Honors research showcased on national stage

A group of Bloomsburg University honors students had their research showcased on a competitive national stage among 355 poster presentations representing 900 institutions at the 52nd National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in Atlanta.

“I will never forget how I felt as judges and other students were genuinely interested and intrigued by my research,” Maggie Anthony said, a senior audiology and speech-language pathology major. “The work seems to pay off when others truly see value in your research and the potential to impact your career field.”

Fellow honors students, Laura Bruaw, Emily Noll, Marianna Palumbi, and Emily Sweeney joined her at the conference.

The National Collegiate Honors Council is the oldest and largest international community of honors educators and students. Nearly 65 percent of all honors programs in the United States are members of the NCHC. The process to be able to present at NCHC conferences isn’t an easy one. Everyone who is interested in presenting must submit a proposal almost a year in advance to the NCHC and even then not all are accepted. At the 52nd Conference, only 79 percent of the proposals submitted were accepted.

This year’s NCHC conference theme focused in on justice and diversity, both as an academic subject and how to address it in honors programs. The conference offered dozens of sessions from professionals, panels, dance and yoga classes, tours of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and speeches from leaders in the civil rights community and local politicians. BU attendees also visited Martin Luther King Jr. historical sites, including his tomb, church, and childhood home.

“The experience we all had at the conference was amazing,” said Anthony, “It was so impactful to be able to spend time discussing different ideas and thoughts about honors national wide.”

Anthony conducted her research, “Comparisons Between Transcriptions of Children’s Single Word Productions from Audio-only Recordings and Audio-visual Recording,” with Shelley Scarpino, assistant professor, in BU’s Speech and Hearing Clinic, focusing on the possible benefit of visually and aurally observing a client while phonetically transcribing speech productions rather than only hearing the utterances. Ultimately, more correctly identifying and diagnoses which sounds are the most difficult for the client to make.

Honors Research Presentations

Comparisons Between Transcriptions of Children’s Single Word Productions from Audio-only Recordings and Audio-visual Recording,” presented by Maggie Anthony. “Computer Applications in Adult Second Language Acquisition,” presented by Laura Bruaw. “Cranberry Juice and Attachment of Escherichia Coli,” presented by Emily Noll. “The Impact of Religiosity on Support for Efforts Against Terrorism,” presented by Marianna Palumbi. “The Value of Modeling and Mentoring: The Impact of Connecting Middle School Consultants-In-Training with College-Level Writing Consultants for Tutor Training,” presented by Emily Sweeney.