SIX ODU GRADUATE STUDENTS TO PRESENT RESEARCH AT FORUM IN RICHMOND
Six graduate students at Old Dominion University have been chosen to present their research at the 2007 Graduate Student Research Forum in Richmond on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
The students represent each of ODU's colleges and will be among about 70 students from 13 Virginia universities who will be presenters. The forum, which is sponsored by the Virginia Council of Graduate Schools and will be held at the Library of Virginia, is for invited guests with academic, business and political interests in the best graduate research being done in the state.
Philip Langlais, ODU vice provost for graduate studies and research, said these projects "demonstrate the breadth and depth of applied research conducted by ODU graduate students and their importance to developing creative solutions to many of Virginia's most significant social and economic issues."
The ODU participants and their project titles are:
� Sonja Sray, doctoral student in international studies, "Examining the Dark Side: When Democracy Faces Hostility and Loses."
� Melanie Carter Rose, doctoral student in business administration/finance, "For Better or for Worse: Earnings Management, Forecast Error, and Analyst Following."
� Janet T. Laughlin, doctoral student in community college leadership, "An Examination of Differences Between Occupational-Technical Student and Transfer Student Engagement of Small Community Colleges in Virginia."
� R. Bruce Floersheim, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, "Uncertainty Analysis and Model Validation for Structural Dynamics in a Helicopter Tail Cone."
� Ann Marie Kopitzke, doctoral student in health services research, "Elderly Access to Pharmaceuticals and Medicare Part D."
� Rachel Sleighter, doctoral student in chemistry, " The Characterization and Reactivity of Dissolved Organic Matter Along a River-to-Ocean Transect of the Lower Chesapeake Bay."
Brenda Lewis, assistant vice president for graduate studies, said the various ODU colleges nominated candidates and the final selection was made by the Office of Graduate Studies. "Our decisions were based, among other things, on the quality of research and the value of that research to the commonwealth," Lewis explained.
She noted that about 70 percent of the people who earn graduate degrees in Virginia take jobs in Virginia, and that the forum is designed to show the benefits of in-state graduate education.