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Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences 2023-2024 Projects

Click here to return to the main project listings page. Questions: Email our@kennesaw.edu.

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Makayla Culpupper

    • The courtroom can be an intimidating experience. A report titled "Justice Needs and Satisfaction in the United States of America" stated that as of 2021, 55 million Americans need our legal system. There are over 250 million cited legal issues yearly. This project examines the courtroom procedures and processes, how the process is communicated, and where there is confusion and clarity. This project explores the actors involved and their communicative roles. Students interested in studying communication, law, political science, and criminal justice just to name a few would benefit academically and professionally from this project. Students will learn about our library system, and conduct primary research through, interviews, surveys, and observations. You will interact with various professions within our legal system. 

    • Students will-

      1. Conduct secondary research
      2. Synthesize existing literature
      3. conduct primary research (surveys, interviews, and observations)
      4. Explain the rationale for choosing particular research methodologies and data analytic techniques
      5. Analyze, synthesize, organize, and interpret data from their research study
      6. Work effectively as part of a research team
      7. Practice time management
      8. Increase their Self-confidence/self-esteem
      9. Explore professional and career options 

    • Students will have one weekly check-in on Mondays via MS Teams.
      The weekly deliverables will be the completion of 2 minimum below:

      • 1-2 interviews a week.
      • Analysis and coding of 1 interview.
      • Abstract one scholarly article.

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Robin Smith Mathis, rmathi18@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Marisa Behan, Olivia Chaney, Sofia Cupertino, and Nelly Koz

    • Documentary filmmaking offers a captivating way to observe people's lives through the lens of a camera, enabling filmmakers to craft compelling stories based on real-life events. This medium provides an exclusive opportunity to explore diverse human cultures and provide audiences with a deeper understanding of individuals from various backgrounds. As technology has advanced, the realm of filmmaking is now accessible to anyone with portable media equipment, empowering them to shed light on community issues through their artistic expression.

      "About a Bowshot Away" is a short documentary centered around the journey of Hayun, a thirteen-year-old Korean American archer, and her family in metro Atlanta. The film showcases the elegance of Recurve archery and chronicles the family's resilience in overcoming numerous challenges, as they support their daughter's ascent to becoming one of the nation's top U18 archers. What makes this story particularly compelling is the family's unique background. A few years ago, Hayun faced rejection from all archery clubs in metro Atlanta due to intricate reasons. In response, her parents embraced the role of coaches, even though they lacked prior archery experience. Undeterred, the family persisted in their dedication to archery, culminating in their preparation for the U18 National Team qualifying tournament – a remarkable achievement for them.

      This documentary aims to capture the distinctive culture and obstacles faced by this Korean American family, delving into intriguing themes such as immigration, sports, and family values. As the audience immerses themselves in this documentary, they'll discover the genuine portrayal of life, cinematically captured by the camera. The story serves as an inspiring testament to the family's ability to embrace new challenges as a united team, offering valuable insights and motivation as the audience engages with the documentary's narrative.

    • Students will acquire essential skills for documentary production and post-production. During the production stage, they will delve into operating a camera, microphone, and lighting. Utilizing media equipment provided by the School of Communication and Media, each student will have access to a camera to capture factual materials. This hands-on experience will prove invaluable for them to grasp concepts like aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and ISO—critical elements in camera operation. Guided by my supervision, students will gain both theoretical insights and empirical expertise as they film documentary footage.

      Additionally, students will delve into crafting narratives that deliver compelling messages to audiences during the post-production process. Through reading relevant texts and analyzing diverse documentaries, they will comprehend Aristotle's Three-act story structure. This understanding will serve as a sturdy foundation for creative media production, benefiting not only this project but also their future endeavors. In the realm of post-production, students will learn to navigate Adobe Premiere, a major video editing software. I will impart video editing skills encompassing cutting, color correction, and sound design to equip them with the tools needed for effective storytelling.

    • The approach for conducting this project involves a hybrid meeting modality. Typically, students will engage with their mentor in virtual sessions on a weekly basis, complemented by an in-person gathering held once a month. Throughout the project, students will be tasked with various responsibilities, including researching documentary topics, analyzing documentary styles, and editing raw documentary footage. In instances where we plan field trips to capture raw footage, the feasibility of visiting Gwinett County will depend on students' available means of transportation.

      The students' overarching duties encompass the following areas:

      • Research Topics: Korean American culture, Korean Americans in metro Atlanta, Recurve archery, Film festivals
      • Documentary Analysis: Study and assess documentaries, Develop effective storytelling strategies
      • Examine trends in short documentaries
      • Documentary Filming: Gain hands-on experience with media equipment, Film archery-related scenes
      • Participate in field trips
      • Documentary Editing: Edit documentary scenes, Utilize Adobe Premiere for editing, Select appropriate music for the documentary

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Sangsun Choi, schoi36@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Miles Duncan, Shamiah Hill, Natalie Rodon, and Tiger Stephens

    • Have you noticed buzz circulating lately about the potential of psychedelic compounds to change minds, culture, and even the world? To be sure, from Netflix documentaries such as Fantastic Fungi to Michael Pollan’s NYT Best Selling book How to Change Your Mind, to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop series, communication about psychedelics seems to center on the promise of transformation. Rhetoric--a fancy word for studying how communication impacts the world--is central to understanding how buzz about psychedelics is perpetuated. And, a central process of engaging in psychedelic rhetoric research is studying how cultural touch points like Pollan’s book emerge from rhetorical practices within psychedelic science. Indeed, the crux of the “psychedelic renaissance” can be traced to innumerable scientific psychedelic studies at major research centers showing significant promise for a variety of difficult to treat mental health disorders.

      However, overblown claims about psychedelics’ transformative potentials are irresponsible, and when buzz turns to hype it can be harmful. For example, there is a documented history of abuse in psychedelic clinical contexts both above and underground; Indigenous thinking is co-opted within psychedelic capitalism; psychedelics have been associated with anti-democratic ideologies; and adverse effects of psychedelics are under-studied. The Psychedelic Rhetoric Research to Combat Hype project will contribute to the growing contingent of researchers and organizations that are doing good work to expose the “dark side” of the psychedelic renaissance.

      Students selected for this research fellowship will engage in a variety of qualitative research methods to contribute to our understanding of just how the mechanisms of psychedelic rhetoric operate within various contexts. Students will review archival collections, digital archives, scientific writing, and new media to gain insight about psychedelic rhetoric. They will practice writing summaries and analyses of rhetorical artifacts, organizing qualitative data, and synthesizing information to make meaning. They will have access to professional development opportunities as well as opportunities to travel for archival research. If desired, students may have the opportunity to apply these research skills to contribute to the nonprofit psychedelic library Porta Sophia, and their mission to protect the public domain by combating overly broad psychedelic patents.

      This project is ideal for students interested in rhetoric, critical drug studies, health and medicine fields more broadly, social work, religious studies, legal fields, and history/archival research.

      Disclaimer: the PI of this project does not condone the use of psychedelic compounds, and they continue to be illegal and criminalized in the state of Georgia. 

      • Develop relevant research questions related to psychedelic hype
      • Review previous research to fill gaps in personal knowledge (e.g., on psychedelic patenting)
      • Conduct scholarly research using archival collections, digital archives, scientific writing, and new media
      • Summarize, analyze, and organize rhetorical artifacts and their data
      • Synthesize qualitative data to make meaning and contribute to our understanding of how rhetoric works
      • Develop public outreach and engagement strategies
      • Present their research/creative activity to an audience (e.g., poster, oral presentation, performance, display)
      • Work effectively as part of a team
      • Develop time management and independent thinking 

    • Students will engage in some or all of the following weekly duties, depending on scope of interest and expertise:

      • Summarizing, analyzing, organizing, and synthesizing material from PI-digitized archives (the Betsy Gordon Psychedelic Research Collection and the New York Public Library), as well as digital forum archives such as Erowid and Shroomery
      • Curating archives of psychedelic rhetorical artifacts within personal, public, and technical spheres of communication according to the student’s research question
      • Exploring the Porta Sophia library tool to develop an understanding of the connection between overly broad psychedelic patents and psychedelic hype
      • Developing research-based new media campaigns to educate various audiences about psychedelic hype
      • Developing presentation materials for conferences
      • Traveling to perform research at un-digitized archives containing psychedelic materials

    • Hybrid, but primarily online

    • Dr. Amanda Rose Pratt, apratt27@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Will Conner and Sebastian Philbin

    • 3D printing technology is advancing in functionality and capabilities related to multi-color printing.

      In the past, it was very difficult, time consuming, and very expensive to print in multiple colors. Therefore, 3D printing experts would print in single color and then paint the 3D printed item afterward.

      In the last year or two, new and more affordable 3D printers have been developed which can print up to 4 colors. For example, printing mountains can involve brown for the lower elevations, green for vegetation, white for ice covered areas, and potentially blue for water/lakes. 

      • The student will learn basics of 3D printing (since no prior experience is required).
      • The student will learn how to download terrain and other geographic data that can be used to 3D print mountains, landscapes, and cityscapes.
      • The student will learn how to use the single-color as well as the multi-color 3D printers.
      • The student will learn how to compare and contrast the various ways to model and create 3D items.
      • The student will learn various software program used to model and slice 3D files.
      • The student will receive background information/materials about 3D printing from the PI.
      • The student will read/watch those materials the first couple of weeks in order to get familiar with the basics.
      • The student will meet with the PI, a student assistant, and a directed applied research student, so they can split up the tasks and learn from each other.
      • Then the student will download data and massage it to get it ready for 3D printing.
      • Lastly, the student will print the 3D items and evaluate their quality. 

    • Hybrid, but more face-to-face than online due to the use of specialty software only available on campus

    • Ulrike Ingram, uingram@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Cambell Pierce and Cameron Platto

    • This project focuses on a long-term analysis of the artwork across the Atlanta BeltLine. It involves contributing to the development of a photographic census of artwork along with geospatial mapping.

      Students will walk along the BeltLine to photograph and analyze the artwork based on different attributes and themes. They will then learn how to analyze photographic data with geospatial tools. While contributing to longitudinal research, students will get to present their work at a conference.

    • This project will provide industry training to students in conducting ecological analysis with the help of photography, mapping, and geospatial technologies.

      1. Students will learn how to collect location specific data on artwork.
      2. Students will learn how to process the above data for creating maps and geospatial models.
      3. Students will learn how to extract meaningful quantitative information for the combination of photographic ecological census and maps.
      4. Students will learn how to make a conference presentation summarizing the project and their findings.
      5. Above all, students will develop an intimate familiarity with the Atlanta BeltLine.
      1. The students will regularly meet with the mentor each week.
      2. They will photograph artwork along the Atlanta BeltLine and record attributes of each artwork.
      3. They will then manage and organize their photographic data according to different themes including the location attributes.
      4. They will also map the location of each artwork.
      5. It will be followed by a quantitative analysis of the data to generate a meaningful conference presentation.

    • Face-to-Face

      This project requires the students to be on the Kennesaw campus in order to use the equipment and computers. The timing is flexible, and you can set your own hours, but there will be weekly in-person meetings.

    • Dr. Ranbir Singh Kang, rkang4@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Mason Lawson and Devyn Woodard

    • The current study focuses on perceptions within the Democrat and Republican parties in the United States. Democrats and Republicans often misjudge each other (i.e., Democrats and Republicans alike believe the other political party views them more negatively than the other political party actually views them; Lees & Cikara, 2020; Moore-Berg et al., 2020). Meta-perceptions refer to a person’s beliefs about another person’s or group’s beliefs (Frey & Tropp, 2006). Meta-perceptions are often inaccurate as well and can exacerbate intergroup conflict (Finchilescu et al., 2010; Lee & Cikara, 2020). Research on intergroup metaperceptions in political parties has grown substantially over the last decade (Bruneau et al., 2021; Moore-Berg et al., 2020).

      Political moderates and political extremes both deviate from the average political members of their party; however, moderates deviate in a direction that poses unique challenges for their group. My past research has demonstrated that, when evaluating political candidates in their own party, people approve of moderate political candidates less than extreme or average political members. Political deviance, however, has much stronger and more robust effects on people’s metaperceptions than actual perceptions. People believe Democrats approve of moderate Democratic candidates much less than extreme or normative candidates; similarly they also believe that Republicans approve of moderate Republican candidates much less than extreme or normative candidates.

      The current study will examine if outgroup metaperceptions of political deviants (e.g., Democrats’ beliefs about how Republicans view Republican moderates and extremes) are more polarized than ingroup metaperceptions of political deviants (e.g., Republicans’ beliefs about how Republicans view Republican moderates and extremes). The current study will test whether people’s metaperceptions of deviant ingroup members are more polarized than actual perceptions of deviant ingroup members. The current study will also test whether people’s metaperceptions of deviant outgroup members are more polarized than metaperceptions of deviant ingroup members.

    • Students who participate in this project will:

      • Read, discuss, and apply seminal papers in the social psychology of political polarization and political attitude formation.
      • Gain foundational knowledge in social and political psychology.
      • Receive training on ethics of research with human subjects.
      • Collect data using surveys and computer-based cognitive tasks.
      • Analyze and interpret survey data and cognitive performance.
      • Communicate findings in both written and oral presentations.

    • Students will be expected to:

      • Review, compile, and analyze literature related to the outlined project.
      • Attend weekly meetings with research team and actively participate in discussions.
      • Assist in recruitment of participants.
      • Assist in data collection and analysis.
      • Collaborate in the creation of study materials and stimuli.
      • Create and present oral presentations and/or poster presentations for conferences. 

    • Face-to-Face

    • Dr. Danica Kulibert, dkuliber@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Adam Serani

    • Reading is ubiquitous in the college educational experience and a potent determinant of academic success (Wolters et al., 2017). However, graduating American college students struggle with reading, including prose literacy, or the knowledge and skills needed to search, comprehend, and use information from continuous texts, such as instructional materials. A 2006 report of the National Survey of America's College Students (Baer et al., 2006) revealed that most graduating students (56%) at four-year institutions performed at the intermediate level of prose literacy, indicating they possess skills to read and understand moderately challenging prose texts. Strikingly, only 38% of seniors at four-year institutions reached prose proficiency. In other words, fewer than 60% of graduating college students can read lengthy, complex, abstract prose texts (Baer et al., 2006, p.17), a standard college reading assignment requirement. Moreover, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, 2020) demonstrated that only 43% of senior college students often identify key information from reading assignments. In other words, the majority of seniors cannot make connections between text information and reading goals or lack reading utility value, a motivational process.

      These indicators suggest that most college students lack proficient reading competency and motivation. Reader identity is a key determinant of reading success, competency, and overall reading skills (Balwin & Nadelson, 2022: Hall, 2010), and the lack of a "good reader identity" among college students may be the reason for these dismal outcomes. Yet, little is known about the nature of college students' reader identity and its impact on reading outcomes, including reading motivation, since much of the reader identity literature uses K-12 as their research setting. Only one study utilizing qualitative methodology examined this phenomenon among college students (see Balwin & Nadelson, 2022), albeit primarily focusing on identifying the attributes linked with a reader's identity.

      This project seeks to expand the literature by 1) examining the attributes of college students' reader identity and 2) exploring the impact of college students' reader identity on reading outcomes and motivation. The project will utilize various data collection methods, including eye-tracking technology, surveys, and assessments. 

    • Students who participate in this project will have the opportunity to:

      • Gain knowledge about reader identity, reading outcomes, and reading motivation.
      • Conduct literature reviews.
      • Write article summaries.
      • Identify gaps in the reader identity literature and develop their research questions.
      • Create and format surveys and tests.
      • Learn best practices in using eye-tracking technology.
      • Prepare eye trackers for data collection and troubleshoot when necessary.
      • Gain knowledge about quantitative research designs
      • Collect data via multiple means.
      • Clean and analyze data using various statistical software.
      • Prepare manuscripts or conference proposals.
      • Present data in written and/or oral forms.

    • First-year scholars are expected to:

      • Assist with study design and the creation of surveys and other study materials.
      • Complete CITI training.
      • Aid in the preparation and submission of the IRB proposal.
      • Participate in eye-tracking onboarding training.
      • Collaborate with a team to prepare the eye trackers for data collection.
      • Attend research team meetings.
      • Compile, read, and analyze research articles related to the project.
      • Write article summaries.
      • Collaborate with a team to recruit participants for the study.
      • Collaborate with a team to collect, clean, and analyze the data.
      • Prepare and present conference presentations and/or prepare manuscripts. 

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Ordene Edwards, oedward4@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Nancy Manasreh

    • The exploration of cognitive bias in artificial intelligence (AI) has become a critical avenue of research, as evidenced by recent studies focusing on understanding how AI models, such as GPT-4, exhibit responses that mirror human cognitive processes. GPT-4, a highly capable large language model, displays sparks of advanced general intelligence (AGI), demonstrating expert-level performance across diverse domains. However, the model's complex architecture poses challenges in interpreting its decision-making processes, akin to difficulties in comprehending the intricacies of the human brain's natural intelligence.

      Intriguingly, the investigation into AI cognitive bias parallels the study of human psychology. Just as humans can be unreliable guides to their own mental processes, GPT-4's responses may vary unpredictably, influenced by parameters like "temperature" that determine its response creativity. Researchers have utilized various psychological methods, such as vignette-based studies, to compare GPT-4's moral and legal reasoning with human judgments. This exploration sheds light on AI's alignment with human values and the potential for AI-generated outputs to surpass human moral judgments. The significance of research on cognitive bias in AI lies in its implications for the development of future AI agents, the establishment of ethical guidelines, and the quest for aligning AI with morally sound goals.

      By leveraging insights from both machine psychology and human cognitive science, we aim to navigate the decision-making process of GPT-4 and humans using vignette-based studies, exploring cognitive biases exhibited by both agents and identifying potential areas of divergence or convergence. This project has the potential to advance our understanding of cognitive bias in AI systems and their alignment with human ethical and legal values. Additionally, insights gained from this project could lead to improved human-AI collaboration and contribute to the ongoing debate on the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies. 

    • Student will gain research skills/knowledge/experience in the following aspects:

      - Literature review;
      - Experimental design;
      - Participant recruitment and coordination;
      - Online data collection;
      - Data cleaning & analysis;
      - Data visualization;
      - Research dissemination in written and oral formats. 

    • Student duties include:

      - conducting literature review and participating in project meetings
      - assisting with study design and Qualtrics programming
      - assisting with the pre-registration of the study
      - assisting with IRB preparation and submission
      - assisting with participant recruitment and compensation
      - assisting with data cleaning and data analysis
      - producing a conference poster and presenting at a student research conference

    • Face-to-Face

    • Dr. Yian Xu, yxu11@kennesaw.edu
      Dr. Yingzhao Zhou, Senior UX Researcher, Red Hat Inc.

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Robert Cooke

    • New ventures need to attract and retain human capital to stay competitive. When evaluating job openings, job seekers usually read written texts on the start-up’s websites or job ads, such as the introduction of the top management team, statements regarding the desirable organizational culture, and descriptions of various employee benefits. This project aims to answer two questions: (1) What kind of textual information is commonly used by new ventures to increase their attractiveness to future talents? (2) What messages conveyed in written texts on the company website are related to job applicants’ attraction to the new venture?

      To answer the first question, we will employ computer-aided textual analysis to examine relevant text data publicly available online. Specifically, we will first use a data scraping tool to extract data from the websites of companies in the AI 50 and the Fintech 50 lists published by Forbes in 2022 and 2023. We will then employ R and Python to conduct textual analysis to gain more insights, such as the frequency of specific phrases (e.g., employee-oriented, work-life balance), whether a job ad discloses a salary range, the length of the DEI statement, sentiments in various text-based information, etc. We will also scrape web data from websites like Glassdoor, where employees can rate a company on several metrics (e.g., work-life balance, interview process, diversity), and investigate whether any features extracted from textual analysis are related to employee ratings of the start-up. For example, do companies that claim to be employee-oriented receive significantly higher ratings on their interview process?

      Based on the results of the textual analysis of actual new venture data, we will identify 3-5 factors that may contribute to the attractiveness of start-ups. The second phase of the project will involve an experiment in which such pre-identified factors are manipulated. We will create different versions of fake start-up websites and job ads, present them to job seekers and measure job seekers’ attraction to the company. Participants will be recruited using Prolific, which is an online participant recruiting service commonly used in organizational studies. We will also measure job seekers’ individual differences, such as entrepreneurial orientation, need for achievement, and risk-taking propensity. We will analyze the data and identify factors that lead to increased new venture attractiveness. Depending on the outcomes of the textual analysis, I anticipate that we can produce at least one manuscript for a business or organizational psychology journal. 

    • - Knowledge of scientific research method;
      - Knowledge of basic R programming;
      - Knowledge of computerized textual analysis in R;
      - Knowledge of basic statistical analyses, such as descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients;
      - Skill in literature search;
      - Skill in academic writing (e.g., drafting the IRB, writing an abstract);
      - Skill in creating and administering online surveys in Qualtrics;
      - Skill in data cleaning and analysis using R or SPSS;
      - Skill in preparing a manuscript for conference presentations and journal publications;
      - Skill in orally communicating the research findings;
      - Skills in collaborating with others. 

    • - Attend weekly meetings either in-person or online
      - Complete the assigned tasks, which can vary based on the phase the project is in. Typical tasks would include literature search, taking online classes about R programming and textual analysis, reading peer-reviewed articles related to the project, creating online surveys, data analysis, and writing up research findings.
      - Maintain active communication with the research team. 

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Dianhan Zheng, dzheng4@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Kianan Carr

    • Establishing effective psychological treatments is essential to reducing the individual, interpersonal, and societal burdens that mental health difficulties cause each year. A key step in the development of psychological treatments is to evaluate their efficacy through randomized clinical trials. For psychological treatments, these clinical trials tend to focus on two types of outcomes: 1) testing group differences, which test whether and by how much a treatment group shows better average outcomes than a control group, and 2) clinical significance, which evaluates whether those changes produce meaningful improvement in the lives of the individuals who receive the treatment (Baucom & Crenshaw, 2019; Kraemer et al., 2006). Each form of evaluation complements the other and both are critical to fully evaluate a treatment.

      An important limitation of current practices for computing group differences and clinical significance is that researchers define these outcomes in varied ways. First, quantifying group differences in complicated data structures like those in clinical trials can be done in several different ways (Feingold, 2009). These methods are often discussed interchangeably but, in fact, produce different results (Feingold, 2009). Second, methods for determining clinical significance also vary widely across studies (Lambert & Ogles, 2014). Even when studies use the same methods, the criteria for what is considered “clinically significant” often differ by chance alone (Crenshaw & Monson, 2023). This situation results in treatments being evaluated by different criteria across studies, introducing statistical noise, error, and uncertainty into evaluations of a treatment’s efficacy.

      The purpose of this project is to evaluate and improve the standardization of methods for evaluating psychological treatments in clinical trials. Aim 1 of the project will involve a systematic review of published clinical trials of psychological treatments to formally catalogue the methods currently used for evaluating group differences and clinical significance in these studies. Next, Aim 2 will compare the specific methods found in the systematic review to determine a) whether these differing methods result in substantially different statistical power—the ability of a given study, if one’s hypothesis is correct, to find a significant group difference, and b) the extent to which differences in criteria across studies leads to different outcomes or conclusions. Finally, Aim 3 will establish standardized recommendations for future clinical trials of psychological treatments to improve how these outcomes are evaluated in future studies. This project will ultimately lead to better and more standardized evaluation criteria for evaluating psychological treatments.

    • Students will gain training and hands-on experience in conducting literature reviews and systematic reviews, which are essential research skills. Through this experience hey will also learn to synthesize and critically analyze past research in clinical psychology. They will also learn the various methods used to test and evaluate clinical interventions, which will be invaluable for those who wish to go on to a career in clinical psychology or those who are interested in treatments more broadly. As part of a research team, they will learn important skills in collaborative research and interpersonal effectiveness.

      Moreover, students will have the opportunity to select a subset of the project to lead and present, or to add their own research questions that fall under the umbrella of investigating how psychological interventions are currently evaluated in the literature. They will learn how to conceptualize a research question, collect and analyze data, and interpret and present their findings. They will receive mentorship in these activities. Finally, this project is planned with at least two to three future peer-reviewed publications in mind, and students may have an opportunity to contribute as a co-author on one or more of these publications. 

    • -Regular meetings with principal investigator (PI) and graduate research assistant (GRA) (weekly or biweekly with one or both) for training, project planning, and ongoing support
      -Develop student’s project focus and aims within the scope of the broader project
      -Conduct systematic literature reviews
      -Analyze data and develop presentation

      *All activities are conducted with the support of the PI and GRA

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Alexander Crenshaw, acrens13@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Emily Clarke, James Kitchens, and Laura Wilkinson

    • If you are interested in a career in neuroscience, please consider working with us! It will be a great learning experience and you will be able to work with several professors and a large student lab group!

      What do we do?
      This project is part of a larger study investigating the biomarkers related to emotion regulation in humans.

      What is emotion regulation?
      Just like it sounds, emotion regulation is your ability to regulate or control your emotions. In this study we are specifically interested in the emotion of fear. Your inability to control or regulate many negative emotions, like fear, puts you at a higher risk for psychological disorders like depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

      What are biomarkers?
      Biomarkers are measures of what is happening in an organism. For example, blood pressure or heart rate are biomarkers! We are interested in sex-linked hormones like estrogen and progesterone and stress related biomarkers like cortisol and DHEAs. We find these markers in human saliva!

      Putting it together:
      This study looks at the relationship among these biomarkers and the participant’s ability to regulate emotions.

      What is your part:
      You would be working in a biomarkers lab conducting enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). ELISAs are an elegant (and pretty straightforward) procedure for looking for biomarkers in human samples. You would be trained on how to conduct these assays on already collected human saliva.

      Before you learn how to do assays, we will teach you how to perform typical wet lab activities including pipetting, using lab equipment (e.g., centrifuge, -80 freezer) and the processes needed to perform typical lab duties (i.e., handling specimens, performing serial dilutions).
      Also, you will be trained on cleaning and analyzing data and relating existing literature to this process.

      Involvement in this project will provide you with a solid foundation in neuroscience research and you will have the opportunity to make fundamental contributions to our understanding of neurobiological factors contributing to emotional regulation. This project is interdisciplinary in nature with faculty from Psychology and Nursing.

      Finally, will have the opportunity to develop an independent research project using a fear conditioning paradigm and tools in psychophysiology to understand the relationship among salivary biomarkers and emotional regulation.

    • The students working on this project will:

      • Complete the safety and content certifications (CITI and CMS) required to work in a wet lab environment (e.g., Lab Safety, Hazardous Materials, Human Subjects Research).
      • Become familiar with and use typical wet lab equipment such as a centrifuge, pipets, and a plate washer.
      • Perform serial dilutions and create standard curves using the Pierce 660 assay.
      • Perform Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISAs) focusing on two main biomarkers, Cortisol and DHEAs in human saliva.
      • Learn to program the Gen 5 software for reading plates.
      • Work with the faculty members in analyzing data using appropriate statistical methods in SPSS or SAS.
      • Synthesize and critically analyze past research in their field of study.
      • Attend lab meetings (monthly)
      • Engage in training activities to become proficient at performing ELISAs.
      • Conduct ELISAs as needed.
      • Calculate Saliva Flow Rate Data
      • Enter Behavioral Data into Spreadsheet
      • Review literature investigating the relationship among cortisol, DHEAs, and other behavioral topics related to your interests.

    • Face-to-Face

    • Dr. Sharon Pearcey, spearcey@kennesaw.edu
      Dr. Doreen Wagner, dwagne18@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Charlie Barna and Alanna James

    • This project explores psychosocial and contextual factors that influence resilience during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Youth behavioral health problems have been recognized as a public health challenge for some time and have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing increasing rates of youth depression, helplessness, and suicidality, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory on the “youth mental health crisis” in December 2021 and called for a quick and robust response to this public health problem. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association released a similar joint statement (also in 2021) declaring child and adolescent mental health a “national state of emergency,” noting specific actions to address this need. These actions were in the areas of screening, access to care, school-based mental health, prevention programs in a variety of settings, and trauma-informed services (among others). Unfortunately, however, the implementation of evidence-based practices, policies, and interventions (EBIs) is still limited, either in availability or in scale, especially outside of the school context. Research on the psychosocial risk and protective factors involved in the development of the behavioral health problems faced by particular subsets of youth remain understudied but vastly important for informing the development and adaptation of culturally relevant, trauma-informed EBIs.

      This project includes two parts. During the Fall semester, first-year scholars will focus on recruiting and interviewing youth who are not currently in school or work, commonly referred to as “disconnected youth” or “opportunity youth,” about their experiences, connectedness, and aspirations. During the Spring semester, first year scholars will have the opportunity to work on analysis of the interview data just described or survey data regarding young adults’ social connectedness, relationships with their parents, and experiences in their neighborhoods. First-year scholars will also be supported to pursue research questions they are passionate about from either of these two studies. Learn more at https://lab.chanlerhilley.com/

    • At the end of this project, first-year scholars will gain skills, experience, and practice in:

      • Defining seminal youth development and prevention-related theories
      • Describing prior research that has been conducted with opportunity youth
      • Explaining the purpose of qualitative, youth-focused research
      • Describing ethical practices in psychological research
      • Working effectively as part of a team
      • Explaining the importance of applied psychological research for prevention/public health
      • Describing how their research experience can help prepare them for continued studies and employment
      • Presenting research at the KSU Symposium of Student Scholars

    • First-year scholars participating in this project will be involved in all aspects of the research process, the tasks for which differ from week to week. An overview of the types of duties scholars can expect includes:

      • Participating in weekly lab meetings
      • Attending meetings with their project mentor
      • Working with other lab members on this project
      • Reading articles or taking trainings on topics of research, equity, and ethics
      • Participating in discussions on topics of research, equity, and ethics
      • Assisting with participant recruitment, interviews, and data management and analysis
      • Engaging in professional development activities, such as writing a resume/CV, practicing interview skills, learning about graduate school/careers

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Chanler Hilley, chilley2@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Adrian Alicea

    • Total Worker Health refers to a philosophy to promote workplace health and safety. It involves reducing or eliminating safety hazards while promoting health. Total Worker Health approaches have been effective in workplaces in general, but there is not much research about how to apply them to first responder workplaces. First responders face unique challenges to both safety and health. This project will survey health and safety leaders in first responder organizations to determine how a Total Worker Health perspective can be integrated into existing safety and health programs. 
    • Students will develop skills in the literature review, quantitative survey design, study recruitment, data analysis, and scientific writing. 

    • Students will meet with Dr. Horan once per week and will be given assigned duties and provide a status update of previously assigned tasks. Weekly tasks will involve finding, reading, and summarizing scientific literature, assisting in the creation of an IRB application, assisting in study recruitment, data cleaning, and analysis, and the preparation of an APA style manuscript and conference posters. 

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Kristin Horan, khoran1@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Mahi Dalia

    • Criminologists are beginning to develop a framework for describing the nature and role of morality in the onset and continuation of deviant behavior and crime. This project builds on Dr. Thompson's work in criminal justice and psychology to measure the impact of our moral systems and values on our willingness to engage in offending behaviors.

      The outcomes of this project will also contribute to the development of an immersive experimental method that allows for the measurement of real-time responses to decision-making scenarios. Students' efforts will contribute to (1) validating this measure of morality and decision-making and (2) driving future work on building theories on the intersection of morality, crime, and decision-making.

    • During their research experience, students will:

      • Become familiar with research and theory in criminal justice and psychology
      • Articulate how their work contributes to the academic field and their community
      • Critically analyze and synthesize past work to develop new research questions and hypotheses
      • Work effectively as part of a team
      • Present the impact of their work to academics and professionals in the CJ field

      Outside of these field-specific skills, students will bolster their skills in time management and organization, critical thinking, self-confidence and leadership, communication, and self-guided motivation and persistence on tasks.

    • Each week, students will primarily work on gathering resources and building out annotated bibliographies and literature reviews on research areas that are based on morality and decision-making and their intersection with the student's specific topic of interest.

      Students will also have opportunities to work with de-identified data to develop basic statistical analysis skills. The balance between writing and analytical tasks is flexible to work with the students' strengths and development over time. Students will also be asked to attend the Criminology Consortium, a free virtual conference held in mid-October. Students will be expected to submit a weekly email report on the tasks completed throughout that week.

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Lisa M. Thompson, lthom255@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Abigail Lloyd

    • As an interdisciplinary project, this research may be of interest to students across various majors and areas of study, including public health, nursing, sociology, psychology, gender studies, disabilities, and those interested in the pursuit of other medical fields.

      Autoimmune disease is where one’s own immune system attacks their healthy cells and organs; two well-known types include Rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus. Lupus is an inflammatory disease which impacts various parts of the body including skin, joints, kidneys, and other organs often resulting in pain, fatigue, joint pain, rashes, and other life-impacting conditions which can potentially lead to disability. The vast majority (90%) of those diagnosed are women. This significant gendered difference can result in challenges of diagnosis and treatment for men. While men generally experience the same clinical manifestations as women, the symptoms/impact are often more severe—perhaps due to biological aspects, or perhaps due to social aspects such as later diagnosis and delayed treatment, gendered behaviors, or even the belief that lupus is a “women’s disease.”

      This project seeks to explore the lived experience of men diagnosed with lupus from a social/public-health perspective. It is important to explore the social factors that men experience along their healthcare journey to a diagnosis of lupus and how their treatment and life transform after diagnosis. This illness often has symptoms that may be “invisible” to family, friends, and colleagues, which may bring challenges as one adjusts to a new normal.

      Given the limited literature on men and lupus, this project is integral towards expanding knowledge about the experiences of men to inform those diagnosed with lupus, their families, and healthcare providers. This project will take students through the full scope of the qualitative interview process, culminating in the interviewing of men with lupus and analysis of transcripts. Over the course of the project students will collect and synthesize academic literature and online resources, collaborate in developing an interview guide, building qualitive research skills, possibly participate with interviews (interview will be primarily administered by faculty mentor), and collaborate in the grounded analysis of these interviews. The culmination will be student selected topic of specific interest within the data, analysis, and poster presentation at a regional sociology conference.

    • Student Outcomes: As a result of engaging in this experience, scholars will:

      1. Build literature research skills linked to effective library research
      2. Identify, describe, summarize, and integrate published research about lupus
      3. Be familiarized with human-subject research and complete CITI IRB training
      4. Apply research methods to design materials and procedures in order to collect, code, analyze, and interpret data – coding of qualitative data
      5. Gain familiarity with use of qualitative software
      6. Communicate the results of partial sample of interviews into an oral presentation (preferably at a regional conference)
      7. Identify professional development goals and formulate strategies to connect this research experience to their goals
      8. Possible small-scale individual project relevant to topic (e.g., analysis of social media imagery/content relevant to lupus).
      9. Presentation at regional conference expected.

    • Student Weekly Duties: Scholars would be expected to engage in the following activities each week:

      1. Attending meetings arranged with their mentor – this may occur in-person or via Teams
      2. Completing tasks assigned each week which contribute to the research (e.g., reading articles, writing summaries, developing research materials, coding data)
      3. Proofing of interview transcripts (in comparison to recordings)
      4. Offer coding suggestions
      5. Engaging in professional development activities (e.g., resume/CV development, interview skills) 

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Daniel Farr, dfarr4@kennesaw.edu

  • 2023-2024 First Year Scholars: Chloe Johnson, Cheryl Nguyen, and Daisi Sheridan

    • This undergraduate research project will explore the potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) to support second language learning and instruction. As AI and natural language processing advance rapidly, there is great interest in how these technologies could be leveraged to enhance language learning outcomes and experiences. Our team of undergraduate researchers from linguistics and literature backgrounds will conduct a literature review, propose use cases, and potentially build prototypes to demonstrate the value of AI/LLMs in this domain.

    • Students will conduct this start-to-finish research project and in doing so will build valuable skills for in project management, analysis, software development, language assessment, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. These include:

      Content-Based Outcomes - definitions of LLM/AI terms, improved understanding of linguistics; understanding of prior work through literature review, articulation of the study and its contributions to the field

      Skill-Based Outcomes - design a study to answer a research question, develop a hypothesis, write a research paper, present their research to an audience (e.g., poster)

    • Weekly duties will include:

      1. background research on AI/LLMs and their capabilities for language tasks
      2. literature review on existing work applying AI/LLMs to language learning
      3. brainstorming and prototyping possible AI applications and learning interactions
      4. user testing and evaluation of prototypes (time permitting)
      5. analysis and writeup of findings
      6. preparation of conference presentation.

    • Hybrid

    • Dr. Dylan Goldblatt, ngoldbla@kennesaw.edu

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