Students Passionate About Research
2009 Annual STARS Conference

By Cheryl D’Mello

CSU Professor Meg Toukonen and studetn Natalie Itliong at the 2009 STARS Conference.

About 185 students, faculty mentors, and coordinators from 15 colleges across Ohio attended the 17th Annual STARS (Student Achievement in Research and Scholarship Program) Statewide Student Research Conference from Friday, March 27 to Sunday, March 29, 2009. Serreta Archer, Program Manager for AHANA and STARS from the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs coordinated the event. The STARS program and Conference are sponsored by the Ohio Board of Regents. Participants were housed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cleveland.

Several CSU STARS alumni who are now pursuing graduate work addressed the students. On Saturday, in the Main Classroom, students displayed poster presentations on their research and also gave oral/power point presentations in several classrooms.

Natalie Itliong, a student at CSU displayed a poster of her research work with Meg Toukonen, Clinical Asst. Prof. at CSU on equine assisted psycho therapy. “It’s a brand new area of research” said Itliong, who is planning to go on to graduate school.

Dr. Ann Frymier, was one of three coordinators, accompanying nine students from Miami University in Ohio. “You learn more in an hour than anywhere else,” said Dr. Frymier, “it is such a fresh perspective because you see students who are so passionate about research.”

Research ranged from engineering, science, health, race, and gender related topics which included “Syntheis of (+)-kalkitoxin” presented by Nina Collins of Xavier University, “The Evolution of Blackface Minstrelsy by Candace Wells of Capital University, the “Jezebel Stereotype in Film” by Brittany Brantley of the University of Cincinnati, “Identification of Novel Genes Required for Chromosome Segregation” by Jude Odafe from the University of Dayton and “Merode Altarpiece” (Triptych of the Annunciation by Robert Campin by Kari Taylor of CSU.

The Conference included a graduate/professional school fair featuring local and statewide graduate schools, networking activities, and workshops. The STARS program consists of a consortium of 19 colleges and universities. It targets high achieving undergraduate students who are first generation, or low income, or historically underrepresented in their fields of study, and grooms them for graduate school and academic careers.

Article originally appeared in The Cauldron on April 6, 2009.