Ten students have received undergraduate research awards from Oglethorpe’s Student Research Development Fund, administered annually by the Philip Weltner Library.
Students can apply for funding to help with costs incurred while conducting or presenting research. Funds may be used for attending conferences, research-related equipment, and project and logistical expenses.
Applications were evaluated by a committee that included Eli Arnold ’06, Dr. James Goodenberger, Chamyre Hynson, Dr. Kathryn McClymond, Derek Otis, Dr. Karen Schmeichel and Dr. Justin Wise.
Since 2016, more than 50 Oglethorpe student-scholars have received these grants for research in a variety of disciplines, including art history, biology, English, biopsychology, chemistry, linguistics, mathematics, psychology, sociology, theatre and philosophy.
This year’s funding recipients are:
Kharynton Beggs ’23, Psychology major
Beggs will use her funding to attend the annual Southeastern Psychology Association (SEPA) conference in New Orleans in April 2023 and present her research on the effects of attractiveness bias and colorism bias on hiring decisions, completed during her spring 2022 advanced experimental class.
Mary Hill ’23, Psychology major
Hill will present her research at the SEPA conference. Completed last spring in an Advance Experimental Psychology course, Hill’s research examines the effects of makeup on perceived humanity of the wearer.
Marilyn Jiminez ’23, Biopsychology major
Jiminez has conducted independent research to study ciliary biology using Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with Dr. Lea Alford in her lab since summer 2022. Jiminez’s new research project focuses on novel proteins to assess implications for human diseases of the cilium, known as ciliopathies. Her funding will be used to purchase research equipment.
Alexa Tringali ’23, Biopsychology major
Tringali will use her award to attend the Southeastern Psychology Association (SEPA) conference, where she will present a research paper on how imagery technique affects recognition accuracy and the effect of pretest anxiety and production effect.
Bianca Badeca ’24, Biopsychology major
DIana Sanchez De Paz ’23, Psychology major
Kylee Zimmer ’24, Psychology major
As part of their fall 2021 psychology statistical and research methods class, these students collected data related to the effects of COVID-19 on the college student population. They will present their research findings alongside Dr. Lisa Hayes at the SEPA conference. The research project examined the role of emotional intelligence in predicting COVID-19 anxiety, stress, and prosocial behavior in college students.
Sarah Hsu ’23, Biopsychology major
Jack Thomas Jones ’23, Psychology major
Sharon Olubajo ’23, Biopsychology major
These students will present research completed last year in Psych Stats & Research Methods II course. The research focuses on the relationship between displayed emotions and guilt perception, with findings relevant to courtroom behavior and the justice system. They will present at the SEPA Conference with OU faculty Dr. Brooke Bays and Dr. Lisa Hayes.
