Research Presentations Highlight Scholars Day
By Jonathan Petty,
Director, Enrollment Marketing and Communications –
KILLEEN — Taylor Petro’s poster hung at the end of the row. An unassuming Scholars Day research poster, it seemed to fit right in. That is, until you read the title: “Breeding Fear: The Impact of Social Media on Perceptions of Large Carnivores and Conservation Involvement.”
“Everyone’s consuming what’s happening on social media,” she said. “I just wanted to know what’s happening. What are people looking at? And what is changing their perceptions?”
Scholars Day Presentations
Petro’s study was one of 17 research posters on display in the Bill Yowell Conference Center Tuesday morning as part of the Scholars Day recognition at Texas A&M University–Central Texas. Students display and discuss their research posters at the event each spring. A similar event is held in the fall where students present their research in a lecture format.
Dr. Walter Murphy, Assistant Vice President, Division of Research and Innovation, said the event gives student the opportunity to experience presenting their research in a conference setting. He also said it helps others on campus understand the type of high-level research that students are conducting.
“It’s a good opportunity for students to talk about what they are doing and let other students learn what kinds of research are possible,” Murphy said. “Students also get constructive feedback from faculty, so they know what to include next time they present a poster.”
The Importance of Research
Keisha Holman, Director of Career and Professional Development, was also on hand, presenting her own research poster. Her work showed the importance of research and how students can use the skills they develop to benefit them in their future careers.
Research presentations on Tuesday covered various psychology topics as well as computer information systems and other areas of academic interest.
Heinrick Janiola’s research looked at privacy compliance in an ever-advancing technological world. He created an app that verifies compliance among companies that sell doorbell cameras, smart thermostats, and other home technologies.
“As those continue to grow, there will be a substantial increase in regulation for privacy policies, how customer data is treated, and how companies use this kind of data,” Janiola said.
Once connected to his website you can look at companies such as Vivant or ADT and verify their compliance with the latest regulations.
Petro’s Findings
As far as social media’s impact on the fear of large carnivores, Petro determined that the type of images one views does affect perceptions. Subjects were shown aggressive and non-aggressive images of coyotes, gray wolves, mountain lions, and black bears. Yet while the types of images influenced perceptions of the animals, only those of the coyote increased fear. Images of the other animals did not affect one’s level of fear.
Petro, whose study was part of her master’s thesis research for her degree in applied psychology, gladly pointed out, however, that increased fear or heightened perceptions of aggression did not influence conservation attitudes.
While Petro, who completed her master’s work last December, may be done with her current research project, Dr. Murphy encouraged all student researchers to always consider the next step and ask the next question.
“Where do you go from here?” he said.
Research Presentation Titles
“Leveraging Research for Career Outcomes” — Keisha Holman
“Creating Interactions Within a Virtual Reality Environment” — Aiden Smith, Stephen Russell
“Does Social Comparison Relate to Stress and School Belonging in College Students?” — Abigail L. Howell
“Breeding Fears: The Impact of Social Media on Perception of Large Carnivores and Conservation Involvement” — Taylor Petro
“The Impact of Transfer Seminar on Online Self Efficacy” — Alejandro Martines
“The Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Social Support for Military-Affiliated College Students” — Moriah Barrett, Michelle Sandy
“Ibogaine and Reward System Recalibration — Psychiatric Recovery” — Mark Nicolas
“Sex Difference in Cognitive Stability: response Viability Following Acute High-Intensity Functional Training” — Mason Northam, Yu Lun Tai, Jeremy Abshire, Kelvin Wu, Gary Guera
“A Web-Based Ontology Framework for Legal Compliance Analysis” — Meyah Garnett
“Identification of Microbial Growth in Non-Alcoholic Beer Samples” — Sereen Idries
“Web-Based Semantic Platform for IoT Privacy Compliance with Ad-Hoc Chatbot” — Heinrick Janiola
“Trait Anxiety Impacts Emotions Following a Brief Mindfulness Intervention” — Agnieszka Alexander, Kendal Smith
“PCP Based BMO Analysis of Lay’s ‘Real Potato’ Chips” — Navaya Burrus-Defell
“Defending Retrieval Augmented Generation Against Advance Poisoning Techniques” — Maria Figueroa
“Energy Saving Recommendations for Non-Profit Organizations” — Dylan Wilczynski, Devin Leitch, Francis Murba, Mary Lee
“Hydraulic Rescue Tool Rapid Access Mount (HRT-RAM)” — Devin Leitch, Mary Lee, Robert Vuong, Maleia Lute, Akemini Ikpe
“SecureFed: A Two-Phase Framework for Detecting Malicious Clients in Federated Learning” — Likhitha Annapurna Kavuri, Akshay Mhatre, Akarsh Nair
