Student Research Awards

In conjunction with campus and community partners, the Arthur Olsen Student Research Symposium offered five $250 research awards to students who presented at the 2022 Symposium. Students were able to apply for one of the following awards: Keynote Speaker's Early Influence Award, Award for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration, or the Lifelong Learner Award. 

In addition, the Symposium offered five poster awards of $50 each. Posters were judged as they were presented on the day of the Symposium. All poster presenters were eligible to win an award.

 

Congratulations to the 2022 Award Winners!

Keynote Speaker's Early Influence Award
  • Brianna Pitz and Anna Olson, Examining Stress, Depression, Self-Esteem, and Treatment Seeking in Three Groups of College Students: Collegiate Athletes, Non-Collegiate Athletes, and Non-Athletes (Lindsay Howard)
Award for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration
  • Annika Paulsen, Theatrical Catharsis: From Greek Philosophy to Modern Scientific Knowledge (Jayna Fitzsimmons)
Lifelong Learner Award - Enhance Community Through the Understanding of Humans and Human Interactions
  • August Brown, God makes those who make themselves’; Human-Divine Co-Creation in Judaism and Christianity (Julie Loveland Swanstrom)
Lifelong Learner Award - Enrich Lives Through Aesthetic and Creative Expressions
  • Brooklynn Gross, Children’s Literature in the Secondary Classroom: Pedagogical Implications (Sharon Andrews)
Lifelong Learner Award - Develop Knowledge that is Critical for Understanding and Caring for our Changing World
  • Mia Werger, Building a backyard prairie: A model for making habitat restoration accessible to urban homeowners (Dave O'Hara)
Poster Awards
  • Ellie Holmes, pHixing Fermentation: And Analysis of pH Effects on Fernson Yeast (Paul Egland)
  • Hannah Gibbemeyer, Katie Guentzel, Calie Kaiser, & Ruby Power, I'm Torn! Which Birthing Position is Best? (Ranae Aukerman)
  • Hope McCloskey, Decolonize Your Media (Kathleen McCollough)
  • Laura Johnson, Analysis of a Midden: What Animal Remains Reveal About the People at the Lunch Site (KC Carlson)
  • Mia Werger, Mapping the Potential for Improving Land Use Through Habitat Restoration on Sioux Falls Public Property (Sarah Olimb)
 

Student Research Awards

Holt Lunstad

Keynote Speaker's Early Influence Award

This award is sponsored by the Psychology Department in recognition of this year's keynote speaker, Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad and her research on well-being. Well-being research aims to better understand the biological, social and mental processes that interact with our experiences and behavior to produce happiness, high quality of life, and human flourishing. When that research highlights forces that impact health and well-being, it extends beyond academic curiosity and introduces implications for society that can change how we solve problems. Dr. Holt-Lunstad's research highlights the effect our social connections have on long-term health and informs decision makers on how to best respond to larger problems such as a global pandemic. Correspondingly, this award will recognize research that emphasizes well-being.

 

Professor Carolyn Ly-Donovan discusses research strategies with students.

Award for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration

Sponsored by an Augustana alum, the Award for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration will go to a student who has done research involving more than one academic discipline and/or requiring collaboration between multiple parties. Students must be able to demonstrate how they synthesized ideas and concepts from multiple disciplines, drawing connections between multiple subjects, and/or demonstrate how they collaborated with additional individuals or groups to create a cohesive research project.  

students studying notebook

Lifelong Learner Award

The Lifelong Learner Awards, sponsored by the Board of Trustees and President's Cabinet, will recognize students who exhibit the spirit of Arthur Olsen's yearning to be a lifelong learner through their research or scholarship. Arthur Olsen chaired the committee that created Augustana's five core values: Christian, Liberal Arts, Community, Excellence, and Service. In keeping with Augustana's grounding in the liberal arts tradition, these awards will recognize projects that do one of the following: enhance community through the understanding of humans and human interactions, enrich lives through aesthetic and creative expressions, or develop knowledge that is critical for understanding and caring for our changing world. Three Lifelong Learner Awards will be presented.