Honors College Senior Katie Almon Wins Presidential Award for Undergraduate Research

Katie Almon

Honors College alum Katie Almon '21 has been selected as a recipient of the 2020-2021 Presidential Award for Undergraduate Research at the University at Albany for her honors thesis project.

This important University-wide competitive award is established to recognize undergraduate research and scholarship. Recipients receive a certificate and plaque to commemorate this honor.

Katie majored in Business Administration, with a concentration on Information Systems and Business Analytics, and minored in Psychology.

Her project, “Information Management for UAlbany’s Honors College,” aimed to provide the Honors College with the tools necessary to efficiently manage student records and achieve higher retention rates by:

  1. identifying and improving data collection and curation processes for Honors College students

  2. developing and implementing a student information system (SIS)

  3. using regression analysis to identify predictors of honors program retention and completion for honors students.

After completing an extensive literature review on honors education and student retention issues, Katie applied her analytical and programming proficiencies to design new data systems and used statistical analysis to offer possible solutions. Katie’s project was advised by Dr. Eliot Rich and she will present her award-winning research project at the 18th Annual Student Conference on Friday, April 23, 2021.

Now, Katie is working toward becoming a data scientist and quantitative consultant. She is currently pursuing her Master in Business Analytics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and will complete the program in May 2022. Upon graduation, Katie will begin a full-time healthcare data analyst position with 3M Health Information Systems. She previously completed two summer internships with the company and has gained insight into data management and analysis for health insurance claims. Through her master's program, Katie has also become knowledgeable about machine learning, predictive modeling and their applications in the business world.