A Celebration of Research

The College of Community Innovation and Education's Research and Impact Showcase provides our stakeholders with an opportunity to learn about our faculty and graduate student research.

The showcase aims to highlight the exceptional research of college faculty members and graduate students across disciplines and share it with our partners and community. The college's researchers adhere to scientific methods to investigate individuals' experiences to improve humankind. Our faculty and students' research employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine common social issues, such as:

  • Criminal justice antecedents and consequences
  • Educational practices and policies
  • Healthcare and administrative operations
  • Legal policy and practices
  • Mental health concerns and services
  • Public administration and policy

The showcase will include student and faculty poster presentation sessions throughout the event. This is a free event featuring a reception with hors d'oeuvres and drinks.

Awards

Monetary awards will be presented to the top graduate student presentations. The college’s Research and Impact Showcase monetary awards are credited through UCF Student Account Services.

2024 Research and Impact Showcase

Date and Time: Thursday, February 22 from 3 to 6 p.m.
Location: UCF Morgridge International Reading Center

Have questions? Send us an email.

Poster Presentation Abstracts

The 2023 Showcase featured over 70 poster presentations. We hope you enjoyed learning about our faculty and graduate students’ research.

Guidelines

Eligibility

  • Students must be currently enrolled in a graduate program in the College of Community Innovation and Education.
  • Projects from all college fields and disciplines are eligible for presentation.
  • Projects must have a clear focus or a central research question.

Presentation Guidelines

Judging Process

College faculty members are judging the graduate student presentations. The posters are judged according to the following criteria:

  • Clear project statement of purpose.
  • Sound methodology.
  • Clear presentation of results, product, performance or expected outcome.
  • Contribution to the field or discussion of potential impact.

Poster Printing

Presenters will submit their posters to the Research Administration Services Team for printing by March 1. Make sure your file is formatted to the desired size of your poster.

Past Award Winners

First Place
Boniesta Melani, Education (TESOL)
Frequency of Idioms in Academic Spoken and Written Corpora

Second Place
Laura Eng, Logan Lamphere, and Brent Saulsbury, Urban and Regional Planning
A Spatial Analysis of UCF's Land Use and Land Cover Change in Relation to Native and Invasive Species

Third Place
Khalilah Caines, Xueying "Sherry" Gao, Michelle Paul, Learning Science and Educational Research
A Meta-Analysis on the Effect of Remote Compared to F2F Instruction on Student Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic

First Place
Kaitlyn Montcrieff
Cultural Response Theory: The Ouroboros Nature of Education

Second Place
Richard L. Elligson Jr.
Examining Juvenile Court Outcomes for Retail Offenders: An Examination of Offense Type, Sex, and Race/Ethnicity

Third Place
Courtney Lopas
F2F or online? A pilot study of preservice elementary teachers’ learning preferences and outcomes

Honorable Mention
Elizabeth B. Cloude: Negative emotional changes and their relationship to emotion regulation and performance with an intelligent tutoring system: A latent growth curve analysis

Daryn Dever: Examining the Relationship between Metacognitive Strategy Usage and Learning: A Person-centered Approach

Undergraduate Recipients

First Place
Michelle Verbitskaya
Use of Music in an ESOL Classroom and by Individual English Learners as a Way to Supplement the Porcess of the Learning the English Language

Second Place
Kelley Devoe
Exploring Diet, Physical Activity, and Self-Reported Health Status Among Men and Women in the Medically Underserved Population

Third Place
Typhanie Quest
A Literature Review of the Effects of Cognitive Interventions for Patients with Alzheimer's

Honorable Mention
Sonia Balkaran
An Exploration of Representations of Race and Ethnicity in Series or Transitional Literature for Young Children

Honorable Mention
Austin Shulman: Waldorf Schools Effectiveness in Teaching Mathematics Based on Student Achievement
Megan Fuentes: On Pre-Service Professional Development Programs
Kaitlin Elmore: Exploring Portrayal of Modern First Ladies in Children’s Biographies

Graduate Recipients

First Place
Rebeca Grysko; Co-author: Melissa Mitchell
An Exploratory Study of Children’s Interactions with Augmented Reality Enhanced Text

Second Place
Mary Mitchell
Xiaoli Yu
Analyses and Comparisons of Lexical Features in Native and Nonnative English Academic Writing

Third Place
Megan Whitbeck
Does the Working Alliance Predict Psychological Distress for Participants in Psychoeducational Groups?

Honorable Mention
Jillian Schreffler
Answering Difficult Questions: A Study Comparing TeachLive vs. In_Person Skill Building in Health/Sex Education

Honorable Mention
Mais Al-Jabbawi
An Examination of the Role of Arab Gulf Students’ Culture and Gender on Their Cultural Adjustment in ESL Classrooms in the United States of America: A Mixed Method Investigation

First Place
David Foresman
Representations and Impacts of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Ideals in Children's Literature for Young ChildrenSecond Place
Elizabeth Bello
Experiences Learning Mathematics and Grade Level Competency for Children with Cancer

Third Place
Christine Parsons
The Effects of the Use of Coaching Strategies for Educators to Support Students with Executive Function Disabilities

Honorable Mention
Bethany Fralish
Mathematical Immersion through Virtual Reality for Children with Critical Illness

Honorable Mention
Afrina Rohani
Exploring Personality Traits and Trends among Teachers Who Persist in the Field: A Literature Review

Graduate Recipients

First Place
Angelica Fulchini
Weaving Together Mindfulness and 21st Century Professional Learning: Preparing Teachers to Meet Diverse Student Needs

Second Place
Mary Mitchell
Effects of Collaborations between Speech-Language Pathologists and Third Grade Teachers on Student Literacy Outcomes

Third Place
Karyn Allee-Herndon
Poverty and Learning in Academic Early Childhood: A Systematic Review of the Empirical Literature

Honorable Mention
Samantha Mrstik
Combating Special Educator Attrition: Mentor Teachers’ Perceptions of Job Satisfaction, Resiliency and Retention

Honorable Mention
Jennifer Holbrook
Effects of Online Weekly Coaching on Co-Teaching Practices and Opportunities to Respond

First Place
Brooke Rusoff
Exploring Attachment Behaviors in Urban Mothers and their Infants

Second Place
Payton Rausch
An analysis regarding the current efforts to reduce childhood obesity and why they are not working.

Third Place
David Foresman
Children's Literature's Representation of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming and Its Impact

Honorable Mention
Rebecca Chappell
An Examination of the Extent to Which Word Work with Elementary Students Transfers to Authentic Reading and Writing Practices

First Place
Sarah Hanson
Total body water and its relationship to functional performance in individuals diagnosed with osteoarthritis.

Second Place
Taylor Keefer
Undergraduate resources by college: An illustration for favoritism.

Third Place
Yaridma Tejada
Ready or not; College readiness and underserved students

Honorable Mention
Quacy-Ann Webley
My Black is Beautiful: A Study of how hair is portrayed in children's literature with a focus on the children's books "Nappy Hair, I love my Hair" paired with "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

Rachel Campfield
Subject neglect: Lack of social studies education in elementary schools.

First Place
Adrea Scanlon and Shannon Johnsen
#Privacy PleaseAndrea Scanlon and Shannon Johnsen create a focus around teacher privacy and how future and current educators view this particular problem within the education community. The research implemented in this undergraduate research showcase project is a quantitative data analysis on education students and teacher perception on how teacher privacy laws effect daily life.

Second Place
Rebecca Williams
Skip the lecture ... Hit the "Mall" A Students Perspectives Regarding Regarding-Lecture Mathematics Courses

Skip the lecture Hit the "Mall" is a research showcase regarding student perspectives on lecture mathematic courses here at UCF. The project uses quantitative data driven material analyzed from a questionnaire produced to gauge student perspective on if the "Mall" is a better learning environment and tool compared to traditional lecture based classroom settings. The project has generated conversation in the UCF mathematics program along with future questions at Valencia if the program is viable for their needs.

Third Place
Jenna Mathis
The Role of Child Life Specialists in Meeting the Needs of Children with Chronically Ill Siblings

Jenna Mathis's research project, The Role of Child Life Specialists in Meeting the Needs of Children with Chronically Ill Siblings, is a project focusing on the needs of siblings of children who are hospitalized with a chronic illness. The study discusses the role that Child Life Specialists play in those with specifics needs and concerns. Mathis conducts interviews with Child Life Specialists from Nemours Children's Hospital, Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital, and Florida Hospital for Children to gain the perspective of Child Life Specialist understanding of needs for these particular children.

Best Methodology
Laurel Sandage
Gender roles in science

Laurel Sandage focuses her research showcase project in how gender roles play in mathematics and science in the education system. Taking the stance that cultural influences still persist in having female students deter their motivations away from the sciences, Sandage focuses on student perception in their roles of learning within the education system. Sandage uses a qualitative data along with quantitative data produced from interviews and polls taken from primary school students and teachers to show a trend and change within gender roles within future science education and jobs.

Honorable Mention Metholdology
Caleb Robinson
Time to Success: A Statistical Analysis of Time in School and Achievement

Caleb Robinson's research showcase project, Time to Success: A Statistical Analysis of Time in School and Achievement, focuses on already available data of student achievement levels within school districts, and time spent in each district for students taking standardized tests. Caleb uses this quantitative data to make correlations between student success and the times they spend in school resulting in finds that they do not produce greater achievement past an allotted amount of time.

Best Research Problem
Ali Boggs and Thereses Gurley
Characteristics of Quality Social Programs for High Functioning Autistic Students

Ali Boggs and Therese Gurley won best research problem with, Characteristics of Quality Social Programs for High Functioning Autistic Students. The research problem focuses on peer interactions for students, and the development of cognitive, social, and emotional abilities of high functioning autistic children. Boggs and Gurley focus on social skill programs offered to HFA students gauge the consistency and techniques of each program studied to determine positive or negative results.

Honorable Mention Research Problem
Jamie Collins
Are kids hungry for more time?

Jamie Collins research showcase project, Are Kids Hungry for More Time, takes a stance on students needing more time during breaks and lunch and asks if they lead to greater achievement. Collins takes past research on student success for correlating time, achievement, and student health and uses quantitative data from polls taken from teachers and students to address the problem. Collins also uses qualitative data from interviews with teachers in decision if longer lunch times would help improve students during the school day.

Patrons Choice
Rebecca Williams
Skip the lecture ... Hit the "Mall" A Students Perspectives Regarding Regarding-Lecture Mathematics Courses

Skip the lecture Hit the "Mall" is a research showcase regarding student perspectives on lecture mathematic courses here at UCF. The project uses quantitative data driven material analyzed from a questionnaire produced to gauge student perspective on if the "Mall" is a better learning environment and tool compared to traditional lecture based classroom settings. The project has generated conversation in the UCF mathematics program along with future questions at Valencia if the program is viable for their needs.

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