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Faculty Member Name: Suma Mallavarapu Faculty Mentor Email: smallava@kennesaw.edu Faculty Member Department: Psychology Faculty Member Interest (400 words max): I strongly believe that research experience is a critical component of undergraduate education. It allows students to better understand concepts taught in class, gain an appreciation for the scientific method, develop critical thinking skills, and prepares them for success in graduate school and beyond. Having personally experienced the benefits of conducting research as an undergraduate, I strive to involve as many undergraduates as possible in my research. I have thus created opportunities for students to gain research experience through my connections at Zoo Atlanta since my arrival at KSU in 2009. My interest in facilitating undergraduate research started when I was a graduate student at Georgia Tech, where I supervised an undergraduate honors thesis on monkey behavior at Zoo Atlanta. As an Honors faculty member at KSU, one of the theses that I supervised resulted in a presentation at the 2012 Georgia Undergraduate Research in Psychology Conference, and a manuscript published in the Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research in 2014. I am currently supervising Honors proposals for two other students. I have supervised 16 “Directed Study” students in research between May 2010 and May 2016. As part of their Directed Study experience, my students are expected to be involved in all aspects of research (i.e., applying for funding, conducting literature reviews, designing research materials, data collection and analysis, writing abstracts, and attending conferences to present findings). My students regularly present findings at the Symposium of Student Scholars at KSU. They have been co-authors on regional and national conference presentations, for a combined total of 10 conference presentations in the past 5 years (the students were listed as first authors on six of these). Some of these students have received URCA awards either for project supplies, or to support travel to conferences. I received a CARET award for one of my projects, part of which enabled some of my students to travel to a conference. We are currently working on a project on visitor behavior at Zoo Atlanta. We were recently notified of abstract acceptance at the Annual Conference of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in September 2016. I am excited that my students have an opportunity to gain experience in all aspects of the research process, from project conception to disseminating findings via conferences and journal publications. I derive a tremendous amount of satisfaction from mentoring students in research and want to continue to collaborate with undergraduates throughout my career. Student Impact (400 words max): The current URCA applicant, Courtney Evans, is a co-author on a poster that has been accepted for presentation at the Annual Conference of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) to be held during September 2016, in San Diego, CA. Since May 2015, Courtney has been involved in all aspects of a research project on visitor behavior at Zoo Atlanta. She collected behavioral and survey data, summarized relevant literature, analyzed data, and assisted in abstract preparation for the AZA conference. She also presented findings at the Symposium of Student Scholars and the Georgia Undergraduate in Psychology conference in Spring 2016. This project is giving Courtney a unique opportunity to contribute to the fields of visitor behavior and zoo exhibit design. In addition, we used handheld computers equipped with Noldus Pocket Observer® software for data collection. The software is designed for behavioral research and allows increased precision in the collection of timing and tracking data. Thus, Courtney gained invaluable experience in using cutting-edge tools for data collection. During data analysis, Courtney became proficient in organizing large datasets in Excel and using correlational analysis and analysis of variance in SPSS. This summer, Courtney will assist in poster preparation for the upcoming conference. Courtney is very excited at the prospect of presenting research at the AZA conference. AZA’s mission is to be a leader in wildlife conservation and visitor education. Courtney is very interested in these issues, and this conference will give her an opportunity to attend presentations targeted towards these areas and meet experts in the field. Apart from the learning experiences that students gain, the networking opportunities at such conferences are very beneficial to undergraduates. One of my former KSU students met her graduate advisor at a primatology conference which she attended using CARET funding. Partly because of the contact made at that conference, she was accepted into the MSc. program in Animal Behavior at Bucknell University. I am excited about being able to provide similar opportunities for my current students. Courtney is passionate about pursuing graduate studies. Having hands-on experience in all aspects of the research process, including presenting findings at a conference, will make Courtney a competitive applicant for top-ranking graduate programs in the country, and will prepare her for success in graduate school and beyond. URCA funding will greatly facilitate her research endeavor. Thank you for considering her application. Student Information Student Name: Courtney Evans Student Email: cevans78@students.kennesaw.edu Student Department: Psychology Graduation Date: Mon, 07/31/2017 Project Description (350 words min and 500 words max): One of the main goals for zoos and aquariums is conservation education (Dierking et al., 2002). This goal holds true for Zoo Atlanta. Zoos typically try to educate their visitors through educational signs and displays. The Willie B. Conservation Center at Zoo Atlanta recently renovated their signs and displays to try to better educate the public. Our goal was to assess how effective Zoo Atlanta is in educating its visitors about the importance of conservation in the Willie B. Conservation Center before and after the sign renovations to see if the changes made a difference in learning. We collected data both before the renovations in November and December 2015 and after the renovations in April and May 2016, with the renovations being made from January through April 2016. We recruited 33 visitors before the renovations and 87 after the renovations. We used Samsung Galaxy® tablets to access online Survey Monkey® surveys to ask visitors questions on conservation knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. There was no significant difference between the post-exhibit attitude score before (M = 29.81, SD = 10.89) and after (M = 32.16, SD = 13.87) the sign renovations [F(1, 63) = 0.396, p = .532, power = .095]. There was no significant difference between the post-exhibit behavior score before (M = 17.28, SD = 8.43) and after (M = 18.30, SD = 7.37) the sign renovations [F(1, 66) = 0.236, p = .629, power = .077]. There was also no significant difference between the post-exhibit knowledge score before (M = 6.13, SD = 1.89) and after (M = 6.59, SD = 1.72) the sign renovations [F(1, 65) = 0.841, p = .363, power = .147]. While the new signs are more colorful and eye catching than the signs before the renovation, they are not interactive. Ross and Gillespie (2009) suggest that interactive signs are more engaging than static signs. Perhaps if the signs were changed to interactive the visitors would have been more engaged and learned more information. Another possible explanation for why there was not a significant change in knowledge, attitude, and behavior is that along with the renovation to the signs, the building got a slight modification as well. The wall blocking the gorillas from view as the visitors walked through the front door was removed. With this renovation, the gorillas may have drawn people before they got a chance to read the informational signs. We had the unique opportunity to study visitor behaviors before and after an exhibit was renovated. With these data we will be able to see what types of signs catch visitor attention so that zoos can do a better job at informing visitors about conservation. Project References: Dierking, L. D., Burtnyk, K., Buchner, K. S., & Falk, J. H. (2002). Visitor learning in zoos and aquariums: A literature review (AZA Report). Ross, S. R. & Gillespie, K. L. (2009). Influences on visitor behavior at a modern immersive zoo exhibit. Zoo Biology, 28, 462–472. Project Funding Description (400 words max): I have been involved in Dr. Mallavarapu’s visitor behavior at Zoo Atlanta research project since May 2015. I collected data for this project for close to a year stopping only to analyze the data while the exhibit was under construction. With that data, in April 2016 I attended both the Symposium of Student Scholars at KSU and the Georgia Undergraduate Research in Psychology Conference as a co-author for poster presentations. At the Georgia Undergraduate Research in Psychology Conference our poster won second place out of the 44 posters. I am also a co-author on an abstract submitted to the 2016 Annual Conference of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Our abstract has been accepted for the AZA conference and will be held in San Diego, CA September 8 through 11, 2016 (see attachment). I am applying for URCA funding to help with the travel expenses for the AZA conference. My plan is to arrive in San Diego on September 8 to make sure I am there to set up our poster on September 9, for the presentation on September 10. This conference will be an extraordinary experience for me. My goals are to become a researcher in psychology, so having the experience of a conference under my belt will put me in an excellent position. The AZA conference will also be a tremendous addition to my graduate school application. With all of the career boosting effects on top of learning all sorts of interesting things about zoos and aquariums, I am really looking forward to this opportunity. Total amount requested to travel to AZA conference: $500 Justification
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