Third Annual Diversity of Scholarship Presentations

By Samantha Philiips

The 3rd annual Diversity of Scholarship event will be held on March 15 at 6 p.m. in the Gallery Room of Kilcawley. Six graduate students will give 10 minute presentations about their scholarly work and research.

Sal Sanders, dean of the College of Graduate Studies, said he wanted to showcase the diversity of scholarly work from Youngstown State University graduate students.

“There are people in the College of Creative Arts and Communication doing artistic-related work and then you have STEM students doing work in their field for example,” he said. “There’s also diversity among the presenters- they have different backgrounds, ages and disciplines.”

Attending this event is a great opportunity for attendees because they are exposed to new research in different fields during a short amount of time, Sanders said.

The YSU Graduate Student Advisory Council chose six graduate students to present: Taylor Phillips, Marissa Govet, Drew Snyder, Ashley Martof, Nishitha Yedla and Ryan Goettsch.

Taylor Phillips will present her research titled, “Make Name Calling Great Again! An Analysis of Donald Trump’s Campaign Rhetoric”. She studied how Trump’s rhetoric affected voters on the campaign trail.

Through focus groups, analyzing voters’ responses to his name-calling on social media and his speech patterns in rallies and debates, Phillips found that Trump used name-calling and degrading nicknames towards other candidates more than any past presidents.

“While undecided voters responded negatively, Trump voters responded positively to the name-calling,” she said.

The presentation stemmed from a class project that was assigned by her advisor Rebecca Curnalia, a YSU communication professor, in which the students did research on a presidential candidate.

Marissa Gorvet will be conducting her research this summer at a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica, so at the presentation she will give a summary of her future research on sloths and their muscle activation.

Since sloths hang from trees for most of their lives, Gorvet hypothesizes that there is a physiological system that conserves metabolic energy, and will record electrical activity of the muscles in the sloths’ forearms to test it.

Michael Butcher, a YSU professor in the anatomy and physiology department, has helped her prepare for this study, which will be published in the Journal of Experimental Biology when it’s finished.

“To be here for two years and already have a chance to get something published in a journal is amazing,” she said.

This event is free and open to the public but reservations must be made by March 10 to [email protected] or 330-941-3093.

Here are the presenters and their research that will be showcased at the event:

Drew Snyder
Advisor: Weiqing Ge
Title: “Are there any Differences in the Attitudes towards Controversial Issues in Healthcare Policies between Physical Therapy Students at Public and Private Universities?”

Ashley Martof
Advisor: Dr. Brett Conner
Title: “A Comparison of Digital Technical Data Package Business Models for Spare Parts Produced Using Additive Manufacturing.”

Nishitha Yedla
Advisor: Bonita Sharif
Title: “An Eye Tracking Study Assessing the Readability of Source Code Software.”

Ryan Goettsch
Advisor: Andrea Barrick
Title: “Single Subject Design Using Functional Behavioral Assessment.”

Taylor Phillips
Advisor: Rebecca Curnalia
Title: “Make Name Calling Great Again! An Analysis of Donald Trump’s Campaign Rhetoric.”

Marissa Gorvet
Advisor: Michael Butcher
Title: Forelimb Muscle Function during Suspensory Behavior in Tree Sloths