Researchers of Emory

Courtney Shin  is a junior majoring in English. She was awarded a Spring 2018 Conference Grant which she used to attend the Native American Literary Symposium . This March, I was honored to attend the Native American Literary Symposium (NALS, nativelit.com ) held in Lake Prior, Minnesota. The previous fall, Professor Mandy Suhr-Sytsma, had encouraged me to apply for the conference with a paper I had written for her Contemporary Multiethnic American Literature course. My research explored Susan Power’s most recent novel, Sacred Wilderness, and how holistic self-understanding results in the deconstruction of narrative borders . With a letter of acceptance, an essay, and a generous conference grant from URP, I found myself with a round-trip plane ticket to Minnesota. However, after months of excitement, a sense of dread filled the final weeks before my flight. I had never attended a conference before, never presented any research, never even been to Minnesota. It seemed that whi...

Cameron Frostbaum  is a senior majoring in Theater Studies and Political Science. He was awarded a Fall 2017 Independent Grant which he used to conduct research on microtheatre in Miami, Florida under Dr. Brent Glenn.  My honors thesis project explores and analyzes the Microtheatre movement as a new theatrical experience for the next generation of spectators as well as producing two nights of Microtheatre on Emory’s campus. A study conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts found that the three greatest obstacles affecting attendance to performing arts events are limited leisure time, inconvenient event locations, and costs associated with participation [1] . The Microtheatre movement in Spain has revolutionized the spectator experience by addressing these challenges and reinvigorating the performing arts. Recognized this year by the preeminent American Theatre Magazine [2] , Microtheatre has taken Spain and South America by storm. While no academic definition exi...

Kate Norton  is a sophomore double majoring in Psychology and English. She was awarded a Spring 2018 Conference Grant which she used to attend the American Southeastern Writing Center Association Conference. My colleague Lauren and I attended the  Southeastern Writing Center Association’s  2018 conference in Richmond, Virginia. At Virginia Commonwealth University, we presented original research about the  Emory Writing Center  to a group of confederates who were interested in our particular topic, which was “Exploring Attitudes About Conventional Writing Center Sessions and Workshops.” When we began our research, we didn’t have a good handle on what our purpose was, but as we analyzed our data, we came to enlightening conclusions concerning our Writing Center and steps we would like to take to improve it. 

Mia Morrell  is a sophomore majoring in Physics. She was awarded a Spring 2018 Conference Grant which she used to attend the American Physical Society Meeting in Los Angeles. When shaking parmesan cheese on your pizza, have you mused in frustration why the cheese always seems to clog up in the holes of its container? Have you ever clogged a toilet and wondered what led to this most unfortunate form of humiliation? Or on a more serious note, have you contemplated the arterial clotting of human blood cells in the early phases of a stroke? Our plexiglass hopper chamber displaying hydrogel particles in a clogged state. These questions have fascinated me ever since I was introduced to soft matter physics upon my freshman year at Emory. During my time in Emory University’s  Weeks lab , which focuses on soft matter and complex systems , I have studied soft particle clogging in two dimensions , devising experiments which can be applied to the previously cited situations o...

Chris Batterman  is a junior double majoring in Music and Psychology. He was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which he used to attend (des)articulaciones 2017. Last month, I had the opportunity to attend and present at the University of Pittsburgh’s conference, (des)articulaciones: (De)conceptualizations: Beyond Identity, Coloniality and the Subaltern. Sponsored by the university’s Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, (des)articulaciones is an international graduate student conference that allows students to present their research and get feedback from colleagues and professors in the field. This year, the conference theme revolved around the idea of the subaltern, communities or identities that have been marginalized or hierarchically positioned at lower statuses. Oftentimes, this subalternity is a result of power structures introduced by colonialism or imperialist policy (i.e., America’s involvement pretty much anywhere). This year’s theme was especially ...

Lokita Rajan is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which she used to attend the 2017 Society for Neuroscience Conference. I attended the  Society for Neuroscience (SfN)  annual meeting in Washington DC. My first time attending a neuroscience conference happened to be the largest in the world. About 30,000 attendees came from all around the globe, specializing in research across a spectrum from a cellular level all the way to cognitive systems. The sheer size of the conference was impressive. There were a thousand poster presentations happening at a given time. I felt like part of this huge community of scientists brought together by studying the brain. The poster I presented at SfN was partially funded by a URP independent research grant. I studied auditory imagery compared to other modalities of sensory imagery. Visual imagery is subdivided into  two   types . Object imagery involves pictor...

Olubusola Osunsanya  is a senior majoring in Biology. She was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which she used to attend the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. On November 1st - November 4th, 2017, I had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) in Phoenix, Arizona. ABRMS is a conference hosted by the ASM, with the goal of getting more minority students involved in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field. Starting in 2001, ABCRMS has bought together thousands of eager undergraduate students with professionals who are more than willing and able to help students reach their goal. Attending the conference was truly one of the greatest things that I did in my college career and I hope to have the opportunity to attend again in the future. 

Leah Neiman  is a senior majoring in Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Anthropology and Human Biology. She was awarded a Summer 2016 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research at the Sanctuary of the Great Gods in Greece under Dr. Bonna Wescoat. The stoa is marked by a red arrow in a plan of the sanctuary (left) and a reconstructed view from the northwest (right). This summer I had the incredible privilege of working as part of a research team in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods (SGG) on the island of Samothrace, Greece. I spent the majority of my energy working on the stoa. Stoa’s are common in ancient Greek sanctuaries; they were communal spaces used for gathering, shelter, cooking, and could have a variety of other functions. The stoa in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods sits atop the western hill of the sanctuary on an artificially constructed terrace. After their excavation in the mid 20th century, the architectural blocks were moved in to block fields s...

  Omer Ashmaig  is a junior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. He was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which he used to attend the 2017 Society for Neuroscience Conference. Attending the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) 2017 conference, located in Washington, D.C., was an important step in advancing my career as a researcher and scientist. My research project, “Bayesian Optimization of Asynchronous Distributed Microelectrode Theta Stimulation and Spatial Memory”, may sound like a mouth full, but it simply deals with trying to optimize Deep Brain Stimulation parameters, a novel therapeutic method for treating epilepsy, by looking at memory as a measured outcome. 

Jacqueline Steele is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which she used to attend the 2017 Society for Neuroscience Conference. The  Society for Neuroscience Conference  was exciting; I had heard all of my professors talk about the meeting for years, so I was curious about what it would be like. I listened to a wide variety of lectures and poster presentations, and I learned about the different types of research being done in neuroscience around the world. It was especially interesting to go to symposiums lead by my mentors and teachers from Emory, it really showed me that Emory University is a leader in the field of neuroscience. My favorite symposium was led by my P.I. Dr. Mar Sanchez, and was about how scientists can communicate animal research to the public. It was stressed that if we don’t tell our stories, someone else will (and we might not like the way they tell them.) Right now, animal research h...

Wendy Lee is a junior majoring in Biology. She was awarded a Fall 2017 Conference Grant which she used to attend the 2017 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. As my first research conference, ABRCMS 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona, has provided me with an eye-opening and career-launching experience. In contrast to the only research presentation experience I’ve had, which was a small-scale poster symposium at the end of the SURE program at Emory last summer, the ABRCMS biomedical research conference gathers undergraduates, graduates, post-docs, and medical professionals for a 4-day intensive workshop with hundreds of poster presentations occurring concurrently. The wide variety of scientific disciplines, including engineering, chemistry, psychology, etc., provided me an opportunity to be exposed to the current advancements and recent research in the fields that I am unfamiliar with. Through the conference, I was also able to meet scientists who are also studying...

Jinyi Zhang is a recent graduate who majored in Psychology. She was awarded a Spring 2017 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research on altruism across cultures under Dr. Philippe Rochat. When you see the word “research”, what pops up in your mind first? Is it dressing up in a white lab coat and goggles and painstakingly transferring tiny cells under a microscope? Or is it burying yourself in a pool of books and online sources, trying to figure out the unsolved mysteries of Maya?  For me, doing research means going to amazing countries and studying their cultures through quantitative behavioral research.

Sierra Weiss is a senior majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Disability Studies and Bioethics. She was awarded a Spring 2017 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research under Dr. Rosemarie Garland-Thompson on the T4 program during the Holocaust. Following my approval to conduct SIRE research this semester, I excitedly shared the news with my family and friends. The questions and interest quickly pursued regarding my research; I very casually mentioned the T4 Program during the Holocaust and implications on modern forms of eugenics. I assumed that most of the people I was talking to, many of whom are Jewish, would know exactly what I was talking about, however, to my great surprise, they never heard of the T4 program. Before embarking on my research at the beginning of the semester, it became clear to me how important this research is and, as I delved further into my topic, how little it is discussed.

Sami Yousif is a 2016 graduate who majored in Psychology. He was awarded a Spring 2016 Conference Grant which he used to attend the 2016 Cognitive Development Society meeting. Over fall break, I attended the meeting of the Cognitive Development Society (CDS) in Columbus, Ohio. This was my first time attending a development conference. I was particularly excited about the spatial-thinking preconference, facilitated by prominent researchers in the field of spatial cognition including David Uttal , Susan Levine , and Nora Newcombe . I was fortunate to have the opportunity to discuss my work with these professors.

Xinyue Tong  was awarded a Spring 2016 Conference Grant to present at the Eastern Michigan University Undergraduate Conference in Philosophy. Presenting my philosophy paper “Beyond Kindness and Malice” at Eastern Michigan University (EMU)’s 6 th Undergraduate Conference in Philosophy has been an unforgettable experience and a fond memory. I not only received instructive feedback from my commenter, but also learned from my fellow presenters. Moreover, attending other presentations and conducting further discussions enabled me to learn new perspectives of philosophy.

Xiancong Zhang  is a rising senior majoring in Chemistry and Biology. He was awarded a Spring 2016 Conference Grant which he used to present at the Experimental Biology Conference in Chicago.   I went to Experimental Biology (EB) in Chicago from 4.22-4.25 as an undergraduate poster presenter. EB is an annual international meeting of six societies, focusing on the latest research progress and cross-communication between disciplines. According to its website, it is a “multidisciplinary, scientific meeting features plenary and award lectures, workshops, oral and poster presentations, on-site career services and exhibits spotlighting equipment, supplies and publications required for research labs and experimental study.”

Jake Kang is a rising senior majoring in Business Administration. He was awarded a Spring 2016 Conference Grant which he used to attend the National Investment banking Competition and Conference in Vancouver, Canada. From March 22 nd to March 25 th , I traveled to Vancouver, Canada to participate in the 2016 National Investment Banking Competition and Conference (NIBC). In order to earn this great opportunity, I formed a team with three other BBA students and competed in the first round of the competition from October to November. We were initially tasked to understand AT&T’s business model and deliver solid ideas along with creating financial modeling works as well as pitch a book for the presentation. There were total of 335 participating teams from undergraduate and graduate schools all over the world, including Canada, the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, and Europe. Out of all the entries, only 24 undergraduate and 24 graduate teams were invited to the final round. This year...

Isabel Goddard is a Senior majoring in Cultural Anthropology and Quantitative Social Science. She was a recipient of a Spring 2017 Conference Grant and attended the Cornell Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium. I presented in the poster session of the Cornell Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium April 28 th 2017. [1] Attending this colloquium provided me with the opportunity to present my linguistic research findings  in an academic environment to students and faculty from across the world. The vast majority of the presentations reflected research students had conducted for their honors theses and these studies ranged from phonetic topics such as “Ergativity, Agreement, and the Sumerian Verbal Complex” to socio-linguistic research including “L’identité et la Frncophilie au Maroc: Examining the interplay of language perception and identity construction in the Moroccan student.” In this way, I was exposed to every form of linguistic research. The colloquium also included t...

  Daniel Prettel   was a Spring 2017 Conference Grant recipient. He is a rising Senior majoring in Biology. I still cannot believe I attended the Society of Surgical Oncology Annual Cancer Symposium 2017 to present a poster! Needless to say, I am an undergraduate student. So, you might be wondering, how in the world did I end up presenting a poster at a professional surgical oncology conference? Well, lets start by saying I was extremely fortunate to take part in some clinical research at the local hospital back home in South Carolina ( Greenville Memorial Hospital, Greenville, SC ).

Dalila Vasquez Herrera is a 2016 graduate who majored in Biology and Spanish. She was awarded a Spring 2016 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research on language and healthcare communication in Oaxaca and Huajuapan de Leon, Mexico. Read more about her project in the Emory Report . “ They’re Mexican, so they speak Spanish. ” These words appeared an article in The New York Times about a hospital official in New York who called a Mexican organization to help her understand some Mexican patients. The quote above is what the hospital official responded when the person at the Mexican organization asked her if she had asked what language the family spoke. The hospital official just assumed they spoke Spanish, but the family actually spoke Mixtec, one of the many indigenous languages spoken within the borders of the Mexican nation-state and across Central America . This situation is not surprising to me because I’ve experienced this linguistic and cultural d...