Emy Gardner presenting her capstone project, “Elizebeth”
Emy Gardner, a senior from Augusta, Georgia, double majoring in performing arts and English, received the first place Undergraduate Research Award from Clemson Libraries. The award recognizes students who make use of library resources and services to produce outstanding research for scholarly or creative works.
Gardner’s project was titled “ELIZEBETH: The Capstone,” a composition project she completed as part of her performing arts degree. Gardner performed a staged reading of original music that she wrote based on the life of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a cryptanalyst who deciphered enemy codes in both World Wars. Gardner also wrote a paper detailing the historical research she did on Friedman and how that influenced her musical composition. In the course of her research, Gardner used many primary sources from the George C. Marshall Foundation.
“This was quite an undertaking, and I have never approved a project like this in 10 years at Clemson. It is likely I may never again,” wrote Anthony Bernarducci, associate professor of music and director of choral and vocal studies, in support of Gardner’s nomination. “Emy demonstrated the highest passion, work ethic, skill set and desire to truly do the research needed to deliver a historically sound project worthy of a masters level project.”
Thomas Ross
The second-place winner was Honors College student Thomas Ross, a senior management major from Powdersville. Ross’ project, “Family Medicine Meets the Emergency Department: How Co-Location Reshapes Patient Flow and Acuity Mix,” which explores how co-locating family medical clinics with hospital emergency departments can help reduce overcrowding in emergency departments, improve patient outcomes and lead to other operational benefits. Ross used several resources offered through the Libraries for his research, such as databases like PubMed. He also used library tutorials to help him with his searching strategies to find the sources he needed for his work.
The team from Cadency working in Special Collections and Archives
Third place went to a group of students from Cadency, a student-led brand agency in the Erwin Center for Brand Communications. Their project was titled “The Re-Branding of the Village of West Greenville” and involved looking for ways to enhance the brand of the Village of West Greenville, a commercial arts district of more than 150 small businesses. The group used resources in Special Collections and Archives to research the history of the community, which started as a mill village in 1901. Students in the group are:
- Brooke Bedell, a junior marketing major from Vernon Hills, Illinois
- Natalie Bell, a senior graphic communications major from Greenville
- Kylie DeWeese, a junior sports communication major from Greenville
- Evelyn Lane, a junior marketing major from Piedmont
- Bryson Padgett, a senior marketing major from Irmo
This is the third year of the Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Award. The first-place winner received an award of $1,000, with $750 going to second place and $500 going to third place. The recipients’ research projects will be made available in Clemson Open, Clemson’s digital repository of research and scholarly works.