The following students in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences participated in the 2020 Dennis Dean Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Conference, which took place online on April 24 between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Ava Bir, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience; Eman Ayaz, Human Development; Sara Belay, Clinical Neuroscience; Rhea Bhatia, Human Development; Alexandra Copeland, Human Development; Taylor Covington, Human Development; Breanne De Vera, Biological Science; Bethany Grocock, Human Development; Eva Grumbine, International Public Policy; Katie Johnson, Human Development; Caroline Krammer, Human Development; Anvitha Metpally, Clinical Neuroscience; Valerie Salmon, Human Development; Molly Simek, Biochemistry; Michelle Tran, Clinical Neuroscience; presented “Are You Still Watching on your Phone or TV? The Impact of Mobile Media on Visual Attention and Learning.” Their faculty mentor was Koeun Choi, Human Development and Family Science.

Nicole DeFoor, Experimental Neuroscience major and Language Sciences minor, presented “Soundin’ Southern: The Acoustics of a Fake Accent.” The faculty mentor was Abby Walker, English. 

Zenobia Lee-Nelson, Communication Studies, presented “Ain’t I a Woman, Still? Black Directed Femicide.” The faculty mentor was Besi Muhonja, James Madison University. 

Djamila Lou, Nanoscience and Russian, presented “Temperature Dependence of Confined Protein Hydration and Dynamics Latency and Reactivation.” Her faculty mentor was Vinh Nguyen, Physics. 

Taylor Olson, Residential Environments and Design, presented “Haenyeo House: Aging-Friendly and Sustainable Container Home.” The faculty mentor was Eunju Hwang, Apparel Housing and Resource Management. 

Emily Warwick, International Relations, presented “Borders in Anglophone Africa: A Comparative Study.” The faculty mentor was Paulo Polanah, Sociology. 

Language Sciences minors Jessie Yu, Psychology, and Lily Carroll, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, presented “Exploring Sensitivity to Negative-Lag Voicing in Southern US English Listeners.” Their faculty mentor was Abby Walker, English. 

Abstracts may be found here. 

Presenters submitted video presentations; viewers were invited to submit questions and add comments, which the presenters responded to throughout the day. 

Djamila Lou was one of four students to receive special mention and runner-up status for the inaugural Undergraduate Research Excellence Award at Virginia Tech.