Ohio University Student Research and Creative Activity’s annual expo was held this year on Thursday, April 11, 2024, at the Convocation Center. Students, staff and faculty gathered to witness student research, scholarship and creative works with highlights of some of the best undergraduate and graduate work that OHIO students are doing to further knowledge and benefit society.
Presented projects at the Expo are up for cash and other prizes, and the Libraries were excited to use the Vernon R. and Marion Alden Endowment fund to support nine of its annual awards. Three graduate students: Faustina Mensah, Collins Ketere and Ahmed Aly; two student employees: Maddie James and Allison Rollins; three undergraduate students: Grace Vance, Miranda Kress and Brandon Witmer; and the Librarian’s choice: Martha Wise, were the recipients.
Students who receive the endowment awards are ones who have utilized the variety of resources that University Libraries has to offer for their research or creative projects. See below for images from the Expo as well as the awardees, participants and their impressive projects.
Martha Wise, Ph.D. student in education research, presents her project, “7 Traits of 6 Highly Effective People with ADHD: How 6 Post-secondary Learners Beat the Odds & Overcame Common Challenges,” to Janet Hulm, interim dean of University Libraries. Wise won the Librarian’s Choice award given by the Libraries.
Faustina Mensah, a Ph.D. student in higher education, and Hulm look over Mensah’s project, “Reimagining Institutional Support: ‘Being Journey Advocates’ for Foster Youth Alumni in Campus-Support Programs in Ohio.” Mensah won the first-place graduate award.
Brandon Witmer, a sophomore studying English, speaks to Hulm in his project titled, “Meeting Patriarchal Expectations: A Character Study of Mae in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’” which won Witmer the third-place undergraduate award.
Miranda Kress, a senior studying hearing, speech, language sciences, reacts in surprise to receiving the second-place undergraduate award for her project, “Understanding and Characterizing Students’ Experiences to the Field of Speech-Language Pathology within an Ecological Framework.”
Pictured is Allison Rollins’, a senior studying music, project at the Student Expo on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Rollins’ project titled, “Transitive Property: An Interdisciplinary Collaborative Performance,” won the student employee second-place award. Students at the expo can showcase their creative works and research for all to see.
Ahmed Aly, Ph.D. student in communication studies, poses for a portrait with Hulm and with his the third-place graduate award. His project, “Intimate Partner Violence Against Gay Men: A Study Exploring the Narratives of Male Victims and Communication Barriers in Egypt,” won him $200. The Libraries presents a variety of awards to students who have utilized its resources during their research process.
Grace Vance, a sophomore studying marine, freshwater and environmental biology, explains her project, “Under Pressure: Anatomical Clues Suggesting Physiological Adaptation to the Hydrostatic Pressures of Deep Diving in Phocid Seals,” to Hulm. Vance’s research won the Libraries’ first-place undergraduate award.
Collins Ketere, a graduate student in African Studies, and Hulm discuss Ketere’s project, “Addressing Gender Inequality in Tertiary Education in Kenya: Strategies and Challenges.” Ketere won the second-place graduate award presented by Ohio University Libraries.
On Thursday, April 11, 2024, students gathered to present their individual projects at the 2024 Student Expo in the Convocation Center. Pictured are individual “stations,” with trifold boards and other audio or visual aids for students to highlight their work.
Madeline James, a senior studying history and visual communication, and Hulm smile brightly in the University Libraries’ dean’s office when James came to receive her first-place student employee award for the project, “‘Color of the Sunrise’: The Rajneesh and the Me Decade.”
Photos by Charlie Nick/Ohio University Libraries