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CONTACT: Donna Stoddard, (920) 424-2289
Students win major awards for research at UW Oshkosh
OSHKOSH—More than $2,500 in awards, including two totaling
$1,500 sponsored by Oshkosh Truck Corp., were presented to students
at the 10th annual Celebration of Scholarship recently
at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
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John Stoddart, center,
presented Oshkosh Truck research scholarships to Jeffrey
Lucas and Theresa Lenaghan. |
Oshkosh Truck President John Stoddart presented
a $750 Outstanding Research Award to undergraduate mathematics
and computer science major Jeffrey Lucas of Green
Bay and nursing graduate student Theresa Lenaghan
of Madison at a special awards ceremony.
Another eight awards totaling $1,050 also were presented at the
ceremony.
Following is a list of each award winner and their project:
• Lucas, $750 Outstanding Research Award for VisualGraph:
A Graph Class Designed for Undergraduate Students and Educators.
The program Lucas created is a “simple yet expressive”
tool to help students visualize graphs and algorithms at the high
school and college levels. With the visual elements the program
provides, designing graphs becomes a simple task.
• Lenaghan, $750 Outstanding Research Award for Women’s
Sexual Health Needs at Midlife. Lenaghan, who has a master’s
degree in marriage and family therapy from San Diego State University,
interviewed women between 40 and 65 and found that 80 percent of
them reported sexual health concerns but only 38 percent had discussed
those concerns with their healthcare provider. Physicians often
overlook or ignore the sexual healthcare issues of women in midlife,
Lenaghan said, and women should ask their doctor about sexual health
concerns so they can be addressed.
Six students each received $100 awards for their scholarship presentations.
They are:
• English major Martin Brick of Oshkosh,
who analyzed how framing helps readers and viewers better feel the
meaning of a text or photo. For example, the presence of witnesses
in atrocity photos of the Holocaust invites readers to imagine being
there themselves. A footnoted “voice” from an event
can do the same thing, Brick argues.
• Psychology graduate student Dawn Dettlaff of
Oshkosh, who analyzed the vocalizations of black howler monkeys
in Belize.
• Geology major Nicholas Geboy of Mukwonago,
who studied the geology of a sedimentary basin in Canada to determine
its potential for mineral development.
• Geology student Stephanie Hocker of Mosinee,
who analyzed the mineral chemistry in an area of northeastern Minnesota
to determine that it is an excellent exploration target for certain
mineral deposits.
• Microbiology student Nathan Kleczewski of
Cleveland, Wis., who studied the role of mycorrhizal fungi in local
reconstructed prairies to help in the establishment of reconstructed
tallgrass prairies, one of America’s most endangered ecosystems.
• Nursing student Nancy Van Alstine of Appleton,
who interviewed men and women between 18 and 35 about what it meant
for them when they were diagnosed with cancer. The results will
help healthcare providers better understand and respond to what
a cancer diagnosis means for their young adult patients.
Two others received awards for research. They are:
• Geography student Christian LaRoe of Ripon,
who analyzed tree-ring frost damage in saplings in the Canadian
Rockies and created a three-dimensional model of some of the tissue
of a tree damaged by frost to show the relationship between frost
damage and the components of the wood. Her award was $150.
• Journalism student Patricia Brandl of Fond
du Lac, who studied the impact of ownership changes on the news
content of the Oshkosh Northwestern between 1996, when it was a
family-owned newspaper, and 2002, when it was part of Gannett, the
largest U.S. publicly owned newspaper chain. Results indicate “significantly
fewer stories with an Oshkosh focus,” especially since the
acquisition by Gannett. Her award was $300.
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