MSU's College of Education announces Graduate Research Showcase winners

Contact: Bethany Shipp

Five Mississippi State graduate students are receiving awards for innovative research displayed during the College of Education's 2024 Graduate Research Showcase.

More than two dozen students participated in the annual symposium, which allows students to present faculty-guided research to a broad audience. The poster presentations were formally judged by a panel of faculty with monetary awards given to the winners.

Winners include:

—Ian Macali, kinesiology, first place for “Influences of Motivation and Personality on Physical Activity Behavior: A Systematic Review”

—Seger McGuire, educational psychology, second place for “Positive Creativity in Higher Education: Investigating Rural Mississippi”

—Sally Barfield, kinesiology, third place for “Muscle Activity of the Primary Ankle Stabilizers In D-I NCAA Collegiate Female Soccer Players Performing a Dynamic Balance Test”

—Aaron Griffith, kinesiology, third place for “The Y-Balance Test As a Measure of Dynamic Stability Among Collegiate American Football Players”

—Samantha Searles, kinesiology, third place for “Does Greater Muscle Strength and Size Result in Greater Hamstrings-to-Quadriceps Ratio?”

"We are really proud of all the students who participated in the College of Education's Graduate Research Showcase," said Daniel Gadke, College of Education associate dean of research and department head. "It is great to see the excellent research they are working on with their faculty across disciplines."

Research projects represented the Department of Counseling, Higher Education Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations; Department of Kinesiology; and Department of Teacher Education and Leadership.

Winning students received $100 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 for third place presentations.

The event was hosted by the College of Education during the university's annual Research Week. Learn more about the College of Education, home to five academic departments, a division of education, one research unit and numerous service units, at https://www.educ.msstate.edu.