Delta Omega Society, Omicron Chapter: Thesis/Dissertation Awards

Delta Omega, Omicron Chapter
Thesis/Dissertation Awards

In the 1991-1992 academic year, the Omicron Chapter organized an annual essay contest for GSPH. Entries were submitted to a panel of judges who rated the essays and awarded cash prizes at the School's annual Alumni Dinner. The contest was repeated in the following year.

Essay Contest Winners:

1992-1993
1991-1992

In the 1994-1995 academic year, the contest was changed to a thesis/dissertation awards program. Department chairs were invited to submit the best master's thesis (or master's essay, for programs without a thesis) and the best doctoral dissertation of the calendar year in their respective departments for awards. Winners were recognized at the School's annual Alumni Dinner and received plaques attesting to their accomplishment. This awards program has been repeated each year since its inception.

Thesis/Dissertation Award Winners:

2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995

Delta Omega, Omicron Chapter
2007 Thesis/Dissertation Awards

Master's Paper Awards, 2007
Michael Cunnigham (BIOS)	Reanalysis of the National Cancer Institute’s Acrylonitrile Cohort Study by Imputation of Missing Smoking Information
Rosemary H. Edwards (MULTI)	Community Based HIV/AIDS Program in Rural Haiti: What to Build, What to Borrow and Where to Begin
Martinique Free (IDM)	Utilizing Student Organizations at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Rural South to Facilitate HIV/AIDS Education
Shanna Gustafson (HUGEN)	Knowledge and Health Beliefs of Sickle Cell Disease and Sickle Cell Trait: The Influence on Acceptance of Genetic Screening for Sickle Cell Trait
Gregory J. Ronczka (EOH)	Measurements of PM2.5 in Allegheny County Pennsylvania: A Plan for Calibrating Sampling Equipment to Measure Exposure Concentrations as a Function of Distance from Fixed Monitoring Sites
Edgardo Ruiz (BCHS)	Cultural Politics and Health: The Development of Intercultural Health Policies in the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua
Diana Zaldonis (EPID)	One Year Outcomes in Human Lung Transplamtation of Three Immunosupressive Regimens
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2007
Rahul Parikh (HUGEN)	The DNA Damage Response Pathway in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Kelley Pettee (EPID)	The Role of Physical Activity on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Postmenopausal Women
Li Qin (BIOS)	Latent Variable Models for Longitudinal Study with Informative Missingness
Christina Wilds (BCHS)	Assessment of Fun to Be Fit: A School-based Approach to Childhood Obesity

Master's Paper Awards, 2006
Rica Bonomo (MULTI)	Identifying Elements Necessary for Implementing Nutrition and Physical Activity Programs for Teenagers - A Pilot Project
Mary I. Herbert (BCHS)	Universal Health Coverage: Facts and Ideologies
Vidisha Kini (EOH)	Pro- and Anti-Apoptotic Functions of Etoposide and the Mechanism of Cardiolipin Oxidation by Cytochrome C
Vinaya Murthy (HUGEN)	Exploring the Influence of Family Health Histories on Risk Perception Among African Americans: A Quantitative Analysis
Jamie Slingluff (IDM)	Cytokine and Effector Molecule Regulation as Determinants of Hematological Outcomes in Rhesus Macaques During Plasmodium Coatneyi-Malaria
Marike Vuga (BIOS)	Sequential Therapy in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Survival Analysis with Time Dependent Covariates
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2006
Andriy Bandos (BIOS)	Nonparametric Methods in Comparing Two Correlated ROC Curves
Fei Gao (EOH)	Synergistic Activation of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) Release by Human Lung Fibroblasts Exposed to Mycoplasma Fermentans
Gretchen L. Gierach (EPID)	Inflammation and Breast Cancer Risk
Christopher Keller (IDM)	Cytokine and Effector Molecule Dysregulation in Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria
Shalini Reshmi (HUGEN)	Mechanisms Leading to Chromosomal Instability in Oral Cancer Cells
Linda Robertson (BCHS)	The Use of Dietary Supplements Among Individuals Enrolled in Clinical Trials for the Treatment of Cancer

Master's Paper Awards, 2005
Gretchen Gierach (EPID)	Gender Of Offspring and Maternal Ovarian Cancer Risk
Heidi Huber (BIOS)	Alternative Statistical Models that Account for Clustering in Dental Implant Failure Data
Jeffrey Scott Lubin (MMPH)	State Control of Prehospital Emergency Medical Services Medication Formularies, 1992-2002
Tamra Madenwald (BCHS)	A Qualitative Study of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Behavior Change in HIV+ Positive and HIV- Negative Veterans: A Substudy of the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS)
Melissa Miles (IDM)	Biochemical Analysis of HIV -I VPR Interaction with a Novel Human Cellular Protein
Kimberly Nicoludis (HUGEN)	Gender, Genetic, and Age-Related Influence on the Expression of the Serotonin Transporter in the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus of Recombinant Inbred Mice
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2005
Shui He (BIOS)	Generalized Additive Models for Data with Concurvity: Statistical Issues and a Novel Model Fitting Approach
Wendy King (EPID)	The Relationship Between the Neighborhood Environment and Physical Activity Levels of Older Women
Michael Miller (BCHS)	The Relationship Between a Synthetic Estimate of Functional Health Literacy and Preventive Health Care Use in a National Sample of Elderly
Anna Noller (IDM)	Epidemiologic and Mutational Characteristics of Variable-Number Tandem Repeats in Escherichia Coli O157:H7
Cathy Thomas (EOH)	Multiple Screening Techniques: A Way to Develop a Chemical-Animal Model
Hui Ju Tsai (HUGEN)	Comparison of Methods Incorporating Covariates into Affected SIB Pair Linkage Analysis

Master's Paper Awards, 2004
Stephanie Dorwart (HPM)	Overview and Evaluation of the Student Assistance Program in Pennsylvania and Allegheny County
Sumita Gagnuly (IDM)	Study of TCR VB Heterogeneity in Normal and HIV-Infected People
Margaret Hsieh (BIOS)	Assessing the Performance of a Tree-Based Clinical Decision Rule to Identify a Lower-Risk Patient Subgroup
Robert Martsolf (MMPH)	Congregation-Based Community-Oriented Primary Health Care in Haiti
Chad Rittle (EOH)	A Risk Assessment of Nitrate Pollution in the Connoquenessing Creek
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2004
Mohammed Alyemeni (BCHS)	Development of a Saudi National Policy to Improve Healthcare Delivery through the Use of the World Wide Web and Web Accessible Healthcare Information Resources
Laryssa Howe (IDM)	Effects of EIAV Envelope Variation on Antibody Neutralization Specificity
Allison Robinson (EOH)	Geographical Information Systems and Environmental Exposure Modeling
Zhiwei Zhang (BIOS)	Semiparametric Maximum Likelihood Estimation in Parametric Regression with Missing Covariates

Master's Paper Awards, 2003
Kathleen Hulton (BCHS)	Microbicides: Thinking about Future HIV Prevention Tools for Women
Mary Patricia McKay (MMPH)	Pennsylvania's Strengthened Graduated Driver Licensing System: Reactions of Parents and Teens and Implications for Teen Driver Crash Risk
Audra Reeves (HPM)	Separate and Unequal Mental Health Insurance
Carena Winters-Hart (EPID)	The Validity of a Questionnaire to Assess Historical Leisure Physical Activity in Postmenopausal Women
Zhiying Xu (BIOS)	Statistical Methods for Testing Genotype-Phenotype Association in Trisomic Data
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2003
Qi Chen (HUGEN)	Genetic Factors in Coronary Artery Disease
Larry Harshyne (IDM)	Antigen Acquisiton by Dendritic Cells: A Focus on Transfer Between Live Cells
Cristina Hofer (EPID)	Effectiveness of Antiretrovirals in Patients Who Attend HIV Public Clinics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Lucas Musewe (BCHS)	Spatial Data Analysis of Area Effects on Risk Factors for Infant Health in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Zdenek Valenta (BIOS)	Estimation of the Survival Function for Gray's Piecewise-Constant Time-Varying Coefficients Model

Master's Paper Awards, 2002
William Green (MMPH)	The impact of Digital Communications Technology Upon Nonprofit Health and Medical Associations: A Survey
Caroline Kissell (BCHS)	Utilization of Information Technology to Promote Healthy Behaviors in the Battle Against America's Number One Killer - Cardiovascular Disease
Ami Patel (EPID)	The Hazletownship Health Effects Study: Epidemiological Evaluation of a Community Exposure to Gasoline
Craig Refosco (EOH)	Evaluation of the Radioanalytical Methods for the Characterization of Soil Located at the Bomarc Missile Site
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2002
Pao-Hsiu Chen (EOH)	Mechanisms of Curacin A-Induced Cellular Toxicity
Patricia Documet (BCHS)	Latino's Health Care Access in Southwestern Pennsylvania
Christine Krol Gause (BIOS)	Methods for Combining Covariate Data Obtained by Multiple Sampling Schemes in Occupational Cohort Studies
Nadine Melhem (EPID)	Traumatic Grief Among Adolescents Exposed to Their Peer's Suicide
Suzanne O'Neill (HGEN)	Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Clinical Populations: Demonstration of a Computerized Method of Preliminary Risk Screening

Master's Paper Awards, 2001
Lorraine Ettaro (EPID)	Cost-Effectiveness of Dietary Protein Restriction in Moderate Renal Disease
Dianne T. Helinski (HSA)	Assessing the Impact of a Folic Acid Educational Intervention for Health Care Providers
Leslie A. Meyn (BIOS)	Classification Tree Analysis of the Risk Factors for Cesarean Delivery
James E. Stahl (MMPH)	Modeling Liver Allocation: National Versus Hierarchical Distribution Policies
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2001
Jennifer Brach (EPID)	The Relation Between Physical Activity and Functional Status Over a Seventeen-Year Time Period in Community-Dwelling Older Women
Rose M. Hammond (HSA)	Factors That Influence Health-Related Behaviors/Choices Made By Low-Income Elderly in an Urban Senior Center
Qiong Wang (IDM)	Characterization of Human Herpes Virus (HHV-8) CD-8+ T-Cell Responses
Annette S. Wilson (EOH)	Use of an Isolated Perfused Lung Model to Assess the Uptake and Fate of Hydrophobic Reactive Organic Aerosols
Kai Yu (BIOS)	Statistical Methods for Analyzing Tetrad Crossover Probabilities

Master's Paper Awards, 2000
Kelly Brown Collins (IDM)	A Novel in Vitro Organ Culture Model for the Investigation of HIV-1 Transmission in the Female Genital Tract
Denise Knoebel (HSA)	The Development of a Program of Education During Prenatal Care
Kathleen A. McGinnis (BIOS)	Patterns of Use and Predictors of Housing Outcomes Among Homeless Women in an Emergency Shelter
Kathleen McHugh (EPID)	Little Association Observed Between Apolipoprotein CII, D, H and J Phenotypes and Quantitative Lipid Levels in a Northern Nigerian Population
Barbara J. Negrini (MMPH)	Cerebrospinal Fluid Findings in Aseptic Versus Bacterial Meningitis
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 2000
James Butler (HSA)	Being There: Exploring the Fatherhood Experiences and Beliefs of Low-Income Urban African American Males
Howell C. Sasser (EPID)	Association of Clinical Signs with Neurological Outcome after Cardiac Arrest
Wei Tian (BIOS)	Markov Chain Models for Analyzing Multivariate Repeated Categorical Data with Incomplete Observations

Master's Paper Awards, 1999
Barbara W. Brandom (BIOS)	Assessment of Interaction Between Two Neuromuscular Blockers
Karin M. Dent (HUGEN)	A Population Based Study of the Relationship Between Anxiety-Related Traits and Variation in the Seratonin Transporter Gene
Lee R. Mandel (MMPH)	Telemedicine and State Medical Licensure
Francesmary Modugno (EPID)	A Role for the Estrogen-Metabolizing Cytochrome P450 Enzymes in Breast Carcinogenesis
Vichaya Piladang (EOH)	The Relationship Between Total Immunoglobulin E (IgE) Levels and Environmental Factors
Yvette Marie Walker (HSA)	A Social Support Model for African-American Breast Cancer Survivors
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 1999
Yue Chen (IDM)	Investigation of the Mechanism of CD8+ T Cell Suppression of HIV-1 Replication and Its Role in Pathogenesis
Kevin E. Kip (EPID)	The Seasonal Influence of Temperature and Sunlight on Cardiac Mortality and Morbidity in Patients Who Have Undergone Coronary Revascularization
Kyunghee Kim Song (BIOS)	Nonparametric Estimation and Hypothesis Testing in Length Biased Samples
Marie McConville Twal (HSA)	Women's Perceptions of the Value of Genetic Screening at Different Life Stages
Beatriz Zayas-Rivera (EOH)	Elucidation of Cellular and Mutational Effects of 4-Aminubiphenyl and Metabolites

Master's Paper Awards, 1998
Elizabeth Lewis Cohn (BIOS)	The Perioperative Process: What Takes So Long?
Jan M. Oleszewski (EOH)	Propofol as a Model Substance To Investigate the Toxic Effects of Anesthetics and Sensory Irritants
Elsa Siulc (EPID)	Educational Opportunities in Genetic Epidemiology and Molecular Epidemiology: A Survey of Available Training
Matthew B. Moyer (HSA)	HIV Prevention Needs in Pennsylvania County Correctional Facilities
Maria Ann Del Vecchio (HUGEN)	Approaches for Enhancing the Retroviral Medicated Transduction of Human Synovial Fibroblasts
Andrea Ference (IDM)	Peptic Ulcer Disease: A Bacterial Infection
Rana Sangeeta (MMPH)	Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) Deficiency
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 1998
Douglas Landsittel (BIOS)	A Simulation Study of Statistical Modeling with Neural Networks
Cynthia Graham (EOH)	Development and Comparisons of Structure-Activity Relationship Models of Chemical Respiratory and Dermal Hypersensitivity
Ying Wu (EPID)	Mammography Utilization and Late Stage Breast Cancer in Rural Pennsylvania: A Case-Control Study
Debra Lee Stark (HSA)	Social Work Practice in Home Health Care: Predictors of Job Satisfaction Among Home Health Social Workers
David J. Duggan (HUGEN)	Muscular Dystrophy and the Sarcoglycan Complex
Constantinos Panousis (IDM)	Biochemical Analysis of the Latent Membrane Protein 2 of Epstein-Barr Virus

Master's Paper Awards, 1997
Qingshou Huang (co-winner, BIOS)	Monte Carlo Multitype Branching Process Simulators and Their Tests of Goodness-of-Fit
Andrea Ellen Siewers (co-winner, BIOS)	Prediction of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction from the Core Lab Assessment of Subjective Wall Motion Score in the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation Randomized Clinical Trial
Andrew Lee Scott (EOH)	A Cost Benefit Analysis of Radon Remediation in Homes Using Monte Carlo Techniques
Charnita Zeigler (EPID)	Subclinical Carotid Atherosclerosis in Relation to Natural Versus Surgical Menopause in African-American Women
Nancy J. Brucker (HSA)	Evaluation of Health Care Referrals to a Family Support Program
Amy Mank-Seymour (HUGEN)	A Murine Model for the Immunotherapy of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck
Jeannine S. Navratil (IDM)	Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Reactivity Specific for Both Tat and Env of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 1997
Eunyoung Choi Lee (BIOS)	The Additive Hazards Model and Its Application to the Analysis of Censored Data
Bryon Petersen (EOH)	Hepatic Stem Cells and Growth Factor Regulation in Regenerating Liver Following Toxic Injury
Edward Gregg (EPID)	Bone Quality and Bone Mass: A Study of the Genetic and Environmental Determinants in Pre- and Peri-Menopausal Women
John Engler (HSA)	Sponsorship of Employee Health Promotion Programs by Selected Western Pennsylvania Hospitals and an Analysis of Factors Thought to Influence Their Adoption
W. Gregory Feero (HUGEN)	Gene Delivery and Skeletal Muscle: Barriers to High Efficiency Systemic Gene Transfer

Master's Paper Awards, 1996
Mary Kelley (BIOS)	Autocorrelation in Models for Longitudinal Data: Application to Psychiatry Research
Mei Liu (EOH)	Influence of Several Data Base Parameters on the Reliability of Mechanistic and Predictive Analyses by Case and Multicase
Mark Pereira (EPID)	Physical Inactivity and Glucose Tolerance in the Multi-Ethnic Island Nation of Mauritius
Steven Wayne Tyson (HSA)	Health Consequences of Residential Segregation for African-Americans
Kelly Ann Beaudry-Rodgers (HUGEN)	Measurement of Nucleotide Excision Repair Capacity in Primary Breast Tumor and Adjacent Epithelium from Breast Cancer Patients
Anita Beyer (IDM)	Development of a Multiplex PCR-Based Assay for the Detection of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae from Throat Swab Specimens
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 1996
Ernst ter Haar (EOH)	Computational and Biochemical Analysis of Three Novel Anti-Cancer Drugs: Z-1, 1-Dichloro-2, 3-Diphenylcyclopropane, Z-Chlorochalcone and (+)-Discodermolide
Michelle Danielson (EPID)	Bone Mineral Density in Mothers and Daughters
Marlene Armitage Dressman (HUGEN)	Mapping of the Cerulean Cataract Gene by Linkage Analysis

Master's Paper Awards, 1995
Edward J. Meros (EOH)	An Approach to Indoor Air Quality Assessment
Loran Salamone (EPID)	Determinants of Premenopausal Bone Mineral Density: The Interplay of Genetic and Lifestyle Factors
Patricia Documet (HSA)	Influence of Socioeconomic and Health System Variables on Initiation and Duration of Breastfeeding
Lian Zheng (IDM)	Production of Cytokines by Dendritic Cells Stimulated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Herpes Simplex Virus
Doctoral Dissertation Awards, 1995
Nina Markovic (EPID)	Socio-Economic Status, Status Inconsistency, Status Discrepancy, Lifestyle Incongruency, and John Henryism: Associations with Blood Pressure in a Nigerian Civil Servant Population
Sheila Barlow (HSA)	The Fertility Transition in Kenya: The Role of Demand, Supply and Regulation Costs as Determinants of Contraception Use in Married, Fecund Women
Lirong Qu (IDM)	Epstein-Barr Virus Gene Expression in Latently Infected B Cells

First Prize ($500)
Douglas Adams (EOH)	The Americans with Disabilities Act: Equal Employment Opportunity as a Social Justice
Second Prize ($200)
Sheila Barnable Barlow (HSA)	A Review of the Demographic Fertility Transition in Kenya: Will This Decline Continue?

First Prize ($500)
Mary Beth Gehl (HSA)	Healthy People 2000: Infant Mortality
Second Prize ($200)
Robert W. Zavoski (HSA)	Preventing Abuse and Neglect of Children of Adolescent Parents: A Multi-disciplinary Approach