UB RISE 2024 Award Winners

Distinguished Faculty Award

Cassidy Haigh, PhD¹ and Lora Levett, PhD²

An Empirical Test of Forensic Confirmation Bias in the Prosecution Context #4
¹College of Science and Society, Department of Criminal Justice and Human Security
²University of Florida, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dr. Shannon Hashemi, CMA

Quality of the Reported Earnings by U.S. Firms During The Pandemic of 2020 #6
College of Engineering, Business, Education
Ernest C. Trefz School of Business, Department of Accounting

---

Doctoral Category

1st Place Recognition

Laura Morello

The Development and Validation of the Skills Self-Efficacy Scale for Adolescents (SSES-A) #33
Advisor: John Chick, EdD (’10, ’19, ’23)
College of Engineering, Business, Education
School of Education

2nd Place Recognition

Alana Sejdic

What Do Special Ed Teachers Who Prepare Students for College Know About Disability Laws After High School? #32
Advisor: Jeffery Vance, EdD (’18)
College of Engineering, Business, Education
School of Education

3rd Place Recognition

Rachel Satter

Development and Psychometric Validation of an Instrument to Measure Social-Emotional Learning and Competency for Preservice Teacher Candidates #34
Advisor: Kathleen Wallace, EdD (’20)
College of Engineering, Business, Education
School of Education

---

Masters Category

1st Place Recognition

Apeksha Baisakhiya, Jayant Bolisetty, Rohan Charupally

Will AI render Auditors Obsolete? #49
Advisor: Arthur McAdams, PhD
College of Engineering, Business, Education
Ernest C. Trefz School of Business

2nd Place Recognition

Michael Sekyere¹, Rebecca M. Johnson², Douglas E. Brackney²

Characterization of Aedes Aegypti Collagen IV and SPARC Expression and the Role in Midgut Repair Following Blood Feeding #47
Advisor: Seokyoung Kang, PhD
¹College of Science and Society, Department of Biology
²The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Entomology (New Haven)

3rd Place Recognition

Maria Koah, Anjana Paudel, David Maliar

Reassessing the Association Between Traffic Stops and Calling the Police for Help #45
Advisor: Cassidy Haigh, PhD
College of Science and Society
Department of Criminal Justice and Human Society

Alumni Award Recognition

Vishal Bishnoi

Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on Financial Markets #50
Advisor: Consheng Wu, PhD
College of Engineering, Business, Education
Ernest C. Trefz School of Business

Honorable Mention Recognition

Hillary Deane

A Systematic Review: The Effects of Cannabis Use on Oral Health #44
Advisor: Nadine Spring, PhD, MPH, MS (’06)
College of Health Sciences
School Health Professions - Master’s in Public Health

---

Undergraduate Category

1st Place Recognition

Vivien Ruettgers

Exploring the Concept of Happiness: Preliminary Assessment of a New Model #76
Advisor: Elizabeth Fles, PhD
College of Science and Society
Division of Behavioral Science - Pyschology

2nd Place Recognition

Ronelle Robinson

Synthesis and UV-vis/HPLC Spectra Analysis of Novel Benzimidazole Analogue Having Sugar Moiety as Chemotherapeutic Agent #77
Advisor: Abu Gafar Hossion, PhD
College of Science and Society
Chemistry Department

3rd Place Recognition

Brandon Galvan, Dheerajsanth Santhakumar, Christopher Vazquez, Rashad Junior Baba-Adama

Drone Distribution System #79
Advisor: Ausif Mahmood, PhD & Ahmed El-Sayed, PhD (‘11,’16)
College of Engineering, Business, Education
School of Engineering - Department of Computer Science

Alumni Award Recognition

Adam Soliman, Melvin Afriyie, Elvin Conde, Berlange Altema

Parkease #78
Advisor: Ausif Mahmood, PhD
College of Engineering, Business, Education
School of Engineering

Honorable Mention

Daniel Rodriguez, Jose Cabrera, Thomas Rodriguez

Autonomous Vacuum Cleaner Robot #80
Advisor: Ahmed El-Sayed, PhD (‘11,’16)
College of Engineering, Business, Education
School of Engineering

---

High School Category

1st Place Recognition

Cole Galla

Synthesis of Conductive Optical Lenses for Observation of Variable Refractive Indices #98
Advisor: Kirk Shadle (‘06)
Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture Science Technology Education Center

2nd Place Recognition

Scarlett Zhai

Determining the effect of the protein SAMP-1 on chromosome segregation in C. elegans embryos #99
Advisor: Cathy Piscitelli
Amity High School

3rd Place Recognition

Eliana Howard

An Analysis of the Efficacy of Chamomile Flavonoids as a Preemptive Measure for Basal and Squamous Cell Carcinomas #101
Advisor: Kirk Shadle (‘06), Carla Ebmeyer
Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture Science Technology Education Center

Alumni Award Recognition

Sophia Clark

An Evaluation of Biochar’s Surface Area and Porosity Capacity to Remediate Heavy Metal Contaminated Aqua Systems #102
Advisor: Kirk Shadle (‘06)
Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture Science Technology Education Center

Honorable Mention

Eden Cunningham

Using an Experimental Algorithm to Detect Stress in Homarus americanus in Aquaculture #103
Advisor: Kirk Shadle (‘06)
Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture Science Technology Education Center

Honorable Mention

Matthew Park

Investigating the Diversity of Various Bacterial Strains to Determine Anti-Resistance Between Oral Environments Containing Compromised and Healthy Teeth #96
Advisor: Cathy Piscitelli
Mentor: Dr. Feng Qian
Amity High School