USU Students Present Research to Group of 2,000 at NCUR 2007

On the surface, food labels seem to steer consumers to good choices. Just how healthy is a food product that is labeled “smart” or “lean”? What is the difference between “organic” and “all natural”? Are they reliable?

Two Utah State University students presenting at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in San Rafael, Calif., April 12-14, found that labels cannot always be trusted. Their poster, “The Confusing World of Product Claims: A Review and Analysis of Consumer Food Labels,” attracted a crowd.

 

Vikki Carlisle and Margo Farnsworth, both majors in the College of Business working with faculty mentor professor Kenneth Bartkus, were surprised themselves by what they found when they looked beyond the surface of the label to the reality of ingredients.

 

“A label claim that the product is ‘no-fat’ does not necessarily mean that there is zero fat, but that the fat content per serving is below a specified level,” said Carlisle.

 

“Companies use creative visual techniques that can create misleading impressions,” said Farnsworth. “In spite of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, consumers still need to be aware and wary of labeling.”

 

Carlisle and Farnsworth are both freshmen at USU.

 

“I was being recruited to a graduate program in health administration, and it sounded great, but I told them that it would be a few years before I could consider graduate school,” Farnsworth said.

 

Joyce Kinkead, associate vice president in the office of research, said she cannot recall an NCUR meeting where first-year students were accepted to present.

 

“This is really a benchmark for Utah State,” Kinkead said. “We have a number of Research Fellows in the freshman class who have hit the ground running — with the help of committed faculty mentors.”

 

Joining Carlisle and Farnsworth at the conference was a second research team from the College of Business, MaKenzie Martin and Natali Naegle. Both are also first-year students, and they presented their research on student evaluations of teaching. Their faculty mentors, Stacey Hills and Bartkus, joined them at the conference.

 

“The poster generated a lot of interest,” Hills noted. “Teaching evaluations are important in a faculty member’s career.”

 

In total, 16 USU students were invited to present their projects at NCUR. Projects ranged from Tyler Logan’s environmental research on Western Harvester Ants to a psychological scale developed to measure romantic affection authored by Douglas C. Anderson, Carly D. Larsen, Brett Merrill and Paul Nielsen.

 

USU’s biology department had a number of participants, including Uyen Lam, Katherine Grover, Kimberly Warburton and Nicole Frank.

 

“The biology faculty has a long tradition, not only at Utah State but nationally, of engaging their students in laboratory work,” said Kinkead.

 

Jan Marie Anderson, the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher of the Year for the College of Science, communicated the results of her fieldwork on using laser remote sensing techniques to detect air pollutants. Graduating senior Amanda Marinello shared her scholarly research on “Peter Pan” author J.M. Barrie, research conducted while on study abroad in Scotland, which was funded in part by an Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities (URCO) Grant from USU’s Office of Research.

 

NCUR 2007 brought together undergraduates involved in scholarly and artistic activities representing a range of disciplines, including creative arts, mathematics, business, social science, humanities, physical and life sciences, natural resources and engineering, among others. Participants came from more than 300 colleges and universities, representing almost every state in the nation as well as Puerto Rico. NCUR encourages awareness of undergraduate research, scholarship and creative opportunities as they exist in various disciplines and institutions.

 

“The NCUR is the melting pot of all conferences,” said USU student Uyen Lam. “There is such a wide range of disciplines and applications. I met a student from Florida using computer science programs to model biological systems. In addition, I went to see performances in the arts. One conference attendee from a New York school expressed poetry through choreography. I was glad that I went to the performances because I think exploring other disciplines really helps me expand my horizons.”

 

“Faculty from other institutions troll for the best prospective graduate students, so NCUR is a wonderful opportunity for Utah State students to be in the spotlight,” said Kinkead.

 

For Tyler Logan, who is headed to Alaska for the summer to do research after graduation in May, the conference was fantastic.

 

“It was very helpful to see research in my own field of study and also to get a better understanding of the variety of research and scholarship that is done in every possible field,” Logan said.

 

Since its inception in 1987, NCUR has become a major annual event drawing more than 2,000 undergraduates, faculty and administrators to hear and discuss undergraduate creative and scholarly work. A faculty and administrator’s network hears papers from those involved in research programs. Kinkead and other members of the Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research steering committee presented a summary of their work on organizing the state’s first undergraduate research conference, in essence a state version of NCUR.

 

For more information about NCUR, visit its Web site. The 2008 conference will be hosted in Maryland. Information about Utah State’s undergraduate research program is available at its Web site.