Research Resonates at USD’s Annual ‘Creative Collaborations’ Conference
A cacophony of excited voices boom off the walls inside the Hahn University Forums as dozens of undergraduate researchers present for their roaming audiences.
The Creative Collaborations Undergraduate Research Conference 2022, held on April 21, showcased work from 105 students across the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Knauss School of Business. It was the first time the annual event, which began in 2012, was held in-person since the COVID-19 pandemic forced everything into a virtual space.
“Our undergraduate students present their research in poster formats and a few oral presentations,” says Director of Undergraduate Research Elisa Greene. “It’s all work that they have done with USD faculty advisors.”
As students, staff, and faculty peruse the posters, the young presenters eagerly articulate their project’s various components, including purpose, significance, methodology, results, and future discussions. They field inquiries from their audiences and proudly posed for photos next to their work.
“Creative Collaborations is one of my favorite events of the year,” says Sara Desalegne, a Biochemistry major, Philosophy minor, and president of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Club. “It is a great way to see what various students and faculty have been researching throughout the year.”
Desalegne’s project, “NHE1 as a Target to Block Lung Fibrosis,” focuses on how the sodium hydrogen exchanger isoform 1 (NHE1) plays a role in the progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a degenerative lung disease with no known cures.
“Ultimately, we hope to use NHE1 as a target for drug development in order to treat IPF patients,” Desalegne says.
Cassidy De Anda Gamboa presented her project focused on drug dependence. The Behavioral Neuroscience major and Biomedical Ethics minor has been working with Psychological Sciences Professor Dr. Jen Wenzel, PhD, on a project titled, “Adolescent cannabinoid exposure alters cocaine conditioned reward and attenuates cocaine-induced activation of the prefrontal cortex in adulthood,” which sought to determine how adolescent cannabinoid (CB) exposure shapes cocaine reward and aversion in adulthood in a rat model.
“The event was a great success and a wonderful opportunity to showcase the research that I have been working on with Dr. Wenzel as well as the results we have discovered,” says De Anda Gamboa. “In addition, I enjoyed viewing other students' work and networking with other students in the research community.”
Research topics are wide ranging and include politics, environmental issues, public health, and culture. Overall goals also vary, explains Greene.
“We have a lot of senior Capstone courses, where the professors have their students come and present their Capstone research here,” she says. “We also have a lot of students doing independent research with their faculty mentors where the research is ongoing and this is just a check-in point. Sometimes, we have [researchers] practicing for a national conference in their field and it’s practice for them to get more comfortable in a less intimidating environment.”
The Office of Undergraduate Research holds a similar conference in September, which is geared more to the independent research students conduct over the summer, adds Greene.
— Matthew Piechalak