2023 Symposium Award Winners

The following outstanding presentations, posters, and creative works were awarded prizes at the 13th Annual Wiggins Memorial Library Academic Symposium on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Each student is listed along with their faculty mentor. If the presentation was recorded, a link to the video recording is provided.

High Merit Winners scored within the top 10% of their category. Merit Winners scored within the top 25% of their category. All of these winners names will be published in the 2022-23 edition of Accolades and all will receive prizes. Join us in congratulating these winners!

Art Exhibits

High Merit

• Perfume by Abby Caron (Faculty Mentor: Prof. Breck Smith)

Merit

• Enamored 2022 by Jamari Cannady Pratt (Faculty Mentor: Prof. Breck Smith)

Undergraduate Oral Presentations

High Merit

• Composing Compromise: Music and Politics in France from Revolution to Third Republic by Christianna Felix (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ethan Alexander-Davey)
• Fangirling Over Fandoms: An Analysis of How the Era of Digital Media Impacts Online Fan Communication by Sara Siefert (Faculty Mentor: Prof. Brian Bowman)
• Exploring Mount Olive, NC: A Town That Brings More Than Just Pickles to the Table by Taylor Gery (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Justin Nelson)

Merit

• If You Love Them, Tell Them by Vagah Higgs (Faculty Mentor: Prof. Georgia Martin)
• From "Family Values" to #ChurchToo: Christian Nationalist Patriarchy and Violence Against Women by Katie Mills (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ken Vandergriff)
• Ready. Set. Go!: Development of a Cybersecurity Capture the Flag (CTF) Game by Michelle Whitlock (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amanda M. Sharp Parker)
• Quantification Of Workload Across Collegiate Career of Division I Womens Lacrosse by Jordan Gentry (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Brad Myers)
• Assessing the Association between Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and the Diagnosis of Dementia by Halle Kahlenberg (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Misciagno)
• Richlands, NC: Keeping a Rural Identity in a Changing World by Ian Hudson (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Justin Nelson)
• Student Safety Initiative by Lauren LaRocca (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Amanda M. Sharp Parker)

Graduate Oral Presentations

High Merit

• A Case Study: Gallbladder Disease with a Review of Contributing Factors by Ariela Christian, Emily Beverly, Brigid Kearns, and Julia Bourguignon (Faculty Mentors: Dr. Bonnie Brenseke and Dr. Adam D. Foster)
• Improving Literacy Through Primary Care by Mary Carr Bentley (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Kaprielian)

Merit

• Transforming Prenatal Education to Reduce Health Disparities by Lana Cooper (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Victoria Kaprielian)

Undergraduate Poster Presentations

High Merit

• Optimizing Paper Marbling Techniques for Use in a Chemistry of Art Laboratory Course by Carah Watson (Faculty Mentors: Dr. Sarah Goforth and Prof. Cindy Morefield)
• Metallographic Analysis of a Skateboard Bearing by Madison Wells, Noah Feltenberger, and Leilani Duncan (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alison Polasik)
• Assessing the Antibiotic Potential Within Colonies of Solenopsis invicta by Leeann Stearns (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Stephanie Mathews)

Merit

• Water Contaminant Analysis for a Sand and Gravel Quarry by Chloe Donesky (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Brian Kesling)
• We Are Running Out of Overtime by Shelby Ferrara (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Strom)
• Asymmetric Radical Catalysis with Thiamine-Dependent Enzymes by Nicholas Woodlief (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Evan Reynolds)
• Evaluation of the Laccase-like Multi-copper Oxidase from Paenibacillus glucanolyticus for Non-natural Biocatalysis by Charles Creed (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Evan Reynolds)
• What's Stealing Students' Sleep? by Payton Jackson (Faculty Mentor: Prof. Brian Bowman)
• Salivary CRP and Cortisol Analysis in Collegiate Female Lacrosse Athletes during a 2-game week by Austin Calhoun (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Stephanie Mathews)

Graduate Poster Presentations

High Merit

• Prolonged Grief Disorder: Assessment & Diagnosis During COVID-19 by Urja Shah (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mandeep Kaur)

Merit

• A Review of Outcomes: Simultaneous Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty (SBTKA) vs Staged Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty (StBTKA) by Kasci D. Pelucarte, Rachel Berndsen, and Jacob Boutros (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Maxx Toler)
• Characterization and Identification of a Bacteriophage Using Restriction Enzymes and DNA Fingerprinting Techniques by Colton Danks (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Tim Marks)
• Development of Novel Transformation Procedure to Modify the Mitochondrial Genome by Sarah Hunderup and Rayyanoor Jawad (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Warren Lushia)
• Study of Association Between E-cigarette Use in US Adults and Both Mental Health and Sleep Quality Using Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for Years 2017-2018 by Jade Thomas and Megan Rimmer (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Melissa Holland)

Undergraduate Video Presentations

High Merit

• Symphony of Destruction: Gothic Romanticism and Nuclear Culture in 1980s Thrash Metal by Callen Toscano (Faculty Mentors: Dr. Jaclyn Stanke and Dr. Sherry Truffin)

Merit

• Two Sides of the Same Coin: An Analytical Look at the Financial Crisis of 2008 by Ariel Kirkwood (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Cynthia Johnson)

Graduate Video Presentations

High Merit

• Dronabinol Useful for Chronic Pain: A Case Report by Colleen Yang (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert Agnello)

Merit

• What is the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews Investigating the Clinical Course, Prognostic and Risk Factors of Neck Pain Conditions by Lyndsey Owens, John Cosmiano, Chandler Gee, and Michael Hunt (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alessandra Trepte)
• Prevalence and Factors Influencing Falls in Older Adults Living in Urban and Rural Areas: Preliminary Results of a Systematic Review by Chandler Gee, John Cosmiano, Lyndsey Owens, Stefany Ortiz, Chase McKinney, and Kira Byrd (Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alessandra Trepte)