For release: March 20, 2013
For press information, contact Gabrielle Maxey, 901-678-2843

Thirteen University of Memphis honors students will present their research projects at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (NCUR), which will be held April 11-13 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Since its inception in 1987, NCUR has become a major annual event, drawing more than 3,000 undergraduates, faculty members, and administrators to hear and discuss undergraduate scholarly and creative work. 

The students, their projects, and their faculty mentors are:

Sarah Barnes, senior psychology major from Little Rock, “Peer Perceptions of Guilt and Shame, and the role of Culture for Children’s Peer Liking and Peer Popularity,” Robert Cohen;

Kirsten Berding, senior health and human performance major from Germany, “Will Providing an Artificial Amniotic Fluid After Preterm Birth in Addition to Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) Improve Growth and Development?,” Randal Buddington;

Blake Daniels, senior biology major from Cordova, “Bone Mineral Density in Vitamin Deficient African-American Men with Sickle Cell Disease,” Patricia Adams-Graves;

Melissa Gross, senior psychology major from Memphis, “Adjustment to College Among Active Duty vs. Military Veteran Students,” William Dwyer;

Jeanne Hanna, senior anthropology major from Memphis, “The Role of Religion, Identity, and Activism Among the Islamic Community in Tennessee in Combating Stigmatization and Islamophobia,” Katherine Lambert-Pennington;

Riley Nicholson, senior psychology major from Hot Springs, Ark., “Anxiety in Musicians: On and Off Stage,” Gayle Beck;

Thien-Khoi Phung, junior biomedical engineering major from Germantown, “Analysis of In Vivo, Dynamic Tantalum Bronchograms for Ova-Sensitized Rats,” Christopher Waters;

Alexandra Slater, junior psychology major from Memphis, “The Effect of Valence on the Perception of Character,” Max Louwerse;

Melanie Sparks, senior chemistry major from Collierville, “Functional Analysis of Sphingosine Kinase₁,” Truc Chi Pham and Daniel Baker;

Hamman Tasneem, senior biomedical engineering major from Little Rock, “Comparison of Fixation Strength of Adhesives and Sutures with Mesh on Abdominal Wall,” Esra Roan;

Haley Taylor, senior health and human performance major from Hammond, La., “The Best Kept Secrets: Battling Childhood Obesity,” Terra Smith;

Jessica Walker, senior psychology major from Wichita, Kan., “Gender Stereotypes in Sports Language,” Max Louwerse; and

Ryan Wilson, senior physics major from Memphis, “Metal-Polymer Bilayer System Characterization under Low Temperature Conditions,” Firouzeh Sabri.

The Helen Hardin Honors Program provides support for students to present their research, creative works, and community-based learning projects at regional and national conferences.

For more information on the Honors Program, call 901-678-2690.