Oral & Performance Presentations

Psychology Graduate Students

Investigating Camp Experiences of Autistic Youth
Graduate Student: Ashley Barker
Degree Program: Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Jonathan Campbell

Perceptions of Dog Breeds in Animal Assisted Therapy
Graduate Student: Jessie Gruber
Degree Program: Doctor of Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Hannah Buala

Associations between ADHD symptoms, executive function and frontal EEG in college students
Graduate Student: Mykenzi Allison
Degree Program: Doctor of Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Alleyne Broomell

Inhibitory Control and Perceptions of Peer Friendship Quality in Adolescents
Graduate Student: Nina Glawe
Degree Program: Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Alleyne Broomell

Examining the Underlying Neurological Processes Associated with Familiarity and Recollection-Based Memory Retrieval
Graduate Student: Ryan Springs
Degree Program: Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Hannah Buala

How Does Presentation of Social Media Content Impact People’s Identification with ADHD Symptoms
Graduate Student: William Haas
Degree Program: Doctor of Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Hannah Buala

Real World Research

A Fleeting Breath – Feature Film
Undergraduate Student: Trent Lakey
Department: School of Stage and Screen
Faculty Sponsor: Joshua Overbay

Everyone Outside: A Critical Content Analysis of the Children’s Literature Winners for the National Outdoor Book Awards
Graduate Student: Ashley Farris
Degree Program: Master of Science in Experiential Outdoor Education
Faculty Sponsor: Andrew Bobilya

The Effect of Guardian Caps’ Perceived Benefit on Player Aggressiveness
Undergraduate Student: Cole Staggs
Department: School of Health Sciences
Faculty Sponsor: Caitlin Torrence

Do the Recreational Benefits of Golf Outweigh the Ecological and Physiological Consequences?
Undergraduate Students: Jacob Scruggs and Willow Gunn
Department: School of Health Sciences
Faculty Sponsor: Paul Stonehouse

Enhancing Patient Comfort During Pelvic Exams: Non-Pharmacological Approaches in Primary Care
Graduate Student: Jessica VanRegenmorter
Degree Program: Doctor of Nursing Practice as a Family Nurse Practitioner
Faculty Sponsor: Jaclyn Bandell

From Pathogenesis to Salutogenesis, Designing for Wellness. A Paradigm Shift in the World of Interior Design
Undergraduate Student: Leslie Smith
Department: School of Art and Design
Faculty Sponsor: Shelby Hicks

The In Between
Graduate Student: Reese Seigfried
Degree Program: Master in Fine Arts
Faculty Sponsor: Susan Martin

Contemporary Tradition: Influences in Otar Taktakishvili’s “Sonata in C Major for Flute and Piano” (1966)
Undergraduate Student: McKenzie Yazan
Department: School of Music
Faculty Sponsor: Christina Reitz

English

Harmful Rhetoric Surrounding the Crisis in Palestine
Graduate Student: Caitlyn Cable
Degree Program: Master of Arts in English
Faculty Sponsor: Drew Virtue

The Benefitial Outcomes of Writing: A Literature Review
Undergraduate Student: Elisa Zambrano Andrada
Department: English Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Veronica Wisnewski-Parks

Will the World Weep When We are Gone? Ariel Francisco’s Guide to the End of the World
Undergraduate Student: Grace Pavel
Department: English Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Brian Railsback

Queering in the Works of Shirley Jackson
Graduate Student: Daniel Acocella
Degree Program: Master of Arts in English
Faculty Sponsor: Travis Rountree

Steinbeck and the “-ologies”: Psychology, Biology, Physiology, and the Power of Animals in All Three
Undergraduate Student: Jordan Hicks
Department: English Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Brian Railsback

Silence, Space, and Social Alienation: Storytelling through Production Design in The Shape of Water
Undergraduate Student: Molly Mayfield
Department: English Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Emily Naser-Hall

This is My “Hot Girl Paper”: The function of “girl” as a modifier in social media trends
Undergraduate Student: Mykah Green
Department: English Studies
Faculty Sponsor: Erin Callahan

Social Sciences

The Accent of your Class: How Language Adapts and Change Through Nueba Yol as Commentary Device
Undergraduate Student: Allem Rojas 
Department: World Languages
Faculty Sponsor: Michael Martinez

Water is a Social Justice Issue: Water Distribution, Quality, and Infrastructure in the Asheville Area Following Hurricane Helene
Graduate Student: Ariana Figueroa
Degree Program: Master of Social Work
Faculty Sponsor: Katy Allen

Assessing College Students’ Worst Experiences of Digital Dating Abuse
Undergraduate Students: Ashley Elliot and Hannah Huddleston
Department: Communication
Faculty Sponsors: Mindy Weathers and Meghan Gangel

Tropical Systems and Catastrophic Flooding in the Southern Appalachians
Undergraduate Student: Isabella Barger
Department: Criminology and Criminal Justice
Faculty Sponsor: Sarah Jackson

State Mandates on Sex Education and their Correlates to a Reduction in the Rate of Forcible Rape
Undergraduate Student: Kevin Lavery
Department: School of Economics, Management, and Project Management
Faculty Sponsor: Sean Mulholland

Trapped by Design: Redlining and the Cycle of Poverty In US Cities
Undergraduate Student: Tryston Weiss
Department: School of Economics, Management, and Project Management
Faculty Sponsor: Sean Mulholland

The Community Care Program: Social Work and Law Enforcment Collaboration in Rural Communities
Graduate Student: Victoria Doyle
Degree Program: Master of Social Work
Faculty Sponsor: Katy Allen

Psychology Undergraduate Students

The Impact of Weight Stigma on Pelvic Floor Health in Emerging Adult Females
Undergraduate Students: Audrey Shore and Krysta Perez
Department: Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Meghan Gangel

Gender or Masculine attitudes that contribute to mental health stigma?
Undergraduate Student: Emmalee Stillwell
Department: Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Sigler 

Fast-Tracked or sidetracked? Rethinking Early College
Undergraduate Student: Faith Robinson
Department: Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Sigler 

Is the blood on our hands? A look into free-recall memory from eyewitness case vignettes
Undergraduate Student: Jordan Hicks
Department: Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Ellen Sigler

The use of a behavioral coding approach to understanding emotional reactivity of adolescents during a peer-based discussion task
Undergraduate Student: Jozy Ballance
Department: Psychology
Faculty Sponsors: Meghan Gangel and Alleyne Broomell

Sexism on Social Media Platforms
Undergraduate Student: Maggie Crowell
Department: Psychology
Faculty Sponsor: Hannah Buala

Science

Developing salivary gland ELISAs to measure human exposure to La Crosse virus vectors
Graduate Student: Hannah Alexander
Degree Program: Master of Science in Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Brian Byrd 

Tuning Optical and Structural Properties of Lanthanide-Doped Calcium-Fluoride Nanocrystals
Undergraduate Student: Madelyn Gregory
Department: Chemistry & Physics
Faculty Sponsor: Channa De Silva

Chronic Stress and Color Analysis of Desmognathus monticola (Seal Salamanders) at the Buck Creek Serpentine Barrens
Graduate Student: Matthew Zimmerman
Degree Program: Master of Science in Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Joseph Pechmann

Second-Site Mutation L1254A Partially Rescues Transport of Mutant N1303K Membrane Protein in HEK293 Cells
Undergraduate Student: Tony Yost
Department: Biology
Faculty Sponsor: Robert Youker

Technology

Grip Strength Training Device
Undergraduate Student: Andrew Robakiewicz
Department: School of Engineering & Technology
Faculty Sponsor: Martin Tanaka

Analyzing Articular Cartilage Force Profiles in the Tibiofemoral Joint
Undergraduate Student: Chloe Davis
Department: School of Engineering & Technology
Faculty Sponsor: Martin Tanaka

Simulation Models of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Migration in Tissue Engineered Scaffolds for Articular Cartilage Repair
Undergraduate Student: John Davis
Department: School of Engineering & Technology
Faculty Sponsor: Martin Tanaka

Integration of Machine Learning for Enhanced Wave Energy Converter Power Output Estimation
Graduate Student: Omer Mert Gursel
Degree Program: Master of Science in Engineering Technology
Faculty Sponsor: Hayrettin Bora Karayaka

An Analysis of Fibrous Capsule Formation and Its Impact on Diffusion
Undergraduate Student: Sommer Allen
Department: School of Engineering & Technology
Faculty Sponsor: Martin Tanaka