Dr. Ken Nikels
308.865.8843
Nearly 50 students from the University of Nebraska at Kearney have been selected to present their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in Lexington, Va., April 21-23.
“UNK will again have one of the largest contingents of students participating at NCUR of any institution in the country,” said Dr. Ken Nikels, dean of the Office of Graduate Studies. “Our undergraduate students engage in exceptional research activities and compete on a national level, as demonstrated in their acceptance by NCUR.”
The conference, which is held to promote undergraduate research scholarship and creative activity done in partnership with faculty or other mentors, will draw students from more than 300 colleges and universities from almost every state in the nation.
Students will present their research through oral presentations and/or poster presentations. The research will represent a range of disciplines including creative arts, mathematics, business, social science, humanities, physical and life sciences, natural resources, and engineering.
Students are listed alphabetically by hometown, along with the title of each student’s presentation and the faculty mentor.
Bellwood Kate Semin, Prevalence of Hypertension and Association with Overweight Among
- Preschool-Aged Children, Dr. Kate Heelan, health, physical education and recreation
Bennington Ben Goetz, Differences in Nebraskans’ Perceptions of Interior Design, Dr.
Srivatsa Seshadri, management/marketing
Bertrand Jordan Kuck, The Legacy of “Vadonis” Ulmanis, Dr. Carol Lilly, history
Broken Bow Sarah Heckenlively, Differences in Nebraskans’ Perceptions of Interior Design,
Dr. Srivatsa Seshadri, management/marketing
Columbus Sarah DeNio, A Musical and Dramatic Portrait of the Chorus in J.S. Bach’s “St.
John Passion,” Dr. Anne Foradori, music
Ruth Udey, Solid-State Phase Properties of Thin-Film GeC Fabricated by a
Hollow-Cathode Plasma Jet Deposition Method, Dr. Chris Exstrom, chemistry
Fairbury Mark Rhine, Impact of Wal-Mart’s Presence on Retail Climate of Five Central
Platte Valley Communities and Counties, Dr. Steve Hall, accounting/finance
Grand Island Justin Sevenker, Reading Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, Dr. Mike Benzel, English
Grant Stewart Clouse, Generalization of Complex Numbers and Perplex Numbers, Dr.
Barton Willis, math
Hartington Nathan Sudbeck, The Effects of Physical Attractiveness on Advertisement
Desirability and Recall, Dr. Theresa Wadkins, psychology
Harvard Brett Chloupek, Market Area Analysis: Spatial Data Mining and GIS in UNK
Admissions, Steele Becker, geography
Holdrege Shanon Kempt, Women in War: Soviet Combat Soldiers in World War II and
Vietnamese Guerrillas in Vietnam, Dr. Carol Lilly, history
Howells Kevin Vogel, Thermodynamics of Dust Particle Interactions in Plasma, Dr. Mark
Markes, physics
Kearney Bryce Abbey, The Validation of HydraTrend™ Reagent Strips for the Assessment
of Hydration Levels, Dr. Kate Heelan, health, physical education and recreation
Abby Bjornsen, The Impact of Online Sports Forums on Competitive State
Anxiety, Dr. Jean Mandernach, psychology
Kristi Castillo, Differences in Nebraskans’ Perceptions of Interior Design, Dr.
Srivatsa Seshadri, management/marketing
Michael David, Macintosh vs. Windows, Dr. Sherri Harms, computer science
Tessa Gifford, The Proper American Women: Coming of Age During the Second
Wave of Feminism, Dr. Linda Van Ingen, history
Catherine Hock, The Stages of Slavery—The Effects of European Involvement on
the Existing African Slave Trade, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Ailes, history
Jessica Isaac, Technique-Inspired Expression: Beethoven’s Gift to the Performer,
Dr. Valerie Cisler, music
Dustin Kozal, An Approach to Modernizing Bell Tower Interfaces, Dr. John
Hastings, computer science
Mindy Lester, Sandra Day O’Connor, Dr. Peter Longo, political science
Laura Logan, Academic Culture, Dr. Daryl Kelley, sociology
Chris McClemens, Nineteenth Century Crime and Criminals, Dr. Mark Ellis,
history
Jay Powell, Enhancing Knowledge Acquisition in the Context of Automatic Case
Elicitation, Dr. John Hastings, computer science
Ashley Scantling, Association Between Physical Activity and Adiposity in
Preschool-Aged Children, Dr. Kate Heelan, health, physical education and
recreation
Lexington Megan Kulhanek, Portrayals of Men and Women on the Cover of Time Magazine,
Dr. Keith Terry, communication
Joel Martin, Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act and the Farm
Security and Investment Act: Analysis and Comparison of Methodology and Results of Two Farm Subsidy Programs, Dr. Diane Duffin, political science
Lincoln Christie Coleman, Herpetofaunal Species Composition and Relative Abundance
Between Riparian Woodland and Clear-cut Areas at Jeffrey Island Habitat Area, Dawson County, Nebraska, Dr. Bruce Eichhorst, biology
Andrea Herndon, IT Service Needs in Rural Markets, Dr. Srivatsa Seshadri,
management/marketing
Brett McCurdy, The Effects of Magnets on Dexterity and Strength, Dr. Bill
Wozniak, psychology
Omaha Jim Chezem, The Influences of Drains and Tributaries on the Groundwater
Aquifer Along the Central Platte River (Part 1), Steele Becker, geography
Kathleen Parish, Legal Aid in Lexington, Nebraska (For Residents Without
Citizenship), Dr. Claude Louishomme, political science
Micah Torgrimson, Parody: Factors of Fair Use and Grammatical Anarchy?,
Drs. Carol Lomicky and Martha Kruse, communication and English,
respectively. Torgrimson will also be presenting the late Ken Gallagher’s
paper Opinion and Libel: The Evolution of a Defense. Dr. Carol Lomicky was Gallagher’s faculty mentor.
O’Neill Tim Friedel, Small Mammal Population Diversity in a Wooded and Cleared
Platte River Habitat, Dr. Joseph Springer, biology
Ord Krista Carlson, The Influence of Secret Societies in the Enlightenment, Dr. Mary
Elizabeth Ailes, history
Papillion Julie Boukal, IT Service Needs in Rural Markets, Dr. Srivatsa Seshadri,
management/marketing
Scottsbluff Naomi Schemm, Just What Were They Thinking? British Arctic Exploration,
1818-1850 and Grammatical Anarchy?, Drs. Mary Elizabeth Ailes and
Martha Kruse, history and English respectively.
Sutherland Rebecca Bay, Testing for the Chivalry Hypothesis Within the Central Nebraska
Drug Court System, Dr. Scott Sasse, criminal justice
Wayne Heather Stauffer, Boom to Bust, Dr. Mark Ellis, history
KANSAS
Atwood Lydia Pochop, Credit Unions, Dr. Srivatsa Seshadri, management/marketing
Cole Spresser, Utilization of Drosophila Melanogaster to Study the Human Gene,
OTK18, Dr. Kim Carlson, biology
Haysville Jennifer Atterbury, Marital Status and Ratings of Attractiveness, Dr. Joe Benz,
psychology
Kensington Jennifer Bienhoff, Effects of Symmetry, Spatial Frequency, Sex of Face, and Sex
of Participant on Judged Facial Attractiveness, Dr. Bill Wozniak,
psychology
COLOMBIA
Bogota Jose Martinez, Data Mining Applied to Crop Life Cycle Management, Dr. Sherri
Harms, computer science
INDIA
Hyderabad Siva Kommuri, Theseus: Building a Simulated Self-Taught Biological Agent
Using Automatic Case Elicitation and Study of Drought Effects on Vegetation Growth Using Decision Trees and Neural Networks, Dr. Sherri Harms, computer science
MOLDOVA
Ribnita Olga Stasishena, Finding the Appropriate Discount Rate for Short-term Risk-free
Decisions, Dr. Karl Borden, accounting/finance
