Tuesday, February 25, 1997
RESEARCH:
Winner to represent UCLA in American Dental Association student
competitionBy Peggy Shen
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA School of Dentistry held its fifth annual Student
Research Poster Competition last Thursday to recognize the research
talents and efforts of the UCLA dental school Class of 1998.
Students displayed the significant components of their
year-and-a-half research projects on "posters," which are visual
representations of their work, for the inspection of the judges and
their peers.
The winner was third-year dental student Trilla Cajulis, who
will now represent the UCLA School of Dentistry at the American
Dental Association student competition during the Fall Quarter
1997.
The posters were a culmination of the students’ completion of
the individualized directed research course, a requisite part of
their curriculum which begins in the summer of their second year
and ends Winter Quarter of their third year. The UCLA School of
Dentistry initiated this independent research course only a few
years ago, beginning with the Class of 1994.
"It is a mandate from the accreditation for the Schools of
Dentistry to have a research curriculum," said Francesco
Chiappelli, course director of the individual directed research
program. "In that context, the course was developed to develop
research skills in the students."
UCLA is one of only " a handful, maybe six or seven schools that
have (this type of) program," said Chiappelli.
Students begin their research project at the beginning of their
second year by identifying a question, hypothesis and a mentor who
will help them with their research.
The mentors provide all the funding for the students’ projects,
but Chiappelli said it is sometimes "very difficult to engage
(them) in the process."
"(Students) have produced enough to do a very good poster but
not enough to publish a paper, and the mentors see that," he
said.
According to Chiappelli, mentors may often be reluctant to
invest their time in the students’ projects because a
year-and-a-half of research is usually not enough time to publish a
paper, which is the goal of most scientists.
Which is one of the reasons why co-sponsors are necessary to the
program. Co-sponsors, usually corporations, present their products
to the faculty and students, to educate students on the reality of
doing research and presenting it in the scientific arena.
Additionally, "Most of them donate some funds to the course
through the UCLA foundation," Chiappelli said.
In return, the co-sponsors receive tax deductions for their
donations and are acknowledged by the UCLA School of Dentistry as
benevolent sponsors of dental student research.
Judges of the annual poster competition are also acknowledged
for their time and efforts. There are two sets of judges, one to
judge project abstracts and another to judge the posters. Both are
selected solely by the course director.
"My criteria are that they represent the breadth of research
that the students do," said Chiappelli. There is a wide range of
research topics, from basic or clinical science to health
policies.
Judges chose 20 finalists out the 74 student abstracts
submitted. These 20 students then presented their posters to the
second set of judges, who then chose the first place winner and two
runner-ups.
Judges evaluated the posters based on the following criteria
 research design, validity relevance, overall scholarship,
oral presentation and oral discussion. Jay Sison and Katayoun
Omrani tied for first and second runner up and will share the
combined prize money of the two places.
Cajulis, the winner of the competition, will receive a cash
award and represent UCLA at the American Dental Association student
competition.
"She had the combination of the factual knowledge, the present
of how to tell it to the world, and her poster was nicely
displayed," said Dr. Kathryn Atchison, associate professor of the
UCLA School of Dentistry and one of the poster judges.
"I think her oral presentation was the best of all of them,"
said Dr. Mason Savage, another poster judge and also winner of the
1995 student research poster competition. Savage, an alumni of the
UCLA School of Dentistry, Class of 1996, is currently a resident
dentist at the West Los Angeles Veteran’s Administration Medical
Center.
Describing her project, Cajulis said, "We wanted to see how the
immune system is affected by drugs of abuse and dental
fillings.
"I wanted a poster that I was proud of, that I was happy with,"
she added.
Chiappelli, Cajulis’ mentor, said he is more than proud of his
student.
"I think she will do very well," he said. "I am very confident
that she will be a very good ambassador of the UCLA School of
Dentistry."