RESEARCH DIALOGUES

Hello dear International students at UTC!

I am Patricia Creel, an ESL student from Colombia, South America.

On April 3 and 4 of 2018, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga hosted an amazing event called RESEARCH DIALOGUES. This event consolidated a variety of research that is happening at UTC. Students, Staff, and Faculty could participate by attending the event or presenting research. The event is an opportunity to learn about projects and research that are being conducted at UTC. It is also an occasion to interact with researchers at all levels.

On Tuesday, April 3, I had the privilege to attend three informative research sections at the auditorium in the University Center from 9.00 a.m to 10.30 a.m. Then I visited the poster room where I could talk to different students who conducted research on different topics. At 11.00 a.m I attended lunch with the speakers. In the afternoon, there was a contest, and I was fascinated listening to students who had two minutes to talk about their research.

Kathy Hayes was the first speaker in the morning session at the Auditorium. Her research was titled “What is Resilience? A better look at Depression and Resilience in a non-clinical population.” It was interesting to know how Kathy conducted studies that have shown how resilience decreases when depression increases in students at UTC. In her research, Kathy looked for biomarkers like cortisol and olfaction. Cortisol is the hormone produced during stress periods.




To evaluate those biomarkers, the experiment was based on making students smell some liquid samples and taking a saliva example to measure the level of cortisol. After this, students were provided with a math test that they completed. (It is an example of a possible stressful task at the university for many students). After that, Students smelled again the liquid samples and a saliva sample was taken to measure the level of cortisol.

Kathy and her team found that after that math task, students who experienced some kind of stress were not able to smell the substances, and their levels of cortisol were higher. In contrast, students who did not experience a stressful situation with the math task maintained olfaction and cortisol levels without a significant change.

This is important research because the resilience is affected by stress and depression. Resilience is a crucial factor in students’ success.

I had the opportunity to talk to Kathy in the afternoon about her research, and she provided more details. She was very nice and she supported me with my English.

I want to give recognition to Kathy Hayes for being so kind and open to meet an international student. Thanks, Kathy.

As an ESL student, attending this event was awesome because I could practice my English in a safe academic environment.



There are many opportunities at UTC for extracurricular activities. As International Students, we need to take advantage of those opportunities. It is great to meet people and learn from them. It is also great to let them know about our countries.

I want to finish saying thank you to my teacher Yvonne for her support. She always encourages my classmates and me to participate in different events at UTC. It is the way to build community and be part of it.