At the inaugural Big East Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium, held in Madison Square Garden along with the Big East Basketball Tournament, two Creighton students were recognized in the top five award winners, with Keely Orndorff winning first place and Lauren Barbush winning third.
Last Saturday, Orndorff and Barbush were among 55 other students from Big East schools who gave a 10-minute long presentation in front of a panel of judges. This symposium, proposed and coordinated by Creighton’s Professor Julie Strauss-Soukup, Associate Vice Provost of Research and Scholarship, was intended to showcase the achievements of Big East students.
“I really enjoyed the ability to share my research with others during the poster session,” Orndorff, senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “Although I have presented virtually before, it was exciting to have the opportunity to engage with someone in person while I was presenting.”
Competitors in the symposium were given tickets to watch the Big East Tournament Championships, which the Creighton Bluejays played in. During the game, the Symposium was highlighted.
“My project is mainly focused on understanding how two proteins, PCNA and CAF-1, interact with one another,” Orndorff said.
Orndorff has presented on this research topic at seven other research conferences, but this was her first in-person symposium.
When asked about how she came to choose her topic, Orndorff said she was inspired by her research advisor, Associate Professor Lynne Dieckman’s class.
“Dr. Dieckman has been an incredibly influential role model for me, and I felt like winning first place was also a way to honor her for all that she has taught me over the last three years,” Orndorff said.
Barbush, senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, had a very different area of research from Orndorff that landed her in the top five.
“We proposed that by modifying an extract from the Indian long pepper called piperlongumine we might be able to: improve its ability to protect against noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), and increase its potency at interfering with the cellular pathway that may be involved in NIHL,” Barbush said.
Barbush, after working as a CNA in a nursing home for three years, saw how hearing loss impacted the population that she served.
“Most of my residents had some form of hearing loss, and I saw first-hand how it affected their quality of life,” Barbush said. “It was difficult for them to form social connections and to partake in their daily activities… Living in a nursing home already predisposes residents to depression and isolation, and hearing loss can worsen this.”
Along with Orndorff and Barbush, three other Creighton students went to New York to present in this symposium. JJ Mark, Rhiannon McCracken, and Elizabeth Peller were the other participants in the symposium.
“My project is titled: Razor Women: A Case Study in Using Research and Creativity to Better Understand Historical Figures,” Elizabeth Peller, senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “My project is historical research about women involved in the Razor Wars of Sydney in the 1930s, which was a time of violent, organized crime.”
Peller is planning on presenting her research twice more this year.
“I really enjoyed spending time with some other student researchers I didn’t know well but got to know over the weekend,” Peller said.
Also in attendance at the symposium, this weekend was Carol Fassbinder-Orth, professor of biology and director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (CURAS). Fassbinder-Orth was part of the symposium’s planning committee and served as judging coordinator.