The College of Arts and Sciences congratulates the undergraduate researchers who received awards at the 2023 Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. 22 students from 14 majors placed in their respective categories, with all sections except one including Arts and Sciences representation.

The Denman Forum provides an opportunity for graduating student researchers to share their research endeavors with the broader community.  This is Ohio State's only competitive poster forum in which winners are recognized in each category as determined by faculty, staff, and Denman alumni reviewers. Students are reviewed on their ability to communicate their research process and results effectively in both their written poster content and accompanying oral presentation.  During the Denman Forum, the university community celebrates not only the hard work of these students, but also the dedication of their faculty research mentors.

Arts and Sciences Winners

Animal Sciences

• First Place: Marie Walton, Zoology - Lepidopteran Diversity in a Restored Prairie
• Second Place: Jimmy Erkens, Statistics - Comparing Bayesian and frequentist analyses of stress-related enamel defects in Papio ursinus and Papio anubis
• Third Place: Maria Fiorta, Biology - Understanding how light pollution affects mosquito blood-feeding and molecular biology

Business & Society

• First Place: Shrishti Shrivastava, Microbiology - Victim to Survivor to Thriver: Understanding the Population of Human Trafficking Victims in Ohio
• Third Place: Madyson Webb, Industrial Design - Integrated Grocery Service Vehicle Improvements
• Honorable Mention: Olivia Baker, Sociology - First-Generation Vulnerabilities, Gender and Help-Seeking

Earth & Beyond

• Third Place: Sydney Petz, Astronomy - What can we find in the atmosphere of exoplanet KELT-20b?
• Honorable Mention: Caitlin O’Brien, Astronomy & Astrophysics - Parameterizing Splashback Radius-Mass Relations of Galaxy Clusters with IllustrisTNG Simulations

Engineering & Technology

• Second Place: Annie Roo, Industrial Design - Enabling Professional Intervention Points for the Process of Stroke Rehabilitation
• Third Place: Oscar Coppola, Mathematics - An Extension of Stanley’s Symmetric Acyclicity Theorem to Signed Graphs

Health Under the Microscope

• Second Place: Madisen Bangs, Neuroscience - Streptococcus mutans Isolates Exhibit Diverse Phenotypes Dependent on Commensal Competitor
• Honorable Mention: Eleanor Richardson, Biology - Effect of Aging on the Plasma Membrane Repair in Multiple Cell Types

The Human Experience

• First Place: Phelix Rodriguez, Neuroscience - Are illusory objects used strategically to optimize visual working memory?
• Second Place: Vivian Corey, Dance - Mat Pilates Training Effects on Active Turnout and the Kinetic Chain: A Case Study
• Honorable Mention: Angela Ciarorchi, Dance - Dance like a Man?: Investigating Masculine Aesthetics in Contemporary Dance through Archival Analysis and Embodied Practice

Innovations in Medicine

• First Place: Erica Dale, Biology - Use of human precision cut-lung slices as an ex vivo model to study age-related lung diseases
• Third Place: Grace Sullivan, Biochemistry - Efficacy and Safety of a Novel Fusogenic Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus
• Honorable Mention: Mohammed Aidja, Biology - Effects of obesity and aging on the contractile reserve of the heart

Pediatric & Family Health

• First Place: Ashland Damron, Visual Communication Design - Get Back to Green: Understanding and improving education on the process of emotion regulation for students ages 5 to 7
• Third Place: Christina Cotrone, Microbiology - Investigating the associations between HIV-1 exposure during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes such as low birth weight, stillbirth, and preterm labor
• Honorable Mention: Meredith Stewart, Neuroscience - Effects of Adolescent Hormonal Contraceptive Administration on Endocrine Function, Anxiety and Impulsive Behavior in a Rat Model

Public Health

• Honorable Mention: Sarah Haysley, Speech and Hearing Sciences - The effect of self-perceived hearing ability on auditory fatigue and effort