Photo credit: AJ Liedl, UW-Stout
Menomonie-Genevieve Czaplewski and Tejasri Vanga were honored for their research at the UW-Stout WiSys Quick Pitch competition on Monday, April 29, 2024.
Senior Genevieve Czaplewski earned first place for her pitch, titled “Fringe Media Consumption and Perceived Intelligence of the Opposite Gender: Are They Related?” Czaplewski discussed who while mainstream media is consistently studied, the impact of fringe media, including social media platforms, has not. She surveyed over 300 students while conducting her research and exploring the relationship between ideologically extreme, or fringe, media consumption and perceived intelligence of the opposite gender.
Czaplewski’s faculty advisor is Dr. Tina Lee, a professor in the Social Science Department. With her first-place victory, Czaplewski is invited to compete in the WiSys Quick Pitch State Final, which will be held during the WiSys SPARK Symposium at UW-Superior this July.
Graduate student Tejasri Vanga earned both second place and the audience-voted people’s choice award for their pitch, titled “Comparative Study on the Properties of Various Thickeners for Producing Plant-based Meat Analogs.” In their pitch, Vanga shared how consumers have become more interested in plant-based meat protein alternatives because of health and environmental sustainability concerns. Their research looked at the physiochemical properties of thickeners that play an important role in the texturization of alternate muscle fiber.
Additional participants included:
- Elaina Blazei, “The Phoenix Apartments Project”
- Brianna Capra, “Graphic Nonfiction for Eco-Educational Resource”
- Ava Cinealis, “Protein Structures of Prion Disease”
- Laxmi Naga Mrudula Durbhakula, “Instant Baby Food Solutions: Skip the Prep, Embrace the Veg!”
- Hong An Nguyen, “Trends in Long-term Dissolved Oxygen in Mid-western Lakes in Response to Climate Change”
- Emma Nuechterlein, “What do Americans Know? A Study on the Relationship Between Students US Civic Knowledge and Their Demographics”
Judges for the event included:
- Dr. Katherine P. Frank, Chancellor, UW-Stout
- David Brukardt, Retired Associate Vice President of Corporate Relations and Economic Engagement, Universities of Wisconsin
- Daniel Freedman, Dean, UW-Stout College of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Management
Pictures from the event can be seen here. Thank you to UW-Stout photographer AJ Liedl for attending the event and sharing pictures.
To learn more about WiSys Quick Pitch, click here. For questions about Quick Pitch, please contact Margot DeBaker, Regional Intellectual Property and Licensing Associate, at [email protected].