Student Spotlight

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Senior Hunter Adams is a Health & Exercise Science major with a Public Health minor. Currently, Hunter is working with Dr. Liz Ackley in the Health and Human Performance Department to learn the steps to develop and implement a new center within an existing academic organization. Additionally, Hunter is learning how to design all the protocols that will be used within the new Human Performance Lab. Great work Hunter!  

Fellows Friday

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Sophomore Kallie Parish is working alongside Dr. Kristen Rapp in the Department of Sociology and Public Health. Currently, they are in the beginning stages of gathering information on the intersectionality of Disability, Policy, Gender and Health. Kallie loves that Research at Roanoke College, “is what you choose to make it! It can be about advocating for something you have for years, or something brand new.” Nice job Kallie! 

Student Spotlight

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Senior Amanda Kern is working with Dr. Richard B. Keithley in the Chemistry Department. Amanda has been working on the development of a UV-VIS spectroscopy experiment for future CHEM 350 instrumental analysis where students utilize a double beam in time UV-VIS spectrometer to extract kinetic data from a chemical system of real-world relevance. The molecular reaction being studied is the degradation of food dye with sodium hypochlorite producing a colorless product. Great work Amanda! 

Fellows Friday

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This week we are excited to highlight Senior Tess Weidenkopf! Tess is currently finishing a project for Departmental Honors in the Biochemistry Major and is developing a methodology to analyze suspect Metformin HCl pharmaceuticals from Sub-Saharan Africa via HPLC. She also is working on a new project for Departmental Honors in the Theatre Major. The project is a dramaturgical study of Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour focusing on the psychological development and mental health issues of young women in single sex education as well as the historical context of the production. Since starting her Research Fellowship, Tess has attended a conference at Harvard University where she presented her research on the development of nanocrystals that she completed with Dr. Hughes. She also won the Irene Adler Meritorious Award in Dramaturgy for her work on Silent Sky. Fantastic work Tess! 

Fellows Friday

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This week we are showcasing Senior Emily Curfman’s research. Since her freshman year, Emily has conducted research with Dr. Sweet in the Business Department and have looked into a variety of topics over the last few years. Currently, she is researching the relationship between job satisfaction, motivation, and productivity in telework. This research is useful for employers to know because of the recent increase of teleworking in the workplace. She also has a passion to learn more about the field of human resource management, so this research allows me to gain more knowledge about my future career path. This past week, Emily presented her research at the SEINFORMS conference. Way to go Emily! 

Student Research Leads to ‘Transformative’ Project in Roanoke

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Dr. Liz Ackley, the Brian H. Thornhill Associate Professor of Health & Human Performance at Roanoke College, and the director of the Center for Community Health Innovation at Roanoke College announced last week that the Northwest Food Access Initiative has received a $10 million dollar earmark from ARPA funds. The Center serves as an avenue for both students to experience real-world learning and a chance for the Northwest neighborhood of Roanoke to improve and flourish because of students’ research. With Dr. Ackley’s efforts and a city panel of volunteers, the creation of this shopping center in Northwest Roanoke is possible. When asked about this project, Dr. Ackley says, “I think the uniqueness of all of this work is that we have a small liberal arts college guiding what could potentially be one of the most transformative project ever in the history of Roanoke.” Soon, Roanoke City will find a developer to begin the first stages of this significant project. We look forward to watching this shopping center come to fruition! 

Student Spotlight

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This week we are excited to highlight Senior Audrey Mason who is working with Dr. Kelly Anderson in the Chemistry Department. When asked to describe her research, Audrey says, “The energy crisis of the mid 1970’s sparked the push for renewable energy. This was the first time there was a threat of running out of fossil fuels which led to the development of renewable energy sources and energy conservation. Thermal energy storage is when energy is stored in the form of heat and held until it is released to be used. This is beneficial when moving towards a greener future because it allows for energy to be stored for an increased duration of time. Although working on a nanoscale, simulations can lay the foundational blueprints for larger projects. The goal of this experiment is to discover the influence of a closed pore on the melting properties of a phase change material, lead. In particular, it was examined if the melting point changed as the volume of the pore increased at two different loading densities.” Keep up the great work! 

Fellows Friday

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This week we are introducing Research Fellow Friday. For this first Friday, we are excited to highlight Sophomore Ethan Parker who is working with Dr. Danielle Findley–Van Nostrand in the Psychology Department. This semester, Ethan is working on a literature review that focuses on synthesizing information from precarious manhood theory and how threatened masculinity affects aggression. His work this semester will serve as a proposal to segue into an empirical study next semester. Fantastic work Ethan!

Student Spotlight

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This week we are excited to highlight Senior Kayla Marshall.  Kayla has been conducting a Bilateral Comparison Study on a human cadaver with Dr. Thibodeaux in the Biology Department. Throughout her experience with Research at Roanoke College, Kayla loves that she can conduct research independently with the strong support from her advisor. She can control and conduct her research independently under the guidance of Dr. Thibodeaux. Great work Kayla!

NIH Presentation Highlight

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This past Thursday, Seniors Bryn Haden and Kavya Iyer co-presented, “Perceived Neighborhood Environments: Health Impacts and Catalysts for Change” with Dr. Elizabeth Ackley at National Institutes of Health: State of the Science Convening on Food Insecurity, Neighborhood Food Environment, and Nutrition Health Disparities. The research both Bryn, a Public Health and Health & Exercise Science double major and Kavya, a Biochemistry major, conducted was all supported through the Center for Community Health Innovation and Honors Program here at Roanoke College. The purpose of their project is, “To describe the efficacy of the Roanoke Valley Community Healthy Living Index as a scalable model for evaluating neighborhood food and physical activity environments and catalyzing policy and infrastructure change [and] to outline recent findings pertaining to the relationship between perceived neighborhood environments and health outcomes in youth.” Through their research, Bryn and Kavya concluded that, “Perceptions of neighborhood food and physical activity environments demonstrate promise in evaluating neighborhood environments and informing tailored interventions.” Please join us in congratulating Bryn and Kavya for their hard work and phenomenal presentation!