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Posted on April 29, 2019 by Michelle Skidmore

(April 30, 2019) - Students representing every college at UTSA were honored for their success in research at the Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry Showcase, the university's largest show-and-tell event of the year. Organized by the Office of Undergraduate Research, this year's showcase featured more than 200 undergraduate students highlighting their research and creative endeavors across all disciplines.

“This year's showcase displayed the talent, intellectual acuity, and multifarious creative endeavors of UTSA's undergraduate students," said Jill Hernandez , associate dean of undergraduate research in University College. "The showcase featured a record number for student participation from every college, more civically engaged research projects, and a diverse range of faculty-mentored transformational research experiences. Expanding opportunities for undergraduate research is one of the ways to distinguish UTSA as a national model for student success at large, public research universities."

The showcase gives many undergraduates their first opportunity to share their research in an academic setting and explain their methodology and findings to peers and faculty, many of whom participated as judges.

Based on the judging results, one student from each college was recognized for their research and one student was selected for the Best-In-Show Award and the Civic Engagement Award .

The 2019 recipients:

College of Architecture, Construction and Planning
Ivan Ventura , Retrofitting Urban Infrastructure
Faculty Mentor: Ian Caine

College of Business
Dayanira Mendoza , Disney Rides
Faculty Mentor: Wenbo Wu , Mark Leung

College of Engineering
Joshua Gale , A Novel and Active Bandage for Accelerating the Healing of Chronic Wounds
Faculty Mentor: David Restrepo

College of Education and Human Development
Erin Roye , The Effects of Diet + Exercise on Cardiometabolic Health of Female Mice
Faculty Mentor: Eunhee Chung

College of Liberal and Fine Arts
Michael Tijerina , Dito Saenz , Dominic Valadez , Natalie Morales
What are College Students Listening to and How ‘Complex’ Is it?
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Beavers

College of Public Policy
Sara Morsi , Adolescent Pregnancies in Northeast Independent School District
Faculty Mentor: Patricia Jaramillo

College of Sciences
Dale Lucas , Progress of 2 Wetland Restorations in Bolmorhea/Toyahvale, TX
Faculty Mentor: Brian Laub

Honors College
Carolina Cruz , Streaming Killed the Radio Star: the Innovation of Music Discovery in the US
Faculty Mentor: Richard Gretz

Civic Engagement Award:
Derek Sandoval , Calling the Police among Hispanic, White, and Black Female Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: Applying the Health Belief Model
College of Public Policy
Faculty Mentor: Kellie Lynch

Best in Show:
Dayanira Mendoz , Disney Rides
College of Business
Faculty Mentor: Wenbo Wu , Mark Leung

Additionally, two faculty members were awarded the Faculty Mentor Award for Undergraduate Research .

  • Jennifer Beavers , assistant professor of music theory, College of Liberal and Fine Arts
  • Lyle Hood , assistant professor of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering

– KC Gonzalez

— Michelle Skidmore