Eight Business Administration students at Eastern Connecticut State University were recognized for their research projects at the Northeast Decision Sciences Annual Conference (NEDSI)  in Philadephia on April 4-7.

Emily Vieten, Kaitlyn Hohman, Alexandra Maistrelis, Nicole Silva, Jenna Moreira and Daniel Huacho received honorary mention awards for their research. Led by Fatma Pakdil, associate professor of business administration, the students presented projects reflecting their work and analyzes of several local businesses in fall 2019.

“We collaborated with companies located in our community by focusing on their problems, issues and projects so students could see the real life applications and practices of topics covered in their courses,” said Pakdil.

Megan Cole and Jacqueline Scanlon received a third-place award in the undergraduate student poster competition for their project “Feasibility of Implementing Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in Eastern Connecticut.”

Despite ECT being a treatment option for decades, little research has focused on the economic feasibility of implementing such a treatment in hospital settings in the United States. Cole and Scanlon analyzed if ECT would be feasible by specifically collaborating with Natchaug Hospital in Mansfield, CT, on the project.

Maistrelis and Silva’s project, “Process Analysis in Radiology Services at a University Hospital,” focused on process mapping of CT Scans and MRIs services provided in the radiology department at the UConn Health Hospital in Farmington, CT.

Moreira and Huacho analyzed an EEG (electroencephalogram) laboratory, also at UConn Health Hospital. The goal of their project was to identify where potential waste might have occurred, and to minimize the amount of time an outpatient would spend in the EEG process.

Vieten and Hohman’s project, “Process Mapping in Radiology Services Using DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) Process,” focused on process mapping of the services provided in the radiology department at UConn Health Hospital.

“In addition to the examples and practice questions analyzed in class, these real-time cases in the workplace were challenging, and showed students what they can expect in the real world after graduation,” said Pakdil.