Honors Program

Friday, June 21, 2024

Alexandria Bender is one of 10 students selected for this year’s Summer Research Fellowship at Westminster College. Alexandria is a sophomore honors student and biology major from New Castle, Pa. She and her faculty mentor, Dr. Helen Boylan ’95, are examining “The Effects of Nature Theory on Stress,” for their research partnership. Bender is an active member of the Agape Bible study group on campus as well as a member of the Treble Choir, Concert Choir and the Lambda Sigma sophomore honor society. She also volunteers as a youth group leader at her church and is a choreography assistant for New Castle Regional Ballet’s annual “Nutcracker” production.

Why did you apply for the summer research fellowship?
Throughout my freshman year, I realized that I felt the most pride in my work whenever it made a difference in the lives of community members. Research without impact is fun, but research with impact is rewarding. At the time, I was enrolled in one of Dr. Boylan’s new classes called Changing the World, a class built on strengthening communities. After talking with her about the program, we decided to submit a proposal about a project that would not only bring new and exciting ideas to the world of science but would positively impact the lives of the people living in our community.

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Recent Westminster College graduate Hannah Piccirilli presented research about late positive potential (LPP) at the 20th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in Toronto, Canada, in April.

Monday, June 3, 2024

Two Westminster College seniors participated in the Penn State Behrend-Sigma Xi Undergraduate Research and Creative Accomplishment Conference on April 20 in Erie, Pa.

Friday, May 24, 2024

For the eighth consecutive year, the Westminster College Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research has awarded Summer Research Fellowships to student-faculty research teams.

Monday, April 15, 2024

Four students have been selected to present their research at podium presentations during this year’s Undergraduate Research and Arts Celebration (URAC) on Wednesday, April 17, at Westminster College.

Friday, March 29, 2024

Several Westminster College honors students will publicly defend their capstone research projects this spring, marking the end of nearly two years of high-level academic exploration.

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

A Westminster College honors student used grant funding from the Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research to strengthen her senior art project.

Sophia Galietta, a fine art and psychology double major from Bethel Park, Pa., used the grant to produce her work, “Nurture vs. Nature.”

Galietta used hand-building clay, underglaze and stain to create hexagonal-shaped tiles. She also used embroidery floss, fabric and hoops for embroidery pieces.

“My interest in nature has greatly influenced my research in both the discipline of art and psychology,” said Galietta. “Earning a research grant has allowed me to create a body of artwork that will be beneficial to my portfolio. I was able to experiment with different materials without adding an extra financial burden.”

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Westminster College neuroscience major Taylor Harman earned a Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research grant to analyze amphetamine and nicotine use and examine how those stimulants influence anxiety in male rats.

Harman, a senior honors student from Edinburg, Pa., used the grant to fund her research project “Does Stimulus History Affect the Anxiety-Like Response to Nicotine in Male Rats?”

Harman examined how the history of amphetamine exposure can influence the anxiety-like response to nicotine in male rats.

“I was interested in studying these effects and how they relate to an ADHD model. The results of this study could be used to evaluate why individuals who have ADHD, and use amphetamine, are more likely to use nicotine and how the use of amphetamine and/or nicotine could cause anxiety-like behavior,” said Harman.

The grant enabled Harman to conduct personal research and further her education through hands-on experiences and investigation.

“Performing research has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding for how we go from a question to creating an experiment to explore the question in mind,” she said. “It has also allowed me to gain more confidence in literature review and data analyses, which will be important in medical school and as a physician to be able to read and understand new studies and treatments that are being published, as well as perform further research of my own.”

Harman's research mentor was Dr. Deanne Buffalari, associate professor of neuroscience and psychology at Westminster.

Westminster’s Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research financially supports undergraduate research through various grants aimed at either the undertaking of research and creative projects at Westminster College or the external presentation and dissemination of research and creative works at conferences.

For more information on the Drinko Center for Undergraduate Research, contact director Dr. Patrick Lackey at ugresearch@westminster.edu.

For more information about the neuroscience program at Westminster, visit www.westminster.edu/neuroscience.
 

Monday, January 29, 2024

Westminster College attended the 34th annual American Model United Nations National Conference (AMUN) in Chicago last fall, bringing home an award for their representation of China.

This year 29 students traveled to Chicago to compete with thousands of students from over 70 colleges and universities. Westminster’s students represented China, Hungary and Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea. Westminster has participated in the AMUN conference since 2009, making this the 15th consecutive year of attendance.

Westminster’s China delegation was represented on eight committees, while Hungary and North Korea each participated in five. Delegations were given several topics to pursue including humanitarian decisions for natural disasters, prohibition of development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons and more.

The four-day conference included committee meetings, press conferences, speeches and debates. Alliances were made between countries and resolutions were presented as topics became more involved. Emergency meetings were held day and night to mimic the actions of the actual United Nations with their procedures and unpredictable schedules.

Delegates McKenzie Means and Shannon Mullan won the Outstanding Delegation Award for their exceptional representation of China in the General Assembly, Second Committee.

“Within the four days of the conference, we wrote resolutions, gave many speeches, negotiated with other delegates and even held a press conference,” said Means, a sophomore political science major from Meadville, Pa. “I am so proud of the work Shannon and I completed and I am very grateful to be awarded an Outstanding Delegation Award for all our hard work throughout the conference.”

“We were extremely shocked about winning, we really struggled through the conference to get other delegates to cooperate,” said Mullan, an exchange student from Antrim, Northern Ireland. “However, perseverance, continuous speeches and continuous confidence in the committee room definitely paid off.”

Christina Loewe, a junior from Austin, Texas, is the president of Westminster’s Model UN organization and is double majoring in international studies and political science. The permanent head delegate this year was Victoria Valcarcel-Matos, a junior from Winter Springs, Fla., double majoring in marketing and professional sales and mathematics.

“I think that the most valuable thing about attending as president of the club and in a security council is all the practice we get in public speaking and overall building relationships with the other countries throughout negotiations with them,” said Loewe.

Friday, January 26, 2024

Twelve Westminster College instrumentalists have been selected to perform in the 76th annual Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Honors Band, which will perform Feb. 2-4 at Grove City College. A public concert will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4, in the Pew Fine Arts Center on the college’s campus.