By: Elizabeth Turner
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center held its 15th annual VKC Science Day on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Vanderbilt University’s Student Life Center. More than 100 undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research staff, and faculty members showcased their work among fellow colleagues across Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Kicking off the annual event, Ann Kaiser, Ph.D., Susan Gray Chair in Education and Human Development, Professor of Special Education and Psychology, and longtime researcher and colleague with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, presented the VKC Science Day Keynote Lecture, “Intervention Research: Charms, Challenges and Change.”
Following the keynote Q&A, participants took part in two consecutive poster sessions. During that time, presenters who opted into the Poster Competition met with faculty judges and general attendees and shared their research. Judges then assessed the presenters on their research and presentation skills. All 2024 Science Day presenters are eligible to request up to $250 in travel funding to present at an academic conference in the coming year. Click here to learn more on requesting travel funding.
Afterward, while final scores were being tallied, six Science Day presenters with exemplary abstract submittals participated in the annual VKC Science Day Data Blitz, where they had 5-7 minutes to discuss their research findings with the audience. Below are this year’s selected Data Blitz participants and their poster titles:
- Jane Eppstein, Clinical/Behavioral/Educational Intervention (PI: Melanie Schuele): “Are Parents of School-Age SLI Children Valid Reporters of Their Children's Grammatical Skills?”
- Natalie Libster, Clinical/Behavioral/Educational Intervention (PI: Julie Lounds Taylor): “Dimensions of Social Support and Quality of Life Among Autistic Adults”
- Shelby Buettner, Systems Neuroscience (PI: Sophia Vinci-Booher): “Drawing Symbols by Hand Leads to Lasting Changes in Brain Function during Visual Symbol Perception”
- Marjolein Mues, Systems Neuroscience (PI: James Booth): “The role of semantic and phonological mechanisms during morphological processing in 7-year-old children”
- Harrison Parent, Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience (PI: Colleen Niswender): “The Role of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 7 (mGlu7) in Modulating the Variable Cognitive Phenotypes of Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1)”
- Kirill Zavalin, Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience (PI: JingQiong Kang): “4-Phenylbutyrate Treatment for Altered GABAergic Neurotransmission in Slc6a1S295L Knock-In Mouse Model of Epileptic Encephalopathy”
Closing out this year’s Science Day was the announcement of 2024’s winners of the Science Day Poster Competition. These winners have the option of receiving their $250 award as a cash prize or in the form of supplemental travel funds. Congratulations to this year’s winners:
- Undergraduate Overall: “Exploring Subjective and Objective Measures of Bodily Self-Disturbances in Schizophrenia and Their Associations with Clinical Symptoms and Social Disconnection” (PI: Sohee Park)
Clinical, Behavioral, Education, and Intervention Research: “Analyzing Feedback and Spaced Trials as Key Features in Retrieval Practice for Word Learning in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children” (PI: Jena McDaniel)
Postdoc: Carly Moser: “The Vocational and Educational Activities of Transition-Aged Autistic Youth with Low IQ” (PI: Julie Lounds Taylor)
Systems Neuroscience:
- Graduate: William Quackenbush:
“The Neurodiversity of Motor Stereotypies: Elucidating Common Brain-Behavior Relationships Across Sensory Landscapes” (PIs: Carissa Cascio, Mark Wallace)
Postdoc: Marjolein Mues: “The role of semantic and phonological mechanisms during morphological processing in 7-year-old children” (PI: James Booth)
Cellular/Molecular Neuroscience: “Group III metabotropic glutamate receptors regulate excitatory neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens and correct schizophrenia-like deficits” (PI: Colleen Niswender)
Postdoc: Kirill Zavalin: “4-Phenylbutyrate Treatment for Altered GABAergic Neurotransmission in Slc6a1S295L Knock-In Mouse Model of Epileptic Encephalopathy” (PI: KingQiong Kang)
New to this year’s Science Day festivities was the introduction of three new research-based awards, granted on the work submitted during this year’s Call for Abstracts. Each winner got to take home a prize. The award categories and winners are as follows:
- Best Research Featuring Unrepresented or Underrepresented Populations (Beats Headphones):
- Taydi Ray, “Shared Book Reading with Latino Families: Caregiver Perspectives and Child Engagement” (PI: Ann Kaiser)
- Best Research Employing Community Engagement/Voices of Persons with Lived Experiences (Kindle Paperwhite):
- Julia Lebovitz, “Understanding the Altered Emotional Experience in Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder” (PI: Sohee Park)
- Best Demonstration of Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (Bose Handheld Bluetooth Speaker):
- Kelsea McClurkin, “Resting state electroencephalography predicts later language through sensory responsiveness in infant siblings of autistic and non-autistic children” (PI: Tiffany Woynaroski)
Browse the 2024 VKC Science Day photo gallery here.
Last Updated: 10/16/2024 11:47:40 AM
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