UCF Scholars Win At Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence

Felipe Leon Guerrero and his summer Caltech mentor Dr. Peter Bossaerts

Every year, University of Central Florida (UCF) students from across different disciplines present their research and creative projects at the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE). The event encourages undergraduates from all disciplines to present current or recently completed academic projects showcasing the diversity of topics, approaches, and interests at UCF.  This year, two hundred and forty students presented their work. Students were divided into ten different judging categories and scholarships are awarded to the best projects in each category.

We would like to congratulate the following McNair scholars for being recognized and awarded prizes:

Felipe Leon Guerrero received 1^st place in the Social Sciences II category for his project A differentiation Between Bayesian Updating and Model-Free Reinforcement Learning in Human Choice under Uncertainty. His mentor was Dr. Peter Bossaerts (from California Institute of Technology).

Marlaine Monroig received 2^nd place in the Health Sciences category for her project Associations Between Positive Health Behaviors and Psychological Distress. Her mentor was Dr. Jeffrey Bedwell in Psychology.

Marie Sabbagh received an Honorable Mention in the Social Sciences III category for her project Influence of Defendant Mental Illness on Jury Sentencing. Her mentor was Dr. Erin Murdoch in Psychology.

Additional McNair scholars that participated in SURE include:

Laura Adarve
Project: Examining Environmentally Friendly Behaviors: A Comparison of Native and Foreign-Born Latinos in the United States
Mentor: Dr. Fernando Rivera (Sociology)

Rene Diaz
Project: Processing of Commercial Grade Fe-Based Structural Amorphous Steels
Mentors: Dr. William Johnson, Dr. Marios Demetriou (California Institute of Technology)

Elise Hernandez
Project: Older Adults and Online Social Networking
Mentor: Dr. Janan Smither (Psychology)

Jie Liang
Project: Fast Sparse Representation-Based Classification for Real-World Face Recognition on Facebook
Mentors: Dr. Xin Li (Mathematics), Dr. Mubarak Shah (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)

Stephanie Parenti
Project: Neocolonialism: Social Construction and Solutions
Mentor: Dr. David Houghton (Political Science)

Marie Shultz
Project: Factors Related to Stress in Nursing Students
Mentor: Dr. Maureen Covelli (Nursing)

Candice Torres
Project: Sex Trafficking: Florida’s Response to International Organized Crime
Mentor: Dr. Houman Sadri (Political Science)