communication skills and prepare for her future career.
"I really think that this is so applicable to that. Even though I am not a mentee clinician, it is communcation. This was a growth opportunity. This helped me grow as much as it is probably helping my mentee grow. It is learning how to balance between guiding them and what we might want to do with the mentoring session that we have and also he should take the lead. He isn't as talkative as some other kids. So, if I want to engage with him more, I need to come up with my own questions and my own prompts in order to get to kind of what his core values are and what he wants to work on," said Yake.
Presentations included:
(Note - For a complete photo gallery of the 2023 Ohio State Marion Undergraduate Research Collquium, visit: facebook.com/osumarion)
Molly Quinn, psychology and Stephanie Karrick, psychology
Exact or approximate? How number information is represented during language comprehension
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nikole Patson
*Zane Nelson, biology
Understanding Protein-Protein Interactions in Chromosome Remodeling with Hip1: The Yeast analog of HIRA
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Renee Bouley
Twy Gray, biology
How fungicides and gut parasites affect bumble bee health
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Frances Sivakoff
Maria Ruano, chemistry
Computational study of potential off-site targets of cannabinoids
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ryan Yoder
Kylie Smith, biology
Burrowing Rodents Macroevolution: A Bayesian Approach to Estimating Diversity Rates
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Calede
Makayla Yake, psychology
Community Development in New Orleans: A Second-year Transformational Experience (STEP)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dave Schul
Makayla Yake and Mallory Saltar
PALS: Learning Personal Growth Through Mentoring
Faculty Mentors:Dr. Nikole Patson and Dr. Ben McCorkle
Mehak Kaur, biology
Mutation Signatures in Endometrial Cancers
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ruben Petreaca
Madeline Ball, evolution and ecology
The ecology and evolution of bite force in geomorph rodents
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Calede
Nikita L. Christian, biology
Morphospace occupation skull morphology in geomyoid rodents: the impact of extinct species
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Calede
Kylie Smith, biology
Burrowing Rodents Macroevolution: A Bayesian Approach to Estimating Diversity Rates
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Calede
Rylynn Feaster, psychology; Sydney Harris, psychology; and Ian Heis, psychology
Middle School Students’ Engagement and Reasoning about School Misbehavior: A Longitudinal Examination
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Christopher Daddis
Abigail Archer, psychology; Kayle Coulter, psychology; Lacey Davis, psychology; Jordan Kightlinger, psychology; and Jacob Redmond, psychology
College Students’ Voluntary Disclosure of Information about their Romantic Lives
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Christopher Daddis
Laine Groty, mechanical engineering
Machine Learning and Neural Networks: Analyzing the Effects of Training Parameters on Simple Neural Networks Using the Iris Dataset
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gol Mirzaei
John Simonis, engineering; Eric Bailey, engineering; and Nathan Pividori, engineering
Computer Numerically Controlled Plotter/Open motion System at a Truncated Pricepoint
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Qudsia Tahmina
*Molly Quinn, psychology
Exploring an embodiment model of intuitive eating and attunement with exercise: The mediating role of intrinsic motivation.
Faculty Mentor:Dr. Tracy Tylka
AJ Bennett, psychology and Sarah Smith, psychology
Number representation during language comprehension
Faculty Mentor:Dr. Nikole Patson
*Lauren Frank, biology and biochemistry
Determining how two chromatin remodeling proteins modulate RAD52 function
Faculty Mentor:Dr. Renee Bouley
*Indicates student also participated in the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum on Columbus campus.