More than 1,000 presenters and more than 1,000 volunteers, reviewers, mentors and other visitors came out for Discover USC 2018, the second annual showcase of research, scholarship, creativity and leadership, on Friday, April 20, 2018. Hosted by the Office of the Vice President for Research, this new and growing USC tradition provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral and medical scholars from every USC System campus to present their out-of-the-classroom experiences to the entire USC community at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center (CMCC), in the heart of the capital city.

Check out photos and award listings from the poster, oral and three-minute thesis competitions. And, don’t forget to save the date for Discover USC 2019, which is scheduled for Friday, April 26, 2019 at the CMCC.

 

Undergraduate and PharmD Student Awards

There were 80 poster presentation sections and two oral presentation sections for undergraduate and PharmD students at Discover USC 2018. Download the Undergraduate and PharmD awardees list (PDF) to view the award recipients from all of these competitive groups. Congratulations to all 2018 undergraduate and PharmD awardees.

 

Graduate Student Awards

For graduate students, there were 19 poster sections, and six three-minute thesis competition heats, plus a fan favorite and final competition, at Discover USC 2018. Congratulations to all 2018 graduate student award recipients.

Poster Award Winners
Poster Session	Winner
A	Chamberline Ozigbu, Physician’s Practice Variation in Blood Pressure Home Monitoring (BPHM) Recommendations: Results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survyey (NHANES) 2009 – 2014
B	Nadia Al-Sammarraie, Loss of Transforming Growth Factor Beta-2 in Myocardium Causes Congenital Heart Defects
C	Daniel Haun, Like, Share, Follow: Measuring Brand Engagement Through Purposive Behaviors On Instagram
D	Olivia Spead, Specific Roles of Glypican3 in Axon Sorting and Topographic Map Formation in the Developing Visual System
E	Ekaterina Dolgopolova, Photophysics and Electronic Structure of Metal-Organic Frameworks
F	Michael Cranston, Sex differences in voluntary wheel running in the HIV-1 transgenic rat
G	Shandrea Foster, Understanding Barriers to Genetic Testing for Sickle Cell Trait: The African-American Male Perspective
H	Zachary Cannizzo, Habitat specific impacts of Hurricane Matthew on a range expanding species
I	Sarah King, Improving the Walkability of a University Campus one STEP at a Time
K	Nicholas Dopkins, Role of gut microbial metabolite tryptamine in the amelioration of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
L	Samantha Yaussy, Patterns of Craniofacial Fluctuating Asymmetry in Industrial-era England
M	Tie: Wurood Neamah, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) induces immune tolerance by altering the gut microbiome Katy Pilarzyk, The Role Of PDE11A4 In Isolation-Induced Neuroinflammation
N	Tie: Ballie DeHaven, Probing the formation of reactive oxygen species by a porous self-assembled benzophenone bis-urea host Jordan Holmes, Enzyme-free Glutamate Sensing at Ionophore-Grafted Carbon Fiber Microelectrodes
O	William Hayes, Analyzing Individual Differences in Contextually-Based Choice
P	Tie: Christopher Perry, Eye-hand coordination is modulated by attentional demands Jonathan Ruiz-Ramie, Cardiovascular Health is Associated with Incidence of Elevated C-Reactive Protein over 18 Years of Follow-up: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study
Q	Phani Gummadidala, Flooding is Associated with Increase in Relative Abundance of Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. in Built Environment: Implications to Human Health
R	Danda Chapagai, Selective inhibition of Polo-like Kinase 1 PBD for cancer therapy
S	Sara Walden Hanna, Examining the Relationship Between Brain Lesion Site and Naming and Comprehension Ability Post-Stroke: A Dual Stream Model Investigation
T	Emile Culclasure, The Development of Orthographic Knowledge: Exploring Results

 

Three-Minute Thesis Award Winners
Award	Winner
Overall Winner	Ashley Allen, chemistry, Miniature Spectrometers for Planetary Exploration
Overall First Runner-up	Jamie Clark, marine science, Regenerating eyes: What can they tell us?
Overall Second Runner-up	Alicia Dahl, health promotion, education, and behavior, The Healthy Motivations for Moms-to-be Study: A Mobile Health Intervention for Targeting Gestational Weight Gain among Pregnant Women
Fan Favortie	Rasha Raheem, pathology, microbiology, and immunology, Enterohepatic Helicobacter species modulate severity of DSS-induced colitis but do not prevent amelioration by indole-3-carbinol
Heat A	Jamie Clark, marine science, Regenerating eyes: What can they tell us?
Heat B	Patrick O’Brien, history, “Unknown and Unlamented”: Loyalist Women in Exile and Repatriation
Heat C	Tanzir Shuvo, health services policy and management, Alzheimer’s Attributable Costs in the United States: A Secondary Analysis of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2011-2015
Heat D	Ashley Allen, chemistry, Miniature Spectrometers for Planetary Exploration
Heat E	Keith Fuller, biological sciences, Using Satellite Telemetry to Track Environmental and Geographic Preference of a Juvenile Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna lewini)
Heat F	Alicia Dahl, health promotion, education, and behavior, The Healthy Motivations for Moms-to-be Study: A Mobile Health Intervention for Targeting Gestational Weight Gain among Pregnant Women

 

Medical Scholar Awards

For medical scholars, there were 18 poster presentation sections and a total of 113 presentations at Discover USC 2018. Congratulations to all of the Medical Scholar award winners.

Basic Medical Sciences &  Therapeutic Effectiveness/Efficiency
First Place	Christopher Toussaint Medical Student, USC School of Medicine Rett Syndrome: A Study of Phenotypical Variability
Second Place	Alicia Snider Surgery Resident, Palmetto Health Gender Differences in Cutaneous Radiation Injury and Systemic Symptomatology
Third Place	William Gazzola Surgery Resident, Palmetto Health Meltblown Poly-Lactic Acid Nano-Webs as a Tissue Engineering Scaffold

 

Case Reports/Small Series/Learning Innovation
First Place	Jaime Catala Fuster Infectious Diseases Fellow When Neurontin does not help for headaches
Second Place	Ross Taylor Medical Student, USC School of Medicine Parvovirus-Associated Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis, Utility Of Intravenous Immunoglobulin And High-Dose Corticosteroids
Third Place	Baker Mills Medical Student, USC School of Medicine Blumensaat's Line As A Prediction Of Native Anterior Cruciate Ligament Length

 

Outcomes/Quality
First Place	Lizzy Robinette Pharmacy Resident, Palmetto Health Impact of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage
Second Place	Mohammed Moizuddin Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine Fellow, Palmetto Health Sleep in Intensive Care Unit (ICU): Lowering Interventions by Empowering Nurses in Critical Care Environment – Noise Optimization in Sick Environment – The SILENCE NOISE! quality project
Third Place	Julian Duda Neurology Resident, Palmetto Health Association of Inflammation with Intracranial Atherosclerotic Stenosis

 

 

Postdoctoral Scholar Awards

For postdocs, there were four poster presentation competition sections at Discover USC 2018. These sessions featured current postdoctoral scholars and former recipients of ASPIRE I: IIB Innovation grants for postdoctoral scholars. Congratulations to all 2018 postdoctoral scholar award recipients.

Poster Presentation Award Winners
Postdoctoral Scholars Poster Session A
First Place	Dr. Alexandra Kingston, Biological Sciences Co-evolution of complex traits associated with a key innovation: Weaponry, armor, and vision in the snapping shrimp, Alpheus heterochaelis
Second Place	Dr. Hasan Alghetaa, Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology Resveratrol inhibits metabolism of SEB-activated T lymphocytes by epigenetic dysregulation
Postdoctoral Scholars Poster Session B
First Place	Dr. Angela-Nadia Albetel, Chemistry and Biochemistry Insights into the Molecular Mechanism of Fe Homeostasis in Yeast S. cerevisiae
Second Place	Dr. Kumaraswamy Naidu Chitrala, Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology Impact of deleterious single nucleotide polymorphisms in Catechol O-Methyltransferase conferring risk to Post-traumatic stress disorder
Postdoctoral Scholars Poster Session C
First Place	Dr. Allison Sweeney, Psychology A Qualitative Study to Examine How Differences in Motivation Can Inform the Development of Tailored Physical Activity Intervention Programs
Second Place	Dr. Mrinmay Chakrabarti, Cell Biology and Anatomy Aortopathy in a mouse model of Marfan Syndrome is exacerbated by heterozygous deletion of individual Transforming Growth Factor-β ligands
Postdoctoral Scholars Poster Session D
First Place	Dr. Vancho Kocevski, Mechanical Engineering Computational modeling of prospective molecular frameworks for nuclear waste forms
Second Place	Dr. Dexin Shi, Psychology Fitting Ordinal Factor Analysis Models with Missing Data: A Comparison between Pairwise Deletion and Multiple Imputation

 

25 April 2018