Previous UGR Competitions - Coastal Carolina University
MyCCU
In This Section
Apply Visit Info Tours
In This Section

Undergraduate Research Competition

Programs from Previous Years

Winners from Previous Years

 
2021

Oral Presentations: Humanities, Fine Arts, and Education

  • 1st Place:  Ethan Toavs, "Homeward Bound," From "Aurora - Suite for Orchestra" Op. 7 (Music Major, Faculty Mentor:  Donald Sloan)
  • 2nd Place:  Jenna Smith, Reflections on van Eyck: The Meaning of Mirrors in Portraiture (Art Studio and Graphic Design Double Major, Faculty Mentors:  Aneilya Barnes and Stephanie Miller)
  • 3rd Place:  Alexandria Banning, The Inclusivity of Emotional Abuse Definitions and Interest Groups (Political Science Major, Faculty Mentor:  Adam Chamberlain)

 Oral Presentations:  Science

  • 1st Place:  Allison Kladler, The effect of sunscreen on the life expectancy of Palaemonetes pugio (Marine Science Major, Faculty Mentor:  Eric Rosch)
  • 2nd Place:  Caroline Durham1, Armani Sumpter1, and Jonah Nordeen2, Gun Violence: An Analysis of Public Perception and Experience in the Southeast (Public Health1 and Biochemistry2 Majors, Faculty Mentor:  Sharon Thompson)
  • 3rd Place:  Kaylee Petraccione, Emma Lehmann, and Molly Tancini, Detection of Tomato Mosaic Virus Using a Novel at Home RT-PCR Approach (Biology Majors, Faculty Mentor:  Michelle Barthet)

 Poster Presentations

  • 1st Place:  Madison Gentilo, The COVID-19 Sentinel Project: Monitoring the incident rate of COVID-19 on campus (Biology Major, Faculty Mentor:  Paul Richardson)
  • 2nd Place:  Meredith LaLumia, Anthropogenic impacts on the territoriality of the ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata, along the Grand Strand, South Carolina (Marine Science Major, Research Mentor:  Eric Rosch)
  • 3rd Place:  Tyler Gross, Using Creative Writing and Literacy to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline (Special Education Major, Faculty Mentor:  Tiffany Hollis)
2019

Oral Presentations: Natural and Applied Sciences

  • 1st Place: Alex Foster, Modeling Protection Strategies Against Chikungunya Virus on Reunion Island (Applied Mathematics major, Research Mentor: Igor Erovenko)
  • 2nd Place: Nicholas Coleman, Association behavior between sand tiger sharks (Carcharias taurus) and round scad (Decapterus punctatus) may be mutually beneficial (Marine Science major, Faculty Mentor: Erin Burge)
  • 3rd Place: Jeremy Evans and Hailey Wimmenauer, Breaking Suicide and Depression (SAD) Inititive: Examining the Correlation between Screen Time and Mental Heal (Public Health major, Faculty Mentor: Sharon Thompson)

Oral Presentations: Humanities and Fine Arts, Business, and Education

  • 1st Place: Brenna Wiinanen, The Continuation of a Composition of an Unfinished Mozart Flute Concerto (Music major, Faculty Mentor: Donald Sloan)
  • 2nd Place: Dara Potts and Amelia Dobbs, Popular Culture, Shakespeare, and Gender (Theatre major, Faculty Mentor: Robin Russell)
  • 3rd Place: Olivia Dimatteo, Museum Semiotics (Communication major, Faculty Mentor: Kyle Holody)

Poster Presentations: Physical and Biological Sciences

  • 1st Place: Whitney Davis, The Effects of Marine Natural Products on the Microenvironment of Pancreatic Cancer (Biology/Marine Science major, Research Mentor: Esther Guzman)
  • 2nd Place: Mary Akers and Alyssa Leclaire, Ecosystem Engineers or Engineered by the Ecosystem? (Marine Science majors, Faculty Mentor: Juli Harding)
  • 3rd Place: Lillian Rios-Brady, Detection of Newly Synthesized Membrane Proteins in Isolated Squid Axoplasm from Loligo pealeii (Marine Science major, Research Mentor: Miguel Holmgren)

Poster Presentations: Health and Behavioral Sciences, Humanities, and Education

  • 1st Place: 1Julie Emory, 2Nicole Moravitz and 3Lyle Ciardi, The Solar Impact: The Work of the Solar Ambassadors in Promoting Renewable Energy Sources (1History/Intelligence and National Security Studies, 2Marine Science, and 3History majors, Faculty Mentor: Pamela Martin)
  • 2nd Place: Tessa Taylor, College Freshmen Behaviors and Perceptions about E-Cigarettes (Public Health major, Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Carter)
2018

Oral Presentations: Natural and Applied Sciences

  • 1st Place: Ashley Lynch and Sydney Brown, Quantifying perceptions of substance abuse: Promoting positive change (Biology major, Faculty Mentor: Sharon Thompson)
  • 2nd Place: Rebecca Polaski, Effects of Regional Hypoxia on Cognitive Ability in Juvenile Leopard Geckos (Eublepharis macularius) (Biochemistry major, Faculty Mentors: Scott Parker and Matthew Murphy)
  • 3rd Place: Krystina Millar, The Value of Water: Gender and Desired Outcomes in Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring (Sociology major, Faculty Mentor: Jaime McCauley)

Oral Presentations: Humanities and Fine Arts, Business, and Education

  • 1st Place: Sydney James, Using Experimental Archaeology as a Tool for Education (Anthropology major, Faculty Mentors: Aneilya Barnes and Carolyn Dillian)
  • 2nd Place: Ramsey Diven, In a State of Serenity (Art Studio major, Faculty Mentors: Aneilya Barnes and Charles Clary)
  • 3rd Place: Allie Sheets, Cash Bail and African American Inequalities (Political Science major, Faculty Mentors: Jonathan Trerise and Jacqueline Kurlowski)

Poster Presentations: Physical and Biological Sciences

  • 1st Place: Hannah Weinberg, Skin lesion prevalence on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from coastal waters near Murrells Inlet, SC (Marine Science major, Faculty Mentor: Rob Young)
  • 2nd Place: Josh Dusci, Comparing High and Low-Density Stocking Rates of Goldfish in an Aquaponics System (Marine Science major, Faculty Mentor: Erin Burge)
  • 3rd Place: Tyler McKee, SharkCam video observation of marine fishes associated with hard bottom habitat (Marine Science major, Faculty Mentor: Erin Burge)

Poster Presentations: Health and Behavioral Sciences and Humanities

  • 1st Place: Tavia Sturgill, Implications of Racial Tensions on Implicit Biases in Processing Information about Different Races (Psychology major, Faculty Mentor: Andrew Terranova)
  • 2nd Place: Diazia Torres, Are There Flaws in Forensic Identification? (Psychology major, Faculty Mentor: Melissa Paiva-Salisbury) 
2017

Oral Presentations: Natural and Applied Sciences

  • 1st Place: Ashley Pribble, Characterizing Galactosemia in C. elegans (Biology Major, Faculty Mentor: Daniel Williams)   
  • 2nd Place: Kaitlyn Benson, Gender, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategy as Predictors of Emotional Eating in College Students (Biology major/Psychology minor, Faculty Mentor: Linda Palm, Psychology)
  • 3rd Place: Daniele Aguilera, College Students Attitudes Toward Deservingness of Government Assistance (Psychology major, Faculty Mentor: Joan Piroch)

Oral Presentations: Humanities and Fine Arts, Business, and Education

  • 1st Place: Dara Potts, Clown Therapy: Healing One Laugh at a Time (Theatre Arts major, Faculty Mentors: Amy Tully and Ben Sota) 
  • 2nd Place: Charlie Whittington, The Emergence of Leaders: State Supreme Court Justices (Political Science major, Faculty Mentor: Mikel Norris)
  • 3rd Place: Amelia Dobbs , Jack Cole and Andy Blankenbuehler: The Influence of Ethnic Dance on Choreographic Style (Musical Theatre major, Faculty Mentor: Adam Pelty)

Poster Presentations (all subjects):

  • 1st Place: Madeleine Lee, The Movement of Nitrogen through a Stormwater Retention Pond System (Marine Science major, Faculty Mentor: Angelos Hannides)
  • 2nd Place: Cierra Lucas, Digestive Efficiency and Energetic Content in the Prey of Diamondback Terrapins (Biology major, Faculty Mentor: Scott Parker)
  • 3rd Place: Nicholas Conway, Tracing Extreme Floods of the Waccamaw River Using Oxbow Lake Deposits (Marine Science major, Faculty Mentor: Zhixiong Shen)
2016

Oral Presentations: Science

  • 1st Place: Briana Laws, Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Testing the Accuracy of the SLEEPMED Questionnaire (Biochemistry major, Mentor: Sharon Thompson)           
  • 2nd Place: Meghan Troup, Decreased Mixing Conditions during Low Oxygen Events in Long Bay, South Carolina: 2006-2014 (Marine Science major, Mentors: Erin Hackett, Diane Fribance and Roi Gurka)
  • 3rd Place: Christopher L. Pierpont, Characterization of an Essential Chloroplast Protein (Marine Science/Biology major, Mentor: Michelle Barthet)

Oral Presentations: Business, Education, and Humanities and Fine Arts

  • 1st Place: Rachel Hansen, The Inalienable Right to a Peaceful Death (Communication major, Mentor: Amanda Grefski)
  • 2nd Place: Taylor O’Hara, Consumerism in the City: The Ways in Which Fashion is Both Limiting and Empowering in Sex and the City (English major, Mentor: Cynthia Port)

Poster Presentations (all subjects):

  • 1st Place: Abby Boytos, The Effects of Religion and Career Priming on Problem-Solving Persistence in College Students (Psychology Major, Mentor: Terry Pettijohn)
  • 2nd Place: Nelda Glaze, The Relationship between Assigned Homework and its Purposes (Elementary Education Major, Mentor: Catherine Scott)
  • 3rd Place: Stephen Penton, Ocean Surface Effects on Refractivity Inversions Using Genetic Algorithms (Computer Science and Applied Mathematics Major, Mentor: Erin Hackett)
2015

Oral Presentations (awards in two categories):

  • 1st Place, Humanities, Business, and Education: Carlie Mills, Conducting Formative Research in Alcohol Social Norms Campaigns (Communication major, Mentor: Mark Flynn)
  • 1st Place, Science and Math: Alyson Lavin, Association Patterns in Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) off Northern South Carolina (Marine Science major, Mentor: Rob Young)
  • 2nd Place, Science and Math: Lyndsay Young, Multiple Pathways of Neurodegeneration in Caenorhabditis  Elegans (Marine Science major, Mentor: Daniel Williams)

Poster Presentations (all categories combined):

  • 1st Place: John Segreto, Unsteady Effects of the Near Wake Behind Freely Flying European Starling, American Robin and Western Sandpiper (Chemistry major, Mentor: Roi Gurka)
  • 2nd Place: Jennifer Soyke-Tester, The Effects of Fixed and Free Play Interactions with a Robotic Dog on Student Emotional States (Psychology major, Mentor: Terry Pettijohn)
  • 3rd Place: Jessamin A. Straub, Fluvial Morphology and Bedform Migration in the Ebb Tidal Dominated Duplin River, Georgia (Marine Science major, Mentor: Jenna Hill)
2014

Oral Presentations (awards in three categories):

  • 1st Place, Humanities and Business: Nathaniel Grimes, Institutions of the Shark Fin Market:  Roles of Externalities and Incentives (Economics/Marine Science major, Mentor: Rob Salvino)
  • 1st Place, Social and Political Sciences: Ashleigh Simons, Blame attribution as a function of sexual assault victim characteristics (Psychology major, Mentor: Linda Palm)
  • 1st Place, Physical, Biological, and Health Sciences: Janel Reeves, Call a Vegetable a Vegetable: Perceptions and Taste Ratings (Biology major, Mentor: Sharon Thompson)
  • 2nd Place, Physical, Biological, and Health Sciences: Mary Anderson, Effectiveness of Gaming Systems on Balance in Older Individuals (Biology major, Mentors: Greg Martel and Karen Aguirre)

Poster Presentations (all categories combined):

  • 1st Place (tie): Anthony Carrone, Tatoos and Risk Taking Behavior in College Students (Psychology major, Mentor: Miranda Brenneman)
  • 1st Place (tie): Valerie Hartigan, Stable Isotope Analysis in Deep Sea Cephalopods of the Bear Seamount (Marine Science major, Mentor: Juli Harding)
  • 2nd Place: Joseph Griswold, Charles Klingler, and Coleen Haley, Prevalence and Intensity of Ectoparasites on Fundulus heteroclitus as a Function of Size in Two Marsh Systems in South Carolina, USA (Marine Science majors, Mentor: Erin Burge)
2013

Oral Presentations

  • First Place: Lauren Albrittain, “Influence of Tidal Cycles on Movements of Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in South Carolina Coastal Environments”
  • Second Place: Christine Po, “Dietary Knowledge and Habits of Collegiate Athletes”
  • Third Place: Zack Parker, “Modeling Terrestrial Characteristics of Diamondback Terrapin Nest Sites Using LiDAR and GIS at Waites Island, SC.”

Poster Presentations

  • First Place: Karla Stroud, “Site Fidelity, Home Range, and Population Demographics of Two Grass Shrimp Species in North Inlet, SC”
  • Second Place: Benjamin Thepaut, “Community-based Groundwater and Lake Level Management in Briarcliffe Acres, SC”
  • Third Place: Kelly Gregorcyk, “Benthic Habitat Mapping in Port Jefferson Harbor in Long Island Sound, NY”