Two students win awards and cash for undergraduate research

Two students from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University earned Outstanding Undergraduate research awards at the Northland Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Spring Tutorial.

Matthew Burgstahler placed second and earned $350, and Madeline Bremel placed fourth and earned $150 for their research. Both students made poster presentations of their senior capstone work at the event April 6 at St. Catherine University in St. Paul.

Burgstahler, a senior individualized natural science-integrative health science major from Sandpoint, Idaho, presented “Effects of Guided Mindfulness Meditation on Perceived and Biomarker Stress in a Pre-Health Care College Student Population.”

He asked pre-health care students at CSB and SJU to participate in 10 to 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation six days a week for eight weeks. He measured changes in stress, anxiety, mindfulness and heart rate variability, which can be used as a psychological marker of stress.

Burgstahler found that the more minutes of meditation students completed, the greater their reduction in stress, anxiety and increased mindfulness, according to Mary Stenson, associate professor of exercise science and sports studies at CSB and SJU who is an adviser to both Burgstahler and Bremel.

Bremel a senior individualized natural science-integrative health science major from Duluth, Minnesota, presented “Efficacy of Technology-Based and In-Person Health Education for Behavior Change in College-Aged Women.”

She studied the difference between two health education interventions: an in-person health education intervention and an online video intervention. Bremel looked at changes in knowledge of bone health and changes in health behaviors related to bone health (exercise and diet) in college-aged women.

Bremel found that the in-person group had greater knowledge gains than the control group who had no health intervention, Stenson said.

Both students have the option to present their research at the American College of Sports Medicine national meeting in 2019.

The regional event in St. Paul included student presentations from schools in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.