Columbia State Community College recently hosted an Academic and Research Fair to display students’ research to promote opportunities for academic high impact practices participation among students and faculty.

The college-wide event was sponsored by the Columbia State Honors Program and organized by Columbia State faculty members Dr. Elvira Eivazova, associate professor of biology and Tennessee Board of Regents ambassador for high impact practices in undergraduate research, and Dr. Anna Duch, assistant professor of history and coordinator of the Honors Program.

“Community colleges like Columbia State are the first opportunity some students have to pursue a passion project or do research that means something to them,” Duch said. “It's more than an assignment that has to be done; it is something they have chosen to research and investigate. We want to offer students a chance to have some of that effort recognized.”

The fair invited students to showcase their talent and creativity by presenting a research project in the form of a poster presentation. These presentations covered a wide range of topics such as genomics, microbiology, general biology, biotechnology, anatomy and physiology case studies and modeling of biological objects.

The exhibition was held on both the Columbia and Williamson Campuses. Eight faculty judges ranked the students’ projects. First, second and third place prizes were awarded to students in STEM and Health Sciences categories.

In the STEM category, Jaeden Kennedy won third place with the project, “Dewormer Resistance in Goats,” Michaela Taylor won second place with the project, “Regeneration and Regenerative Medicine” and Miriam Galindo won first place with the project, “Commonalities of tRNA Present in Cluster A Mycobacteriophage Genomes and Their Effects on M. Tuberculosis Infection.” In the Health Sciences category, Abby Suh McLallin won third place with the project, “The Importance of the Timeout Before Surgical and Non-surgical Procedures,” Heather Smart won second place with the project, “How Social Media Use Can Impact Our Mental Health” and Leslie Ezelle won first place with the project, “Plant-based Diet and Cancer.”