37 winners take first place prizes of $200
The 11th annual Discovery Day on Friday gave USC students an opportunity to present their experiences from research, internships and community service projects to more than 100 faculty judges.
Undergraduates representing all eight campuses of the USC system used posters and oral and creative presentations to showcase their work from research, study abroad, internships and co-ops, community service, leadership activities or national fellowship competitions. Mentors, usually professors working with students on their projects, reviewed the presentations beforehand. Judges were faculty or graduate students at the university and rated presentations on clarity, organization, student presentation and discussion and originality. Beth Tilley, a fourth-year anthropology student and Magellan Scholar, participated in the afternoon poster session. Her project, The Role of Traditional Medicine in Taiwan, was based on research she conducted with her mentor, Dr. Doyle Stevick, assistant professor of educational administration and educational leadership and policies, for an education course over a two-week period. Her research focused on hospitals in Taiwan, such as China Medical University, that use biomedicine versus traditional medicine.
“Here, if you have a headache, you take Advil, and it’s supposed to help your head,” Tilley said. “There, if you have a headache, then something in your body is imbalanced with everything else. So, they’re much more interested in using natural herbs, natural remedies and acupuncture, which has been around for over 3,000 years.”
Tilley said that there is a generational gap among the methods used by people visiting hospitals in Taiwan. The younger generations are using more biomedical methods, while older generations insist on traditional methods, such as herbal remedies.
Julie Morris, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, said that there was a 20 percent increase in presentations since last year.
“Students who are involved in activities on campus and want to share that with other students [are involved],” Morris said. “Also, faculty who have students working with them who might be advisors for student organizations encourage students to present.”
Sara Rapp, a fourth-year Spanish student and Magellan Scholar, also participated in the afternoon poster session. Her project, Understanding How Emotional Response to a Disney Film Impacts Older Adolescents’ Ability to Identify Social and Moral Themes, was based on two years of research conducted with her mentor, Dr. Kate Flory, assistant professor of psychology. She will be presenting the research as her thesis in Chicago this May.
“We thought there would be a correlation between emotional response and the themes identified,” Rapp said. “So, although people felt more relaxed, less anxious and more happy as a result of the film, they didn’t identify themes overall. We thought that was pretty interesting, that while the themes might be present in the movie, they’re not necessarily being noticed or identified.”
Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti, vice president of the Office of Undergraduate Research, discussed the new undergraduate research journal at the awards ceremony.
“This is going to be an online journal for publishing undergraduate research and scholarly excellence, and you’ll be able to publish, whether it’s music, art, creative writing as well as any type of project from science from chemistry to environmental science or biomedical sciences,” Nagarkatti said. “It’s going to be a unique journal, I think unique in the nation actually, and I’m really excited about that.”
Thirty-seven first place winners received awards of $200, which was donated by colleges within the university. The South Carolina Honors College, the College of Engineering and Computing, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Undergraduate Research have donated money for the event.