AnnuAl RepoRt - University of Alabama at Birmingham

TRIP ® Lab Students Present Research Findings
The UAB UTC and the Translational Research for Injury
Prevention (TRIP) ® Laboratory continually encourage
student researchers to present their research results in
any appropriate venue available to them. Presentations
provide the students with valuable public speaking experience,
help them acquire experience interacting with others
in their field while receiving one-on-one feedback about
their work.
In March, Annie Artiga Garner, the TRIP ® Lab research
assistant, won First Place for her poster presentation at
UAB’s Neurodevelopment/Simpson-Ramsey Symposium;
a scientific gathering on the UAB campus that brings
together researchers from throughout Central Alabama
to discuss recent progress in the field of brain development
and neuro-developmental disorders and to provide a
forum for those working in the field to interact with other
investigators. Annie’s poster, The Influence of Parental
Distracted Driving on Teens With and Without ADHD,
described results from Annie’s TRIP Lab research revealing
that parents influence their teens’ perceptions of their
ability and willingness to engage in distracted driving
and that refraining from engaging in the riskiest form of
distracted driving can have a protective effect even among
teens who are at increased risk for such behaviors, ADHD
teens. Annie’s research also suggests that interventions
aimed at reducing distracted driving behaviors in teens
might consider including an interventional component
targeting parental distracted driving.
Sharon Welburn at the UAB Expo
This past February, TRIP ® Laboratory group member Ms.
Sharon Welburn presented a research poster at the UAB
Expo; a campus-wide platform enabling UAB undergraduate
students to gain valuable presentation experience and
to network with peers, faculty and staff. Sharon’s poster,
Developing a Self-Report Measure of Distracted Driving
in Young Adults, presented the preliminary results of a
project on which she has been working for the past semester.
Her goal is to develop a questionnaire to obtain information
on distracted driving behavior in young adults.
Sharon’s research addresses a very significant problem
faced by distracted driving researchers. Naturalistic studies
of distracted driving via in-vehicle technology have
provided some insight into the magnitude of the distracted
driving problem, but this method of data collection is
time-consuming and can be very expensive. Sharon’s
questionnaire, once fine-tuned and validated, promises to
offer a convenient, inexpensive and comparatively quick
alternative to acquiring data on distracted driving habits.
Annie Artiga Garner at UAB’s Neurodevelopment/
Simpson-Ramsey Symposium
Both Sharon and Annie have proven to be highly
innovative thinkers who show great promise and potential
as future transportation workforce professionals. Their
research is already making a positive contribution to the
UAB UTC’s efforts to reduce distracted driving. Future
mentoring by the UAB UTC and their TRIP lab experiences
will only enhance their already creative and impressive
skills. Congratulations Sharon and Annie!
Technology Transfer Program 37