UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences
Honors and Awards

SPHHS Announces 2024 Research Day Award Winners

A photo of the 2024 SPHHS Research Day winners. Back row (left-right): Sean Bannon; Rakan Rihani; Associate Dean Brian Whitcomb; Rachel Wacks; Assistant Professor Raphael Arku; and Abigail Grimm. Front row: Chi Zhao; Carissa Lange; Barbara E. Mottey; and Dean Anna Maria Siega-Riz.
Back row (l-r): Sean Bannon, Rakan Rihani, Associate Dean Brian Whitcomb, Rachel Wacks, Assistant Professor Raphael Arku and Abigail Grimm. Front row (l-r): Chi Zhao, Carissa Lange, Barbara E. Mottey and Dean Anna Maria Siega-Riz.

The School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) held its annual Research Day on April 17 in the Campus Center Auditorium. Now in its 27th year, SPHHS Research Day is a showcase for the research and practice conducted by students in all of its departments. Undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, are invited to present their work to faculty, staff, peers and the broader community.

This year’s event included two separate sessions comprised of a total of 102 poster presentations. Participants spanned all departments and academic levels – including undergraduate, master’s and doctoral presenters – and served to highlight the depth and breadth of SPHHS student research. The day’s program also featured a keynote talk from biostatistics alumnus Mark Chang ’98 M.S., Ph.D. and faculty presentations by Christine St. Laurent, Song Liang and Chaoran Ma.

“Yesterday’s event was spectacular,” says Anna Maria Siega-Riz, SPHHS dean. “The enormous participation by our students and faculty exceeded our expectations. It was an amazing display of the far-ranging research being done in the school by our faculty and the students who they are mentoring in their labs. I know that this type of mentoring and excellence in research takes time and, for many faculty, it is this passion that keeps them here.”

“Research Day 2024 was a great showcase for the outstanding work of students and faculty mentors in SPHHS, and the incredible diversity of research all aimed at addressing health and wellbeing,” adds Brian Whitcomb, SPHHS associate dean of research. “Many thanks to the students – over 102! – who presented their work at the event. Thanks and gratitude, also, to members of the Research Committee, faculty judges and SPHHS staff whose contributions to organization and coordination were critical to the success of this year’s ambitious, exciting, expanded program.”

The student presenters participated in a faculty-juried poster session based on content and presentation. This year, SPHHS awarded a total of eight prizes: travel awards for best presentation in health sciences and in public health; three graduate student research awards; and three undergraduate student research awards.

The 2024 Research Day Travel Award winners were:
  • First place Research Category - Health Sciences: Brent Momb, doctoral student in kinesiology. 
    “Distinct skeletal muscle fiber-type contractile response to fatigue at 37°C in older adults.” Faculty sponsor: Mark Miller.
  • First place Research Category - Public Health: Chi Zhao, doctoral student in biostatistics and epidemiology. 
    “Associations of combined genetic and lifestyle risks with incident type 2 diabetes in the UK Biobank.” Faculty sponsor: Cassandra Spracklen.
The 2024 Research Day Graduate Student Poster Award winners were:
  • First place: Barbara E. Mottey, doctoral student in environmental health sciences.
    “4 years trend in find particular matter (PM2.5) and black carbon pollution in Accra, Ghana.” Faculty sponsor: Raphael Arku.
  • Second place: Carissa Lange, doctoral student in environmental health sciences.
    “Characterizing air and noise pollution within the Accra School Health and Environment Study (ASHES).” Faculty sponsor: Raphael Arku.
  • 3rd place: Rachel Wacks, doctoral student in biostatistics and epidemiology.
    “Preliminary results on the joint effect of maternal smoking patterns during pregnancy and pre-pregnancy BMI on infant birth outcomes.” Faculty sponsor: Cassandra Spracklen.
The 2024 Research Day Undergraduate Student Poster Award winners were:
  • First place: Sean T. Bannon, kinesiology.
    “Hyperthermia treatment attenuates diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance in old female and ovariectomized mica var TRPV1-mediated futile calcium cycling.” Faculty sponsor: Soonkyu Chung.
  • Second place (tie): Molly Fabrizio and Aaryan Chaudhry, mechanical engineering and biochemical engineering.
    “Neural investigation of exoskeleton-assisted walking.” Faculty sponsor: Douglas Martini.
  • Second place (tie): Abigail Grimm, public health sciences.
    “Examining bullying, social support, and mental health outcomes among transgender and genderqueer adolescents.” Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.
  • Third place: Rakan Rafat Rihani, kinesiology.
    “Running economy in steep uphill locomotion: the impact of shoes with and without embedded carbon fiber plates.” Faculty sponsor: Wouter Hoogkamer.