Undergraduate Symposium Awards
Introduced in 2026, the Undergraduate Symposium Awards recognize undergraduate posters, presentations, performances, and displays that exemplify clear and engaging communication of ideas and findings for the symposium’s general audience. The awards celebrate strong presentation skills, excellence in sharing ideas and findings across disciplines, and thoughtful exploration of the broader significance of the research, scholarly endeavor, community-engaged project, or creative work being presented.
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2026 Undergraduate Symposium Awards Winners
White Dwarf Imposters Among Us: Distinguishing Between White Dwarfs and Chromospheric Activity in Binary Stars
Poster | Presenter: Brooklyn Gustaf | Mentors: Erin Motherway, Robert D. Mathieu
Integrating Health Literacy into Adult ESL Education: A Community-Engaged Approach
Poster | Presenter: Amy Liang | Mentor: Zoua M. Vang
Metabolic and Cognitive Impact of Sleeve Gastrectomy vs. Semaglutide in an Obese APP/PS1 Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease
Poster | Presenter: Tristan Molkentin | Mentor: Dave Harris
When Do Children Stand Up to Bias? Investigating Children’s Responses to Race-Based Exclusion
10-Minute Presentation | Presenter: Rayane Prado Nunes | Mentors: Kristin Shutts, Eren Fukuda
Prepubertal Lupron Treatment Does Not Affect Long-Term Vaginal Epithelial Health
10-Minute Presentation | Presenter: Emilie Tran | Mentors: Johanna Hannan, Anna Barrett
Comparative Analysis of Nocturnal Bird Species Richness and Feeding Guilds in Three Northern Tanzanian Landscapes
Poster | Presenter: Audrey Wegener | Mentors: Catherine Marler, Candice Malone, Egidius James Rwebuga
2026 Undergraduate Symposium Awards Honorable Mentions
H4K16ac and H4K20me1 Gate Transcription to Regulate Muscle Stem Cell Activation
10-Minute Presentation | Presenter: Adam Chu | Mentor: Roméo Blanc
Impact of Flanking mRNA Mutations on Bicc1–RNA Binding Specificity
Poster | Presenter: Megan Nchekwaram | Mentor: Michael Sheets
Weathering the Storm: Assessing Climate-Health Burdens and Social Protection Policies in U.S. States
Poster | Presenter: Chihuu Nguyen | Mentor: Vijay Limaye
The Synthesis of the Elusive Molecule Methanediol
Art/Project Display | Presenter: Ashley Peter | Mentors: Susanna Widicus Weaver, Colton Moore
Shaping the Vampire: Polidori’s Transformation of a Folkloric Figure
10-Minute Presentation | Presenter: Juan Sandoval | Mentor: Eric Carlsson
The Visual Cherenkov Meter: Using Photon Intensity Sensors to Measure the Energy Production of a Nuclear Reactor
Poster | Presenters: Henrik Thompson, Logan Kolasa, Bennett Zingler, Brett MacKay, Erich Nunez Viveros, Cece Adamczyk | Mentor: Charles A. Hirst
Undergraduate Symposium Poster Display at College Library
From May to August 2026, a selection of posters presented at the Undergraduate Symposium will be displayed at College Library, offering summer visitors an opportunity to explore examples of the remarkable research and scholarly work being done by UW-Madison undergraduates.
Posters are selected for the display in recognition of their strong design, effective visual and written communication, creativity, and clear discussion of the broader significance of the work being presented.
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Summer 2026 Poster Display at College Library
Osseointegration (OI) in Amputees: A Scoping Review and Clinical Practice Guidelines
Presenter: Abigail N Cichocki | Mentor: Aaron Dingle
Multi-Parameter Virtual Sensing Using a Single ANN Model in an Automotive Engine
Presenter: Siqi Dai | Mentor: Saurabh Kumar Gupta
Maternal Mortality and Criminal Justice Impact: Analyzing 2016-2023 Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA) Data on Maternal Deaths in Wisconsin
Presenter: Yuan Gao | Mentors: Harald Kliems, Jill Denson
Deceleration of Ultra-relativistic AGN Jets
Presenter: Rachel Gerhardt | Mentor: Talia O’Shea
A Content Analysis of Public “A Day in My Life” TikTok Videos and Their Comments
Presenter: Gabrielle Hon | Mentors: Kyle Palmberg, Megan Moreno
Concussion Reporting Perceptions and Intentions Among Wisconsin High School Athletes
Presenter: Emily Legois | Mentor: Julie Stamm
What Kind of Words Support Early Mathematical Thinking? How Vocabulary, Non-Symbolic Ratio Processing, and Mathematical Abilities Correlate in Young Children
Presenter: Tatiana Mamalakis | Mentors: Percival Matthews, Sangmi Park
Botany Garden and Greenhouse Vouchering and Curation Project
Presenter: Neo Manavalan | Mentor: Cara Streekstra
Hidden Figures: Improving the Search for Lyman-alpha Emitters at Low Redshifts
Presenter: Mihir Manna | Mentor: Amy Barger
Recruitment and Retention of Asian American Women in a Community-Based Breast Cancer Prevention Program
Presenters: Carolyn Chi Nguyen, Chenxi Lu | Mentor: Jingxi Sheng
Fantasy Films: A Comparative Analysis of Biblical Allusions in Life of Pi and Mother!
Presenter: James O’Toole | Mentor: Sarah Jedd
Tracking Environmental Change in Wisconsin After the Last Glacial Maximum Through Lacustrine Sediment Cores
Presenter: Aaleeyah Padela | Mentors: Eric Giese, Jack Williams
Impacts of Vitamin D Supplementation and Nonrenal Calcitriol Production on Atherosclerotic Plaque Formation
Presenter: Hunter Potter | Mentor: Mark Meyer
Investigation of Cancer Stem Cell Populations in Patient Derived Cancer Organoid Models
Presenter: Amelia Rancour | Mentor: Jessica Lang
Development and Application of an Ensemble Approach to Causal Discovery in ICU Health Record Data
Presenter: Kayvan Sinha | Mentor: Neil Munjal
Sex-Dependent Differences in Ultrasonic Vocalizations of the TgF344-AD Rat Model at 12 Months
Presenters: Jaclyn Szabados, Siri Anderson, Chrystyna Prokulevich | Mentors: Michelle R. Ciucci, Denis Michael Rudisch
The Visual Cherenkov Meter: Using Photon Intensity Sensors To Measure the Energy Production of a Nuclear Reactor
Presenters: Henrik Thompson, Logan Kolasa, Bennett Zingler, Brett MacKay, Erich Nunez Viveros, Cecilia Adamczyk | Mentor: Charles A. Hirst
Soil Health in Organic Grain Systems
Presenter: Jade Tomberlin | Mentors: Xia Zhu-Barker, Gloria Ambrowiak
Comparative Analysis of Nocturnal Bird Species Richness and Feeding Guilds in Three Northern Tanzanian Landscapes
Presenter: Audrey Wegener | Mentors: Catherine Marler, Candice Malone, Egidius James Rwebuga
Minor Genetic Changes in Symbiotic V. fischeri Confer Major Host Shifts
Presenter: Ander Zheng | Mentor: Mark Mandel