Four PhD students, Ling Beiseker, Hsaio-Ting Su, Seth Mitchell and Rebecca Parkin, were recently awarded the Department of Health Sciences Research Excellence Awards and presented their work at the Department’s April Research Forum. Each year these awards recognize PhD students in the DHS “who showcase research excellence in their wider academic and professional communities.”
Beiseker just completed her fourth year and is officially in the Human Movement Science Curriculum. Her research focuses on the intersection of physical activity and mental health, especially during life transitions like the start of college. She will use the award funds to support dissemination of her research at a leading conference in our field—NASPSPA (North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity). Her work aims to inform inclusive, evidence-based strategies that support mental well-being during high-stress transitions.
“I am excited to share that I have accepted a faculty position within the School of Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. I’ll be working clinically with medical students as part of the Taking Care of Our Own program, supporting their mental health and well-being. I’m incredibly grateful to continue doing work I care deeply about—helping others thrive during demanding transitions.”
Su is currently in her third year of the PhD program in the Speech and Hearing Sciences program; her research focuses on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and emergent literacy for children with extensive support needs. She is now exploring home shared reading experiences of children who cannot rely on speech to be heard and understood in Mandarin-speaking contexts. She plans to use the funds to support her participation in presenting her doctoral dissertation at a national conference, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association convention in Washington, D.C.
“After completing my PhD, I hope to continue working on research focusing on inclusive literacy and communication access and instruction for children with extensive support needs.”
Mitchell is currently in his third year of the Occupational Science PhD program. He is interested in exploring the relational nature of community-driven social transformation. He aims to understand the interactions between communities and influential structures, and how they influence each other during cultural and structural transformation. He will be using the Health Sciences Research Excellence Award funds to cover travel costs to the Occupational Science Europe Conference in Colchester, England where he will be presenting on the ways neoliberalism influences contemporary socially transformative efforts.
“I plan to conduct this research in partnership with HIV/AIDS advocates in order to directly contribute to the on-going HIV health justice movement across diverse contexts including clinics, community-based organizations, and governmental entities.”
After completing his PhD he hopes to split his time between teaching and community-engaged research.
Parkin is approaching the completion of her fourth year in the Occupational Science PhD program, with plans to finish within the next year. Her research focuses on the intersections of white racialization, white caucusing, and anti-racism praxis, while also examining the perceived supports, obstacles, and barriers to engaging in anti-racism work. In collaboration with two white caucus groups, she is employing a collaborative ethnographic approach, integrating multiple methods to gain deeper insights from and with these groups. She will utilize the Health Sciences Research Excellence Award fund to support her travel to a global disciplinary conference in Essex, England, where she will present preliminary findings from her study.