Ithaca College

Submitted on behalf of Wade Pickren, PhD, Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence/Director of Sponsored Research

The James J. Whalen Academic Symposium was conceived of as an event celebrating student research and creative activity at Ithaca College. The 16th annual Symposium upheld the tradition of the event, providing a day filled with outstanding presentations on independent research and original creative work in the arts.

The quality and diversity of the research and creative projects highlighted in this year's symposium demonstrated the incredible talent of our students and the importance of active learning as a key part of an IC educational experience. I wish to congratulate all of the presenters for jobs well done. Thank you for participating in the Whalen Symposium and sharing your work with the entire campus community.

In addition to the 360 student presenters, and over 80 faculty sponsors, the faculty moderators and volunteers were a critical part of this year’s event. Many individuals and offices contributed to the success of this year’s Symposium, especially Professor Bill Ressler for such an inspiring keynote address, the Whalen Steering Committee (Elizabeth Bergman, Sean Eversley Bradwell, Chrystyna Dail, Akiko Fillinger, Cristina Gomez, Hormoz Movassaghi, Dave Prunty, William Ressler, Yvonne Rogalski, and Peter Silberman), Peter Alario and the Conference and Event Services team, Drew Hammond and AV Services, and the staff of the Provost’s Office and Center for Faculty Excellence.

To view a copy of Professor Ressler's Keynote address, go to the following link:

https://www.ithaca.edu/wpm_preview/site/whalen_symposium/docs/keynote.pdf

Thank you all for your energetic assistance and participation.

The following were the Whalen Symposium 2013 Award Winners:

Oral Presentations:
1. School of Health Sciences and Human Performance - Shawna R. Jordon; Sustainable Behavior and Stress (Faculty Sponsor: Carole Dennis)

2. School of Business – Miles Eckardt; Gerrymandering and Equal Protection (Faculty Sponsor: Marlene Barken)

3. School of Music – Erika St. Denis and Grace Demerath; Metal Contact Dermatitis in the Instrumental and General Music Classrooms: Removing Dermatological Barriers (Faculty Sponsor: Susan Avery)

4. School of Communications – Elizabeth Stoltz; Beyond the Pillow Talk: How Gender, Media and Politics Shape the Role and Legacy of First Ladies, 1961-2012 (Faculty Sponsor: Adam Peruta)

5. School of Humanities and Sciences – Andrew Becker; A New Method for the Synthesis of Organic Polymer Bone Scaffolds (Faculty Sponsor: Michael Haaf)

6. School of Humanities and Science (Martin Luther King Scholar) – Candice Brown; The Haves Versus the Have Nots: An International Perspective on Health Care (Faculty Sponsor: Paula Ioanide)

7. School of Humanities and Sciences – Rebecca Post and Stephanie Miller; Infant’s Pupil Dilation Reveals Attention Processing in Early Word Learning (Faculty Sponsor: Nancy Rader)

8. School of Humanities and Sciences – Keyla Tumas; The Nature of Cross-links in a Biological Glue: Why Does Increased Temperature Weaken Slug Glue? (Faculty Sponsor: Andrew Smith)

Poster Presentations:
9. School of Humanities and Sciences – Eliza Jacobs-Brichford, Amethys Nieves, Hannah Serlin, and Darron Perry; Does Individual Subordination Behavior Predict Alcohol Consumption in Rats Exposed to Social or Developmental Disturbances? (Faculty Sponsor: Elizabeth Caldwell)

10. School of Humanities and Sciences – Joshua Messinger; I Can Grow There Too: Survey of Host Species Specific Growth of Chlamydia (Faculty Sponsor: David Gondek)