2018 Top Scholars and Finalists

Top Scholar

Stephen Janovsky
"Frequency Domain Detection of Seasonality in Financial Markets"
Faculty sponsor: Emiliano Giudici, Department of Economics and Finance

Finalists

• John Bledsoe
  "Cost Analysis of Private Student Loans"
  Faculty sponsor: Emiliano Giudici, Department of Economics and Finance
   
• Kimberly Pepper
  "Drug Usage Among Women Attending Stephen F. Austin State University"
  Faculty sponsor: Joe Ballenger, Department of Management and Marketing
   
• Kaylee Real and Hannah Percell
  "Starbucks Corporate Social Responsibility Report"
  Faculty sponsor: Carol Wright, Department of Business Communications and Legal Studies
   
• Cristyn Ritchey, Alejandra Ibarra and Julian-David M. Smith
  "College Preparation: A Freshman’s Perspective"
  Faculty sponsor: Joe Ballenger, Department of Management and Marketing
   
• Shaye Smith
  "Personality Testing"
  Faculty sponsor: Marcus Cox, Department of Management and Marketing
   
• Shaye Smith
  "Process Analysis and Improvement of Employee Tasks: A Study of Wisely Hall"
  Faculty sponsor: Pamela Rogers, Department of Management and Marketing
   
• Chris Stephenson, Joshua Jordan and Dillard Gibson
  "Attitudes toward Illegal Drug Use"
  Faculty sponsor: Joe Ballenger, Department of Management and Marketing
   

Top Scholar

Yemy Magana and Haley Paz
"Gender Typicality and Appearance and Weight Stereotypes in 6 to 10 Year Old Girls"
Faculty sponsors: Flora Farago, Department of Economics and Finance, and Sarah Savoy, Department of Psychology

Finalists

• David Buckley
  "Actual Versus Predicted VO 2 max: A Comparison of 4 Different Methods"
  Faculty sponsor: James Rowe, Department of Kinesiology and Health Science
   
• Melissa Caruso
  "Can We Teach Fake News in the Classroom with Just One Lesson?"
  Faculty sponsor: Lauren Burrow, Department of Elementary Education
   
• Daniela Diaz
  "Designing for Parkinson’s Disease: Promoting Mobility, Independence, and Confidence"
  Faculty sponsor: Mitzi Perritt, School of Human Sciences
   
• Benjamin Dickey
  "Developing Intercultural Awareness through a Study Abroad Program"
  Faculty sponsor: Tingting Xu, Department of Elementary Education
   
• Zachary Gin
  "Validity and Reliability of Wahoo KICKR Cycle Ergometer"
  Faculty sponsor: Dustin Joubert, Department of Kinesiology and Health Science
   
• Caitlin Hogan
  "Ambulatory Blood Pressure Lower Following Aquatic Exercise than Land Treadmill Exercise"
  Faculty sponsor: Dustin Joubert, Department of Kinesiology and Health Science
   
• Travis Maclin III
  "Fitness v. Physique: Is Body Image Harming Our Health?"
  Faculty sponsors: Dustin Joubert and Patty Berthot, Department of Kinesiology and Health Science
   

Top Scholar

Travis Wilson
"Theoretical Re-Design of the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom Employing LED Technology"
Faculty sponsors: CC Conn, School of Theatre

Finalists

• Cassandra DeBolt, Myriam Apollon Vixamar, Polina Golubkova and Matthew Maglaya
  "Benefits of Incorporating Health Promotion Courses for College Music Majors"
  Faculty sponsor: Mario Ajero, School of Music
   
• Dawson Tillman Dowdy
  "Palestrina’s Polyphony"
  Faculty sponsor: Jamie Weaver, School of Music
   
• Sarah Jentsch, Austin Cullen, Jacob Moffett, Chris Wicker and Shelby Martin
  "Exquisite Porks"
  Faculty sponsor: Neal Cox, School of Art
   
• Shelby Pease, Logan Starks, Travis Wattigney, and Wyatt Gay
  "Applications of Modular Synthesis in Music and Sound Design for Video Games"
  Faculty sponsor: James Adams, School of Music
   
• Kayla Peterson
  "Dramaturgical Research for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson"
  Faculty sponsor: Angela Bacarisse, School of Theatre
   
• Marie Phillips
  "Dramaturgical Research for the 2017 Production of Tartuffe"
  Faculty sponsor: Scott Shattuck, School of Theatre
   
• Sophie J. Watson
  "Mad as Hell: The Corruption of Personal Humanity in Network through Satire"
  Faculty sponsor: Inga Meier, School of Theatre
   

Top Scholar

Nicholas Schiwitz
"Interspecific Variation in Activity Level of Larval Anurans: Implications for their Distribution along the Hydroperiod Gradient"
Faculty sponsors: Christopher Schalk, Forestry

Finalists

• Sara Brown, Cooper Kirklin, David Lee, Nina McCallum and Nicky Vermeersch
  "Effects of Runoff on Nutrient and Oil & Grease Concentrations in the SFASU Ag Pond"
  Faculty sponsor: Sheryll Jerez, Environmental Science
   
• Margaret Campbell and Schaeffer Shockley
  "Comparing the CTLA Hazard Rating of Trees to Unmanned Aerial Systems Video"
  Faculty sponsor: David Kulhavy, Forestry
   
• Hailey Hester
  "Acoustic Analysis of the Advertisement Calls for Ten Anuran Species from the Gran Chaco Ecoregion of Bolivia"
  Faculty sponsor: Christopher Schalk, Forestry
   
• Megan Knippers, Brandon Billeck and Marshall Woodruff
  "Preference of White Tailed Deer among Six Common Texas Oaks"
  Faculty sponsors: Jeremy Stovall and Chris Comer, Forestry
   
• William Kruckeberg
  "First Year Survival of Sonderegger Pine, a Natural Hybrid, on Two Sites in East Texas"
  Faculty sponsor: Brian Oswald, Forestry
   
• Wade Lang and Courtney Biles
  "A Student Hosted Cattle Sale as an Approach to Experiential Learning"
  Faculty sponsor: Erin Brown, Agriculture
   
• Jessica Pruneda, Lana Welford, Andre Saenz and Jessica Mattox
  "Pineywoods Native Plant Center BioBlitz – Exploring Our Backyard"
  Faculty sponsor: Shelby Laird, Forestry
   

Top Scholar

Abigail Perschall, Hannah Tumlinson, Jessie Jenkins and Alex Sides
"Critical Companion to Bastard Out of Carolina"
Faculty sponsors: Michael Martin, Department of English

Finalists

• Abigail Cloudy and Jasmine Thompson
  "Gender Atypicality, Felt Pressure to Conform to Gender Norms, and Body Image in 6- to 10 Year-Old Girls"
  Faculty sponsors: Sarah Savoy, Department of Psychology, and Flora Farago, School of Human Sciences
   
• Abigail Echeverria, Tyler Espy, Rodney Lambeth, Torri Haubert, and Megan Johnson
  "The Not So Lost Cause: How Historians Endorsed a False History"
  Faculty sponsors: Randi Cox and Court Carney, Department of History
   
• Cassidy Hirsch
  "The Symbolic Annihilation of Latinas in Spanish-Language Music Videos and Its Detrimental Effects on mental and Physical Health"
  Faculty sponsor: Linda Levitt, Department of Languages, Cultures, and Communication
   
• Robert J. Hurt
  "A LumberJack Sunflower, Blooming from Undergraduate Research"
  Faculty sponsor: James Morris, School of Social Work
   
• Taryn Lenert
  "Pretty Baby: The Conundrum of Child Beauty Pageants"
  Faculty sponsor: Dianne Dentice, Department of Anthropology, Geography, and Sociology
   
• Grace Linebarger
  "Global Media and Soft Power Representation: A Comparative Analysis of Indian Tourism as Experienced Individually and as Represented in The New York Times and Travel Channel"
  Faculty sponsor: Sudeshna Roy, Department of Languages, Cultures, and Communication
   
• Megan Russell
  "On My Own Terms: Effectiveness of Death with Dignity Legislation in Oregon"
  Faculty sponsor: Kristin C. Bailey-Wallace, School of Social Work

Best Freshman Paper

Tyler Jones
"A Dramatistic Analysis of Manhunt Unabomber"
Faculty sponsors: Courtney Wooten, Department of English and Creative Writing

Top Scholar

Archie Sauls
"New Records of Ants for The Big Thicket National Preserve and an Analysis of the Phenology of Reproductive Stages"
Faculty sponsors: Daniel Bennett, Department of Biology

Finalists

• Abigail Cloudy and Jasmine Thompson
  "Predicting Stratigraphic Outcrops Using a LiDAR Digital Elevation Model in a Karst Landscape, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas"
  Faculty sponsors: Mindy Faulkner, Department of Geology, and Matthew A. Beauregard, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
   
• Aaron Baker
  "Mathematics of the Significant Tornado Parameter"
  Faculty sponsor: Lynn Greenleaf, Department of Mathematics and Statistics
   
• Gladys Banuelos
  "A Scanning Electron Microscopic Investigation of Pollen"
  Faculty sponsors: Daniel Bennett and Josephine Taylor, Department of Biology
   
• Kaleb Fields and Connor O’Leary
  "Heated Cell to Study Sarin Surrogates using Laser Absorption Spectroscopy in the 3.39 μm Infrared Region"
  Faculty sponsor: Christopher J. Aul, Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy
   
• Jacob R. Hershmann and Aqueeb Ali
  "Effect of Heavy Metal Ions on Photodegradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Derivatives and Photoinactivation of Escherichia coli"
  Faculty sponsor: Matibur Zamadar, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
   
• Pressley S. Nicholson
  "Structural and Compositional Investigation of Pottery Samples from Guatemala"
  Faculty sponsors: Kefa Onchoke, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Leslie G. Cecil, Anthropology, Geography, and Sociology
   
• Lillie A. Zech
  "Cation Exchange Capacity Determination: Comparative Study of Three Methods"
  Faculty sponsor: Alyx S. Frantzen, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
   

Top Scholar

Aaron Kelley
"Diagnosing Obstacles to Student Participation in Campus Governance"
Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College

Finalists

• Chloe Gasper
  "Heteronormative Encouragement and Favoring Gender Roles within School Systems in the Twenty-First Century"
  Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College
   
• Alexandra Knight
  "Procuring Household Robotic Prosthesis"
  Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College
   
• Megan L. Martsolf
  "A Content Analysis over Heteronormativity in Elementary School Grades K-3rd"
  Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College
   
• Bailey Miley
  "How Physical Therapy and Sleep Can Improve Hamstring Flexibility"
  Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College
   
• Stephanie M. Rangel
  "Emotional Labor and Performance Arts"
  Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College
   
• Natalie Smith
  "Relationship Status and the Changing Perceptions of Favorable Qualities in a Partner"
  Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College
   
• Noah Truong
  "Social Considerations for the Freshman 15"
  Faculty sponsor: Ryan Button, Behavior Sciences - Tyler Junior College