Liv Parkinson is a Junior Exchange Student here at the University of Central Oklahoma with Dr. Patricia Loughlin as her faculty advisor. She took Dr. Loughlin’s “History of Women in the American West” class during her first semester at UCO. The long running project for this was in collaboration with the National Cowboy and Heritage Museum, helping research the roles of women in the American West to inform their exhibitions in celebration of the centenary of women’s right to vote. The museum’s rodeo exhibit sparked her interest as it made reference to Bonnie McCarroll as a competitor and many other women as Rodeo Queens, but not much information on how and why this shift happened.
Month: April 2020
Time Management and Self-Care during COVID-19 Lockdown
The world is fighting a relentless battle against the COVID-19 pandemic – most offices and businesses are closed and schooling is now virtual. With the line between academic, professional and personal spaces blurring, many are finding it difficult to juggle deadlines, homeschooling, online lectures, household chores, and attending to family.
Meet the Researcher – Kaylan Peterson
Kaylan Peterson is a Senior Forensic Science and Criminal Justice Major at UCO. Peterson got involved in research in 2018 when Professor Steven Dunn, her Faculty Advisor, approached her with a research idea he had been curious about investigating for several semesters.
Kaylan Peterson was invited to NCUR 2020 to present her research, “Reflective Quizzes and Personal Development.” The purpose of this study is to determine the impact reflective writing quizzing might have on a person’s self awareness, self compassion, and grasp of autonomy.
Meet the Researcher – Nierouz Alrashdan
Nierouz Alrashdan is a Junior Psychology Major who was invited to present at NCUR 2020. Her faculty mentor is Steven Dunn. Her research project is titled “Tribalism In Our Society”. For Nierouz, “tribalism had a huge impact on my day-to-day life; therefore, I conducted this research to figure out how and why”. Tribalism is a moral bias in which one lacks self-awareness and views their group as superior to others. It is a bias that has caused tension in politics, individuality (or the self-concept), cultural belonging, and family relatedness. With the help of multiple surveys, this research is made to see if people can become aware of this bias within themselves and ways to reduce it from influencing future opinions.
Jones Harris Endowed Scholarship
The mission of the Jones/Harris Public Service Scholarship is to select a student with strong leadership potential and a commitment to enrolling in a graduate or professional school that will assist in pursuing a career in public service. This is a highly competitive scholarship with the winner receiving up to a one year, $10,000 award.
Meet the Researcher – Gabriella Oliver
Gabriella Oliver, a senior Mathematics-Statistics major, co-presenting with Ethan Bruegel and Ren Jian Lee were invited to present their research at NCUR 2020. Their faculty advisor was Dr. Tyler Cook. Gabriella has been a part of SCHOLAR (Statistical Consulting Help for Organizational Leaders and Academic Researchers) since Fall of 2017. Gabriella Oliver, Ethan Grugel, and Ren Jian Lee are continuing their research via ZOOM. Their research project was titled “Analyzing the Influence of Evening Exams on Success in General Chemistry.” This experiment was conducted during the 2018-2019 academic year where students in certain sections of General Chemistry took exams at two different times.
Meet the Researcher – Grace Wray
By Oluwapelumi Osunrayi and Sydney Woodward
On April 21, The Council on Undergraduate Research is having their first Virtual Posters on the Hill Showcase for undergraduate researchers. Researchers from across the country will come together online to share their research. Posters on the Hill is an annual event that is an important for the advocacy of undergraduate research funding at a federal level. If you want to participate in the virtual showcase on April 21, visit Twitter and follow CUR at @CURinAction and search #POH2020 and #POHgoesVirtual.
Meet the Researchers – Veronica Fuxa and Vincent Pinion
Meet UCO students Veronica Fuxa, Senior English Education Major, and Vincent Pinion, Senior Master’s Student in Experimental Psychology. Their faculty mentor is Dr. Anastasia Wickham. Veronica got involved in her research through preparing to student-teach. She noticed how some teachers reacted towards technology usage such as Google Classroom and Chromebooks. “In my education courses, we learn about different technologies, but we are never sure which ones are effective in the classroom since we did not have any experience. I wanted to analyze teachers’ reactions towards ‘essential technologies’ and use quantitative analysis to determine different groups’ attitudes towards classroom technology.”
Meet the Researcher – Savannah Melher
Due to circumstances surrounding COVID-19, University of Central Oklahoma student researchers were unable to present at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. In the next few weeks, we will be highlighting some of these phenomenal students and their research.
First is Savannah Melher, a Senior Strategic Communications Major with Dr. Mary Carver as her faculty advisor. She got involved in undergraduate research through the McNair Scholars program on Campus. Savannah was invited to the 2020 NCUR Conference to present her research, “Reporting in Race: the Depiction of Black Oklahomans.” The purpose of the study is to research depictions of race in the media. Prior studies focused on politics and how news stories favor one candidate over another or how the media favors a political party, thus addressing how the media can be a tool for gaining political preference. Savannah concludes in the present study that the same can be said regarding race depiction in the news media.
COVID 19 – Updates on Undergraduate Research
On March 26th, UCO closed physical campus and transitioned to alternative instructional delivery of classes and services in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Most offices now offer services online and the Office of High-Impact Practices (OHIP) isn’t an exemption.
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