The Lone Star College-Tomball Honors College has awarded three students Honors Undergraduate Research Day Scholarships for their academic achievement during the fall 2015 semester. Mindi Byrum, Louise Mallon, and Brittany Anderson will each receive a $500 scholarship to put toward further academic pursuits.
Members of the Honors College work together with faculty mentors on semester-long research projects of their own devising. The students deliver end-of-year presentations describing and summarizing their research and it was from these presentations that this year’s scholarship winners were chosen by Honors faculty for their high levels of critical thinking and high quality delivery. Some of the scholarship winners from around the college system will be invited to present at system-wide and regional conferences in the following semesters.
Byrum’s presentation was titled “A Psychological Battlefield: The Development of PTSD in The Hunger Games.” Her goal with the project was to determine what factors led to the variation in development of post-traumatic stress disorder in characters from the novel The Hunger Games. She explains her conclusion: “Peeta displayed quicker signs of recovery due to her analytical problem-solving abilities, her heightened awareness of her surroundings, and her worldview.”
Mallon pursued a project in geology titled “Cores, Coccoliths, and Climate: Understanding Previous Greenhouse and Icehouse Earths.” She examined a Shatsky Rise core to determine how the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) changed along the core. She then related that to the Earth’s climate history. “Evidence provided from a Shatsky Rise core helps in determining how many times earth has transitioned from greenhouse conditions,” Mallon said.
“Can We All Just Get Along? An Analysis of Party Polarization in Parties, Voters and Politicians” by Anderson asked the question whether or not Moderate America still exists. She used a three-prong approach to explore this issue and concluded that there is a clear trend toward a widening gap between America’s two major political parties and their constituents. “This polarization correlates with the ideological alignment of the parties and the subsequent disappearance of moderate America,” she said.
The Honors College at Lone Star College offers a wide range of opportunities for high-achieving students seeking to graduate with honors distinction as well as for students interested in earning individual honors course credit. Each year, a limited number of incoming freshmen will be admitted to The Honors College at LSC as Honors College Chancellor’s Fellows. Visit LoneStar.edu/HonorsCollege to learn more about eligibility criteria and view application materials for the Honors College at LSC.