The Graduate Research Forum, a part of the Student Research Week, features poster displays and oral presentations representing UCF graduate students from diverse disciplines. The Research Forum is an opportunity for students to showcase their research and creative projects and to receive valuable feedback from faculty judges. Awards for best presentations in each category are given and all participants receive recognition.

Questions? Please email [email protected].

Congratulations to the 2018 Graduate Research Forum Winners

Oral Presentations:

Business Administration and Hospitality Management, Education, Fine Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences

First Place Doctoral

Atalie Ashley West, Public Affairs PhD – Health Services Mgmt and Research track
Interaction Between Income, Health Insurance, and Self-Rated Health
Mentors: Lynn Unruh, PhD; Jacinta Gau, PhD

Second Place Doctoral

Jennifer Scheurich, Psychology PhD
An Examination of the Use of Exposure Therapy to Treat People Who Stutter with Comorbid Social Anxiety
Mentor: Deborah Beidel, PhD

First Place Master’s

Rachel Pittaluga, Political Science MA
Discipline and Discord: A Comparative Analysis of Civic Education on Violent Versus Peaceful Political Protests in the United States
Mentor: Teddy Reynolds, PhD

Engineering, Computer Science, Modeling and Simulation, Health and Life Sciences, Mathematics, Optics, and Physical Sciences

First Place Doctoral

Omar Ahmed, Materials Science and Engineering, PhD
Thermo-Mechanical Reliability of Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) Under Near-Application Conditions
Mentor: Tengfei Jiang, PhD
Co-Authors: Golareh Jalilvand; Jessica Dieguez; Peng Su, Junipor Networks; Paul Ho, PhD, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin; Tengfei Jiang, PhD

Second Place Doctoral

Nathaniel Roddenberry, Medicine
Understanding Healthcare Utilization Among a Central Florida Farmworker Population at a Student-Run Free Clinic
Mentor: Judith Simms-Cendan, MD
Co-Authors: Jenna Driscoll; Morgan Irwin-Weyant; Arjun Patel; Jacklyn Locklear; Paul Symansky; Lauren Everett; Melanie Bui; Sirikanya Sellers; Judith Simms-Cendan, MD

First Place Master’s

Aleksandra Krawczyk, Communication Sciences and Disorders MA
Cross-Linguistic Findings of Stuttering and Typical Disfluencies in Polish-English Bilinguals
Mentor: Martine Vanryckeghem, PhD
Co-Authors: Martine Vanryckeghem, PhD; Anthony Pak Hin Kong, PhD; Katarzyna Wesierska, PhD, University of Silesia 

Poster Presentations:

Fine Arts and Humanities, Education

First Place Doctoral

Jillian Schreffler, Education PhD – Exceptional Education track
Answering Student Questions: A Study Comparing TeachLivE vs. In-Person Skill Building in Health/Sex Education
Mentor: Lisa Dieker, PhD

Second Place Doctoral

Ken Matthews, Education PhD – Methodology, Measurement and Analysis track
Focusing on Growth: A Model of Graduation Rate Changes Among Florida's State Colleges
Mentor: Debbie Hahs-Vaughn, PhD
Co-Author: Debbie Hahs-Vaughn, PhD

First Place Master’s

Carys O’Neill, History MA – Public History track
‘A Room of Their Own’: Heritage Tourism and the Challenging of Heterosexual Masculinity in Scottish National Narratives
Mentors: Amelia Lyons, PhD; Rosalind Beiler, PhD; Caroline Cheong, PhD

Health and Life Sciences

First Place Doctoral

Ziyang Huang, Chemistry PhD               
Synthesis of Antimicrobial Magnesium Hydroxide Particles for Agriculture Application
Mentor: Swadeshmukul Santra, PhD
Co-Authors: Ali Ozcan; Parthiban Rajasekaran

Second Place Doctoral

Nileshi Saraf, Materials Science and Engineering PhD
Picomolar Range Detection of Epinephrine Using Aptamer Based Organic Electrochemical Transistor as Transducer
Mentor: Sudipta Seal, PhD
Co-Authors: Madison Peppler; Eric Woods, University of Houston; Sudipta Seal, PhD

First Place Master’s

Ryan Girts, Sports and Exercise Science MS
Effects of a Simulated Soccer Match on Neuropsychological and Cognitive Function: A Pilot Study
Mentor: Adam Wells, PhD
Co-Authors: Adam Wells, PhD; Michael Redd

Social Sciences and Business

First Place Doctoral

Rosanna Scott – Clinical Psychology PhD
Moderate Alcohol Use and Health Outcomes in Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Socialization
Mentor: Daniel Paulson, PhD
Co-Authors: Chelsea Wiener; Daniel Paulson, PhD

Second Place Doctoral

Ashley Connors, Public Affairs PhD – Public Administration track
Does Immigrant Status Influence Civic Engagement? An Examination of Parental Immigrant Status and Education Level on High School Students' Civic Engagement
Mentor: Matt Nobles, PhD

First Place Master’s

Kelly Merrill, Jr., Communication MA – Mass Communication track
Holding Off on the Fun Stuff: Media Multitasking and Binge Watching Among College Students
Mentor: Bridget Rubenking, PhD

Second Place Master’s

Angelica Costa, Anthropology MA
Fashioning Society: The Use of Facial Adornments for Social Identification in Postclassic Tlaxcallan, Mexico
Mentor: Sarah Barber, PhD

Engineering

First Place Doctoral

Aadithya Jeyaranjan, Materials Science and Engineering PhD
Morphology and Crystal Plane Effects on Charge Storage in Nano Rare Earth Oxides
Mentor: Sudipta Seal, PhD
Co-Authors: Tamil Selvan Sakthivel; Marco Molinari, Department of Chemistry, University of Huddersfield; Dean Sayle, School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent; Sudipta Seal, PhD

Second Place Doctoral

Supriya Koul, Materials Science and Engineering PhD
In-situ TEM Study of the Microstructure Evolution and the Mechanical Property of the 3D Printed Inconel 718 and Aluminum Silicon Alloy
Mentor: Akihiro Kushima, PhD
Co-Authors: Le Zhou; Yongho Sohn, PhD; Akihiro Kushima, PhD

Mathematics, Optics, and Physical Sciences

First Place Doctoral

Hao Chen, Optics & Photonics PhD       
Quantum Dot Light Emitting Devices (QLEDs) for Photomedical Application
Mentor: Yajie Dong, PhD
Co-Authors: Tzu-Hung Yeh, Organic Electronics Research Center, Ming-Chi University of Technology; Shun-Wei Liu, Organic Electronics Research Center, Ming-Chi University of Technology; Raymond Lanzafame, Laser Surgical Research Laboratory, Rochester General Hospital; Istvan Stadler, MD, Laser Surgical Research Laboratory, Rochester General Hospital; Michael Hamblin, Harvard Medical School, Wellman Center for Photomedicine; Yingying Huang, Harvard Medical School, Wellman Center for Photomedicine; Gal Shafirstein, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Photodynamic Therapy Center; Jonathan Celli, Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts Boston; Ho-Kyoon Chung, ITRC AMOLED Research Center, Sungkyunkwan University; Caicai Zhang; Juan He; Shin-Tson Wu, PhD; Yajie Dong, PhD

Second Place Doctoral

Ryan Challener, Physics PhD – Planetary Sciences track
Pixel-Level Decorrelation and BiLinearly Interpolated Subpixel Sensitivity Applied to WASP-29b
Mentor: Joseph Harrington, PhD
Co-Authors: Joseph Harrington, PhD; Patricio Cubillos, Space Research Institute, Austria; Jasmina Blecic, New York University Abu Dhabi; Drake Deming, University of Maryland; Coel Hellier, Keele University

Engineering, Mathematics, Optics, and Physical Sciences

First Place Master’s

Stephanie Armas – Chemistry MS
Solid-Contact Micro-Ion-Selective Electrode for Analysis of Zinc in Plants and Bactericides
Mentor: Karin Chumbimuni-Torres, PhD
Co-Authors: Cody Autrey; Enrique Blanco; Jared Church; Ali Ozcan; Woo Hyoung Lee, PhD; Swadeshmukul Santra, PhD; Karin Chumbimuni-Torres, PhD


Participant’s Choice Award

Robert Sharp, Biomedical Sciences PhD

 

List of Participants List of Participants by College

GRF Sponsors

© 2018 University of Central Florida
College of Graduate Studies

Graduate Research Forum

Event Floorplan

GRF Sponsors

© 2018 University of Central Florida
College of Graduate Studies

Graduate Research Forum

List of Participants

GRF Sponsors

© 2018 University of Central Florida
College of Graduate Studies

Graduate Research Forum

List of Participants By College

GRF Sponsors

© 2018 University of Central Florida
College of Graduate Studies