On April 17, the Center of Excellence for Women & Technology Research Poster Competition brought together 75 student researchers to present their findings to judges and members from the university community. The event featured 64 undergraduate and 11 graduate students who transformed months of data collection and analysis into professional visual presentations.
The competition served as a professional development platform, allowing students to present their research and engage with a diverse audience. With over 200 attendees, the event remained highly active throughout the session as students fielded questions from peers, faculty, and judges drawn from a pool of 65 experts.
Participants represented a broad academic spectrum, including the College of Arts & Sciences, the Kelley School of Business, the School of Public Health, the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. The Technology & Computing research category was the largest of the event, featuring 27 presenters across the undergraduate and graduate levels, highlighting the growing intersection of tech across all fields of study.
Following a comprehensive judging and review process and 73 ballots cast for the People’s Choice awards, several students were recognized for their outstanding analytical skills and presentation clarity.
Congratulations to the 2026 Award Recipients
Health & Behavioral Sciences
- 1st Place Undergraduate: Addison Evilsizor – Using Eye Movements to Compare Vocabulary Teaching Methods
- 2nd Place Undergraduate*: Manasvi Doshi – Social Networks and Mental Health Among Undergraduate Students: An Analysis
- 1st Place Graduate: Gayoung Lim – Personal and Occupational Factors Associated with Hyperthermia in Construction Workers
Life Sciences
- 1st Place Undergraduate: Kenidy Kelley – Why are fruits and flowers colorful in the Galápagos?
- 1st Place Graduate: Jessica Morgan – The Effects of Tyro3 on Neurite Outgrowth of Hippocampal Neurons
Physical & Mathematical Sciences
- 1st Place Undergraduate: Alayna Veeck – Optimal Transport Matching for Covariate Balance in Observational Causal Inference
- 1st Place Graduate: Tian Yang – Climatology and Trends of Abrupt Transition from Dry to Wet Extremes in the Contiguous United States
Social Sciences
- 1st Place Undergraduate: Natalia Polerecky – What Happens After Wars: The Trajectory of Rebel Successor Organizations
- 2nd Place Undergraduate*: Akshita Kumar – PRAXIS: Grounding Peer Review in Educational Philosophy
- 1st Place Graduate: Shohana Akter – Digital Activism During the July 36 Protest in Bangladesh
Technology & Computing
- 1st Place Undergraduate: Newell Dodoh – Leveraging Large Language Models For Emotional Support: A Query Rewriting Approach
- 2nd Place Undergraduate*: Sahasra Chinthireddy – Do LLMs Know When They're Wrong? Measuring Overconfidence Across Large Language Models
- 1st Place Graduate: Mitra Moradzadeh – Variations in Perception of the Use of AI Tools in Hiring Processes, by Job Seekers, IT Developers, and HR Staff
People’s Choice
- Undergraduate Winner: Maris Holmes – Moral Bias and Story Retelling
- Graduate Winner: Shruthi Nagappan – MedNutri
The event was hosted by the Center of Excellence for Women & Technology. We would like to thank our 65 judges for providing the invaluable feedback that makes this competition a premier opportunity for student researchers to refine their professional skills.
*Second place was awarded in categories with 10 or more competitors.