By Jamie Nicpon | Office of Communications & Marketing | 3-22-2021
Current Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) student Michaela Inman has been named the University of Iowa’s Student Employee of the year.
Inman is a research assistant for College of Nursing Assistant Professor Julie Vignato, PhD, RN. She was nominated by Dr. Vignato and selected as the overall University of Iowa winner, beating out the other 67 nominees from this year’s campaign.
“This award attests to the fact that I am eager, determined, and passionate about the work that I do. I believe it signifies that I have demonstrated growth as a BSN student and as a research assistant, and that my work has been meaningful,” said Inman. “In the future, I hope that I can take the skills that I have developed from this experience and use them to develop evidence-based projects aimed at improving patient care.”
Inman, who is also a certified nursing assistant at UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, met Dr. Vignato as a sophomore and instantly became interested in her research on pregnancy pain and postpartum depression. After additional discussions, Dr. Vignato hired Inman as research assistant, a role in which she currently inputs qualitative data into NVivo software; analyzes qualitative data (without use of NVivo); completes articles for publication; reads through electronic health records to gain data for biomedical/ICTS study; and more.
“Michaela is a delight to mentor due to her thirst to learn. She is hard working, caring, insightful, and dedicated,” said Dr. Vignato. “She is a role model for other undergraduate students in research through her active participation and analysis.”
Moving forward, Inman, who is slated to graduate in December of 2021, plans to utilize her experiences from Dr. Vignato’s lab as a gateway to pursue her own areas of research.
“One day, I hope that I can provide similar opportunities for nursing students by creating a welcoming environment and fostering their professional growth just as Dr. Vignato has done for me. My work as a research assistant has been a foundation for so much more than I could have ever dreamed of, and I am beyond thankful that I have this experience to reflect on. I am looking forward to continuing to grow as a team and striving to go above and beyond for my patients and their families.”
The university will formally recognize Inman for this accolade during National Student Employment Week (April 11-17).
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