Utah State Undergraduate Researchers of the Year Announced

Seven Utah State University students were named undergraduate researchers of the year at the Student Showcase held in April at the Taggart Student Center on the Utah State campus. One student was chosen from each of the university's seven colleges, and awards were given at a ceremony held in their honor.

 

Aaron Davis, undergraduate researcher of the year in the College of Agriculture, began his college career as an international studies major in the College of HASS. Davis joined Kenneth White's laboratory in 2004 after hearing him give a lecture about embryo transfer research, and soon after changed his emphasis to animal science. His research focuses on understanding and improving the health of placentas that support the development of cloned embryos. Davis plans to begin graduate work in reproductive biology in 2006.

 

The College of Business undergraduate researcher of the year is Anne Israelsen. A junior majoring in economics and finance, Israelsen has worked with Ruby Ward as an undergraduate research assistant since August 2003.  Her research focuses on the factors that determine the amount of money customers spend in independent garden centers across Utah, and the results will be presented at the annual meeting of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters this spring.

 

Tracey Reeve was selected as the undergraduate researcher of the year for the College of Education and Human Services. Reeve, an exercise science major, has worked as an undergraduate research assistance with Eadric Bressel since spring 2004. Tracey was awarded a 2004-2005 Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities grant to use MRI imaging to study the effects of bicycle seat pressure on the internal structures of the perineum. She will present the results at the ISBS conference in Beijing, China.

 

John Crockett, an electrical engineering senior, was chosen as the undergraduate researcher of the year in the College of Engineering. He has worked since 2003 as a research assistant for Todd Moon, examining how to reduce the computational complexity for decoding important new error correction codes. This work is being combined into a journal article, to which Crockett is a major contributor.

 

Kacey Udy was chosen as the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences undergraduate researcher of the year. A senior in the BFA theatre arts program, Udy specializes in scenic design and has worked closely with faculty mentor Dennis Hassan as a set designer for several theatre productions. Udy recently won the first place KC/ACTF Region VIII Property Design Award  for his work in the play Holes.

 

Hayley Olsen, a senior in environmental studies, worked in Helga Van Miergroet's laboratory and is the College of Natural Resources undergraduate researcher of the year. Olsen is exploring how vegetation affects the dynamics of carbon in wildland soils under different climate change scenarios.

 

The College of Science undergraduate researcher of the year is Dustin Keele. Since 2002, geology major Keele has worked on research projects in northern China under the guidance of Brad Ritts. Keele is writing a senior thesis on the Paleozoic stratigraphy and reservoir characterization of inner China that will contribute to his second published paper. He will present his research at the Geological Society of America annual meeting in 2005.