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_{Pictured L to R — Top row: Hooria Umer, Georgia Bardi, Zuzana Huserova, Kayla Morris, Ayanna Arroyo; Middle row: Ozioma Agoh, Rachel Ni, Alejandra Mata, Daphney Waller; Front row: Jackson Kerner, Christina Lee, Megha Chander.}

Published on the UMSON website, Adapted for the MPower website | October 22, 2025

It’s amazing what you can grow in 10 years.

In its decade of operation at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, the UM Scholars program has expanded from two students and two faculty mentors to 12 students placed with seven mentors. This year’s scholars are among 35 who have participated since 2016, 32 of whom have matriculated to UMSON.

These are numbers that tell a story of a successful collaboration, part of the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State. This alliance between the state’s two most powerful public research institutions — the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) — provides a summer opportunity for UMCP students to conduct important research alongside UMB faculty.

Now more than ever, bolstering the conduit of early-career researchers is critical, paving the way for continuity and developing expertise.

On July 31, UMSON celebrated the dozen UM Scholars who conducted nursing research during this year’s program, as they presented their findings, which included background, results, purpose and aim, methods, discussion and steps, acknowledgments, and references.

“Once I became a bedside nurse, I became very aware of the need to do research when I was working in the NICU,” said Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD ’11, MS ’05, BSN ’04, NNP, FNAP, FAAN, the Bill and Joanne Conway Dean of the University of Maryland School of Nursing and professor, during her opening remarks. “I wondered why babies who looked like me were more likely to die before they reached their first birthday. There are deep factors within our communities that often drive those outcomes. It took me on a wonderful path, but we can’t understand the drivers of poor health outcomes if we don’t do research, if we don’t have people who are curious like you.”

As the scholars presented their research findings, they thanked their mentors and other supporters. Ogbolu reinforced this appreciation, saying, “Mentoring students in research is very important work, and sometimes those mentors become lifelong mentors. I’m sure they’ve put an imprint on you and your life.”

The scholars shared aspects of their research that surprised them, which ranged from the amount of paperwork to the number of moving parts to the lack of research done to date. “I wasn’t expecting how collaborative research can be, especially at the beginning when you’re designing it,” said UM Scholar Georgia Bardi.

The consensus among the scholars was for students to take advantage of opportunities to engage in research whenever possible.

“If there’s a research opportunity, just go for it,” said UM Scholar Kayla Morris. “There are so many things that can be incorporated into it, whether you come from a background of computer science or you’ve never used an Excel spreadsheet. It also makes you grow up a little bit, getting to be in a professional setting all the time.”

“You always are going to learn something new. You might love research, you might learn that you don’t,” Bardi added. “It helps you in your future; knowing what the process is behind it helps you understand it better.”

This year’s scholars, mentors, and projects are:

• Ozioma Agoh | Mentored by Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS, Professor: Investing in The Role of Expectations in a Virtual Reality-Based Intervention in People with Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD)
• Ayanna Arroyo | Mentored by Colloca: Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality on Experimental and Clinical Pain in Patients with TMD
• Georgia Bardi | Mentored by Hannah Murphy Buc, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor: The New Imperative: Measuring Primary Palliative Care Education for Undergraduate Nursing Students
• Megha Chander | Mentored by Colloca: Ongoing Study: Virtual Reality as a Home-Based Pain and Wellness Intervention in Cancer Survivors
• Zuzana Huserova | Mentored by Colloca: The Impact of Social Discrepancy on Expectancy-Induced Analgesia: Preliminary Analysis
• Jackson Kerner | Mentored by Amber Kleckner, PhD, Assistant Professor: Qualitative Analysis of Cancer Survivors’ Experience in Nutritional Clinical Trial
• Christina Lee | Mentored by Kim Mooney-Doyle, PhD, RN, CPNP-AC, FAAN, Associate Professor: Mapping Mindfulness to Reduce Psychosocial Suffering for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer
• Alejandra Mata | Mentored by Buc: From Conference Presentation to Journal Publication: Restorative Practices to Strengthen Student-Faculty Relationships
• Kayla Morris | Mentored by Colloca: Ongoing Investigation of The Impact of Virtual Reality on Orofacial Pain Intensity and Interference among Participants with TMD
• Rachel Ni | Mentored by Ian Kleckner, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor: Efficacy of Exercise on Improving Cardiovascular Function in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy
• Hooria Umer | Mentored by Rachel Breman, PhD ’18, MPH, RN, FAWHONN, Associate Professor: Randomized Control Trial of Flange Fitting for NICU Pumping Parents to Explore Improved Milk Production and Satisfaction
• Daphney Waller | Mentored by Colloca: Ongoing Study Investigating Virtual Reality as an At-Home Intervention for TMD

View the 2025 UM Scholars at the School of Nursing presenting their summer research below: