Students showcase research at 21st annual Focus on Creative Inquiry event

Hundreds of students gathered at the Watt Family Innovation Center to showcase their work at the 21^st annual Focus on Creative Inquiry (FoCI) poster forum April 8-10. 

The forum gives students the opportunity to talk about the work they have been doing in Creative Inquiry undergraduate research projects all year long. This year’s event featured 358 posters on a wide variety of topics, from water quality to gene therapies to the influence of AI suggestions on human behavior.

Faculty and staff judges scored the posters, and the top three posters in print and digital categories were recognized with awards, as well as a popular vote poster that was voted on by participants. The winning posters were:

Printed posters

1^st place: “Identification of the Operating Parameters Needed to Prevent Hydrogel Barrier Collapse Under Continuous Perfusion in a Microfluidic Device to Study Paracrine Signaling”
Students: Bree Clarke and Caroline Coffey, biomedical engineering
Mentors: Adam Melvin and Riley Osbourn, chemical engineering

2^nd place: “The Evolution of Day and Night Activity Patterns in Fishes”
Students: James Ellis Bradberry, wildlife and fisheries biology; Jake Myers, Joshua Reid, and Julie Wheeler, biological sciences
Mentors: Sam Price and Mason Thurman, biological sciences

3^rd place: “From Ruh-Roh to Results: Training Teams to Tackle Conflict”
Students: Mia Anderson, Katie Barger, Hannah Garrett, Connie Juhnevicz, Nicola Levine, Saira Malhotra, and Maggie Mullaney, psychology
Mentors: David Moore, Marissa Shuffler Porter, Allison Traylor, and Madison B. Washam, psychology

Digital posters

1^st place: “Autonomous Robot for Human-Like Interaction”
Students: Christian Passios and Jonathan Tran, automotive engineering
Mentors: Vinita Jansari, Bing Li and Abhishek Sharma, automotive engineering

2^nd place: “ChatGPT Does Surgery! (One Day)”
Students: Red Cofield, Zoe Danese, Carter DuBose, Spiro Fokas, Codrin Robu, Paige Sciarra, and Meredith Warren, biomedical engineering
Mentors: Liz Chandler and Janine Hoelscher bioengineering; D. Hudson Smith, mathematical and statistical sciences

3^rd place: “The Effects of Therapeutic Riding and Equestrian Team Riding Styles on Equine Behavior and Cortisol”
Students: Hallie Alsup-Moore, Gabriela Foessel, Claire Heaton, Caroline Horton, Anja Norcross, Paola Ramirez, Katherine Santo, Kaya Smith, Gabrielle Stoelting, and Riley Terrell, animal and veterinary science
Mentors: Erika Hwang and Kristine Vernon, animal and veterinary science

Most Popular

“Rat Offspring Outcomes After Prenatal Exposure to Fermented and Non-Fermented Kratom (Mitragynine speciosa): Random Controlled Trial”
Students: Meghan Bushlack, Jaida S. Dozier, Molly Finan, Haven Foster, Alli Kinefelter, Lauren Marinaro, and Sydney White, health science; Jaya Chandler, mathematical sciences; Payton Dowdy and Alexandra Winquist, nursing; Annabella Jones, Sophia Martin, Camryn Snyder, Heidi Wendowski, and Isabella Zito, biological sciences 
Mentor: Mary Wright, nursing