Top Student Presenters Honored With Awards at Poster Conference

The College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences announced 40 poster winners at this semester’s MLF Mentored Student Research Conference on Thursday, December 5.

Held in the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom, 388 undergraduate and graduate students presented 220 posters to conference attendees. The students were mentored throughout the semester by 74 mentors.

The College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences hosts the conference at the end of each semester. This is the third time the conference has been held in the fall semester. The data and research topics presented all relate to a variety of social science topics, connecting to majors in the college.

Dec2024Fulton2ndBatch (3 of 25).jpg — Melanie Zivic stands in front of her poster at the Mentored Student Research Conference. Her research shares trends in trust in social media by different age groups. (Photo taken by FHSS Media Team)

Melanie Zivic and Warren Bodily are juniors in political science. They both are taking a class on data visualization and presented at the conference for their class.

“I chose my topic on social media usage and trust in social media because that's something that's really relevant right now and I spend a lot of time on social media,” Zivic says.

Bodily presented data that showed Russian citizens’ preferences in politics and economics, as well as how that data differed from what Americans’ perceptions of Russians would be.

“I think my highlight was kind of seeing the graphs come together, especially... making the little annotations on the graph,” Zivic says about what she enjoyed from the process.

Bodily agrees with the satisfaction Zivic expressed, adding, however, that the entire process was a challenge for him.

“The highlight was definitely seeing it come together after all that hard work, seeing something that actually looks like it could be publishable,” he says.

Dec2024Fulton1stBatch (43 of 251).jpg — Students set up their poster in preparation for the conference. Over 200 posters were submitted to present research in different topics in the social sciences. (Picture taken by FHSS Media Team)

Bethany Leddy presented a poster titled: “Why Does Birth Weight Matter for School Readiness?” As a junior in sociology, she is also currently taking a class centered on data analysis and research methods.

“I really needed more experience in research and in presenting and data presentation. I felt like this was a great opportunity to be able to really understand the findings better,” Leddy says.

After the students presented their posters in the morning, students presenters, faculty mentors, university administrators, and friends of the college enjoyed a lunch in the Garden Court. A brief program highlighted the mentor-student relationship and announced the conference awards.

Faculty judges from each department evaluated research quality and clarity. They also reviewed the clarity of the poster and oral presentation students submitted via a one-minute video. Additionally, students attendees voted for their favorite posters in four categories for the Students’ Choice Awards. All winning posters are listed below and all research can be viewed online at fultonconference.byu.edu.

The Mary Lou Fulton Endowed Chair in the College of Family, Home, and Social supports student success in many areas. In addition to funding the conference, the endowment offers grants of up to $250 to offset the cost of graduate school applications for students who presented at the conference.

Find a mentor now so you can participate in the next Mentored Student Research Conference scheduled for April 10, 2025.

Undergraduate Awards

Award	Presenter(s)	Mentor(s)	Title
Anthropology
1st	Sarai Brown	Greg Thompson	Nourishing Connections: Creating Spaces of Belonging among Chinese Immigrants in Tokyo through Commensality and Hospitality
Economics
1st	Jacob Leavitt	Joe Price	If You Teach a Bot to Read: Using Machine Learning to Read the Paris Census
Family Life
1st	AnnMarie Sandridge	Alex Jensen, Ashley LeBaron Black	Our Parents Favored You: Exploring the Effects of Unequal Treatment on Adult Sibling Relationships in Families with Disabilities
2nd	Catherine Thomas, Cambria Siddoway, Amanda Nikoline Poulsen, Kylee Haycock, Emma Kearon	Sarah Coyne	The Autonomy Tug-of-War: The Impact of Parenting Styles on
3rd	Rachel Johnson, Daniel Boggess, Aliya Bascom, Sofia Suxo-Sanchez	Ashley LeBaron Black	Raised to Give: Passing the Giving Torch to Emerging Adults
4th	Emily Shepard, Addi Stoddard, Emily Hurt	Daye Son	Maternal Stress Child Impulsivity, & Satisfaction with Division of Labour
Honorable Mention	Phia James	Alex Jensen	The Comparison Trap: How Sibling Comparison Impacts Adult Depression as Moderated by Sibling Importance
Geography
1st	Kyle Bird	Grayson Morgan	Analyzing the Relationship between Tree Canopy and Snowpack in the Great Salt Lake Watershed
2nd	Georgia Bales	Grayson Morgan	Housing Affordability and Homelessness in Utah
History
1st	Naomi Child	Joseph Stuart	Back From the Dead
2nd	Conni Vance	Jay Buckley	Boltonheim: Census Data Distorts Demographics
3rd	Maren Hamilton	Rebecca DeSchweinitz	"Don't Forget to Write!" - The Function of letters, poems and diaries in 1950's girls lives
4th	Caroline Smith	Aaron Skabelund	"We Were There on a Minus Three; Ross Esplin's Memoir: The Coast Guard's Role in the Battle of Leyte Gulf
Political Science
1st	Emily Northrup, Brooklyn Nielsen	Liz McGuire	Diffusing Political Anger on Social Media
2nd	Dallin Bundy	Ethan Busby, Chris Karpowitz, Lisa Argyle	The Positive Art of Influence: Sentiment Analysis of Attempts to Persuade
3rd	Joel Emmett	Chris Krewson	Media & the Supreme Court
4th	Jane Drinkwater	Lisa Argyle, Jeremy Pope	Kinda, Sorta: Investigating Social Sorting Theory
Psychology
1st	Ben Jackson, Vivienne Reeves	David Erekson	Assessing Client Satisfaction in a University Counseling Setting: A Second-Order Factor Model for Individual Therapy
2nd	Jacob Barnum, Maya Bouton, Sarah Wilkinson, Maddie Blackham	Becky Lundwall	The Effects of Mindfulness on Mental Health in Parents with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
3rd	Kathleen Ririe, Emma Seegmiller, Savannah Salo, Christopher Rich, Kyle Oehler, Joe Davis, Joe Sheffield	Julianne Holt-Lunstad	The creation and dissemination of a research-based toolkit for the EAR approach: A healthcare professional's toolkit to address patients' needs for social connection
4th	Sienna Whitehead, Garrett Temple	Adriane Cavallini	Group Therapy for Eating Disorders: Future Directions
Sociology
1st	Claire Duncan	Curtis Child	Lazy Work Makes Lazy Money: Plasma Donation, Money Management, and Financial Guilt
2nd	Bethany McKibbin Leddy, Adrienne Ventura	Benjamin Gibbs	Why Does Birth Weight Matter for School Readiness

Graduate Awards

Award	Presenter(s)	Mentor	Title
Anthropology
1st	Rufus Pearce	Becky Schulthies	Speaking with Deer: A Multispecies Ethnography of Cervine Semiotics
Family Life
1st	Sarah Ashby	Sarah Coyne	Motherphubbers: The Growth of Maternal Technoference Across Early Childhood and Associations with Child Problematic Media Use
2nd	Elle Arnett, Liliana Cobain, Morgan Jones, Jaime Dick	Jeremy Yorgason	Sharing the Night Shift: Couples managing type 1 diabetes
Psychology
1st	Teancum Whiting, Alyssa Ford, Alyssa Brown	Scott Braithwaite	The Role of Socioeconomic Status and Physical Attractiveness in Partner Selection 34 Years Later: An Empirical Replication and Extension of Townsend and Levy (1990)
Sociology
1st	Travis Ashby	Michael Wood	Authentic in Unprocessed: Measuring Metaphors with Diachronic Word Embeddings

Center Awards

Award	Presenter(s)	Mentor	Title
Belonging and Diversity
1st	Sydney Hendershot, David Arce	Alejandra Aldridge (Political Science)	American Attitudes Towards Immigrants' Country of Origin
2nd	Talise Hirschi, Summer Snow, Kenna Shumway, Aubrey Tew	Sarah Coyne (Family Life)	Does Everyday Discrimination Influence Emotional Regulation?
3rd	Valeria Valentini, Katie Howe	Melissa Jones (Psychology)	"God Doesn't Make Mistakes": A Meta-synthesis of the Experiences of Sexually Minoritized Students at Religious Universities
Civic Engagement
1st	Asia Reid	Michael Barber (Political Science)	Legislative Obfuscation: Ballot Language and Voting Behavior on Utah's Constitutional Amendment D
2nd	Andrew Vanderwood	Quin Monson (Political Science)
Gerontology
1st	Grace Loveless	Alex Jensen (Family Life)	Does menarche age predict depression?
Redd Center
1st	Paige Volz	Jeff Nokes (History)	Teaching Civic Engagement through Japanese-American Incarceration
2nd	Kyle Bird	Grayson Morgan (Geography)	Analyzing the Relationship between Tree Canopy and Snowpack in the Great Salt Lake Watershed
3rd	Asia Reid	Michael Barber (Political Science)	From Ballot Box to Mailbox: The Effect of Vote-by-Mail in Municipal Elections in Utah

Students' Choice Awards

Category	Presenter(s)	Mentor	Title
Best Presenter	Paige Christiansen	Spencer James (Family Life)	Behind the Courtroom: Mental Health of Non-custodial Parents
Most Eye-Catching Poster	Madison Bingham, Jennah Sheffield, Shenandoah Whitehurst	Sarah Coyne (Family Life)	From Sandboxes to Screens: The Impact of Media on Child's Play
Most Interesting Research	Caleb Gardner	Jared Nielsen (Psychology)	To Hear But Not Understand: A Lesion Network Mapping Analysis of Auditory Agnosia
Timeliest Topic	Kelsie Minga, Abby Williams, Ava Krall, Michael Brugger	Wendy Birmingham (Psychology)	The Subtle Link: Ambivalent Supervisors and Working Mothers' Life Satisfaction

Winners Photo Gallery

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Valeria Valentini and Katie Howe pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor Melissa Jones for their 3rd place award in Belonging and Diversity

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Jane Drinkwater poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentors Lisa Argyle and Jeremy Pope for the 4th place award in Political Science

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Joel Emmett poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and his mentor Chris Krewson for the 3rd place award in the Political Science Department

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Paige Volz poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Jeff Nokes for the 1st place award in the Redd Center

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Graduate student Rufus Pearce poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and his mentor Becky Schulthies for the 1st place award in the Anthropology Department

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Sienna Whitehead poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker for the 4th place award in the Psychology Department

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Talise Hirschi, Summer Snow, Kenna Shumway and Aubrey Tew pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor Sarah Coyne for their 2nd place award in Belonging and Diversity

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Sarai Brown poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Greg Thompson for the 1st place award in the Anthropology Department.

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Jacob Leavitt poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and his mentor Joe Price for the 1st place award in the Economics Department.

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Graduate student Travis Ashby poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and his mentor Michael Wood for the 1st place award in the Sociology Department

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Savannah Salo poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Julianne Holt-Lunstad for the 3rd place award in the Psychology Department. Co-investigators not pictured: Kathleen Ririe, Emma Seegmiller, Christopher Rich, Kyle Oehler, Joe Davis and Joe Sheffield

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Asia Reid poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Michael Barber for the 1st place award for the Center of Civic Engagement

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Ben Jackson and Vivienne Reeves pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor David Erekson for the 1st place undergraduate award in the Psychology Department

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Bethany McKibbin Leddy poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker for the 2nd place undergraduate award in the Sociology Department. Co-investigator not pictured: Adrienne Ventura

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Claire Duncan poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Curtis Child for the 1st place undergraduate award in the Sociology Department

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Dallin Bundy poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and his mentors Ethan Busby, Chris Karpowitz, Lisa Argyle for the 2nd place undergraduate award in the Political Science Department

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Brooklyn Nielsen poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Liz McGuire for the 1st place undergraduate award in the Political Science Department. Co-investigators not pictured: Emily Northrup

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Georgia Bales poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Grayson Morgan for the 2nd place undergraduate award in the Geography Department

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Grace Loveless poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Alex Jensen for the 1st place award for the Center of Gerontology

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Andrew Vanderwood poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and his mentor Quin Monson for the 2nd place award for the Center of Civic Engagement

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Caleb Gardner poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker for the Students’ Choice Awards for Most Interesting Research

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Madison Bingham, Jennah Sheffield, and Shenandoah Whitehurst pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor Sarah Coyne for the Students’ Choice Award for the Most Eye-Catching Poster

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Paige Christiansen poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Spencer James for the Students’ Choice Award for the Best Presenter

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Sydney Hendershot and David Arce pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor Alejandra Aldridge for the 1st place award for the Center of Belonging and Diversity

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Kelsie Minga, Abby Williams, Ava Krall and Michael Brugger pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker for the Students’ Choice Award for Timeliest Topic

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Caroline Smith poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker for the 4th place undergraduate award in the History Department

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Graduate student Teancum Whiting poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker for the 1st place award in the Psychology Department. Co-investigators not pictured: Alyssa Ford and Alyssa Brown

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Phia James poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Alex Jensen for the Honorable Mention award in the School of Family Life

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Emily Shepard and Emily Hurt pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor Daye Son for the 4th place undergraduate award in the School of Family Life. Co-investigator not pictured: Addi Stoddard

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Cambria Siddoway poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Sarah Coyne for the 2nd place undergraduate award in the School of Family Life. Co-investigators not pictured: Catherine Thomas, Amanda Nikoline Poulsen, Kylee Haycock and Emma Kearon.

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Rachel Johnson, Daniel Boggess, Aliya Bascom and Sofia Suxo-Sanchez pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor Ashley LeBaron Black for their 3rd place award in the School of Family Life

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Graduate student Sarah Ashby poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentor Sarah Coyne or the 1st place award in the School of Family Life

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AnnMarie Sandridge poses with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and her mentors Alex Jensen and Ashley LeBaron Black for the 1st place undergraduate award in the School of Family Life

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Elle Arnett, Liliana Cobain, Morgan Jones and Jaime Dick pose with Academic Vice President Justin Collings, Dean Laura Padilla-Walker, and their mentor Jeremy Yorgason for the 2nd place graduate award in the School of Family Life

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