Pullman, Wash. — The WSU Emerita/Emeritus Society presented at ceremonies April 22 seven students with awards and grants to support their undergraduate research.

“The mentored research, scholarship, and creative activities—collectively referred to as research—of our undergraduates boosts disciplinary knowledge in fields across the institution,” said Larry Fox, society executive secretary. “The work they do with faculty is valuable and moves WSU forward as a top-tier research university. The Emerita/Emeritus Society is proud to provide awards and grants that underscore the importance of student efforts.”

Fox presented the awards and grants at the annual spring ceremonies of the Division of Academic Excellence and Student Achievement (DAESA), part of the office of the provost. The awards underscore the society’s mission to continuously advance WSU, the community, and the state of Washington by making awards each year to exceptional students engaged in scholarly pursuits and research.

The WSU Emerita/Emeritus Society’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Award in four categories recognizes and encourages students to strive for scholarly excellence. Recipients are:

  • Michelle Godfrey in the Social, Economic, and Behavioral Sciences category. A psychology major mentored in research by Masha Gartstein, Godfrey’s study is titled, “Maternal State and Trait Anxiety as Predictors of Infant Distress: An Examination of Distress in Early Infancy.”
  • April Mendoza Magaña in the Engineering and Applied Sciences category. A wildlife ecology and conservation sciences major mentored by Ruth Varner, Mendoza Magaña’s study is titled, “Multi-Year Comparison of Methane and Carbon Dioxide Across a Thawing Permafrost Chronosequence in Arctic Sweden.”
  • Aspen Harder in the biological sciences category. A neuroscience major mentored by David Rossi, Harder’s study is titled, “Investigating the Role of Stress in Sex Differences in Voluntary Alcohol Consumption.”
  • Steinar Goheen in the humanities, arts, and creative activities category. An architecture and design and construction major mentored by David Drake, Goheen’s study is titled, “Accessioning the Architect: A Case for Guerilla Archivists and the Domestic Architectural Archive.”
  • Hollen Foster-Grahler in the humanities, arts, and creative activities category. A Spanish major mentored by Michael Thomas, Foster Grahler’s study is titled, “A Computational Model for Wh-Psuedocleft Variation in English.”

The WSU Emerita/Emeritus Society’s Undergraduate Research Grant in Arts and Humanities supports original undergraduate scholarship. Recipients are:

  • Steven Randall, a music performance major mentored by Martin D. King, whose research project is titled, “Study, Train, and Compete at the 57th International Horn Symposium at Virginia’s James Madison University in Late June of This Year.”
  • Quinn Carrick, a digital technology and culture major at WSU Vancouver mentored by Dene Grigar, whose research project titled, “Develop Multimedia Content for the NEXT Virtual Reality Museum and Library.”