Two USF College of Public Health (COPH) undergraduate students walked away with awards after presenting their research at USF’s 2022 Undergraduate Research Conference. 

The annual event, held virtually and in person this past April, is open to all USF undergraduates on all campuses. The purpose of the conference, say its organizers, is to expose students to student-faculty mentored projects and give students experience in presenting research in a professional setting.

Samantha Deveaux received the Undergraduate Research Scholar Award for her work on health care disparities among low-income populations. Her research earned her an induction into the USF chapter of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society.

“While attending USF, I worked at a children’s hospital where I witnessed the disparities among lower-income families and the difficulties they face with basic health care needs,” said the 2022 COPH health sciences grad with plans to conduct health policy research while applying to law schools. “Many times, the families would have difficulties scheduling appointments [because of] their work schedule or lack of childcare and transportation. Or they would have financial issues that prevented them from buying nutritious foods or refilling prescriptions. Although social workers attempted to provide as much assistance as they could, they simply had an overload of families. The research I conducted found that those who are lower income are at an increased risk of adverse health effects because of a lack of primary and preventative care, mental health resources, financial stability and access to reliable health insurance.”

Deveaux said she’d like to expand her research to include more local populations and neighborhoods and eventually get the work published. You can read the abstract of her poster here.

Evelyn Spiller, who graduated from the COPH in the spring with a BSPH, received the General Disciplinary Award in Social Sciences for her work on eating behaviors and nutrition interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

“My research was on mealtime problems observed in young children with ASD from around the world,” explained Spiller, who plans on pursuing an MPH with a concentration in epidemiology. “It was a review of empirical literature published over the last 10 years on problematic mealtime and eating behaviors among children with ASD. I also shared the ongoing development of social media components that are being used to supplement a nutrition intervention developed for children with ASD by [COPH professor] Dr. Heewon Gray and her team. I began my research to expand my own understanding of the need for nutritional interventions in this group while I assisted with Dr. Gray’s research.”

One of those social media interventions, Spiller said, is a Facebook group for parents enrolled in the nutritional intervention. The group gives parents additional information and support in fostering healthy eating habits in their children.

Spiller, who has hopes of publishing the research, noted that because of issues like sensory sensitivity, obesity and nutritional deficiencies have become a growing concern among children with ASD. “Our findings highlighted the unmet need of data from underdeveloped countries and the [importance] of social media components to supplement a nutrition intervention,” she said.

You can read the abstract of her poster presentation here.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health