Honors Program

Immigration to the United States and other developed nations has become a hot-button topic as governments continue to focus on security following the Sept. 11 attacks. But not all nations deal with immigration equally, which Molly Costigan ’10 discovered in work that is the fifth in a series of E-net profiles to showcase Elon undergraduate research during CELEBRATE! 2010.

How often do you notice the products that appear in your favorite television shows? And what do you think about those brands? Alex Walton ’10 sought to answer those questions, as well as gauge the opinions of broadcasting professionals, in his study of product placements in reality television shows. His work is the fourth in a series of E-net profiles to showcase Elon undergraduate research during CELEBRATE! 2010.

It can be tough for new teachers when their expectations of life in the classroom collide with reality. What if there were additional ways for education majors to better learn from first year teachers about the job? Kirby Sypek ’10 approaches that question with work that is the third in a series of E-net profiles to showcase Elon undergraduate research during CELEBRATE! 2010.

It’s a new area of research – “whole body vibration” – that exercise sports scientists are exploring. Can standing on a machine that sends rapid vibrations through a body make an athlete run faster or jump higher? James Burns ’10 wanted to find out. Burns' work is the second in a series of E-net profiles that showcase Elon undergraduate research during CELEBRATE! 2010.

Amid the aftermath of the global financial meltdown, Clayton Winkelvoss ’10 found a perfect topic for his Honors thesis: executive compensation on Wall Street. Did banks receiving funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program offer their employees larger or smaller compensation packages in 2008 than they did in 2007, before the financial crisis? Winkelvoss' work is the first in a series of E-net profiles that showcase Elon undergraduate research during CELEBRATE! 2010.

A 2009 Elon University alumna will have a documentary she produced as a student broadcast this month on One Africa TV. Erin Barnett's film, "My Name is Anita," introduces viewers to Anita Isaacs, a former Periclean-in-Residence at Elon and an HIV/AIDS activist in Namibia.

Katherine Branston '09 and Lee Bush, associate professor in the School of Communications, had a paper published in a special nonprofit issue of the international online public relations journal PRism.

Senior Julia Roberts, an Elon Honors Fellow, and Kim Jones, assistant professor of anthropology, published an article about access to HIV testing in Brazil in the fall/spring 2009 issue of Southern Anthropologist, a peer-reviewed journal of the Southern Anthropological Society.

Erin Barnett '09 won an Honorable Mention - Long Form Award in the 2010 Student Documentary Competition of the Broadcast Education Association for her work, “My Name is Anita," a film she produced as a student to introduce viewers to an HIV/AIDS activist in Namibia.