Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma State University
06/09/2024 | Press release | Archived content
CAS student researcher profiles
CAS student researcher profiles
Friday, September 6, 2024
Media Contact: Elizabeth Gosney | CAS Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-7497 | [email protected]
Within the College of Arts and Sciences' 24 departments, there are countless scholars performing groundbreaking research. Here's a glimpse of five students who - along with their faculty mentors - are proving why Orange is the Answer when it comes to solving problems and improving the world.
Zyneycea Deffenbaugh, Wagoner, Oklahoma
Major | Sociology
Research Mentors: Drs. Joshua Jansa and Rebecca Herrick
Zyneycea DeffenbaughHow did you begin your research?
I was unaware that you could do undergraduate research with professors as well as receive compensation for the work conducted. I began my research through a program called Advancing Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity. Through AURCA, I became a research assistant for Dr. Joshua Jansa and Dr. Rebecca Herrick in the Department of Political Science to evaluate "Race and Roadblocks Enclosed in American Voting." This led me to apply for an internship with Dr. Parker VanValkenburgh from Brown University and Dr. Alicia Odewale from the University of Tulsa to map the historical traumas of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
What has been the impact of your research?
Within Dr. Jansa's and Dr. Herrick's research, the focal point is centered on how registration can serve as a major conflict that can depress and discourage certain voters from participating in the process. Due to this, voting turnout is significantly lower among minorities as opposed to their white counterparts. To help enhance and create better voting procedures, five key registration laws are analyzed: Registration Deadline, Registration Portability, Online Registration Access, Ability to Preregister, and Automatic Voter Registration. I presented this research at the 2023 Undergraduate Symposium at OSU.
What are your future plans?
Since graduating in May, I am taking a gap year to focus on the LSAT and apply for law school. I also participated in the Oklahoma Legislative Fellowship Program during the summer.
Max Coe, McKinney, Texas
Major | Art History with a European Studies Minor
Research Mentor: Dr. Cristina Gonzalez
Max CoeHow did you begin your research?
I originally began learning about how to complete art historical research in my classes. After completing several small research papers, I knew I was interested in completing more outside of class and possibly in my future career. When I heard about the AURCA program from another student, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to gain more research experience and explore my passion for art history even further. I am so thankful I took the time to plan goals that would assist me in my future career. Because of this strategy, I have been able to intern at the Princeton University Art Museum, work under Sana Masood in the OSU Special Collections and work as a research assistant for Dr. Cristina Gonzalez in planning her New Mexico Museum of Art exhibition, "Saints and Santos: Picturing the Holy in New Spain."
What has been the impact of your research?
Researching the artwork and material for Dr. Gonzalez's exhibition was not only extremely impactful to my skills and interest in art history, but also to the audience for the exhibition. Recently, I completed several saint biographies for the exhibition that will be published. I also had the opportunity to intern at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in their archives and libraries this summer.
What are your future plans?
As an art history major, I have found a passion for working in archives and completing art historical research. So, after I graduate in 2025, I plan to secure a position in a library or archive environment. There, I will gain more experience in my field before pursuing a master's degree in either library science or art history - or both. In my master's program, I hope to complete research on the art of tarot cards and how they connect to femininity and sexuality.
Jensen Bridges, Blanchard, Oklahoma
Majors | Mathematics and Statistics with a Philosophy Minor
Research Mentor: Dr. Melissa Emory
Jensen BridgesHow did you begin your research?
My Calculus I professor first gave me an introduction to the world of academia through a conference she encouraged me to apply to. During this conference, I learned about Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REUs. In the summer after my sophomore year, I moved to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, to complete an REU in data-enabled industrial math. Our project was assigned by the Department of Energy, and our goal was to predict the amount of plutonium created during the nuclear fuel cycle. This project was at the University of Texas at Tyler in the field of combinatorics, and I immediately found my niche in this work.
What has been the impact of your research?
The work I'm doing is in pattern avoidance of permutations, a subfield of combinatorics, or the study of counting complex objects. Though it's a field of pure math, combinatorics has many applications to computer science and network security. I have now submitted one paper from this REU for publication, and my group members and I are ready to submit a second one. I have also been given the opportunity to present both of these pattern avoidance projects at several conferences in Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, Nebraska and California.
What are your future plans?
I interned at Chesapeake Energy this summer and am now beginning my Ph.D. in pure mathematics at the University of Florida. After finishing graduate school, I will continue to a postdoctoral fellowship and eventually a tenure-track position to become a mathematics professor, continuing my current research in combinatorics.
Kwabena Fobi, Kumasi, Ghana
Ph.D. | Chemistry
Research Mentor: Dr. Richard Bunce
Kwabena FobiHow did you begin your research?
I was fortunate to spend a few holidays in my grandma's village as a young boy. I was fascinated by how she used herbal preparations to treat various ailments. Although I was unaware of research at the time, I became interested in the idea of learning about this subject. My professor's advice, motivation and biochemical research experiences during my undergraduate studies pushed me into an M.S. in chemistry at East Tennessee State University and then a Ph.D. program at OSU.
What has been the impact of your research?
In our quest to discover drugs that can overcome resistance from bacteria, I have synthesized and characterized small molecules having the requisite functionality for perfect binding and interaction at the active site of bacterioferritin implicated in biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance. These antibiotics will serve as a new strategy to combat Gram-negative bacteria and biofilms. Additionally, I have developed a new domino reaction methodology for the synthesis of drug candidates and produced high yield quinoline, naphthol and lactam lead compounds via novel, optimized methods. I received the Gary Smith and Soon Han Scholarship for Outstanding Graduate Student, the OSU Foundation-Berlin Scholarship in Organic Chemistry, and the Boris Franzus Award for Outstanding Organic Chemistry Graduate Student.
What are your future plans?
My career goal is to become part of a community of experts in medicinal chemistry, drug discovery and development with the hope of helping humanity. I envision working in research institutions and pharmaceutical firms to design and develop new antibiotic and anticancer drugs. I also see myself in academia. Who knows where fate will thrust me.
Gabby Gomez, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
Ph.D. | Sociology
Research Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Coley
Gabby GomezHow did you begin your research?
I began researching health care practitioners' participation and experiences in the weightinclusive health care movement for my master's thesis at Lehigh University. At that time, I analyzed transcripts of a popular weight-inclusive podcast named Food Psych. I am currently building on my master's work through my dissertation research by interviewing weight-inclusive health care practitioners about their participation and experiences in the movement directly.
What has been the impact of your research?
With my research, I aim to raise awareness of the weight-inclusive health care movement, as well as the efforts and experiences of the individual health care practitioners who make up this movement. While health scholars stress that top-down policy changes are needed to mitigate the injustice of medical weight bias and its adverse health consequences at the population level, too little attention has been paid to the bottom-up change efforts being carried out by health care practitioners themselves. I received the 2024 Faculty Council for Gender Equity Student Research award for my dissertation work and recently published an article about the barriers that health care practitioners face as they transition toward and carry out weightinclusive care in the journal Fat Studies. This summer, I presented my research at the International Weight Stigma Conference and the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
What are your future plans?
My career goal is to work in an institution of higher education as a sociologist.
Compilations by: Dr. Rachael Eaton | CONNECT magazine