Research forum puts graduate students in the spotlight

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More than 100 graduate students across 40 disciplines showcased their research, scholarship and creative expressions on Friday at the seventh annual Graduate Student Research Forum.

Students competed for more than $5,000 in awards through panel and poster presentations, and for the first time, five-minute “blitz talks” — short, accessible summaries of their research.

The event highlighted the diverse range of work being conducted by UO graduate students in classrooms, laboratories, libraries and studies, and provided students with valuable professional development experience.

Each member of winning teams, as well as individual winners, received $250.

The winning panel presenters were:

  • Theme: Crossing Borders, Crossing Cultures, Crossing Frontiers – “South Asia: Cracking Open the Black Boxes of Law, Democracy, Infrastructure, and Governance,” Sarah Hamid, Media Studies; Patrick Jones, Media Studies; Lindsay Massara, Law; Tariq Rahman, International Studies
  • Theme: Breaking New Ground in the Sciences – “Stress and Coping,” Kelsey Kuperman, Counseling Psychology; Erica Midttveit, Human Physiology; Kristen Reinhardt, Psychology
  • Theme: Challenges for a New Generation of Leaders – “Adapting to New Trends in Policy and Technology,” Matthew Pittman, Media Studies; Rory Isbell, Law and Community and Regional Planning; Derek Moscato, Media Studies; Aleksandria Perez Grabow, Counseling Psychology
  • Theme: In our Own Backyard – “Social Determinants of Neurobiology and Stress,” Ryan Giuliano, Psychology; Erik Knight, Psychology; Melissa Liebert, Anthropology; Brianna Mintz, Couples & Family Therapy; Leslie Roos, Psychology

Winners of the 5 Minute Blitz competition were:

  • Chelsea Oden, Music Theory “Cinderella’s Glass Ceiling:  Boxing, the Great Depression, and Irish-American Identity.”
  • Larissa Petrucci, Sociology “Constructing Spaces of Support: Gender Inclusive Meetups in the Field of High Tech.”

Poster session winners were:

  • Alyssa Franco, Architecture and Nicolette Stauffer, Architecture, “The Feasibility of Zero Emission Residential Design.”
  • Steve Livingston, Counseling Psychology, “The role of Peer Racism on Ethnic Identity in Mixed Race Adolescents.”        
  • Jimena Santillán, Psychology, “Brain Function for Selective Attention in Bilingual Adults.”
  • Matthew Napolitano, Anthropology, “Time is of the Essence: Establishing Chronological Baselines for Archaeological Research in the Florida Keys.”
  • Rudy Omri, Geography, “Examining Spatiotemporal Variability of Twitter Data Representativeness.”
  • Melissa Randel, Biology, “Functional Genetic Cis-Regulatory Element Identification in Innate Immune Response.”
  • Keunyoung Lee, East Asian Languages & Literatures, “Subject Honorifics in Korean Spoken Language: A Sociopragmatic Study.”

People’s Choice winners were:

  • Alyssa Franco, Architecture and Nicolette Stauffer, Architecture, “The Feasibility of Zero Emission Residential Design.