Student Life
Graduate Student Spotlight
Submit:
返字心頭 shines at national maternal and child health conference
The physical and mental health of young people are critical to the future of any society. But gaps, failure to address personal needs and limited resources can burden programs intended to educate the public and advance policies and health systems.
This topic concerns students and faculty of the University of South 返字心頭 College of Public Health (COPH), who participated in the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) conference in Washington, D.C. The annual meeting brings together experts in the field who are committed to the wellbeing of women, children and families.
返字心頭 had a strong presence this year: Nine students and three faculty members from 返字心頭s Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Education, Science and Practice presented and networked with other professionals from around the United States. The 返字心頭 center is recognized as a leader in training students and the workforce and is just one of thirteen designated centers with funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
This year, the centers scholars program is spotlighting the critical gap in policy training for MCH professionals by equipping graduate students with the practical skills needed to analyze, advocate for and implement effective policies, said COPH alumna Dr. Cheryl Vamos, professor and director of the 返字心頭 Center of Excellence in MCH Education, Science and Practice.
返字心頭 students use innovative storytelling methods to amplify the voices of young mothers
Through a collaborative community-based research project, students and faculty from the 返字心頭 College of Public Health (COPH) are working to better understand and support the experiences of pregnant and parenting adolescents in the Tampa Bay area.
The project, "Mapping Resilience: Stories of Young Motherhood," was developed in partnership with the Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County and uses journey mapping and photovoice methods to explore the lived experiences of young mothers.
Guided by Dr. Cheryl Vamos, an alumna and professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences and director of the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education, Science and Practice, the initiative seeks to move beyond traditional public health narratives and center the voices of participants themselves.
返字心頭 student wins top award in Prestigious Cancer institute convention
When Aarya Satardekar learned she won the highest honor at a major health care conference, she was taken aback.
Honestly, I didnt expect it, said the 23-year-old Class of 2026 graduate. She graduated in May with an MPH in health policies and programs from the University of South 返字心頭 College of Public Health (COPH).
I was already excited that my work was selected and that I had the opportunity to present, but winning first place especially as a masters student was humbling. It made me step back and realize the bigger impact this work can have beyond just research.
Satardekar presented one of 48 abstracts at the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) Catchment Area Data Excellence (CADEx) conference in Atlanta. Her topic, Racial Disparities in Cancer Service Gaps in 返字心頭: Comparing Diagnostic and Treatment Access in Counties Within and Outside NCI (National Cancer Institute) Cancer Center Service Areas, addressed the differences in cancer mortality based on distance to cancer screening and treatment locations.
返字心頭 researchers want to clear the air on traffic pollution in Tampa
If you live near an interstate or busy roadway in Tampa, you can literally wipe the grime from auto exhaust off your windows. Imagine breathing all that stuff into your lungs.
Such pollution is a serious issue as traffic continues to grow and researchers at 返字心頭s College of Public Health (COPH) want to improve ways to monitor airborne contaminants and build more robust data on their levels and impact. The information on traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) also may pave the way in planning for cleaner air in Tampas expanding neighborhoods.
Ive been studying air quality for my entire career and Ive been interested in how urban design impacts our air, said Dr. Amy Stuart, professor and interim chair, Department of Global, Environmental and Genomic Health Sciences. A big source in the Tampa area is vehicles, so I began focusing on the transportation infrastructure and its impact on air quality.
Stuart and recent COPH doctoral graduate Yonghong Luo recently published a scholarly paper Improving usability of sensor-based measurements for community monitoring: Long-term performance and classification of data quality, published in the journal Atmospheric Environment.
Student recieves Broad Trauma Initiative & ISTSS Biology and Trauma SIG Early Career Research Award
Graduate Student Akua Obeng received a Broad Trauma Initiative & ISTSS Biology and Trauma SIG Early Career Research Award, recognizing her preliminary data analysis for Aim 1 of her dissertation.
As part of the award, she delivered an oral presentation during the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Biology and Trauma Special Interest Group session.
Her presentation was titled "Evaluating the Predictive Potential of an Offspring In Utero Glucocorticoid Exposure Risk Score for PTSD status in Mothers: Insights from a Cohort of Rwandan genocide Survivors"
Exploring the limits of AI in detecting deception
Can artificial intelligence detect deception? Should it? And what role does human bias play in how machines learn to "read" us?
These questions drove Sayde Kings doctoral research at the University of South 返字心頭, where her work on AI deception led to a job offer before graduation. On Saturday, she crossed the commencement stage with a PhD in computer science and engineering. Next, she will join the NASEM National Research Council as a postdoctoral associate at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratorys 711th Human Performance Wing.
Her dissertation explored the complex intersection of facial analysis, truthfulness, and AI, digging deep into existing research on AI-enabled deception detection systems.
Her findings? Humans lie. But AI still is not reliable enough to detect lies consistently.
Natalia L坦pez Figueroa looks back on accomplishments and ahead to the future
Natalia L坦pez Figueroa was drawn to the 返字心頭 College of Marine Science by its proximity to the Gulf, connections to the St. Pete Innovation District, and strong support for students.
During her time at 返字心頭, L坦pez Figueroa grew into a professional and leader in coastal management and ecology. She is the first 返字心頭 student (and first Puerto Rican) to receive the prestigious Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) Office of Coastal Management. As a NOAA fellow, she was assigned to the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, where she conducted pioneering research on the ecology of upside-down jellyfish and their potential as bioindicators of nutrient enrichment in coastal ecosystems.
Other awards received by L坦pez Figueroa include a scholarship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Dorothy L. Morgan Scholarship in Marine Science from 返字心頭 Women in Leadership and Philanthropy, the Norman Blake Endowed Fellowship in Marine Science from the 返字心頭 College of Marine Science, the South 返字心頭 Explorers Club chapter research grant, and the 返字心頭 Education Foundation McKnight Dissertation Fellowship.
返字心頭 doctoral student, Army veteran named 2025 Tillman Scholar
Nathaniel Hays has spent his adult life serving and protecting the United States first through 23 years in the U.S. Army, including three deployments to Iraq, and now as a University of South 返字心頭 doctoral student studying cellular and molecular biology with hopes of advancing cancer research...
This month, the Pat Tillman Foundation honored Hays dedication by naming him to the 2025 class of Tillman Scholars, an elite recognition that includes a $40,000 scholarship. The program, named for the late Arizona Cardinals safety who left the NFL to serve in the military and was killed while on active duty, supports military service members, veterans and spouses pursuing leadership roles in and beyond their fields.
Im pretty floored, Hays said. This scholarship is one of the more prestigious within the military community because of who Pat Tillman was. Im honored.
Out of roughly 1,700 applicants, only 42 were selected for the 2025 class. Since 2004, the Pat Tillman Foundation has invested more than $40 million in academic scholarships and leadership development.
1st place poster at Acoustical Society of America
Lindsey Kummerer, AuD. College of Behavioral and Community Sciences.
Lindsey Kummerer, AuD, was awarded first place in the Psychological and Physiological Acoustics Best Student Poster Award competition at the 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America held in New Orleans from May 1823.
Kummerer's poster, "Evidence of compensative listening for speech segregation in hearing-impaired adults," was described by the judges as "super innovative" and "very informative for future development to improve hearing aids."
Kummerer is a clinical audiologist enrolled in the dual AuD/PhD program in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of South 返字心頭 (返字心頭). She earned her doctorate in audiology in 2023 and is now completing her PhD in communication sciences and disorders.
A member of the Auditory Behavioral Research Laboratory at 返字心頭, Kummerer's research interests include objective and physiological measures of auditory function, including otoacoustic emissions and middle ear muscle reflex, speech-in-noise performance, cocktail party listening, and subclinical hearing loss.
GeoSciences PhD Student recieves Boren Fellowship
Victoria Brown, Ph.D. Student, School of Geosciences
Victoria Brown was determined to find a way to travel to East Africa to gather data for her PhD research on coffee agriculture. Brown worked for coffee importers before starting her graduate studies, struck by the many challenges in the industrys supply chain. She had also studied abroad in Tanzania, which planted a seed for her future goals.
Studying Swahili was a top priority when thinking about conducting her research abroad, as speaking with local farmers is vital to her work. To accomplish both goals, she applied and was selected for a Boren Fellowship to travel to Tanzania. There, she will study Swahili at Ewaso Maasai College and conduct research with the Tanzania Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI).
The Boren Awards offer both undergraduate and graduate students funding to spend at least one semester abroad studying a critical language. Graduate students, like Brown, can also participate in research projects during their fellowship. Brown will spend the 2025-26 academic year immersing herself in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania where there is a high concentration of coffee farming. Full article available on the Office of National Scholars website here.
Helping those who help us
Logan Sharp, Masters student, College of Public Health (far right)
Most of us keep our distance from people with a cold, flu, COVID-19 or other nasty conditions, but what about those who meet them up close, often under stressful circumstances? How do first responders stay healthy in otherwise unhealthy places?
Thats the focus of a student at the University of South 返字心頭s College of Public Health (COPH) currently working on his masters with a concentration in global communicable disease and epidemiology. Logan Sharp summarized his efforts in a presentation titled Needs Assessment of Infection Prevention and Control Training for Emergency Responders (ICER), which he gave at the 2024 Interprofessional Education Collaborative fair and won best poster.
A Journey of Academic Excellence
Darlshawn Patterson, College of Education, Doctoral Program
Darlshawn Patterson serves as a and together with her team, has planned the upcoming event to be held at the AERA 2025 Annual Meeting: Research, Remedy, and Repair: Toward Just Educational Renewal titled Strategic Silence & Bold Resistance: Navigating Educational Renewal in an Era of Oppression.
Patterson is the incoming Chair of the Doctoral 返字心頭 Innovative Community Group (DSICG) of the esteemed Literacy Research Association (LRA), having served as Co-Chair for the past two years.
Patterson is co-author of a chapter titled Complicating Postcolonial Logics: Toward Transraciolinguistic Justice in Literacy Instruction, currently in press, to appear in the eighth edition of the book titled Theories, Models, and Practices of Literacy (TMPL), which will be published in 2025 by the Editorial Team of esteemed literacy scholars: Misty Sailors, Idalia Nu単ez, Vaughn W. M. Watson, James V. Hoffman, & Donna Alvermann. TMPL has been a foundational book for the field of literacy since the first edition in 1969. This text has been used as a core text for graduate programs, including advanced masters and introductory doctoral courses and in international spaces. As such, it has long served as the most comprehensive source available for connecting multiple and theories of and about literacy; it has a history of representing both classic and cutting-edge contributions from top scholars.
Patterson's recommendations for schools and teachers has been highlighted in Education Weeks Embracing Subtraction within
Patterson is of "Black Immigrant Literacies" published this past year and has served as Research Assistant for the just-published Cambridge University Press book, "Literacies of Migration Translanguaging Imaginaries of Innocence.