16th Annual Research Fair to Spotlight Academic Work of WT Faculty

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — They’ve thoroughly researched topics in everything from the COVID-19 pandemic to cyberbullying to the Texas prison system — even 17th-century Austrian liturgies and calves with dwarfism.

Now, West Texas A&M University faculty members will present their research to WT faculty, staff and students, as well as the community at large, in Cornette Library’s 16th annual Faculty Poster Session and Research Fair.

The research fair will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 4. Forty projects — 37 studies and three books — will be featured in posters, digital presentations, prerecorded videos and some live presentations for internal audiences.

“This is giving our professors the ability to promote what they’re working on, even given the current climate,” said Taylor Fairweather-Leitch, scholarly communications librarian. “For the last year, faculty members have been extremely limited in how they present their research, since conferences have been canceled due to the pandemic. This research fair, as always, gives them the opportunity to share the fruits of their research, only this time, it’s just in a virtual format.”

The research fair will go live at 11 a.m. here. Projects will be organized by WT’s six colleges.

Among the presentations: “What Data Has to Say About Pandemic Influence on Computer Science Education” by Dusan Ramljak; “Professor and Victim: Cyberbullying Targeting Professors in the Higher Education Workplace” by Adam Weiss; “The Rise and Fall of Control Penology in the Texas Prison System 1948-1983” by Dr. Keith Price, Dr. Nicole Kraus and Dr. Lisa Garza; “Prince-Archbishops and Local Liturgies in Late Seventeenth-Century Salzburg” by Dr. Kimberly Hieb; and “Investigation of a Possible Novel Genetic Mutation in Brangus Calves with Proportionate Dwarfism” by Dr. Thomas Perkins.

“My project examines how much variation existed in the Catholic liturgical practices of its time, which we think of now as being very uniform and dictated from the top,” Hieb said. “Actually, in this particular period, there was a considerable amount of individualism and a willingness to stand up to authority. It shows us that there is value in reexamining history and delving more deeply into local cultural traditions.”

Research in all areas will help WT become a Regional Research University, the goal of the University’s long-term plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

About West Texas A&M University

WT is located in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. With enrollment of more than 10,000, WT offers 60 undergraduate degree programs, 40 master’s degrees and two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 15 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

Complete list of Faculty Research Fair projects:

Paola Albarran: “Cross-Cultural Adaptation in the Discourse of Education and Teaching: An Autoethnography of a Female Colombian Immigrant in Academia in the United States”

Lal Almas, M. Usman, M. Hazman, M. El-Sayed, A Shams El-Din: “Biosaline Agriculture: Tomato Production in Egypt and Its Export Potential”

Anne Barthel and Eric Hoffmann: “On the Existence of Stable Equilibria in Monotone Games”

Malvika Behl, Kenneth Denton, Michelle Simmons, Betty Coneway and Mikyung Shin: “Dyslexia and The School Counselor”

Kim Bruce: “Top 10 things I’ve learned while advising a team of students focused on community engagement each year”

Nicole Butkovich Kraus: “Is All Prejudice Created Equal? Emotions, Power, and Position in the Russian Federation”

Li Chen: “More ‘likes’ or no ‘likes’? An Online Experiment Evaluating the Effects of Secondary Cues on the Perceived Source Credibility of Corrective Messages”

Li Chen, Emily S. Kinsky and Kristina Drumheller: “Not for the Faint of Heart: A Content Analysis of FEMA's Use of Twitter During the 2017 Hurricane Season”

Zeth Everick Collom: “What's All the Buzz About? Five Updates for Clinical Voice Practice”

Betty Coneway, Sang Hwang, Jill Goodrich, Lyounghee Kim and Emilee Egbert: “Planting the Seeds of College and Career Readiness in Preschool”

Erik Crossman: “West Texas A&M Atmospheric Profiling System”

Kenneth Denton, Betty Coneway, Michelle Simmons, Mikyung Shin and Malvika Behl: “Parent Perspectives of the Dyslexia Diagnosis Process”

Cody J. Dye and Keshav Shrestha: “Torque Magnetometry Studies of Topological Nodal-Line Semimetal ZrSiS”

Alee Friemel. Angela Phillips and Teresa Smoot: “Walk WT - A Mission for Workplace Wellness”

Nabarun Ghosh, Jeff Bennert, Jon Bennert, Lyanna DeLeon,  Maria Zavala and Aubrey Howard: “History, Development and Modification of Photo-Catalytic Oxidation Technology to Apply to the Air Purification System”

Kimberly Hieb: “Prince-Archbishops and Local Liturgies in Late Seventeenth-Century Salzburg”

Nathan Howell, Kenneth Leitch, Vinu Unnikrishnan and Erick Butler: “Innovative Neighborhood for the Homeless: A Combined Technological-Socioeconomic Approach to Engineering Senior Design”

Stephen Karaganis: “Circadian Rhythms in Peripheral Serotonin in Mice”

Priyanka Khandelwal and Leslie Ramos Salazar: “Typology of Tweets and User Engagement Generated by US Companies Involved in the Development of COVID-19 Vaccines”

Kenneth R. Leitch and Freddie J. Davis: “Engineering Essentials”

Moises Levy and Anitha Sarah Subburaj: “Emerging Trends in Data Center Management Automation”

Collette Loftin and Angela Phillips: “Motivators of Pursuing Nursing Education at the Graduate Level”

Eric Meljac: “Dogs and Rape in Coetzee’s ‘Disgrace’ and Ngugi’s ‘A Grain of Wheat’”

Duncan Miertschin and Keshav Shrestha: “Magnetotransport Studies of topological Sb_2Te_(2-x)Se_x Single Crystal”

Thinh Nguyen, Duncan Miertschin and Keshav Shrestha: “Magnetotransport and Fermi Surface Studies of SnxPb1-xTe Single Crystal”

Shanna Peeples: “Think Like Socrates: Using Questions to Invite Wonder & Empathy Into the Classroom, Grades 4-12”

Thomas Perkins: “Investigation of a Possible Novel Genetic Mutation in Brangus Calves with Proportionate Dwarfism”

Keith Price, Nicole M. Butkovich Kraus, and Lisa Garza: “The Rise and Fall of Control Penology in the Texas Prison System 1948-1983”

Dusan Ramljak: “What Data Has To Say About Pandemic Influence On Computer Science Education”

Randy Ray: “Reconciling Covenants: From One Lone Star State to Another”

Sarah Rushing: “The Music of Isolation”

Leslie Ramos Salazar: “Handbook of Research on Cyberbullying and Online Harassment in the Workplace”

Leslie Ramos Salazar, Yafei Zhang, Heidi Huntington, Priyanka Khandewal and Prandya Josh: “Examining Self-Efficacy and Goal Orientation as Mediators of the Relationship between Social Presence and Career Planning of MBA Students”

Mikyung Shin: “Multilevel Models for Single-Case Data: Using Virtual Manipulatives for Students With Disabilities”

Keshav Shrestha: “Magnetic Properties of Eu_x Ca_(1-x) Fe_2 As_2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) Superconductor”

Jean Stuntz: “Creating an OER for Texas History”

Vinu Unnikrishnan and Sushan Nakarmi: “Structure-Property Relationships of Simple and Complex Carbon Nanotube Systems for Nanocomposites”

Adam Weiss: “Professor and Victim: Cyberbullying Targeting Professors in the Higher Education Workplace”

Jillian R. Yarbrough: “Applying Generational Theory to Greater Understand Desirable Relationship Characteristics in Multigenerational Team”

Yafei Zhang: “How to Effectively Communicate CSR with Employees? Understanding CSR Communication Effects Through the Lens of Reasoned Action”

—WTAMU—