Youngstown State University

An undergraduate team in the YSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics won Meritorious awards in this year's Mathematical Contest in Modeling.

A team of YSU students won a competition called thePitch, a one-day event focused on advertising and associated disciplines. Students from 11 colleges and universities comprising seven teams received hands-on experience by working at one of Pittsburgh's advertising agencies on a real-world project for a local non-profit organization. The team consisted of Taylor Valerio; Carly M. Redmond, Jayde E. Faustino, Ryan T. Lantz, Andrea J. Minotti, Brooke M. Lissy and Elaine Ngo.

YSU senior Emily Henline of Austintown was named a scholar in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, considered to be one of the most widely recognized and prestigious scholarships in the world.

YSU junior Alexandra Ballow of Deshler, Ohio, was selected for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, a premiere national award for undergraduate students in the fields of mathematics, science and engineering.

Youngstown State University's Ethics Bowl team is #1 in the nation, winning the national Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl in Atlanta. The team of YSU students Samantha Fritz, Jacob Tomory, Moataz Abdelrasoul, Eva Lamberson and Michael Factor bested squads from universities and colleges across the country, including Stanford, Yale, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, Tufts, University of California Santa Barbara and the University of Central Florida. The team, coached by Alan Tomhave, associate professor and chair, and Mark Vopat, professor, both of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, brings to YSU two trophies - one that visits the winning school for the year and another that YSU gets to keep permanently.

Several Youngstown State University students earned honors at the Lake Erie International Model UN competition earlier this fall. The YSU contingent of 14 students competed against teams from 15 universities.

Three members of the Youngstown State University Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society earned top prizes at the annual Global Leadership Summit in Chicago. The following students were on teams that won their case categories during the KPMG-sponsored Team Case Competition: Brooke Lissy, Amanda Paynter and Kelli Dougherty. In addition, Dougherty's team was declared the overall case competition winner.

Students Dustin Hudak, Kennedy Stanko, Daniel Raver and Anthony Nakley represented Youngstown State University at the Inaugural Ohio Collegiate Sales Competition at Cleveland State University. Cleveland State and Kent State students also participated in the event in which they developed, prepared and delivered sales call presentations acting as representatives of the Tom James Co., the world's largest provider of custom and bespoke clothing.

Youngstown State University's Ethics Bowl team has won the Central States Regional Ethics Bowl competition for the fourth consecutive year, advancing to the national finals for a fifth consecutive year. YSU students forming the team are Samantha Fritz, Jacob Tomory, Moataz Abdelrasoul, Eva Lamberson and Michael Factor. The winning team was coached by Alan Tomhave, associate professor and chair of the YSU Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Mark Vopat, professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies. The regional competition took place in Indianapolis, and the national Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is Feb. 22 and 23 in Atlanta.

Youngstown State University participated in the Central States Regional Ethics Bowl competition. YSU students forming the first team, which won the regional competition, are Samantha Fritz, Jacob Tomory, Moataz Abdelrasoul, Eva Lamberson and Michael Factor. The second team consisted of Dorcas Gitimu, Jared Cross and Albert Chizmar. Coaches are Alan Tomhave, associate professor and chair of the YSU Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Mark Vopat, professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

Youngstown State University's student media dominated the Society for Collegiate Journalist's annual student media awards competition. The Jambar, YSU's student newspaper, placed first in Newspaper Overall Excellence, the second prominent recognition for The Jambar this year. In February, The Jambar was named top student newspaper in Ohio by the Ohio News Media Association. Also taking home SCJ awards were YO Magazine, second place for overall excellence in the Magazine General Interest category, and Rookery Radio, third place for overall excellence in Internet Radio. Several students also won individual awards.

Youngstown State University placed third out of more than 40 teams at the 2019 National Student Steel Bridge Competition. The YSU team consisted of Spencer DeSalvo, Matthew Hone, Kenneth Anderson, Drew House, Thomas Carnes, Mohammed Khan and Luis Vindel. YSU qualified for the national competition by winning the Ohio Valley regional contest in April. The national competition was at Southern Illinois University. The contest, sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction, requires teams to develop and build a scale-model steel bridge. Teams must determine how to fabricate their bridge and then plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction at the competition. Bridges are then load tested and weighed.

Anna Henkels, senior Advertising and Public Relations major at Youngstown State University, won the Best Presenter Award, and the YSU Ads Club came in third overall at the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition.

A team of Youngstown State University students placed first at the 2019 American Foundry Society Southeast Regional Casting Competition in Savannah, Ga. The students designed an original 14-inch aluminum alloy wheel, conducted stress and casting simulations in labs at YSU, had the mold printed on YSU's 3D sand printer at Humtown Products in Leetonia, poured it at YSU's foundry in Bliss Hall and submitted it in the competition. Submissions were judged on complexity/difficulty, match to submitted design, casting quality and originality.

Alexander Huber, a Biological Sciences student at Youngstown State University, placed first in the recent Three-Minute Thesis competition on campus. Huber's researched is titled "Purification of Phage-Displayed HSA-Specific Peptide for Biosensor Production," and his faculty advisor is Diana Fagan, professor of Biological Sciences. Huber also received the People's Choice award. Placing second in the competition was Astha Syal, Computing and Information Systems. Syal's research is "Network Data Analysis to predict volume of Future Network Traffic," and her faculty advisor is Alina Lazar, professor, Computer Science and Information Systems. Three-Minute Thesis, presented by the YSU College of Graduate Studies, requires students to explain their research in three minutes in a language appropriate to a non-specialist audience.

The YSU Ethics Bowl team placed fifth at the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl National Championships. This is the fourth consecutive year that the Ethics Bowl team competed at nationals after again placing first in the regional competition. There were 36 teams at the national competition.

For the fourth consecutive year, Youngstown State University's Ethics Bowl team is headed to the national finals after again placing first in the regional competition in Indianapolis. The five-student Penguin team won the 20th Annual Central States Regional Ethics Bowl at Marian University in Indianapolis on Nov. 3 and will now compete in the 2019 National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl in March in Baltimore.

A team of three Youngstown State University students won the regional Quiz Bowl at the Midwest Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Mich.