Three health sciences students, Elise Arnold, Safia Centner and Serina Rayan, recently earned distinction from the Honors Undergraduate Thesis Program for their research projects.
Arnold’s project, “The Relationship Between Parent and Child Health Behaviors in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” Centner’s project, “Perceptions and Health Effects of Electronic Cigarettes Among College Students,” and Rayan’s project, “Exploring Sedentary Time of Rural Children During Structured Versus Less-Structured Days,” also earned the students a $1,000 award for their academic efforts.
Centner says participating in undergraduate research is a “great way to learn new skills and develop relationships with amazing professors.” For the past year, she has been working on her thesis with Suha Saleh, assistant dean for undergraduate affairs.
“Although challenging at times, the whole experience has been extremely educational and rewarding and is one of the highlights of my undergraduate career,” Centner says. “Dr. Saleh has been an incredible thesis chair/mentor and has taught me a lot about research methods, techniques, and how to use statistics programs – all of which are extremely valuable skills to have for any future health career.”
The HUT program is the oldest and most prestigious research program at UCF and provides juniors and seniors from all disciplines the opportunity to engage in original and independent research or creative activity as principal investigators and independent scholars.
