CAS Student Research

Research doesn't just happen under a microscope. TWU's student research covers a broad spectrum of disciplines across the university's five colleges.

For its 2025 edition, the TWU History Division’s Ibid. boasts the largest, most ambitious volume in the student journal’s 18-year history.

This year’s Ibid., published July 1, contains 19 essays from nine undergraduate and six masters’ students.

Miranda Adams, Katelyn Briscoe (the lone political science major in this year’s Ibid.), Leslie Jacquez and Madelon Proctor each wrote two essays in this year’s edition.

Adams’ "The Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas State Parks: Education During the Great Depression" earned the Valentine J. Belfiglio Prize for best undergraduate paper, and Briscoe’s “Love Bombing Puerto Rico: How US Attitudes Towards Puerto Rican Identities and Movement Denote the Role of American Nativism in US Policy” received the Belfiglio Prize for best graduate paper.

Marlene Schaffer’s essay, "Kehinde Wiley and the Centering of Black Individuals in Fine Art,” is recipient of the Editor’s Choice Award. 

"We've had students who published their work in Ibid. and then they've been cited by other scholars," said Aubri Thurmond, TWU history lecturer and Ibid. faculty advisor. "They really have the opportunity to contribute to the historical narrative and the conversation between scholars. It's a really neat experience and a wonderful opportunity for students."

Ibid. is open to all TWU graduate and undergraduate students if their subject has a historical perspective. Over the years, submissions have come from students in the sciences, sports, arts, business, health sciences, education and nutrition.

"Ibid. provides students a space to apply the feedback that they received from their professors, to get additional feedback from faculty members and their peers and continue to improve their work," Thurmond said. "The students are very enthusiastic about it, nervous, of course, because they're vulnerable to people reading something you've written and critique it. But the students seem to get a lot out of it."

Click here to read this year's Ibid.

TWU well represented at research conference

A contingent of 25 TWU students will make presentations at the 2025 National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Pittsburgh, April 7-9.

"NCUR allows students who may not otherwise have the opportunity or have yet to have the opportunity to present their work in a public forum," said Diana Elrod, director of the Center for Student Research. "Our job as researchers is to be able to express our work, and this is that public forum piece. Being able to express their work in a way that is understandable to someone who knows, perhaps knows absolutely nothing about what they're doing."

TWU students will be doing podium, oral and poster presentations.

In addition to the students, TWU's Katherine Rose, PhD, and Rhonda Buckley, PhD, from the School of Human Sciences will present at the conference, and Enrollment Management will be on hand to recruit students to TWU.

NCUR promotes undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual conference for students. Unlike meetings of academic professional organizations, this gathering of student scholars welcomes presenters from all institutions of higher learning and from all disciplines.

TWU's student representatives come from a broad spectrum of disciplines across three of the university's five colleges: Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Theatre, Music, Visual Arts, Social Sciences & Historical Studies and Psychology from the College of Arts & Sciences; Nursing from the College of Nursing; and Curriculum and Instruction, Marriage and Family Therapy, Child Development and Human Development and Family Studies from the College of Professional Education.

"This is a great way for students to get their feet wet and hone their presentation skills," Elrod said.

TWU’s participation in NCUR is an institutional effort facilitated by the Center for Student Research. Funding for TWU's attendance comes from various sources, including McNair Scholars Program; Partnerships, Research, Internships, Mentoring and Engagement (PRIME); and an NSF grant.

The TWU students presenting:

• Christopher Bacidore, Computer Science (CAS) “HANDI: Human Advancement through Next-Gen Design and Innovation”
• Siekleng Chhuon, Computer Science (CAS) “ECLIPSE: Enhanced Containerized Lab Infrastructure for Platform-Independent Student Engagement Using Virtualization”
• Miles Collier, Theatre (CAS) “Everybody Needs a Hero: Body Politics, X-Men, and Transgender Futures”
• Starr Davis, Biology (CAS) “Role of BATF3 in Human Central Memory CD8T Cells”
• Madison Donahoe, Nursing (CON) “The Impact of Oral Histories on Long-Term Care Staff’s Perceptions of Patient-Centered Care”
• Dulce Garcia Galvan, Nursing (CON) “Effectiveness of a Medication Safety Checklist on Final-Semester Nursing Student Competency”
• Kamden Gauldin, Curriculum and Instruction (COPE) “The Disconnect Between the American Dream Ideology and the Evolving Work Culture of Younger Generations: A Study of Changing Values, Economic Realities, and Career Expectations”
• Mackenzie Heisser, Marriage and Family Therapy (COPE) “How Do Boys’ and Girls’ Perceptions of Their Own Academic Success Differ in Highschool?”
• Ashley Horn, Social Sciences & Historical Studies (CAS) “The Power of Misconception: Understanding the Role of Legal Circumstances in the Salem Witch Trials”
• Anjola Ifagbayi-Adeniran, Biology (CAS) “Antiproliferative Activity of Euphorbia dentata in T47D, MDA-MB 231, and MCF-7 Cancer Cell Lines”
• Simone Lang, Chemistry (CAS) “Low-Dimensional Materials for Spacesuit Applications”
• Amanda Li, Music (CAS) “Building Focus in Beginner Piano Students: Strategies for Effective Practice”
• Aleah Mendoza, Biology (CAS) “Effect of Gonadel Hormones on P2X Purinergic Receptor 3 (P2RX3) Expression in the Rat Trigeminal Ganglia”
• Lauren Orozco, Chemistry (CAS) “Experimental Efficiency: How Machine Learning Estimations Streamline Catalytic Density-Functional Theory Calculations”
• Emily Palacios, Biology (CAS) “A Comparative Analysis of Sonic Hedgehog Activation and WNT Pathway Inhibition in Human Cochlear Organoids”
• Serina Patel, Biology (CAS) “IlluminATE1”
• Guadalupe Perez Posada, Biology (CAS) “Neural Plasticity and Affective Pain Behaviors in a Preclinical Model of Pain Associated with Burn Injury”
• Evelyn Pugh, Nursing (CON) “Exploring the Impact of Medical Interpreters in Simulation on Nursing Students’ Knowledge and Competence”
• Isabella Rose, Child Development (COPE) “Parental Decision-Making About After School Programs for their School Aged Children”
• Tatiana Scott-Anchietta, Visual Arts Art History (CAS) “The Exploration of Art Education in Character Development and Self-Actualization: A Focus on Gratitude”
• Maria Silva, Chemistry (CAS) “Pt Cluster Doped molten-salt Carbon Nitride in Methanol Dehydrogenation”
• Emma Sloan-Garza, Nursing (CON) “FAVOR – Feasibility and Acceptability of Virtual Reality for Older Acute Stroke Patients”
• Angel Stigers, Human Development and Family Studies (COPE) “Improving the quality of education of special needs students with intentional physical environments, adaptive devices, and family support”
• Esmeralda Victor, Chemistry (CAS) “Analyzing Energy Transference in the y Subunit of Escherichia coli ATP Synthase through Terminus Extension”
• Britaney Zacarias Hernandez, Psychology (CAS) “Development of the Face-Saving Lies Scale: Examining Self-Esteem and Shame as Predictors”

Dec. 2, 2024 — DENTON — Texas Woman's University's Fashion Design & Merchandising mass production class is continuing its dive into the uncharted waters of creating clothing for disabled clients.

"This class has really opened my eyes," student Faith Stockton said.

A year ago, 13 students crafted three sets of clothes for patients with scoliosis at Scottish Rite for Children, a pediatric hospital in Dallas. This year, 20 students are producing four sets of clothes for patients with scoliosis, spina bifida, prosthetics or who are wheelchair bound.

This year, there is a greater emphasis on patient independence.

"We heard from interviews that one of the things Scottish Rite is trying to do is increase the independence of these kids," said Remy Odukomaiya, MFA and the class instructor. "They're teaching them how to change their own catheters and how to dress themselves. We took those stories and experiences, and we're putting them into these garments."

And this year, there is increased importance given to fashion-forward clothing.

"Of course we have major emphasis on the functionality of the garments we make," Eric Bravo Walker said. "However, we want to incorporate aspects that we would normally incorporate on regular outfits, like style, color, what's trending right now, things like that. It's not enough to just focus on functionality when we could do more and could just make people feel as included as everybody else. They're all people, so we're trying our best to make sure that functionality works and that the clothes will make them happy."

"Being able to keep the fact that these garments are handicapped accessible inconspicuous is a huge part of what we're doing, too," Faith Stockton said. "Anyone can wear them."

"They go right along with our generation's trends," Trinity Mendez-Alston said. "Like techwear having a lot of functionality with straps, pockets, things like that."

"Our scope has expanded," Odukomaiya said.

The mass production class will deliver this year's garments to Scottish Rite on Dec. 2.

"What we put together last year, we're expanding and making it more fun," Odukomaiya said. "We've got nice, bright colors this year, too. I'm just so excited that with the experience last year. The ideas are flowing."

Among the new ideas are pants that can change length, "for kids who want to maybe take off one side to be a short and the other to have a long leg because they're waiting for their prosthesis," Odukomaiya  said. There are pants that can fit over boots and shirts that can open across both shoulders. There are also skirts this year.

"We learned a lot of attention to every little detail," Kimngan Tran said. "Some children bruise easily and seams irritate their skin, so we're reconstructing patterns. We're making sure the clothes are not only pretty and functional but also feel good. It's just really rewarding to find ways to make this work."

The class is definitely gaining traction on and off campus. In addition to the increased enrollment, the class budget increased due to a $1,000 contribution from the Trinity Valley Quilters Guild.

"During my first year, I heard other people talking about this class and how it was going to help people, sort of like accommodations in clothing," Walker said. "I really got excited about that. I like what we're doing right now."

Two years ago, the class designed and made clothing for homeless men before Odukomaiya began coordinating with Scottish Rite last year, and the class has certainly stimulated the creativity of its students in directions rarely contemplated.

"I'd never had thought about fashion from an accessibility standpoint because I didn't necessarily know that there was a gap in fashion," Stockton said. "The garments we're making are giving people back their independence, making sure they can put it on themselves and that they look their age and that they can dress trendy and also be a part of their generation socially. We're focusing on making something they can put on themselves, feel independent and express themselves through fashion. We're trying to focus on making clothes accessible and fashion forward."

"I really love that we're doing this because it opens our eyes and noticing that there aren't a lot of designers designing for people who have disabilities," Mendez-Alston said. "We did a lot of research, and it inspired me as a designer."

So much so that students are considering including disabled models in their senior show.

"This is definitely very inclusive for people with disabilities, so I definitely think that I will be taken that into account in the future," Walker said.