On Friday, April 11, the 27th annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum was held at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center. UURAF provides hundreds of Michigan State University students the opportunity to present their completed or in-progress research to faculty, staff and external audiences.

This year, there were 24 presentations by students from the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. Highlighted below are the student presentations that won first place.

 

Ella French, a junior from Shorewood, Illinois, is majoring in communicative sciences and disorders with a minor in cognitive science. Isabel Pascua, a sophomore from Rochester Hills, Michigan, is also majoring in communicative sciences and disorders. The two worked together under the mentorship of Jeff Searl, to research the topic and create the poster that won first place.

“Dr. Searl was very helpful in giving us guidance on our poster,” Pascua said.

French and Pascua presented research focused on the overall well-being of total laryngectomees. They used the Five Factor Wellness Inventory to survey two groups of participants matched by age and gender. They found that in 22 of the 24 scores they collected, the laryngectomy group had significantly lower scores than the control group.

“We worked so long on this specific project, and I just wanted to properly show everyone what we learned and discovered,” French said.

How I told the story of my grandparents and the creative process to creating film posters

 

Mia Burghardt, a senior from Holland, Michigan, majored in creative advertising. She drew inspiration for her projects from the rich storytelling found in diverse cultural experiences.

Burghardt had the privilege of working with her mentor, Jeana-Dee Allen, in a journalism independent study course. Her presentation, “How I Told the Story of My Grandparents,” focused on her grandparents, Sone and La Panya-Oudom, and how their lives in the United States today reflect their past—highlighting their escape from Laos during the post-Vietnam War period.

“This project has brought me closer to my family and my ancestry, and I have learned so much about my heritage because of the opportunity to interview some of the most important people in my life,” Burghardt said. 

For her presentation, "The Creative Process to Creating Film Posters," Burghardt’s mentor, Amol Pavangadkar, invited her to design a movie poster for his documentary about Amul Dairy. Her goal was to approach the project with compelling, culturally relevant visuals and a unique message.

“For the presentation, I described what a pitch looks like to a client and how I composed the pitch deck and continue to integrate client feedback and cultural relevance,” Burghardt said. 

 

Kassidy Do, a junior from Novi, Michigan, is majoring in public relations and minoring in writing and graphic design.

Do presented research on the communication capacities of Asian American and Pacific Islander -serving nonprofit organizations and the potential for public relations application. Her study consisted of asking AAPI-serving nonprofits specific research questions.

“To answer the research questions, we contacted 246 AAPI-serving organizations across the nation and conducted 31 semi-structured interviews with participants,” Do said. 

The idea for this research and project came from a conversation with her mentor, Chuqing Dong, in a dining hall. The conversation began with them talking about their identities as Asian Americans, which turned into a discussion about the specific challenges faced by the AAPI community. 

When presenting her project, Do felt relief seeing her yearlong research come to life. 

 

Celeste Campos-Castillo, and Susan Bonner, associate professors in the Department of Media and Information, collaborated as mentors for 16 Honors College students from diverse majors, one Honors College student in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, and four master’s students in media and information.

Bonner mentored the students on designing the prototype with gamified strategies including animation, film and interactivity. Campos-Castillo mentored the students on reviewing the existing literature and analyzing transcripts. 

While conducting research for the project, the team faced a challenge. “We discovered there was very little guidance. Moreover, few studies conducting focus groups about autistic youth were conducted with autistic youth,” Bonner and Campos-Castillo said. 

As mentors, they helped reach a conclusion on what to do by brainstorming ideas with the students. The students came up with the idea to design a communication tool to enable someone who is nonverbal to participate. They did this by using playing cards with a thumbs up and thumbs down along with sayings including “I need a break,” or “I don’t want to answer.”

Bonner and Campos-Castillo hope that the students they mentored remember that they can steer projects and tackle problems no one else has before.

This article was originally published on the Communication Arts and Sciences website.