FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n
Friday, November 15, 2019<\/p>\n
STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Five Tarleton State University students took first-place honors at the 16th<\/sup> annual Pathways Student Research Symposium on Nov. 7-8 at Texas A&M International University in Laredo.<\/p>\n Additionally, six Tarleton students earned second- and third-place awards out of approximately 250 projects.<\/p>\n Hosted annually by a different A&M System university, the symposium is an opportunity for undergraduate, master’s degree and doctoral students to present their research findings — across various academic disciplines — in a poster or oral format.<\/p>\n This year saw 39 Tarleton students participated and six faculty members served as judges.<\/p>\n Graduate Project Winners: <\/strong><\/p>\n Preston Ward<\/strong>, first place, Math and Physical Sciences – “Big Jumps or Little Steps: Fighting Gerrymandering with Random Walks,” mentored by Dr. Scott Cook<\/p>\n Marissa Pensirkul<\/strong>, second place, Environmental Sciences – “Predictive Mapping of Potentially Listed Rare Plant Species,” mentored by Dr. Hemanta Kafley<\/p>\n Ty Hill,<\/strong> first place, Health Sciences – “Physical Fitness Sex Difference of ROTC Cadets,” mentored by Dr. Andy Wolfe<\/p>\n Jacob Raney<\/strong>, second place, Life Sciences – “Differential Staining and Characterization of Osteoderm Development in the American Alligator and Potential Similarities to Trauma-Induced Heterotopic Ossification Lesions in Humans,” mentored by Dr. Brooke Dubansky<\/p>\n Kristin Cunningham<\/strong>, second place, Health Sciences – “Incoming Cadets Perception of Athletic Training,” mentored by Dr. Stephanie Nelson<\/p>\n James Norcross<\/strong>, first place, Business and Computer Science – “Web Scraping to Inform Curriculum Decisions: An Exploratory Study,” mentored by Drs. Joseph Schuessler and Dennis Jones<\/p>\n Undergraduate Project Winners:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Kholton Tidwell-Courtney,<\/strong> first place, Math and Physical Sciences – “Application of Biomolecules for the Absorption of Crude Oil from Ocean Surface Water,” mentored by Rajani Srinivasan<\/p>\n Britney Torres,<\/strong> first place, Education – “The Effect of Integrative STEAM on Middle School Students,” mentored by Dr. Erin Pearce<\/p>\n Melissa Rinehart and Aleesha Barrett,<\/strong> second place, Education – “STEMming Interest,” mentored by Dr. Erin Pearce<\/p>\n James Alexander, <\/strong>second place, Business and Computer Science – “Model of the Quality Life and How it Affects Life Expectancy,” mentored by Dr. Derrill Watson<\/p>\n Rachel Olson, <\/strong>third place, Business and Computer Science – “Enterprise Engagement: A Further Look into a Developing Concept,” mentored by Dr. Randy McCamey<\/p>\n “We are very pleased with our students and their presentations at this year’s Pathways Symposium as well as the faculty members who mentored them,” said Dr. Barry Lambert, associate vice president for research and dean of the College of Graduate Studies. “Tarleton was well represented at this competitive event. Our students presented their research findings to faculty members from The Texas A&M University System with expert knowledge in their respective fields as well as networked with their peers.”<\/p>\n For the full listing of event winners, visit https:\/\/www.tamiu.edu\/pathways\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more information on Tarleton’s research programs, go to www.tarleton.edu\/ori<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tarleton, founding member of The Texas A&M University System, provides a student-focused, value-driven education marked by academic innovation and a dedication to transform today’s scholars into tomorrow’s leaders. It offers degree programs to more than 13,000 students at Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Midlothian, RELLIS Academic Alliance in Bryan, and online, emphasizing real-world learning experiences that address societal needs while maintaining its core values of tradition, integrity, civility, excellence, leadership and service.<\/p>\n Contact: Phil Riddle, News and Information Specialist Five Tarleton State University students took first-place honors at the 16th<\/sup> annual Pathways Student Research Symposium on Nov. 7-8 at Texas A&M International University in Laredo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research"],"acf":{"image":null},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2021\/11\/image-569-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Academics & Research<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academics & Research<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 6 years ago","modified":"Updated 6 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 15, 2019","modified":"Updated on October 7, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 15, 2019 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on October 7, 2025 9:47 am"},"featured_img_caption":"Group of people standing in front of a building with a \"Welcome Pathways 2019\" banner.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54248,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26718\/revisions\/54248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
817-484-4415
priddle@tarleton.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"