UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries presented its ninth annual Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy honors at the end of the spring 2026 semester to more than 100 students at 19 Penn State campuses.
“The University Libraries Undergraduate Research Awards recognize undergraduate research that showcases exemplary information literacy skills,” said Dawn Amsberry, undergraduate research and instruction librarian and coordinator of the award program. “This year’s awardees demonstrated a high level of skill in using and documenting information to support their research.”
University Libraries employees follow a unified set of judging and learning outcomes criteria for participants as they assess student research posters and presentations. Judges from the University Libraries considered or discussed with participants:
- Research process, strategies, and selection of sources to support the research question and information on the importance of these sources.
- Source integration to understand the scholarly conversation on the topic and to help influence the direction of the research project.
- Attribution and consistent citations for any quotes, tables, graphs, photographs and other content used in the poster that are not the student's own work.
- An understanding of the social, ethical or economic considerations in accessing information and the student's understanding of their role as an information producer.
The following are the 2026 Undergraduate Research Award recipients. Honorees are listed according to the campus event in which they participated.
Penn State Abington
- First Place: Brooke Spang, Fourth Year, English, "Premodern Poets in the 21st Century: Editing Cavendish for All"
- Second Place: Kayli Nunez, Third Year, Project and Supply Chain Management, "Gamifying International Stories with AR to Enhance the First-year experience"
- Third Place: Raoda Haque, Second Year, Information Technology, "Assessing Intercultural Sensitivity in Experiential Travel Learning"
Penn State Altoona
- First Place: Rae Gallagher, Criminal Justice major, “Museum of the Unfiled Body: Glossary-of-Flesh as Living Art in Crip Time”
- Second Place: Blane Davidson, Electro-Mechanical Engineering Technology major, “A Terracotta-Inspired Lattice with Superior Energy Absorption Performance”
- Third Place: Koryn Tisdale, Biology major, “The Language of Pain: Miscommunication and Medical Judgment”
Penn State Beaver
- First place: Phoenix McCafferty: “Determining the Genetic Diversity of the Equine Population of Western Pennsylvania using Microsatellites AND The effect of quarantine-imposed social isolation on the development of social-cognitive skills”
- Second Place: Auriane Pommier: “Synthesis and Characterization of an Iron (III) POSS Trimethylamine N-oxide Compound”
- Honorable mention: Brielle Jacobs and Gracie Turyan: “Trauma's Effect on Perpetrators: A Case Study on Bojack Horseman”
Penn State Behrend
- First Place: Jiyue Chen, Computer Science, "Using Reinforcement Learning to Predict and Mitigate Emergency Department Overcrowding"
- Second Place: Heidi Murdock, Elementary and Early Childhood Education, "The Impacts of Non-Canine Companion Animals on Child Development"
Penn State Berks
- Deanna Cao (third-year, Biology major), “Computational Amino Acid Tutorial for Learning: Integrated with Online Network (CATLion)”
- Ashley Musante (senior, Psychology major), “Why we miss GPS errors: The role of self-efficacy and cognitive bias”
- Talan Nguyen (second-year, Mechanical Engineering major), “Thermorph: Engineering Self-Transforming Structures Through Programmable Material Actuation:
Penn State Brandywine
- Honorable Mention: Christopher Rusnak Jr., senior, “Cyber Threat Intelligence Dashboard”
- Honorable Mention: Stephanie Mallon, sophomore, “The Problem of Media Using the Catholic Church to Create Fear”
Penn State DuBois
- Danny Redding: “3D-Printed Housing: Wall Systems and the Effects on Affordable Housing Applications”
Penn State Greater Allegheny
Spring 2026
- First Place: Monjeana Henderson, “Determinants of Violent Offender Recidivism: From Static Risks to Reentry Stress”
- First Place: Ashley David, “Prenatal Use of Acetaminophen and the Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disorders”
- Second Place: Aiden Yusckinsky, “Myth or Medicine: Dry Needling”
- Honorable Mention: Emma Campbell, Keren Medina, “From Roots to Equity: The Legacy of TRIO Programs and their Role to Empower Underserved Communities”
- Honorable Mention: Ira Campos, “Systems Neuroscience, Organ-Specific Morphometric Changes in Wood Frogs Exposed to 6-PPD Quinone”
- Honorable Mention: Mariyam, Baytar, Tasneem Ekhtiar, “Early Indicators for Pre-term Birth”
- Honorable Mention: Lauren Gaydos, “Criminal Justice, Unequal Justice: How Juvenile Justice Policies Impact Communities and Paths Toward Equity”
- Honorable Mention: Riley, Schmidt, Psychology, “The Case of Leonard Mack: The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony”
Fall 2025
- Honorable Mention: Ashley David, “Histamine Receptors and the Potential Treatment for Neuropsychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Disorders”
- Honorable Mention: Rose Griffin, “Do Crisis Intervention Teams Improve Policing Outcomes?”
- First Place: Monjeana Henderson, “Antisocial Personality Disorder: It’s Not What You Think”
- Honorable Mention: Abby Ingold, “Gene Therapy–Principles, Applications, and Challenges”
- Honorable Mention: Aria Majcher, “The Role of Paternal Epigenetics in Offspring”
- Honorable Mention: Makenzie Mathers, “Bipolar Disorder: Age of Onset and Treatment Prognosis”
Penn State Harrisburg
Undergraduate Student winners
- Zoee Edmonds, junior, Criminal Justice, “Collective Bargaining for the Badge: Police unions' influence on salary and benefits”
- Ayomide Ojowa, senior, Marketing, “Cultural Misalignment and Global Marketing Failures: A Hofstede-Based Case Study of Dolce & Gabbana’s China Campaign”
- Aratrika Chakrabarti, sophomore, Biology “Why Eligibility Doesn’t Guarantee Access: Insurance Gaps in U.S. Veterans Health Care”
Honorable Mentions
- Makayla Smith, senior, Criminal Justice, “Police Appearance Policies in PA and NC”
- Abbas Bangash, first-year, Genetic and Developmental Biology, “Chemoinformatic and Proteinomic Analyses of Chemical Analogs Inspired by Indolizium and Bisbenzylisoquinoline Compounds”
- Mitchell Elseaidy, junior, Integrative Science; Co-Author: Alexandra Evans, Biomedical Sciences, Ph.D. Candidate, “Analysis of Neuronal Activity Marked by cFos Expression Following Intranasal Insulin Administration in Mice”
- Jessica Sutton, sophomore, Biobehavioral Health, “Eye-Gaze Data to Support Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Development for Children with Multiple Disabilities”
Graduate Student winners
- Meme Eichner, Master's Candidate, Business Administration, “Comparative analysis of the sticks-and-stones homologs in Drosophila: implications for studying human congenital nephrotic syndrome”
- Payton Becker, Ph.D. Candidate, American Studies “Marrying the American Dream: The White Wedding Dress in Advertisements During World War I”
- Kadhem Aljabr, Ph.D. Candidate, Public Administration, “The Role of Value Congruence in Enhancing Public Sector Performance: A Mediated-Moderation Model of Organizational Identification and Public Service Motivation”
Honorable Mentions
- Armil Djara, Ph.D. Candidate, Public Administration, “Navigating the Merit-Politics Paradox: A Two-Track Sensemaking Model of Promotion”
- Olanrewaju Ayodele, Master's Candidate, Civil Engineering, “Smart Training for Smart Plants: Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence in Wastewater Treatment”
- Nicholas Schlosser, Master's Candidate, Civil Engineering, “An AI-Driven Domain Adaptation Framework for Autonomous Bridge Condition Assessment Using Nondestructive Evaluation”
- Ishita Agarwal, Master's Candidate, Clinical Psychology, “Substance Use, Interpersonal Style and Treatment Rejection in College Students”
- Zhihao Jin, Master's Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, “Effect of Pressure on Ionic Conductivity and Microstructure of Ta-dopped and High-entropy Lithium Garnet”
- Shreeniket Pawar, Ph.D. Candidate, Engineering Systems, “Magnetic Thermal Therapy for GBM: Quantifying Thermal-Dose Uncertainty Under Sparse Thermometry Constraints”
- Neha Dnyaneshwar Bulbule, Master's Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, “Effect of Ti on Ionic Conductivity in Al and Ga Substituted High Entropy Lithium Garnet”
- Angiemarit Garcia, Master's Candidate, Applied Clinical Psychology “Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dominican Immigrants Experiencing Depression”
Penn State Hazleton
- First Place: Quinlan Roche, "Biokinetic Sensors and Perceived Exertion Are Functionally Inadequate for Gauging Intensity and Upper Extremity Joint Stress in Baseball Throwers"
- Second Place: Hannah Arias, "Autumn patterns of bird mortality from window collisions on the Penn State, Hazelton campus 2022, 2024, and 2025"
- Third Place: Marissa Burger, "Experiential Avoidance and Mindfulness Predict Social Anxiety in College Students"
- Fourth Place: Haley Walsh, "The Life and Mind of Hildegard von Bingen"
- Fifth Place: Avery Bogdon and Ry Kennedy, "Habitual Texting While Driving: Role of Experiential Avoidance, Delay Discounting, and Big Five Personality Traits"
- Sixth Place: Esha Patel, "Sustainability is used more as a Marketing Tactic than a Genuine Effort in the Hospitality Industry"
Penn State Lehigh Valley
- Cora Oberly, Kiara Padilla, "Toward Cautious Integration: AI and Epistemic Authority in Transdisciplinary Research"
- Anna Kerns, Ruthanne Troutman, "Does Health Literacy Influence Vaccine Hesitancy? The Role of Education, Religion, and Political Ideology"
- Katilin Solt, Anderson Bastien, Erika Brost, Vanessa Guevara, Natalie Mullen, "Personality and Cross-Group Friendships: A Model Test of Mediation and Moderation Analyses"
Penn State Mont Alto
- Kassidy Stumbaugh, third-year, nursing, "Moral Distress in Pediatrics"
- Blake Willi, first-year, nursing, "Barriers to LGBTQ+ Healthcare Access and LGBTQ+ Suicide Rates"
Penn State New Kensington
- Kali Barnett, fourth-year, biobehavioral health, "The Relationship Between Mental Health and Atopic Disorders"
- Daniel Breazeal, first-year, aerospace engineering, "Analysis of Polymer Degradation Trends from NASA MISSE 2 Missions"
- Jayden Wise, second-year, psychology, "The Blind Mind’s Eye: Simulating Aphantasia through Articulatory Suppression to Explore Visual Creativity "
Penn State Schuykill
- Kelsey Jappah, “From Shield to Sword: ICE's Shift into Political & Financial Enforcement Against Immigrants”
- Sierra Wishnefsky, “Psychological Effects of Parental Divorce on Children and Adolescence”
- Emma Wollyung, “Better in Denim: Burkean Identification and Gap’s Viral Campaign”
Penn State Scranton
- Rose Morel, Human Development & Family Studies, "Do Parent Gender and Custody Status Affect Parental Gatekeeping After Divorce?"
- Taylor Florey, Psychology, "Short-form Social Media and its Effects on Emerging Adults' Empathy"
- Anette Stevanoski, Nursing, "Breast Milk vs. Formula on a Premature Infant's Immune System"
- Elizabeth Kozy, Nursing, "The Effects of Stress-Reducing Activities on Physical and Mental Health"
- Jaina Nortey, Nursing, "Mental Health Misdiagnosis in African Americans"
- Jade Nguyen, Nursing, "Aquatic Therapy for Post-Stroke Patients"
- Samantha Cortazar, Nursing, "Horizontal vs. Upright Birthing Position"
- Le Pham, Nursing, "SSRIs vs. Lifestyle Adjustments for Adolescents with Depression"
- April Paciotti, Nursing, "Impact of Respiratory Screening in Burn Pit Exposed Veterans"
- Rowan Mulligan, English, "In Defense of Sex: Madonna and the Male Ga(y)ze"
Penn State Shenango
- Honorable Mention: Alex Kavanagh, “The Role of Small-Stature Ornamentals in Urban Climate Resistance: Insights from Peperomia”
Penn State University Park
Undergraduate Research Awards: Excellence in Information Literacy
- John Sr. And Kimlyn Patishnock Grand Prize: Suryansh Sijwali, “Partial-Credit RL for Reliable Code Generation with Small Language Models”
- First Place: Katie Scott, “Transcriptional Repression of a Chemoreceptor by Quorum-Sensing Regulator Inhibits Host Colonization”
- Second Place: Aratrika Chakrabarti, “Why Eligibility Doesn’t Guarantee Access: Insurance Gaps in U.S. Veteran Health Care”
- Third Place: Jessica Sutton, “Eye-Gaze Data to Support Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Development for Children with Multiple Disabilities”
- Honorable Mention: Massimo Ragonese, “Sugar Accumulation of Arabidopsis thaliana in Response to Cold Stress”
- Honorable Mention: Thy Nguyen, “Image-based unitization and associative memory retrieval in older adults: An fMRI study”
- Honorable Mention: James Appelgrijn, “Men in Tights to Gritty Gods: How Audience's Values Have Shaped Superheroes in Cinema, 1950-Present Day”
- Honorable Mention: Damini Nair, “Effects of Oral Hormonal Contraceptives on Alcohol Use Behavior and Ovarian Function”
Data Visualization Awards
- First place: Thy Nguyen "Image-based unionization and associative memory retrieval in older adults: an fMRI study"
- Second Place: Quinn Burnett "Distinct sourdough microbiomes alter FODMAPs of final breads"
- Honorable Mention: Ciara Garvey "Investigating the Role of Centric Chromatin in Neuronal Microtubule Regulation"
Penn State Wilkes-Barre
- First Place: Pacelyn King, “Behind The Comments: Analyzing Audience Sentiment on TikTok Beauty Content”
- Second Place: Jacob Seymour, “The Economic Impact of Sunday Hunting in Pennsylvania”
- Third Place: Adam Musto, “The Impact of Technology on Personal Injury Law”
- Third Place: Maya Davison, “From Exposition to Fallout: Narrative Analysis of Jimmy McGill’s Moral Decline in Better Call Saul”
- Third Place: Dulcie Zeveney, Morgan Gress, Eddie Slavin, Andrew Bolesta, “How Many Pulleys Would It Take To Lift…”
Penn State York
- Ashley Morales, “Immigration During the Civil War”
- Kajal Solanki, “Photopolymerization of Flowable Dental Composites”
- Joseph Mountain, Jacob Mountain, “The Connection Between the Rate of Endothelialization and Patient Age Following Watchman Device Implantation”
About the awards
The University Libraries Undergraduate Research Awards: Excellence in Information Literacy are awarded at most Penn State campuses in the spring semester during undergraduate research exhibitions. To find out more about the award at a specific campus, including student eligibility, contact the individual campus' local librarian.
At the University Park campus, the John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy is awarded to students who exhibited outstanding undergraduate student research at the Undergraduate Research Exhibition. The grand prize for this award is $500.
Questions about this award and other programs related to undergraduate research can be directed to Dawn Amsberry, instruction librarian, at dua4@psu.edu.