黑料不打烊
Odyssey Program
Project
Funding
April 2021
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Since 2005, the Committee on Engaged Learning has awarded
$4,565,940.71 in competitive Odyssey grants to support 1,434 projects by
黑料不打烊 students and faculty. In this cycle, 16 projects were awarded $55,981
in grants. 黑料不打烊 students will explore potential career paths, develop their
research skills and interests, and share what they have learned in their
classes.
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Ga毛lle Agahozo
Assistant Teacher and project manager
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Gabriel
Ferrer, Math and Computer Science
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This summer, Ga毛lle
Agahozo will work with Zetalight Company,
a tech company based in Rwanda. Zetalight helps students get hands-on
experience in building software. Agahozo
will spend 12 weeks learning programming and writing software, building on the
experience she gained last year as a member of the first cohort of Zetalight
students. Additionally, Agahozo will develop her leadership skills as she
mentors new students who have joined the team.
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Becca Biggin
Nutrition and Healthcare Education in Indonesia
Category: SW
Supervisor: Dr. J.D. Gantz,
Biology
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This summer Becca Biggin will volunteer in
the city of Ubud in Bali. Despite Indonesia鈥檚 status as a middle-income
country, the children face the double burden of malnutrition where under- and
over- nutrition coexist--two million children under the age of five suffer from
severe acute malnutrition and 20 percent of primary school-aged children face
obesity. Biggin will be working with a well-established local organization,
Green Lion Bali, that provides health-related education and free healthcare
services. The goal of this program is to prevent the spread of easily
communicable diseases prevalent in Bali and to combat health issues that could
be easily avoided through a well-balanced diet. Biggin will assist with the
education aspect of this program by implementing classes in various communities
and schools around Ubud about the importance of nutrition and healthy eating.
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Dave Camp
Faulkner County Museum internship
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Deborah
Skok, History
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As a history major, Dave Camp has become
concerned with a growing amount of historical illiteracy in American society,
including local and national history. Although he can鈥檛 change historical
literacy on a national level, Camp realized that he could improve his local
community. He will work with the Faulkner County Museum to sort, archive and catalog
a massive backlog of artifacts that have been donated to the museum.
Eventually, these items will go on display as part of the museum鈥檚 collection.
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Phineas Chapman
Internship with Chief Education Officer of Little Rock
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Delphia
Shanks, Politics
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A community school is a relatively new model
of public school in the United States that offers services ranging from classes
for parents and members of the community in topics like health and nutrition or
financial literacy, to after-school or weekend programs for students. Little
Rock has been a part of this growing movement, and currently has four community
schools. This summer, Phineas Chapman will intern with Dr. Jay Barth, who is
the Chief Education Officer for the city. He will focus on the four existing
community schools to help develop future after-school programs. He will analyze
survey information from community school families, communicate with parents and
students to understand what areas of interest exist, design programs in line
with those interests, secure funding through grant writing or other means, and
plan for implementation.
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Anna Claire Franklin
Pastoral Care Internship at Methodist Family Health in Little
Rock
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Jennifer
Penner, Psychology
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Anna Claire Franklin will explore the
intersection between spirituality and mental health maintenance as an intern in
the pastoral care office at Methodist Family Health (MFH) The facility provides
care for aspects of mental health rehabilitation and maintenance from acute
psychiatric care to outpatient counseling. MFH treats clients using the
teaching-family model, a trauma-informed framework centered around building
clients' independence, individualized treatment interventions, and empirically
verified behavioral modification techniques. Because the facility has a diverse
client base, Franklin will have the opportunity to explore the marriage between
faith and mental health. She will also consider the ways in which she feels
called to serve others, helping her foster her own unique style of interacting
with clients in a spiritual context.
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Grace Holmquest
Primate Care Internship at The Lincoln Children's Zoo
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Maureen
McClung, Biology
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The Lincoln Children鈥檚 Zoo is an Association of Zoos
& Aquariums accredited facility and participates in the association鈥檚
Species Survival Plan. The Species Survival Plan oversees the management of
select species with the mission of enhancing conservation in the wild. Animals
in the program include the cotton-top tamarin, spider monkey, and ring-tailed
lemur; all of which are New World monkeys in the Lincoln Children鈥檚 Zoo primate
department. This summer, Grace Holmquest will
be a primate intern in the Animal Department at the zoo. She will gain valuable
knowledge and practical skills while working firsthand with animals and their
professional caretakers. This internship will allow Holmquest to contribute to conservation efforts as well as explore
animal husbandry as a future career.
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Sophia Isely
Medical Spanish in Ecuador
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Jos茅
Vilahomat, Languages
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This summer, Sophia Isely will combine her interests in
the Spanish language, medicine, and inclusive healthcare. She will participate
in the Cacha Medical Spanish Institute鈥檚 (Cachamsi) Medical Spanish Program in
Riobamba, Ecuador. During the experience, she will spend 30 hours a week
directly shadowing physicians while also attending a daily Medical Spanish
course provided and taught by Cachamsi. Isely notes that approximately 13% of
Americans are native Spanish speakers, and she believes that this community
deserves inclusive and communicative healthcare. She intends to be part of a
new generation of physicians with a direct goal of catering to these
populations.
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Raven Johnson
Hot Springs Urban Planning Internship
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Delphia
Shanks, Politics
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Raven Johnson will lead the way as the first intern in
the Planning and Economic Development Department of Hot Springs. The city is
currently working on a complex economic development program called Forward Hot
Springs. The plan is comprehensive and provides many avenues for community
engagement in the development of the city. Because Johnson hopes to become a
city planner, this internship will introduce her to a wide variety of new
ideas, tools, and information. She will learn critical skills that will be
applicable in any city planning career that she takes on in the future--and
especially for any city in Arkansas--because they all use similar platforms and
programs.
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Kenzie MacNicol
Summer Lab Experience Opportunity
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Julie
Gunderson, Physics
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This summer, Kenzie
MacNicol will work with Dr. Angela Odle
and her lab in the Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences at the
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Dr. Odle recently received
a pilot grant from UAMS to study the role of leptin in the maturation of the
reproductive system especially with regard to the effect of obesity on
fertility rates (as both are on the rise in the United States). The
hypothalamus in the brain, the pituitary glands, and the gonadal glands often
act together in the development and regulation reproductive and immune systems,
so they are consequently grouped together as the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal
(HPG) axis. Leptin is a small protein hormone that stimulates cells in all
three levels of the HPG axis when circulating at normal, non-obese
concentrations. More specifically, one function of leptin in balanced amounts
is to signal surge-level gonadotropin secretion, which enables fertility in
mammals. Another is to regulate the expression of GnRH in gonadotrophs, cells
in the pituitary gland of the brain that secrete hormones relating to the
gonads and other reproductive elements. MacNicol will work on calcium imaging
of the pituitaries and digital reconstruction of the structure, using MATLAB and
imaging and bioinformatic programs. In addition to learning specialized
techniques, this project will allow MacNicol to develop his professional
research and communication skills as well as give him a chance to evaluate
institutional research as a prospective career.
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Verity Miller
Summer Internship at the Go Store
Category:
PL
Supervisor:
Dr. Toni Jaudon, English
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Service is important for Verity Miller, and in her summer
internship she will explore how service and commerce can blend together. Miller
will work at the Go Store in Conway, which is a mission-based thrift store that
helps to raise funds for Samaritan鈥檚 Purse. She hopes to learn how a
mission-based store is run, promoted, and organized compared to a traditional
store. Miller is interested in a future career helping others, and she sees
this as an opportunity to gain experience and explore whether the combination
of mission and commerce is a viable career path.
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Gaston Niyitegeka
Business Classes Outside 黑料不打烊 Walls
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Megan
Leonard, Economics and Business
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This fall, Gaston
Niyitegeka will use skills he learned in
his Corporate Finance and Macroeconomics classes in an internship
with Phronesis Group Consulting.听 The organization
is committed to helping people, businesses, and communities by providing
solutions to their business needs and financial planning services. His work
will involve consulting, advising, and creating programs to fill the gaps
between actual situations and desired ones in business world. I hope to raise
the company鈥檚 customer base and market segment through my time at Phronesis
Group Consulting. Exposure to financial projection, market research analysis,
community development, and business development will give him a well-rounded
understanding of business operations, scalability, and management.
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Kashti Shah
NO Reduction by the Bacterial Enzyme, YtfE
Category: UR
Supervisor: Dr. Bill
Gunderson, Chemistry
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Kashti Shah will work closely with Dr. Bill
Gunderson over the course of the summer on a project studying the mechanism and
structure of the bacterial enzyme YtfE. YtfE serves two functions, 1) protect
bacteria from damage and 2) repair damage to the cell. Shah will learn lab
techniques required for the project, master the process of collecting and
interpreting background research, communicate important information regarding
the project and background information, and collaborate with researchers at
University of Alabama and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to
obtain necessary data. After obtaining this data, she will analyze the data and
determine the significance of it. Results obtained from these studies will
further our understanding of how the bacterial enzyme functions.
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Dustin Williams
Scales of Justice
Category: PL
Supervisor: Dr. Kim Maslin,
Politics
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Dustin Williams, who plans to attend law school after
graduation, will have a chance to see the inner workings of the City Attorney's
Office in Conway.听 The City Attorney's
Office deals with the local criminal court, but it also has a close
relationship with the mayor and other important organizations that make
important and high-level decisions. From working on land and property law for the
city of Conway to dealing with child custody cases, Williams will be immersed
in many different fields for his future legal career, and he will use skills on
reading cases and writing about them from his classwork at 黑料不打烊.听
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Dr. Julie Gunderson
Arkansas Department of Agriculture Data Analytics Internship
Category: PL
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Sammy Gaskins will work remotely as an intern
at the Arkansas Department of Agriculture during the summer of 2021 in this
project coordinated by Dr. Julie Gunderson. Gaskins will develop both data
analytics skills and digital literacy skills through the development and
publication of Weekly, Monthly, and Annual Market Reports and a Food and
Agribusiness Webinar Series. For these projects, the student will be involved
in the development and management of hardware and software as well as the
online marketing of these products. He will work directly under Dr. Robert
Coats, Economist at the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. Gaskins will manage
the editing, rendering, and posting of webinars to YouTube as well as the
Arkansas Department of Agriculture鈥檚 website.
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Dr. Latorya D
Hicks
Synthesis of Chalcones with N-substituted Sulfonamide
Moieties and their Biological Properties
Category: UR
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Chalcones are plant-derived compounds with a wide range
of biological activities.听听The laboratory of Dr. Latorya D. Hicks is
utilizing organic chemistry to synthesize novel compounds which harness the
anti-microbial and anti-diabetic properties of chalcones.听听This fall,
under the tutelage of Dr. Hicks, Dane Richards will begin a research project
synthesizing chalcones with sulfonamide moieties aimed to develop new drugs for
treatment of microbial infections or diabetes.听
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Dr. Lindsay Kennedy and Dr. Jennifer Peszka
Research Assistantship: Analyzing the Relationship Between
Sleep, Dreams, Media Consumption, and Well-Being During COVID-19
Category: PL
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This summer, students Mary
Dann Betbeze, Maddie Franke, Cassandra McLaughlan, and Noura Musallam will work
with professors from 黑料不打烊 and UCA to code and analyze data from a
COVID-related research project, collected in the spring of 2020. They hope to
explore the interrelationships between sleep, dream content, media consumption,
and well-being during the early stages of COVID-related social distancing. The
students will content-code dream journals, conduct in-depth literature reviews,
and learn and perform advanced statistical analyses on the data. Students will
then contribute to the writing of multiple manuscripts summarizing the findings
that will be submitted for publication.