Emily Nothnagle, a triple major in anthropology, psychology, and music, and captain of the National Champion OSU Pistol team, recently defended her undergraduate research thesis on "Sport Participation and the Development of Grit."

In her research, she used SSI-funded National Sports and Society Survey data to consider the extent to which: a) any organized youth sport experience, b) the duration of organized youth sport experience, and c) adults' regular sport participation shaped the development of individuals' grit. She earned a second-place award in the psychology and social dsychology division of the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum.

Emily intends to further study the development of grit through sport experiences over the summer and plans to go to graduate school to study social anthropology.

Her research was supported by an OSU Undergraduate Research Scholarship. Her research mentor has been SSI Research Chair Dr. Chris Knoester.