The 30th Annual Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum is proud to announce its winners.
More than 250 undergraduate student researchers presented across ten categories on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in the Ohio Union Archie M. Griffin Grand Ballroom. The Denman Undergraduate Research Forum provides an opportunity for graduating student researchers to share their research endeavors with the university community.
The Denman Forum is Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry’s only competitive poster forum. Winners were recognized in each category as determined by faculty, staff, and alumni reviewers. Students were reviewed on their ability to communicate effectively their research process and results through written poster content and accompanying oral presentation. Award recipients receive a placement medal, award certificate, and certificate of scholarship.
Congratulations to the 30th Denman Undergraduate Research Forum’s award recipients!
| Rank | Category | First Name | Last Name | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Place | Business, Society, and International Relations | Peter | Maczuzak | Banking on Subscriptions? Think Again With Me |
| Second Place | Business, Society, and International Relations | Alexandria | Woodard | Pronoun Peril: Evaluations of Nonbinary Instructors |
| Third Place | Business, Society, and International Relations | Elan | Kyser | The Development of Global Governance from the Catholic Church to the United Nations: The Pazzi Conspiracy and the Sanctioning of Iraq |
| Third Place | Business, Society, and International Relations | Haikal | Bin Rozaidi | The Development of Global Governance from the Catholic Church to the United Nations: The Pazzi Conspiracy and the Sanctioning of Iraq |
| Honorable Mention | Business, Society, and International Relations | Clovis | Westlund | Public-Private Influence on Contemporary Homeschooling Practice: A Case Study of Central Ohio |
| First Place | Earth & Beyond | Erin | Shaw | Rock House Nature Center |
| Second Place | Earth & Beyond | Abby | Smith | Examining the Impact of UZELA Technology on the Health of Nursery Corals |
| Third Place | Earth & Beyond | Emily | Macbeth | Determination of Charge Diffusion in Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Detectors |
| Honorable Mention | Earth & Beyond | Gregory | Costa Cuatle | Infrared Spectral Analysis: Estimating CO2 Concentrations in Earth's Atmosphere Using Astronomical Data |
| First Place | Engineering and Technology | Jessica | Sillus | Compliant Robotic Joint Configuration for Space Applications |
| Second Place | Engineering and Technology | Joshua | Jeyandran | Assessing the Validity and Repeatability of a Portable A-Scan Ultrasound Device While Sitting and Supine |
| Third Place | Engineering and Technology | Maya | Sivakumaran | Evaluating GPU Code Translation Approaches to Optimize CFD Efficiency |
| Honorable Mention | Engineering and Technology | Christine | Massa | The Impact of Different Auditory Distractions on Situational Awareness While Driving |
| First Place | Health under the Microscope | Leah | LaVerde | Craniofacial Aging in HET3 Mice with 17-alpha Estradiol Treatment |
| Second Place | Health under the Microscope | Sadaf | Farsi | Protein Arginine Methyltransferase 5 Promotes Tissue Resident Memory T cells Populations in Severe Allergic Airway Inflammation |
| Third Place | Health under the Microscope | Amy | Dokiburra | Senolytic therapy modulates microglial phenotype and clinical disease severity in an age-dependent model of progressive MS |
| Honorable Mention | Health under the Microscope | Olivia | Wiley | Persistent NK Cell Dysregulation and Microbial Translocation in People Living with HIV |
| First Place | Human Experience | Arvind | Nair | A Serpent Runs Through It: Towards an interpretation of the Curvilinear Guilloche Design of the Anderson Focus of the Fort Ancient Culture in Southwest Ohio |
| Second Place | Human Experience | Min | Feldman | Do children use action frequency to infer social closeness?: A study in social cognitive development |
| Third Place | Human Experience | Delaney | Phillips | 'Thank you for listening to us'; Using Qualitative Methods to Make Quantitative Research for LGBTQ+ Participants More Inclusive & Affirming |
| Honorable Mention | Human Experience | Josephine | Luck | Altered Temporal Orientation Associated with Cognition and Functioning in Schizophrenia: A Computational Linguistics Study |
| First Place | Innovations in Medicine | Charlie | Jacobson | The Sweet Taste Receptor TAS1R2 regulates myocyte differentiation in C2C12 muscle cells |
| Second Place | Innovations in Medicine | Brooke | Sendik | Addressing the Anatomy Educator Gap: Trends in Health Sciences Education |
| Third Place | Innovations in Medicine | Jay | Patel | Effect of altered gluteus maximus strength on the magnitude and direction of hip joint contact forces during simulations of gait |
| Honorable Mention | Innovations in Medicine | Anitvir | Taunque | Safety and feasibility of parenchymal re-dosing of AAV2-hAADC into nonhuman primate |
| First Place | Insects and Other Animal Sciences | Jordan | Lehman | Predicting How Climate Change Will Impact Parasitoid Preference and Performance |
| Second Place | Insects and Other Animal Sciences | Molly | Cordonnier | Diagnostic Performance of Pregnancy Associated Glycoproteins and Transrectal Ultrasonography or Early Pregnancy in Sheep |
| Third Place | Insects and Other Animal Sciences | Corbyn | Antrim | Comparison of Non-Contact and Contact Thermometers in Evaluating the Body Temperatures of Healthy Horses |
| Honorable Mention | Insects and Other Animal Sciences | Mina | LaFrance | Influence of Maternal and Environmental Factors on Colostrum Quality in Quarter Horse Mares |
| First Place | Pediatric and Family Health | Leena | Eltilib | Enamel and Dentin Defects from Dentinogenesis Imperfecta in Secondary Dentition |
| Second Place | Pediatric and Family Health | Madison | Fankhauser | Peripartum opioid exposure impaired maternal behavior, increased inflammatory gene expression, and reduced perineuronal nets in the maternal brain network |
| Third Place | Pediatric and Family Health | Kayleigh | Hill | Infants Experiencing Substance Withdrawal and Nurse Teamwork Dynamics |
| Honorable Mention | Pediatric and Family Health | Seyna | Sall | Examination of Low-Income Working Mother’s Complementary Feeding Practices for Their 6–24-Month-Old Infants |
| First Place | Public Health | Madison | Posner | Injury Patterns in the Pitcher's Arm: Analyzing the Correlation Between Past Injuries and Subsequent Elbow Injuries in Major League Baseball |
| Second Place | Public Health | Emanuel | Tewolde | Addressing awareness gaps and responses of Central Ohio African American smokers to a proposed menthol cigarette ban |
| Third Place | Public Health | Code | Beschler | Creating Access: Promoting Pragmatic Solidarity in HIV Research, Prevention, and Care for Disabled Populations |
| Honorable Mention | Public Health | Serena | Mehta | How Does Pre-K–G5 Teachers’ Use of Technology Correlate with Self-Efficacy and Teacher Characteristics? |
| First Place | Understanding Cancer | Elsa | Wani | Defining the role of NDRG1 in modulating cisplatin sensitivity within ovarian cancer stem cells |
| Second Place | Understanding Cancer | Chloe | Delnicki | Bioassay-Guided Isolation and Structure Elucidation of Bioactive Secondary Metabolites of Hernandia voyronii |
| Third Place | Understanding Cancer | Hasan | Abaza | Understanding Differences in Transcription Factor Binding in Inflammation Related Genes Between Black and White Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients |
| Honorable Mention | Understanding Cancer | Khushi | Gupta | Unlocking the potential of nutrient-dependent regulation of Wnt signaling pathway and lipid metabolism in intestinal cells in health and disease. |
| Secondary Data Core | Kayleigh | Hill | Infants Experiencing Substance Withdrawal and Nurse Teamwork Dynamics | |
| Center for Ethics & Human Values | Elyse | Reed | Hygiene as Eugenics: Tracing the Impact of Hygiene Rhetoric in Law and Culture from the Immigration Act of 1924 to Present Day | |
| Center for Ethics & Human Values | Lincoln | Lundgren | Is Use of Unproblematic Epistemic Resources to Achieve Permissible Ends Always Permissible? | |
| Civil Discourse for Citizenship | Clovis | Westlund | Public-Private Influence on Contemporary Homeschooling Practice: A Case Study of Central Ohio | |
| Sustainability Institute | Hannah | Bernstein | Analyzing how the agricultural microbiome impacts soil carbon stability under different management practices | |
| Sustainability Institute | Emma | Maher | Extreme heat, urban experimentation, and visions of past futures in Seville, Spain | |
| Sustainability Institute | Mia | Wang | Influence of Coagulants on Microplastics Removal During Coagulation | |
| Infectious Disease Institute | Anitvir | Taunque | Safety and feasibility of parenchymal re-dosing of AAV2-hAADC into nonhuman primate |