Skip to main content

Arts & Humanities

1st Place: Melissa Palomino 
Dancing with a Cuban Accent: Creating and Designing a Dance Piece Based of Historic Research
Mentor: Mr. Earl Weaver (Department of Theatre)

Second Place and Peer Choice: Sonja Shank 
Arts Integration: Learning Through and With the Arts, a Curricular process, and Collaborative Engagement
Mentor: Dr. Carolyn Hopp (Department of Educational Studies)

Honorable Mention: Pete Fellner
Da Vinci Dreams: Envisioning How “The Master” Might Have Perceived His World 
Mentor: Ms. Darlene Hadrika (School of Visual Arts and Design)

Honorable Mention: Maillim Santiago 
Little Women: Study of Female Representation in Teen Films and How They Affect Gender Perception
Mentor: Mr. Andrew Gay (Department of Film)

Peer Choice: Matthew Angelo 
Co-Presenters: John Carlson, Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Chiancone
Plant Nanny: Demonstration of Real World Data Capture Through A Self-Monitoring Garden 

Mentor: Mr. Michael Carney (School of Visual Arts and Design)

Engineering and Computer Science

1st Place: Erik Durnberg 
Co-Presenter: Timothy Johnson
Piezospectropy To Compare Analytical And Numerical Nanoparticle Load Transfer Theories 
Mentor: Dr. Seetha Raghavan (Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering)

2nd Place: Skyler Goodell
Multirobot Behavior Synchronization through Hive Brain Neuroevolution
Mentor: Dr. Ken Stanley (Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)

Honorable Mention: Matthew Brickner 
Aerodynamic Characteristics of Flow Through A Three-Dimensional Cavity: A Computational Approach
Mentor: Dr. Marcel Ilie (Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)

Honorable Mention: Tatiana Viecco
Redesign and Improvement of Orlando VA Medical Center
Mentor: Dr. Jose Sepulveda (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems)

Health Sciences

1st Place: Aurea Middleton 
Pepsin And Salivary Amylase: Biomarkers Of Microaspiration In Oral And Tracheal Secretions Of Intubated Patients
Mentor: Dr. Mary Lou Sole (Department of Nursing)

2nd Place: Nicole Gerardi
Evaluation of Computer-Based Simulation for Pain Management Education
Mentor: Dr. Kelly Allred (Department of Nursing)

Honorable Mention: Gabrielle Dennen
Assessment of Perinatal Nurses’ Knowledge of Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome
Mentor: Dr. Julee Waldrop (Department of Nursing)

Honorable Mention: Suzanne Pickens
Motivations for the Use of Complementary and Alternative Therapies by Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Mentor: Dr. Patricia Weinstein (Department of Nursing)

Life Sciences I

1st Place: Rebekah Katsandris
Echocardiography Evaluation Of Stress-Induced Cardiomyopathy In Post-Menopausal Mice
Mentor: Dr. Steven Ebert (Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences)

2nd Place: Linh Anh Cat
An Apple Snail a Day Keeps the Plants Away: Effects of an Invasive Snail on Aquatic Ecosystems
Mentor: Dr. Patrick Bohlen (Department of Biology)

Honorable Mention: Abigail Carbonell
Identification of Potential Lead Antimalarial Compounds from Marine Microbial Extracts
Mentor: Dr. Debopam Chakrabarti (Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences)

Honorable Mention: Matthew Donnan
Drug Discovery Studies for Neurofibromatosis Type 2
Mentor: Dr. Cristina Fernandez-Valle (Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences)

Honorable Mention: Alaina Kurtz
Gopher Tortoise Survey: Gopherus polyphemus on the University of Central Florida’s Natural Lands
Mentor: Ms. Alaina Bernard (Department of Biology)

Life Sciences II

1st Place: Heardley Murdock
Silver Ion as a Potent Inhibitor of Glutathione Reductase
Mentor: Dr. William Self (Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences)

2nd Place: Noémi Rébeli-Szabó
Seasonal Observations of Wading Bird Behavior and Community Structure Indicate Oyster Reef Restoration Success
Mentor: Dr. Linda Walters (Department of Biology)

Honorable Mention: Pascale Nelson
Construction of a Fork Head Responsive Element Reporter to monitor Signaling Pathways in Motor Neurons
Mentor: Dr. Alvaro Estevez (Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences)

Honorable Mention: Todd Richmann
Lost in Trans-translation: The Role of tmRNA in M. tuberculosis Pathogenesis
Mentor: Dr. Kyle Rohde (Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences)

Honorable Mention: Jasmine Rodriguez
Identifying Genes Involved in Polyamine Transport in Drosophila 
Mentor: Dr. Laurence Von Kalm (Department of Biology)

Physical Science and Mathematics

1st Place: Christopher Frye
Corrections to the Classic Tests of General Relativity imposed by String Theory
Mentor: Dr. Costas Efthimiou (Department of Physics)

2nd Place: Hillary Bengtson
A Differential Fluorescent Receptor for the Analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms
Mentor: Dr. Dmitry Kolpashchikov (Department of Chemistry)

Honorable Mention: Hafeez Haniff 
Aggregation Properties of Donor-Acceptor-Donor 2,4-bis[4-(N,N-dialkylamino)-2,6-dihydroxy-phenyl]squaraine dyes in solution and with polymeric and host guest assembly substrates

Mentor: Dr. Kevin Belfield (Department of Chemistry)

Honorable Mention: Kasey Haugen
Synthesis And Linear And Nonlinear Optical Characterization Of Novel Near�Infrared Diphenylaminofluorene-Based Aza-BODIPY Dyes
Mentor: Dr. Kevin Belfield (Department of Chemistry)

Honorable Mention: Monica Rivas
Synthesis of ortho-Hydroxyphenylglyoxylic Acid
Mentor: Dr. Yu Yuan (Department of Chemistry)

Social Sciences I

1st Place: Lucien Charland
The Strategic Threat of Sea Level Rise for the United States and its Allies in the Caribbean
Mentor: Dr. Teddy Reynolds (Department of Political Science)

2nd Place: Courtney Christovich
Do College Students Rate Female Professors More Harshly Than Their Male Counterparts?
Mentor: Dr. Shannon Whitten (Department of Psychology)

Honorable Mention: Melissa Antler 
I am a critical thinker! Exploring The Relationship Between Self-Concept And Critical Thinking Ability 
Mentor: Dr. Shannon Whitten (Department of Psychology)

Honorable Mention: Nicholas Colon
Analyzing The Effects Of Rubbernecking On Driving Performance
Mentor: Dr. Mustapha Mouloua (Department of Psychology)

Honorable Mention: Nicholas James
Gauging Factors of Gameplay
Mentor: Dr. Clint Bowers (Department of Psychology)

Social Sciences II

1st Place: Anisulrahman Nizam
Improving Long-Range Forecast Errors for Better Capacity Decision-Making 
Mentor: Dr. Steven Leon (Department of Marketing)

2nd Place: Jose Marquez
GDP Growth Differences and Financial Contagion: Evidence from the 2008-2009 SubPrime Crisis
Mentor: Dr. Uluc Aysun (Department of Economics)

Honorable Mention: Dylan Martin
Transgender Identity Development
Mentor: Dr. Steven Berman (Department of Psychology)

Honorable MentionAlicia Martinez
Exploring Portrayals of Multiple intelligences in Male and Female Protagonists in Best Selling Picture Books, 2008-2012
Mentors: Dr. Sherron Killingsworth Roberts (School of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership)

Honorable Mention:Amirica Nicholson
Depression-Stigma: An Examination of Enforcers in College Communities
Mentors: Dr. Charles Negy (Department of Psychology)

Social Sciences III

1st Place: Kaylin Ratner
Parental Attachment’s Role in Identity Style Formation
Mentor: Dr. Steven Berman (Department of Psychology)

2nd Place: RoseAnn Swiden-Wick
Exploration of Worker Arrogance and the HEXACO Model of Personality Factors 
Mentor: Dr. Karen Mottarella (Department of Psychology)

Honorable Mention: Shaun Richardson
Viewing All Shades of the Rainbow: What Are The Most Salient Factors That Affect Students’ Perceptions Of Homosexuality?
Mentor: Dr. Amy Donley (Department of Sociology)

Honorable Mention: Kelcey Sablon
The effect Of Service Provider Skin Tone On Customer Perceptions Of Service Quality
Mentors: Dr. Carolyn Massiah (Department of Marketing)

Honorable Mention: Angela Vanella
The Label of Madness: The Effects of Career Choice and Gender on Perceptions of Mental Illness
Mentor: Dr. Shannon Whitten (Department of Psychology)

Peer Choice

Arts and Humanities
Matthew Angelo
Co-Presenters: John Carlson, Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Chiancone
Plant Nanny: Demonstration of Real World Data Capture through a Self-Monitoring Garden
Mentor: Dr. Michael Carney (School of Visual Arts & Design)

Arts and Humanities
Sonja Shank
Arts Integration: Learning Through and With the Arts, a Curricular Process, and Collaborative Engagement 
Mentor: Dr. Carolyn Hopp (Department of Educational Studies)