Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State's Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium is recognizing the faculty-guided projects of 63 students completed in various academic units and research centers at the university.

At the recent annual SRS gathering held at the Shackouls Honors College, 11 of the students received top awards for work conducted during the 2014-15 academic year in categories of either arts and humanities, biological sciences and engineering, physical sciences and engineering or social sciences.

Six winners are MSU students, while five are enrolled at other institutions in Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Twenty-one campus faculty members representing a cross-section of academic areas served as competition judges.

Residents of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, this year's honorees include (by project type and category):

ARTS AND HUMANITIES:

FIRST--Junior Krista A. Barrett of Greenville, an English major advised by associate professor Kelly Marsh.

SECOND--Senior Alexander J. Ward of Marietta, a philosophy and religion and English double-major advised by philosophy and religion instructor Albert Bisson.

THIRD--Senior Ryan W. Lawrence of Starkville, a history major advised by John Marszalek, head of MSU's Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, and history assistant professor Alison Greene.

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING:

FIRST--Peace M. Adeyemo of Memphis, Tennessee, a University of Memphis biological engineering major advised by agriculture and biological engineering professor C. LaShan Simpson.

SECOND--Jonathan Rice of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, a Wofford College biological sciences major advised by computer science and engineering associate professor Andy Perkins.

THIRD--Jamie Holder of Smithville, a Mississippi University for Women biological sciences major advised by biological sciences associate professor Donna M. Gordon.

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING:

FIRST--Dominic Nguyen of Lincoln, Nebraska, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln chemical engineering major advised by Hossein Toghiani, Thomas B. Nusz Endowed Professor in the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering.

SECOND--Senior Elizabeth N. Stafford of Denham Springs, Louisiana, a chemical engineering major advised by chemical engineering assistant professor Santanu Kundu.

THIRD--Sophomore Chloe A. Wilks of Trussville, Alabama, a sophomore biochemistry major advised by chemistry assistant professor Nick Fitzkee.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

FIRST--Phillip M. Stoner of Caledonia, a Mississippi University for Women English major advised by psychology professor and head Mitchell E. Berman.

SECOND--Senior Kara L. Nayfa of Long Beach, a psychology major advised by psychology professor and head Mitchell E. Berman.

Greg Dunaway, dean of MSU's College of Arts and Sciences, was featured speaker for the symposium.

In addition to the honors college, the event was sponsored by National Science Foundation-funded undergraduate research programs, with assistance from the campus offices of the Provost and Executive President and Research and Economic Development, as well as the Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence, MSU Extension Service and National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center.

Prizes were provided by the campus chapter of the national Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Information about the Shackouls Honors College is available at www.honors.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstatehonors and twitter.com/ShackoulsHonors.

MSU, the Mississippi's flagship research institution, is online at msstate.edu.