Undergraduate Research & Community-Engaged Scholar Projects
Undergraduate Research (UR) is self-directed/designed, faculty-supportive, or collaborative academic work by an individual student or team of students that addresses a research question with the expectation of a scholarly or creative product intended for publication or presentation on or off campus. Students undertake this work with a faculty mentor for at least one academic term or intensive summer, through which students learn and assume their roles as researchers and creators. Students also may earn a distinction as an Undergraduate Research Scholar by presenting and publishing in the UNCA Journal of Undergraduate Research and being nominated by a faculty mentor. To learn more, please visit the Undergraduate Research Program page. Community-Engaged Scholars also complete a paper for the UNCA Journal of Service Learning and present a poster at a UNCA Symposium, after completing a community-engaged project and service-learning courses. To learn more, please visit the Key Center for Community Engagement.
Students majoring and minoring in Health and Sciences participate in a wide variety of projects, including original research, writing informative and evidence-based papers, and giving presentations in their classes and in the community. Here are a few examples.
HS Student Presentations Recorded for the Online UNC Asheville Symposia:
Spring 2023
- Nina Finderle – Body Image Dissatisfaction and Discrepancy among D1 Student Athletes
- Christa Jones – Eating attitudes among student athletes
- Alexis Walker – The difference between nutrient dense diets versus energy dense diets on self-reported happiness and depression levels
- Erin Cunningham – How Can Athletic Trainers Help to Reduce Mental Health Issues in Athletes
- Sophia Hansen – How Ambiguous Data Leads to Definitive Claims through Cherry-Picking
- Mikaela Fullerton – The Association Between Socioeconomic Status and Mask Wearing Behaviors Among College Students
- Patrick Alvey – Integrating East Asian Medicine into Contemporary Western Healthcare Systems
2022
- Phillip Heintz – Post-injury Depression and its impact on the Recovery of College Athletes
- Erica Ritter – Covid’s Impact on Undergraduate University Students; a Perspective Regarding Academics, Mental Health, and Lifestyle Components
2021
- Elena Keller – Safer Together Linkages to Care: A Prisoner Reentry Preliminary Program Evaluation
- Maggie Rothenberg – Spiritual Health, Locus of Control, and Perception of Stress Effects on College Students
2020
- Courtney Coules – Immigration Trauma
- Gennie Bassett – Proposed Longitudinal Analysis of the Modulation of the Gut Microbiome Through Diet and Exercise for the Prevention and Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease
- Jasmine Cox – Variation in Peak Performance: Role of Mental Health and Body Composition
- Serena Sandiford – Emotional Responses to a Musical Performance
2019
- Jonathan Stockwell – The Effects of Ambient Music and Theta Frequency Binaural Beats on State Anxiety and Interoceptive Awareness
- Elli Cole – Factors Affecting Student Satisfaction with University Mental Health Clinic
2017
- Anja Mayr – The Effects of Coloring on Physiological and Behavioral Responses to Stress
- Grace King – Contraceptive Counseling among Female College Students
2015
- Melissa Allen – Too Much with Too Little: Sugar and Artificial Food Dyes in Grocery Store Products Marketed To Children
- Elyse Howdershell – People, Palates, and Places: An Exploration of Urban, Suburban, and Rural Local Food Perceptions in the Mountain South
2014
- Kelly Miller – Can Women’s and Men’s Health Magazines be Judged by Their Covers? Differences in Magazine Models and Headline Frames
- Nambi Ndugga – More than just Skin Deep: An Exploration into the Reasons Behind Skin Depigmentation
2013
- Carolyn Bacchus – GOING LOCAL: Eat Smart, Move More NC Local Coalition Policy Study
- Kevin Rumley – Shifting the Research Paradigm: Exploring Community-Based Participatory Research and the Implications of Traditional Research Methods on African-American Populations
Spring 2022
- Katie Currin – The Impact of Urban Forestry on the Mental Health of Residents
- Katherine Bernhardt – Hormonal Birth Control and Cultural Attitudes Toward Menstruation
- Phillip Heintz – How is depression and injury related and how can we better care for injured athletes at Unca?
- Erica Ritter – Covid’s Impact on Undergraduate University Students; a Perspective Regarding Academics, Mental Health, and Lifestyle Components.
- Gennie Bassett – The impact of teleological reasoning and religious views on student’s understanding of evolution
Spring 2021
- Morgan Costelloe – Body Image Messages on Female and Male Athletes in Popular Netflix Dramas
Fall 2020
- Avery Parker – Differences in Key Health Measures by Race in Western North Carolina
- Miranda Poe – Health Disparities between Black, White, and Overall Populations in Western North Carolina
- Ariana Cohen – Impact of COVID-19 in Long-Term Care Facilities in Western North Carolina by Race
- Siddhi Patel – The Impact of Community Gardens on Health
- Jamie Chaote – Understanding Empathy and Mental Health
- Rosemary Wilson – A Pilot Study of Psychological Trauma’s Manifestations in the Body: The Mediating Role of Interoception on Alexithymia, Hyperarousal, and Depressive Symptoms
Spring 2020
- Gao Xa-Xao Moua – Maternal Health: Impact of Pregnancy-Specific Stress on Newborns’ Health
- Courtney Coules – Mental Health Impacts from Sun and Soil Exposure
- Jake Hall – “More Hours, More Money, More Respect”
- Lexie Kuwik and Tess Friesen – The Association between Medically-Induced Induction of Labor and Specific Adverse Infant Outcomes Over Time
Community Engaged Scholars
UNC Asheville Student Papers Published in the UNC Asheville Journal of Service Learning:
2018
- Gretchen Dettlinger – School Mindfulness and SportsTeams in Middle Schools
- Cheri Fleming – Keeping A Sense of Community: Archiving in theShiloh Community, Asheville
2017
- Emilee Cantrell-Koregay – Helpmate’s ChildProtective Services Notebook: Paving the Way toward Comprehensive Navigationand Survivor Self-Advocacy
- Sydney Stradling – Child Protective Services Self-AdvocacyNotebook Project
- Leah Westendorf – Determining the Effectiveness of an Intervention Notebook for Domestic ViolenceSurvivors: A Community Partnership Between Buncombe County Family JusticeCenter
2016
- Ella Ferguson – Art as Education: A Project to Increase Produce Consumption at the YMCA’s Healthy Living Pantry
- Sydney Mixon – Growing a Network: Surveying Community Gardens Within the Asheville Area
2015
- Cody Bushong – Sustaining Healthy Living Programs in Our Community:Producing a Policies & Procedures Manual for the YMCA of WNC
- Margaret Jones – Wellness Superhero Challenge: Forging A Bridge Between Executives and Employees Through Wellness
2014
- Rachel Ann Carson – Exploring Strategies to Address Obesity with Eat Smart, Move More North Carolina
- Susannah Crawford – The Exploring Food Project: Pre-testing Messages for a Healthy Food Campaign
- Emma Parish – Our Semester at Steadfast Home:Providing the Childcare Every Kid Wants, and Every Mother Deserves
2013
- Hillary Murphy – Exploring Fruit and Vegetable Consumption with Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services
- Sarah Tindall – Promoting Sexual Health through Effective Communication Materials
Capstone Projects: Talks
Spring 2019
HWP 459 Capstone Spring 2019: J. Diesel “Trauma Releasing Exercises”
HWP 459 Capstone Spring 2019: S. Stovall “Racial Disparities in Substance Use Treatment”