草莓视频

Research is taking place at TU every day. Across all disciplines, undergraduate and graduate students alike have crafted unique research projects and creative inquiry with the support of talented faculty and mentors.

The Spring Research Forum is one of the many enriching opportunities students in colleges across campus have to share their impactful experiences, findings and avenues for new areas of exploration. 

鈥淥pportunities to conduct and showcase research projects in a professional environment allow our students to gain first-hand research experience鈥攅specially during their undergraduate careers,鈥� says Alexei Kolesnikov, professor and director of TU鈥檚 Office of Undergraduate Research. 鈥淭hey gain skills that shape their futures in the professional world and in graduate studies.鈥�

Hear from a few of our Tigers who presented at the campus-wide research forum this spring.

T茅a Costello 

Research Area: Classical to Contemporary Ballet: Essential Elements and Influential Pioneers

With support from the Research Impact Award, Honors College member and dance major, T茅a Costello fused her analytical interests with her passion for contemporary ballet in her creative inquiry project.

In her research, Costello explored the evolving language of contemporary ballet, blending research, embodied experience and classical training to create original choreography. The final work, which premiered at TU鈥檚 , reimagines movement through a contemporary lens.

Costello explored the evolving language of contemporary ballet, blending research, embodied experience and classical training to create original choreography.

When she began her research, Costello found it challenging to find existing scholarly literature on contemporary ballet. So she began to research the key players and pioneers of contemporary ballet to understand their style and technique.

Studying William Forsythe, Dwight Rhoden, George Balanchine and Alonzo King, she found that much of the development of contemporary ballet involved newer dancers building upon the elements of the dancers that came before them.

After reviewing dance footage she acquired during the data collection process, Costello developed choreography, which she taught to fellow dance majors who would be in her concert. The dance phrases she incorporated into the choreography infused elements from all the pioneers of contemporary ballet she studied, with natural flow throughs from Costello鈥檚 own experience.

Crafting this creative inquiry opened additional opportunities for Costello. She joined the Undergraduate Research Club, and her project earned second place in the Celebration of Scholarship and Learning Awards in the research category.

Taking on the research project not only allowed Costello to gain invaluable research skills but also opened her up to the realization that more research should be conducted within dance by dancers.

Seeing where each choreographer's own aspects came from and how they each almost needed the other to build upon their craft was so interesting. This research provided insight into that history and how to create the choreography for this piece.

T茅a Costello '25, College of Fine Arts & Communications

Kay Walter 

Research Area: Effects of Position on Energetic and Informational Masking in Normal and Hearing-impaired Adults

Hearing loss affects millions of people each year and can significantly impact them in noisy social settings. Recognizing the impact hearing loss can have on quality of life, junior speech-language pathology and audiology major and Honors College student Kay Walter sought to research how one鈥檚 physical position in a noisy environment can influence how well they understand speech.

Walter鈥檚 primary influence on completing a research project is her interest in pursuing graduate studies. Walter wanted to dip her toe into research and challenge herself before reaching that level. With her first foray into research steadily underway, she already feels more prepared for when she graduates in 2026.

Walter and her team recently finished their first set of data collection. Their project will continue in the months ahead, where they will conduct additional data collection to test their research questions.

Hearing impaired individuals often have decreased social engagement because of how loud social environments can be. By conducting this kind of research, we鈥檙e hoping to build evidence to inform how we can counsel those patients in clinical settings so they can improve their social engagement.

Kay Walter '26, College of Health Professions

Kyle Langenfelder

Research Area: The Relationship of Dementia Worry, Anxiety and Predisposition to Neurodegenerative Disease to Memory Self-Efficacy and Working Memory

This research tests how Dementia worry, anxiety and predisposition to neurodegenerative disease (i.e. Parkinson's and Alzheimer's) impact one's view of their memory self-efficacy.

Genetically predisposed himself, Langenfelder seeks to use his research to help other young adults understand they鈥檙e not alone when it comes to worrying about strength of memory as they age.

It then tests how all these factors combined lead to their performance on a working memory task. Genetically predisposed himself, Kyle Langenfelder seeks to use his research to help other young adults understand they鈥檙e not alone when it comes to worrying about strength of memory as they age.

Langenfelder is currently finishing his first-year project on his way to completing his master鈥檚 of experimental psychology. During his undergraduate career at TU, he built relationships with professors and graduate students and gained access to supporting their research in labs, inspiring his own research interests.

Langenfelder鈥檚 advisor, Kim Shifren, has research interests that align closely with his own and he鈥檚 excited to continue pursuing neurodegenerative predisposition research with her. He is even looking into developing his own predisposition scale.

As much as it is research, it鈥檚 a mission. I want to ease people鈥檚 worry about dementia and build confidence in their memory.

Kyle Langenfelder '24, '26, College of Liberal Arts