The 2020 Undergraduate Exhibition

April 15 - 17, 2020

Due to the recent changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Undergraduate Exhibition is being held in a virtual format. Presentations are posted digitally with public access available from April 15 at 4:00 p.m. EST through April 17 at 4:00 p.m. EST. Due to concerns over intellectual property rights, presentations will only be available for viewing during this window of time.

Questions about the Undergraduate Exhibition may be directed to Alan Rieck, Assistant Vice President and Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Education, at 814-863-1864 or ajr83@psu.edu

Gerard A. Hauser Award 

Erin Doolin, College of the Liberal Arts — Female Judges Sentence Harsher Than Male Judges in Sex Offense Cases

Arts and Humanities

First Place

John Gurklis, College of the Liberal Arts — Heritage Management at Khan al-Umdan in Acre (Akko), Israel: An Unsolvable 'Wicked' Problem?

Second Place

Elise Schaffer, Penn State Lehigh Valley — Access and Adaptations in Public Art Destinations

Engineering

First Place

Nate Osikowicz, College of Engineering — Optimal Dexterity for Tensegrity Robotic Arm

Second Place

Karim Barsom, College of Engineering — Assessing the Challenges of 3D Printing Barium Titanate

Third Place

Jay Sim, College of Engineering — Reinventing Foundry in a Box for the 21st Century

Health and Life Science

First Place

Piper Jones, Eberly College of Science — Methacholine Induces an Acute Inflammatory Response in a Mouse Model of Adolescent Asthma

Second Place

Amy Kovaleski, College of Engineering — Potential use of biocontrol Trichoderma spp. metabolites to control growth and aflatoxin production in A. parasiticus

Third Place

Courtney Page, College of Agricultural Sciences — Investigation into the regulation of [1, 25(OH)2D3] by CPY24A1 and the impact on T cell proliferation

Physical Sciences

First Place

Zhuolai Pan, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences — Dynamics of supraglacial lake drainage on Amery ice shelf, East Antarctica

Second Place

Mollie Comella, Eberly College of Science — Direct Amplification of Mosquito Blood Meals in Human Identification

Third Place

Nicholas Litak, Eberly College of Science — Ligand-gold core interactions control the electronic structure in gold nanoparticles

Social and Behavioral Sciences

First Place

Abigail Luke, College of the Liberal Arts — When Non-Conformity Trumps Partisanship

Second Place

Shelby Conkling, Samantha Conway, Adrienne Pauline, Penn State Behrend — The Effect of Essential Oil on Memory Retention

Third Place

Sara Bickhart, College of Health and Human Development — Women Are Not More Likely to Receive Suggestion to Cease Driving

Oral Presentation and Performance

First Place

Tatiana McAnulty, Eberly College of Science — Discovery of Novel Chemotherapeutic Agents Using a Pediatric Glioma Model

Second Place

Andrea Regalbuto, Penn State Altoona — Senior Exhibition: Flap/Flutter

Third Place

Alex Modrzecki, College of the Liberal Arts — Relationship Between Bicycle Friendliness and Other Sustainability Practices On A College Campus

Engagement

First Place

Alex Grosek, Pranav Gupta, Valentina Marotti, Natalie Sanchez, Daniel Shoemaker, Jack Ziegler, Smeal College of Business — Commercialization Study for Penn State Inventions

Second Place

Andrew Garrett, Smeal College of Business — Commercialization Study for Penn State Inventions

Third Place

Jessica Wunderley, Smeal College of Business — Commercialization Study for Penn State Inventions

University Fellowships and Phi Kappa Phi Peter T. Luckie Awards for Outstanding Juniors

Arts and Humanities

Tucker Johnson, College of Arts and Architecture — A Presence Within Reassembly: Rebuilding an Instrument and Redesigning a Performance Practice

Science and Engineering

Erin Kelly, Eberly College of Science — Investigating the Protein PF3D7_0420300 as a Potential Drug Target in the Malaria Inducing Parasite Plasmodium falciparum

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Shuangshuang Chen, College of the Liberal Arts — Testing the Anxiety-Reducing Effects of Dark Chocolates in Public Speaking Anxiety

University Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy

John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Grant Prize

Evan Sneed, Eberly College of Science — A Climatic Investigation of Cold Haber World Atmospheres II

First Place

Autumn Deitrick, College of Engineering — Optimizing the Weir Equation for Nature-Like Fish Passages

Second Place

Aileen McKinstry, College of the Liberal Arts — Guns Perps and Scalia: An Analysis of Justice Antonin Scalia's Originalist Jurisprudence in District of Columbia v. Heller

Third Place

Kelsey Bittel, College of Health and Human Development — Physical Activity, Seasonality, and Weather Indices: A Scoping Review of Research with Device-based Measures of Physical Activity

Honorable Mention

Christopher Bryan, Penn State Harrisburg — Neural Networks for Solar Panel Maximum Power Point Tracking

Emma Domico, College of Health and Human Development — Finding Genetic Variation in Publicly Available Sequence Data

Nathan Sitzler, Marcella Puglia, Penn State Behrend — Thought Suppression as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Negative Affect in Traumatized Individuals

Gerard A. Hauser Award

The Gerald A. Hauser Award is given to the exhibition entry judged to be the best overall. Named in honor of a former director of Penn State's honors program, it is accompanied by a $500 prize.

Category Awards

First, second, and third place is awarded in each of the Exhibition’s entry categories, including arts and humanities, course-based projects, engineering, health and life sciences, physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and oral presentations and performances.

University Fellowships and Phi Kappa Phi Peter T. Luckie Award for Outstanding Juniors

The University Fellowships and Phi Kappa Phi Peter T. Luckie Award for Outstanding Juniors is sponsored by the University Fellowships Office and the Penn State Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society. The award recognizes an outstanding junior entry in each of the three following areas: health and life sciences, humanities and social sciences, and physical sciences and engineering. Each award is accompanied by a $200 prize.

Phi Kappa Phi was founded in 1900 and initiates junior and senior students from all disciplines who have demonstrated academic excellence. The society lives up to its motto, "Let the love of learning rule humanity," by sponsoring fellowships and academic services and providing support to encourage the pursuit of learning in all disciplines and at all levels. Information about the Penn State chapter may be found at www.phikappaphi.psu.edu.

University Libraries' John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy

The University Libraries' John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Undergraduate Research Award recognizes scholarly work based on a foundation of careful background research and literature review. The award is given to entries that demonstrate excellence in information literacy through the following: showcasing your research process and strategies; selection of sources that contribute to your argument and ideas; social, ethical, or economic considerations in accessing information; and credit and proper citation for any quotes, tables, graphs, images, and other content displayed. 

For more information on this award and the judging rubric, please visit the Libraries' website or contact Student Engagement Coordinator for the Libraries, Hailley Fargo (hmf14@psu.edu).