Celebrating Summer Scholars: Honors Students Showcase Research at 2016 Poster Session

This was truly a standout year for the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) Celebration of Summer Scholars poster session. More than 30 honors students were represented at the session, with projects ranging from musical composition to neuroscience to the psychology of memory. The session showcased 102 posters circling the Addlestone Library rotunda to inquisitive groups of faculty, staff, and students.

Over the summer, students partnered with a faculty mentor (or two) who helped them conduct research in their given field. Students then created a poster to display at the session showcasing their results and facilitating discussion on their subject within the campus community.

Hannah Manzi “Formative Research to Develop an Empirically Grounded Collegiate Recovery Program”

Poster sessions such as these are usually dominated by student research in the science, health, and technology fields, and this year was no exception. Honors students baffled attendees by analyzing geochemical soils (Ashley Turner, CofC Honors ’18), exploring the implications of a collegiate recovery program (Hannah Manzi, CofC Honors ’18), determining substrates for homologous sulfohydrolases (Caroline Gilmer, CofC Honors ’18), and discovering ways to better assess bottlenose dolphin health (Kerry Wischusen, CofC Honors ’18) – just to name a few.

Reagan Sobel “Influence of TripAdvisor Review Collection Methods on Travelers’ Perceptions and Responses”

Many students from other disciplines also showcased their work. For Rachel Dors (CofC Honors ‘18), this meant analyzing how tourists use a restaurant’s webpage. For Rebekah Rast (CofC Honors ’17), this meant examining the scene design process of a theatre performance. And for Shannon Haas (CofC Honors ’18), this meant exploring how video game culture exploits the female form.

Many students received grants to fund their research. If you’re interested in applying for research grants, check out the URCA website and next year you could be a celebrated summer scholar. For more pictures from the event, visit our flickr.