Isabella Steiner Investigates Salamanders

Biology major Isabella Steiner will reveal the results of her study "A Population on its Way Out? Investigating the Population Size and Ploidy of Ambystomid Salamanders at the Ashland University Black Fork Wetlands" on Tuesday at the 2017 URCA Symposium during the 11:45 a.m. poster session in the Alumni Room.

With support from her faculty sponsor, Prof. Merrill Tawse (Biology/Toxicology), Isabella asked the question whether the ambystomid salamanders is a stable, increasing or a declining population. After trapping, counting and categorizing the salamanders, they were then tested for polyploidy (occurrence of additional sets of chromosomes). Find out the results at #URCA2017.

Psychology's Bryce McClish Reveals Study Results

Photo credit: blog.cappex.com

Psychology major Bryce McClish (sponsored by Dr. Curt Ickes, Associate Professor of Psychology and Dr. Christopher R. Chartier, Assistant Professor of Psychology) conducted a study titled Factors Influencing the College Choice of First-Year College Students. At the 11:45 a.m. URCA poster/exhibition session in the Alumni Room of the Convocation Center on April 12, he will reveal his results which: "indicate that the three factors most influencing choice were as follows: availability of major (M = 4.61, SD = .72), scholarship opportunities (M = 4.19, SD = 1.06) and cost of tuition (M = 4.12, SD = .95). Least influential characteristics were: number of faculty publications (M = 2.22, SD = .95), skill of athletic teams (M = 2.41, SD = 1.48) and the institution’s core curriculum (M = 3.12, SD = 1.05)."

Social Work's Stephanie Julian Studies Sexual Orientation Disclosure

Social Work major Stephanie Julian (sponsored by Dr. Michael Vimont, Director of Social Work) will share her findings of her exploratory study on the decision making process initiated by lesbian and gay older adults in disclosing their sexual orientation to external systems. Her presentation is scheduled for the 10:30 a.m. URCA session in the Faculty Room of the Convocation Center on April 12. As explained in her abstract:

Ten older adults identified as lesbian or gay were interviewed in one-on-one sessions ... The study is not meant to generalize the populations, but rather to obtain rich stories from members of this population.