When Columbus native Amber Shoffner’s younger brother Jacob received cochlear implants and began speech therapy nine years ago, she was inspired to pursue speech-language pathology as a career. With the opportunity to do research in the Gordy Honors College at Mississippi University for Women, she returned to her own family’s experience as her guide, and now Shoffner’s project will be featured as the Honors College showcases undergraduate research during its Fall Research Symposium.
Shoffner’s research charts similarities and differences in parent experiences as they decide for or against cochlear implantation. She held a focus group with parents whose children attend Magnolia Speech School in Jackson and will use the results to help professionals understand the difficulties these parents face and better serve this population.
The Symposium will be held Nov. 20 and Dec. 4. Presentations slated for Nov. 20 include English majors Kirsten Crawford of Millport, who explores American and British female coming-of-age stories from Jane Eyre to Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” and Cassie Chehab of Orlando, Florida, who examines how nonwhite ethnicities are represented in popular young adult fantasy and science fiction literature.
Presenting with Shoffner on Dec. 4 will be Culinary Arts major Sade Meeks from Jackson, who will explain the results of her experiment with a six-week organic diet and follow-up health tests to assess the quality of processed versus organic foods.
On both nights, other senior honors students will present their research proposals in disciplines as varied as speech-language pathology, nursing, graphic design, biology, and history.
The Symposium is free and open to the public and each night’s presentations will begin at 6 p.m. in Nissan Auditorium on the MUW campus.
For more information, contact Interim Director of the Honors College Kim Whitehead at [email protected], 662-241-6850, or visit web3.muw.edu/honors/forum.
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