- University News Archive - 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/tag/rebecca-moreira/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Thu, 10 May 2018 13:29:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Future doctor plans to use language skills to help people get better access to healthcare /news-archive/2018/05/10/rebecca-moreira-grad/ Thu, 10 May 2018 13:29:13 +0000 /news/?p=70498 ... Future doctor plans to use language skills to help people get better access to healthcare]]> As a Spanish interpreter at the 12th Street Health and Wellness Center in Little Rock, Rebecca Parker Moreira sees the challenges medical professionals and patients face when they cannot communicate with each other.聽 鈥淚n the medical field, there are very few bilingual doctors,鈥 Moreira said. 鈥淚 think it is very important to build a rapport with patients by speaking their native language. It鈥檚 a big barrier for healthcare providers to not be able to communicate with their patients. It鈥檚 also a hindrance for the patients to have access to healthcare.鈥 Moreira will graduate from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock May 12 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemistry and a second in Spanish. To improve her language skills in the medical field, Moreira took Advanced Spanish for the Health Professions during the spring 2016 semester. Students in the class get the opportunity to volunteer as Spanish interpreters at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (糖心Vlog传媒MS) 12th Street Health and Wellness Center, a free clinic. Moreira had such a positive experience at the 12th Street Clinic that she completed a two-semester internship, which gave her enough credits to earn a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Spanish. She was also elected to the Spanish interpreter coordinator position and is the only undergraduate student to serve on the clinic鈥檚 Student Board of Directors. 鈥淢y experiences at the clinic motivated me to apply to medical school because I saw the need for Spanish-speaking physicians, and I realized how passionate I was about medicine,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 want other students to be able to receive the same benefits I have from volunteering, which is why I have worked diligently to facilitate a partnership between the interpreter program at the 12th Street Clinic and the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Department of World Languages.鈥 Moreira has always loved learning new languages. In high school, she studied Spanish and ancient Greek. Learning Spanish also helped her communicate with her high school sweetheart and future husband. 鈥淲hen we started dating in high school, my husband had just come to the U.S. a year before and didn鈥檛 speak a lot of English,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 felt like I would like to learn more Spanish so I could communicate with him better. It鈥檚 been really fun to be able to do that.鈥 In addition to being a Spanish interpreter, Moreira is a Donaghey Scholar who works as a referee at Maumelle Soccer Club and a scribe at Anchorpoint Psychological Services. She recently received the American Institute of Chemistry Outstanding Graduating Senior in Chemistry award, the Undergraduate Research Award from the Department of Chemistry, and the Cervantes Outstanding Graduating Senior in Spanish Award from the Department of World Languages.
James Sellers and Rebecca Moreira admire chemistry beaker flasks they were awarded as recipients of the Department of Chemistry's Outstanding Graduating Seniors awards. Photo by Ben Krain.

James Sellers and Rebecca Moreira admire chemistry beaker flasks they were awarded as recipients of the Department of Chemistry’s Outstanding Graduating Senior award. Photo by Ben Krain.

鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock has been just the best experience that I could have hoped for at an undergraduate institution,鈥 Moreira said. 鈥淗aving the financial freedom through the Donaghey Scholars has been amazing. I have been able to help save up for medical school, and I have had a very broad education that I feel that I would not have been able to get at other institutions. Through the chemistry department, I have had opportunities to be involved in research that has shown me a whole other side to academia.鈥 Moreira has conducted research with Dr. Tito Viswanathan, professor of chemistry, for two years. They are studying how a renewable resource-based waste product (woodchips) can be chemically modified to purify water from heavy metal contaminants. She was the recipient of an Undergraduate Research Signature Experience Award, which she used to present their research at the American Chemical Society national meeting in March. Moreira also presented her research at the 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Research and Creative Works Expo, where she received first place in the Physical Science division and first place in the Life and Physical Science division. Moreira also received first place in the Service Work and Professional Application division for a presentation on her work with the 12th Street Clinic. Moreira has been admitted to the 糖心Vlog传媒MS College of Medicine Class of 2022, where she will also earn a Master of Public Health degree so she can learn more about the socioeconomic barriers patients face when trying to access healthcare. She plans to become a doctor and use her public health education and language skills to advocate for better healthcare for non-native English speakers. 鈥淚 am thankful to the Spanish department for the opportunity to use the language skills I learned in my courses to benefit the community because it also gave me the experience and passion to attend medical school,鈥 she said.]]> Student research and creative works winners announced /news-archive/2018/05/04/student-research-winners/ Fri, 04 May 2018 21:47:21 +0000 /news/?p=70436 ... Student research and creative works winners announced]]> The winners of the 2018 Student Research and Creative Works Showcase at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock were announced during an awards ceremony May 1 in the Student Services Center. Students presented more than 150 research and creative works April 12 in the Jack Stephens Center. Student projects were judged on the novelty and clarity of their research, the soundness of their methodology, the potential application of their findings, and the student鈥檚 ability to explain their project to an expert and lay audience. A complete list of winners and their projects include: Undergraduate Winners Art First Place: Corrie Green, 鈥淭he New African-American Women:Exploring Intersectionality in Non-traditional Casting鈥 First Place (tie): Thomas Jackson, 鈥淐oncept Statement for the play 聽Art by Yasmina Reza鈥 Economics First Place: Abigail Resendiz, 鈥淭he 1920 Merchant Marine Act: An Outdated and Protectionist Law Disturbing Economic Growth鈥 First Place (tie): Logan Vickery and Nick Stevens, 鈥淭he Cost of Responsibility: Impacts on Rental Prices of the Implied Warrant of Habitability鈥 Education First Place: Madison Christie, 鈥淰isual Verse: Translating English Poems into ASL鈥 Second Place: Cameryn Kirkham, 鈥淭eaching Charlie May Simon as an Author, Artist, and Arkansan鈥 Engineering First Place: J鈥檝on Jackson, 鈥淰enturi Scrubber Design for Syngas System鈥 Second Place: Begros Asgeirsdottir, 鈥淯tilization of Rainwater for Cooling House Interior鈥 Life & Physical Science First Place: Davonte Hokes, 鈥淚nvestigation of Bio-Inspired Polymeric Coating for Improvement in ORR Activity of Amidomacrocyclic Cobal (III) Catalyst Complexes鈥 Second Place: Emily Anderson and Cordell Gilreath, 鈥淒evelopment for Lyme Disease鈥 Third Place: Marina Avram, 鈥淎lgal Oculata Biotemplated Water-Splitting Nanocatalysts Nickel/Iron Oxides鈥 Social Science First Place: Abigail Resendiz, 鈥淔inancial Impact of the Jones Act鈥 Second Place: Emily Elam, 鈥500 Fiddle Tunes: Transcriptions of Billy Mathews鈥 Old-Time Archive鈥 Third Place: Cynthia Wyman, 鈥淚ntellectual and Hungry: Assessing the State of Campus Food Insecurity鈥 Technology First Place: Deepali Lal, 鈥淎re Alcohol Establishments Marketing Crime?鈥 Second Place: Yumeng Ye, 鈥淎 Project 鈥 First Approach to Teaching Entity Resolution and Identity Management鈥 Humanities First Place: El-Noor Ahkter, 鈥淭he Color of Women鈥 First Place (tie): Michael Caysido, 鈥淎ram II鈥檡ich Khachaturian and the Use of Folk Songs in His Compositions鈥 Second Place: Emily Junkans, 鈥淧honetic Features of Native Spanish Speakers Learning English鈥 Physical Science First Place: Rebecca Moreira, 鈥淣ovel Renewable Resource Based Nanocomposites for Removal and Recovery of Phosphorus from Contaminated Wastewaters鈥 Second Place: Nathan Taylor, 鈥淚onizing Radiation Protection by Inhibition of PP2A鈥 Second Place (tie): Samantha Macchi, 鈥淪upercapacitor application of phosphorus and nitrogen co-doped carbon materials from renewable precursor materials鈥 Service Work and Professional Application First Place: Rebecca Moreira, 鈥淗ow Spanish Interpreting at the 12th Street Clinic Can Lead to Medical School鈥 GRAD糖心Vlog传媒TE WINNERS Biology First Place: Diamond McGehee with M. Lahiani, F. Irwin, and M. Green, 鈥淚nvestigation of the Effects of Carbon 鈥揃ased Nanomaterials on the Metabolomics Level in Plants鈥 Engineering First Place: Trigun Maroo, 鈥淎 Novel Gripper System for Corrugated Box Grasping and Manipulation for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles鈥 First Place (tie): Ali Abdulhussein, 鈥淔acile fabrication of a free-standing superhydrophobic and superoleophilic carbon nanofiber-polymer block that effectively absorbs oils and chemical pollutants from water鈥 Health Science First Place: Asween Marco, Naveen Patil, Jane Voyles, Yan Egbe, and Leonard Mukasa. 鈥The Threat of Tuberculosis Transmission Among the US-born: Lessons from Two Outbreaks, Arkansas鈥 Second Place: Elizabeth Burnham, 鈥淭he Social (Media) Social Work(er)鈥 Life Science Second Place: Rebekah White, 鈥淭oxic Effects of Copper and Nickel on Synechocystis PCC 6803鈥 Life & Physical Science First Place: Amita Nakarmi and Rebecca Moreira, 鈥Phosphate Removal From Contaminated Waters鈥 Second Place: Dane Hudson, 鈥淐ylic Electron Flow Prevents Photoinhibition in Solanum habrochaites Under Drought Stress鈥 Physical Science First Place: Busra Ergul, Mahbuba Begum, Nancy Kariuki, and Deborah Myers. 鈥淥xygen Reduction Reaction Activity of Platinum Thin Films with Different Densities鈥 First Place (tie): Daniel Nde, 鈥淎lgae-Biotemplated Water-splitting Nanocatalysts for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction鈥 Professional Studies First Place: Thu Nguyen, 鈥淒o In-house Investor Relations Professionals in Real Estate Management Use PR and Strategic Communications Principles?鈥 Second Place: Raad Alawajji, Zeid A. Nima, Ahmed K. Hashoosh, Karrer M. Alghazali, Emilie Darrigues, Nigel Kelly (undergraduate), Ashley Strohmeyer (undergraduate), and Ali Abdulhussein (presenter). 鈥淔abrication of Transparent Superhydrophobic Polytetrafluoroethylene Coating鈥 Social Science First Place: Jennifer Watkins: 鈥淲hy don鈥檛 they listen to me: A qualitative interpretive meta synthesis of a child鈥檚 perception of their sexual abuse鈥 Second Place: Margaret Kealy-Machella, 鈥What’s App: Little Rock AFB Mobile App Communication Plan鈥 Systems Engineering First Place: Rajat Singh, 鈥淔lexible Control of Synergistic Group of Muscles鈥 Technology First Place (tie): Tuja Khaund and Samer Al-Khateeb. 鈥淎nalyzing Social Bots and their Coordination during Crisis Weather Events鈥 Second Place: Evan Xiangwen Liu, 鈥淒eep Neutral Networks Self-taught Learning鈥 Second Place: Chen Xu, 鈥淢onitoring Traffic through IDS on OpenStack Cloud鈥 In the photo above right, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock student Corrie Green (right) talks about her project, “The New African-American Woman: Exploring Intersectionality in Non-Traditional Casting,” to Jana McAuliffe, who was judging student works at the Student聽Research聽and Creative Works聽Showcase.聽Photo by Benjamin Krain]]>