Undergraduate award winners announced from Virtual Spring Health Science Research Conference

The Stephens College School of Health Sciences is pleased to announce the undergraduate winners of the Virtual Spring Health Science Research Conference, which was held earlier this spring. Student award winners, who received gift cards, were selected from among 36 undergraduate research presentations and posters.

“These Stephens women are future leaders in health care and science, and we are very proud of their contributions,” said Dr. Julia Moffitt, dean of the School of Health Sciences. 

 

2020 Award Winners

(Note: Abstracts available in program below.)

Women in Science Category:

First Place: Kaitlyn Ritchie ’21
Whodunit and Who Didn’t: Gender Differences in Appearance-Based Inferences of Criminality - presentation (page 13 in program)

Second Place: Maggie West ’20
Rosalyn Yalow and Flossie Wong-Staal - poster (page 21 in program)

Third Place: Beau Lucas ’20 and Desiree Fernandez ’21
Ladies of Physics - poster (page 8 in program)

Health & Medicine Category:

First Place: Claire Nelson ’21
Sexual Education: Rural vs. Urban - poster (page 14 in program)

Second Place: Beau Lucas ’20
Cardiovascular Health in Native Americans - poster (page 15 in program)

Third Place: Carissa Stevens ’21
Changes in Heart Variability Parameters During Exercise Do Not Predict Changes in Cardiac Autonomic Tone During Exercise - poster (page 22 in program)

 

Conference Program

 

During the conference, which featured over 80 panelists and 65 presentations, the school’s undergraduate and graduate students presented research in a wide range of specialties. Keynote speakers were retired astronaut Linda Godwin, Ph.D., and Dean Moffitt.

“I’m interested in research because I feel that the only way I’ll be fulfilled in life is if I work to better understand life,” said Stevens, who is majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry at Stephens.

West, a Stephens dance major, described the virtual conference as incredible as both a presenter and as an attendee. 

“While working on research for my poster and throughout my women’s studies course, I learned many things about women in science such as their contributions to science and the barriers they face,” she said.