SLU Sigma Xi Announces Award Winners from 2026 Research Symposium
SLU Chapter Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society held its annual research symposium on Monday, March 30, 2026.
There were more than 110 abstracts from various disciplines. Over 50 volunteers from across campus served as judges for the posters.
Postdoc – All Disciplines
- Zachary N. Harris, Jackson Braley, Eric Cassetta, Jared Crain, Lee DeHaan, David Van Tassel, Allison Miller, and Matthew J. Rubin - Early seedling phenotyping as a low-cost alternative to genomic selection in Kernza
School of Science and Engineering (SSE) Student Awards in the Physical Sciences
Graduate Awards
- First Place (tie): Lillian Adams and Jamie Neely - Directing Iron Complexes Toward Multicomponent Reactivity with a Focus on Isocyanide Substrates as Final Component:
- First Place (tie): Meghan Lingle, Trevor Pentland, DaPhane Marroquin, and Dana A. Baum - Electrochemical investigations of redox cofactor-binding aptamers.
- Third Place (tie): Wilfredo J. Robinson Moore, Sean Kee, Jennifer L. Tennison, Nicholas A. Giudice, and Jenna Gorlewicz - Let's Talk Graphs: LLM-Powered Conversational Assistance for Nonvisual, Free-Form Graph Exploration on Touchscreens
- Third Place (tie): Kristina Pinkham, Amelia Ridolfo, Avantika Jain and Koyal Garg - A Three-Dimensional Biomimetic In Vitro Model to Simulate Schwann Cell-Mediated Peripheral Nerve Repair
Undergraduate Awards
- First Place: Megan Hughes, Trevor Pentland, and Dana A. Baum - Optimizing the Elution of Flavin Aptamers from Modified Gold Electrodes,
- Second Place: Danielle Rogers, Peter Ndungu Mwaura, J.S. Onésimo Sándoval, and Dana Marmolejo - Mapping Data Center Clusters and Estimating Energy–Water Demand Across Cooling Strategies
- Third Place: Margaret Dorringtion, Rebekah Boos, and Silviya P. Zustiak - Nanocomposite hydrogel microsphere drug delivery device for sustained release of charged molecules,
Graduate Biological and Life Sciences
Support provided by The Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and the College of Arts and Sciences.
- First Place: Sashima Liyanage and Ajith Karunarathne - Engineering of Melanopsin’s G Protein Selectivity
- Second Place: Grace Echele and Susan Spencer - Analysis of interactions between two mitotic spindle proteins: HURP and CAPS
- Third Place: Fuad Al Hasan Bin Enam, Michael Borovik, Trent F. K. Hardwick, Patrick Hinkle, Koyal Garg, and Alex J. Reiter - Eccentric Contraction Improves Functional Outcomes in a Rat Model of Traumatic Muscle Injury
Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation (IDBI) Undergraduate Student Awards in the Biological Sciences
- First Place: Henna Soneta, Amanda De Andrade Costa, Jada Lee, and Milan Chheda - Investigating the role of senescent microglia in glioblastoma progression following cranial irradiation
- Second Place: Brianna Thomas, Gabriela Soltys, and Yuqi Wang - Exploring the role of Sumoylation in Cellular Responses to Nitrogen Starvation
- Third Place: Sean Donovan, Alec Dickison, Gavin Walker, Govind Nair, and Blythe Janowiak - Impact of Socioeconomics on the Presence of Environmental Tetracycline Resistance in Saint Louis City Parks
Graduate Social and Behavioral Sciences
Support provided by The College of Arts and Sciences, The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The International Faculty and Staff Association (IFAA), and Hisako Matsuo, Ph.D.
- First Place (tie): Anna E. Hendricks, Levi S. Rosing, Hailey A. Hatch, and Ruth H. Warner - The Influence of Gender Conformity on Perceptions of Nonbinary Identities
- First Place (tie): Alanna Buechele and Elizabeth Roepke - Impact of Assessment Instrument Selection on Standard Scores for Speech Sound Disorders
- Third Place: Effects of Health Literacy Interventions on Heart Failure Knowledge and Self-Care: An Updated Systematic Review
Undergraduate Social and Behavioral Sciences
Support provided by The College of Arts and Sciences, The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The International Faculty and Staff Association (IFAA), and Hisako Matsuo, Ph.D.
- First Place: Leliftu H. Ahmed, Soraya M. Patel, Stephanie Hartling - Sociocontextual factors influence prosocial aggression
- Second Place: Annalyse Richter and Elaina Osterbur - The Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Student-Athletes
- Third Place: Madeleine O’Brien and Janet Kuebli - Thriving Together: Everyday Kindness and Connection in Montessori Practice
New members to Sigma Xi were also recognized and participated in an induction ceremony.
SLU Sigma Xi thanks all those who participated in the event and thank The College of Arts and Sciences, The School of Science and Engineering, The Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, The Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation, and The International Faculty and Staff Association for financial support.
Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society is the world’s largest multidisciplinary honor society for scientists and engineers. Its mission is to enhance the health of the research enterprise, foster integrity in science and engineering, and promote the public understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition.
Sigma Xi chapters can be found at colleges and universities, government laboratories, and industry research centers around the world. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members. Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society was founded in 1886, and it has over 500 chapters in the world.
The SLU Chapter was founded in 1944. Anyone interested in becoming a member should contact blythe.janowiakmulligan@slu.edu.