HAZLETON, Pa. — Penn State Hazleton’s Undergraduate Research Committee has announced the winners of the campus' annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Held virtually from April 5-8, the symposium showcased student research or scholarly work performed with Penn State Hazleton faculty members. Works were submitted in two categories: arts, humanities and social sciences and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Nargess Tahmasbi, assistant professor of information sciences and technology and co-chair of the Undergraduate Research Committee, said the committee was pleased by the turnout and quality of projects at this year’s symposium.
“I’m grateful we once again managed to offer the opportunity to the students to showcase the research projects that they worked so hard to complete under the supervision of their faculty mentors,” she said. “We appreciate all the voluntary support and contributions received from the faculty, judges, campus leadership, and Lofstrom Library."
Winners will now have the option to compete in the Regional Undergraduate Research Symposium at Penn State Schuylkill on April 23.
The winners and their submissions were:
Arts, humanities and social sciences
First place: Savannah Cothron, “Devaluation of Future Rewards as an Underlying Mechanism of Media Multitasking in the Classroom” (Research adviser: Yusuke Hayashi, associate professor of psychology)
Second place: Ashanty Vargas, “The Pink Tax: The Cost of Being a Woman” (Research adviser: Eileen Morgan, assistant teaching professor of English)
Third place: Zakary Johnson, “When the Grim Reaper Comes Calling, Tell Him I’m Not Home: Sentenced to Die, But Eventually Exonerated” (Research adviser: Daniel Gutierrez, assistant teaching professor of criminal justice)
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
First place: Mark Brady, Clayton Kimsal, and Nathan Pauselli, “Foxdale On-Site Energy Generation Using Solar Carports” (Research adviser: Joseph Ranalli, associate professor of engineering)
Second place: Kevin Lowen and Brett Wilson, “Halogen Bonding in Photochromic Napthoquinone Based Diarylethenes” (Research adviser: Dan Patel, assistant professor of chemistry)
Third place: Rochelle Rodriguez, “Factors Affecting Bird-Window Collisions on the Penn State Hazleton Campus” (Research adviser: Christopher Goguen, associate professor of biology)
Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy
Students could also elect to compete for the University Libraries' Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy. The winners in that category were:
First place: Savannah Cothron, "Devaluation of Future Rewards as an Underlying Mechanism of Media Multitasking in the Classroom" (Research adviser: Yusuke Hayashi, associate professor of psychology)
Second place: Mark Brady, Clayton Kimsal, and Nathan Pauselli, "Foxdale On-Site Energy Generation Using Solar Carports" (Research adviser: Joseph Ranalli, associate professor of engineering
Third place: Zakary Johnson, "When the Grim Reaper Comes Calling, Tell Him I'm Not Home: Sentenced to Die, But Eventually Exonerated" (Research adviser: Dan Gutierrez, assistant teaching professor of criminal justice)
