Cameron Bennett, Cason Zachary Devote Summer to Researching Rural Healthcare Inequities

Cameron Bennett, Cason Zachary, and Dr. Jia Lu were among six student-faculty teams selected for the 2025 Blazer Summer Research Institute at Valdosta State University. They spent the summer studying spatial disparity in healthcare facilities across Georgia.

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University’s Cameron Bennett and Cason Zachary partnered with Dr. Jia Lu of the Department of Chemistry and Geosciences this summer to study spatial disparity in healthcare facilities across Georgia.

They found that rural Georgians have unequal access to quality healthcare, as medical facilities and services tend to be concentrated in more urban areas. This issue is further complicated such accessibility challenges as lack of transportation and travel distance, as well as socioeconomic factors.

Bennett and Zachary said this work is important because unequal access to quality healthcare leads to uneven distribution of health outcomes, including negative impacts on health and well-being for rural Georgians of all ages.  

“This research helps to identify holes within the current healthcare system and suggest changes that will hopefully improve it for generations to come,” the duo shared in a joint statement.

Bennett and Zachary’s “Spatial Disparity of Hospitals in Georgia” was one of six projects selected for VSU’s 2025 Blazer Summer Research Institute. The two students each received a $750 scholarship plus compensation for any expenditures related to their research.

The Blazer Summer Research Institute is a highly competitive program for motivated faculty and undergraduate students who are ready to explore exciting, hands-on research. Funded by the Division of Academic Affairs, University Advancement, and private donors, the special summer initiative offers a unique experience focused on real-world, potentially life-impacting, research projects.

Lu said the Blazer Summer Research Institute gives participating students the opportunity to learn the full research process from beginning to end.

“Research is a cornerstone of the academic experience because it fosters critical thinking, deepens understanding, and prepares students for real-world challenges,” shared the professor of geography who specializes in city and regional planning, along with urban economics, quantitative analysis, and geographic information systems.

“Specifically, research helps students develop skills in critical thinking and problem-solving, deepens their subject mastery, encourages their independence and initiative, enhances communication skills, contributes to disciplinary knowledge creation, and prepares them for professional and academic careers.”

For Bennett and Zachary, participating in the Blazer Summer Research Institute opened their eyes to all the resources and support systems available to students at VSU and strengthened their connection to the campus community.

“This experience has taught me data quality assessment, survey questionnaire development, how to conduct phone calls with a developed script, and advanced spatial analysis skills using ArcGIS software,” said Bennett of Valdosta, Georgia.

These skills will serve him well as he prepares to transfer to the University of Georgia through the Regents Engineering Pathway program this fall.  

“Checking the quality of data was a large part of what I learned, as we verified the accuracy of government data and made corrections,” said Zachary of Waycross, Georgia. He also shared how this experience enhanced his abilities in writing, compilation, and synthesization of literature for research.

He anticipates earning a Bachelor of Arts in History and Minor in Aerospace Studies in 2026.

Both students — one from the humanities world, the other from science and mathematics — said the Blazer Summer Research Institute taught them a lot about teamwork and collaboration, as they used their knowledge, skills, and different perspectives to tackle this complex problem.