After 1,267 votes and 4,066 video views, the polls are closed for the Texas Student Research Showdown. Six students will move on to the final round, where they will give six-minute research presentations in front of a live audience on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the Avaya Auditorium (POB 2.302). A faculty panel will award scholarships for first ($1,500), second ($750), and third ($250) place, based on communication skill and the merit of the research.
The Finalists
Sanjai Bashyam
- Electrical engineering junior
- Sanjai’s project is centered on the Innovation Station, a 3D printing vending machine that provides free access to 3D printing to all students and faculty at the University of Texas at Austin.
- Video: The Innovation Station: A 3D printing vending machine
Julia Chernis
- Biochemistry senior and Digital Arts & Media BDP student
- Julia created a short educational animation that explains the scientific principles of magnetic resonance imaging and demonstrates why it is a completely safe procedure.
- Video: MRI: How it works and why it is safe
Nicole Gloris
- Nursing junior, Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) pre-grad intern, and IE Kuhn Scholar
- Nicole’s project assesses how nutritional behaviors of those with multiple sclerosis relate to their quality of life and secondary disabilities.
- Video: How does the nutritional behavior of Texans with multiple sclerosis relate to their quality of life and secondary disabilities?
Ryan Ladd
- Advertising junior
- Ryan’s project analyzes the city of Austin by diving into the stories of local citizens and picking apart what gives Austin its character.
- Video: Deconstructing the origin and modern meaning of the slogan ‘Keep Austin Weird’ and its effect on organizational identity in Austin, Texas
Tarale Murry
- Accounting senior, McNair Scholar, Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) pre-grad intern, and IE Kuhn Scholar
- Tarale created a “movie trailer” that introduces the key relationships studied in his research project.
- Video: The relationship between basketball, Christianity, and hip-hop on the influence of black male adolescent identity development
Ashley C. Rivera
- Sociology senior
- Ashley’s project is an ethnographic investigation of the role of drumming and music in the revitalization process of Garifuna culture on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.
- Video: Discovering meaning: Drumming and Garifuna identity
Honorable Mentions
Chelsea N. Jones
- Social work senior, Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) pre-grad intern, and McNair Scholar
- Chelsea’s research project is a qualitative analysis of community efforts to track police shootings of unarmed citizens.
- Video: The emergence of community-based literature as a result of police misconduct in African-American communities
Erica Halpern
- Design and computer science senior
- Erica Halpern created Elastic Box, a system for both teachers and students that brings creative problem solving into traditional education.
- Video: Elastic Box
