Graduate School holds annual Susan A. Siltanen Graduate Student Research Symposium

Thu, 04/22/2021 - 10:50am | By: David Tisdale

Graduate students at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) shared their research with a broader audience and earned recognition for their work during the annual Susan A. Siltanen Graduate Student Research Symposium, held recently online through the ForagerOne Symposium Platform.

The symposium provides graduate students with an opportunity to present their research to faculty, staff and students in a competitive environment through oral and poster presentations. Students submitted pre-recorded videos of oral or poster presentations, then participated in a live, but virtual, question and answer session. In addition, the Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year and Graduate Assistants of the Year are announced at this event.

Winners in the symposium’s various categories of competition include the following:

Oral Presentations

Arts and Humanities

1^st place: Travis Ascione of New Castle, Pennsylvania

2^nd place: Fernanda DeOliveira Veiverberg of Ponta Pora, Brazil

3^rd place (tie): Jack Hoda of Petal, Mississippi and Sarah King of Ridgeland, Mississippi

 

Life, Health, and Environmental Sciences

1^st place: Annmarie Fearing of Gainesville, Florida

2^nd place: Loren Stearman of Stillwater, Oklahoma

3^rd place: Neil Redmond of South Kingston, Rhode Island

 

Physical Sciences and Mathematics

1^st place: Luke Galuska of Houston, Texas

2^nd place: Song Zhang of Anhui, China

3^rd place: Rahul Shankar of Mumbai, India

 

Social and Educational Sciences and Business

1^st place: Kendal Smith of Ellisville, Mississippi

2^nd place (tie): Nicholas Maxwell of Olive Branch, Mississippi and Madison Estrada of Iola, Kansas

 

Poster Presentations

Social and Educational Sciences and Business/Arts and Humanities

1^st place (tie): Fayth Walbridge of Burns, Wyoming and Karlie Herndon of Sutherlin, Virginia

2^nd place: Nazanin Amerian of Tehran, Iran

 

Physical Sciences and Mathematics

1^st place: Catherine Sarantes of Los Angeles, California

2^nd place: Devin Jen of Palatine, Illinois

3^rd place (tie): Evan Grimes of Grimes, Iowa and Brad Davis of Carrollton, Texas

 

Graduate Assistants of the Year include those in the following categories:

Teaching Assistant – Rachael Fowler of Mobile, Alabama
Research Assistant – Lacey Wallace of Jayess, Mississippi

Dr. Frank Heitmuller, an associate professor of geology and geography in the School of Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences, was named Graduate of the Year.

 

USM Graduate School Dean Dr. Karen Coats expressed gratitude to Graduate School staff members Shelby Flores, Tracy Barnhill and Jessica Hurt for their assistance in organizing the symposium.

“Late last year, clearly influenced by the impact of COVID-19, Forbes magazine included resiliency, flexibility and thriving in a virtual environment among the top 10 most important job skills companies are looking for in 2021,” Dr. Coats said. “Those attributes were on display by our graduate students during the Susan A. Siltanen Graduate Research Symposium. As professional societies across the globe have done, this long-standing annual event showcasing students’ research and creative activity had to pivot to a virtual format.

“I had the pleasure of judging one category of competition, but I also viewed the presentations of several other students, and was so pleased with the quality of their videos, their ability to explain their research, and their depth of knowledge displayed in the question and answer session with judges. I also was impressed by the innovation and impact of their projects. While all the videos I viewed were really well done, the winners were just exceptional.” 

For information about the USM Graduate School and annual Susan A. Siltanen Symposium, visit https://www.usm.edu/graduate-school/susan-siltanen-graduate-student-research-symposium.php.