Awards

Arts and Humanities

• 1st place: No Hat Upon His Head; A Forgotten American Obsession, David Mortenson
  Faculty mentor: Taylor Atkins
• 2nd place: Swift Studies: Taylor Swift, Poetry and Academia, Madison Ruhl
  Faculty mentor: Ryan Hibbett
• 3rd place: 1967 and 2020: Understanding Protesting between the Long, Hot Summer and George Floyd, Jon Dunlap
  Faculty mentor: Taylor Atkins

Biological and Chemical Sciences

• 1st place: Flying Safe: Reducing Bird Strikes at Northern Illinois University, Stacey Marcinkowski
  Faculty mentor: Jennifer Koop
• 1st place: Flotillin 1 is Required for the Polarized Deposition of Basement Membrane Proteins in Epithelial Cells, Vana Dakarian
  Faculty mentor: Olivier Devergne
• 1st place: Double Crossed by Parasite, Katelin Wolken-Wright
  Faculty mentor: Jennifer Koop
• 1st place: The Mississippi River Microbiome: Balancing Structural Stability and Nutrient-Driven Variability in Microbial Community Assembly, Shelby Huffington
  Faculty mentor: Michael Henson

Education

• 1st place: Conceptual Frameworks in Art Education, Melissa Jasso
  Faculty mentor: Kathryn Sowinksi
• 2nd place: A Pathway to Committment: Exploring the Steps and Stages Proceeding Commitment and Marriage, KaLilah Chears
  Faculty mentor: Scott Sibley
• 3rd place: The Effects of Multiplanar High Intensity Resistance Training on Increasing Bone Mineral Density on Middle Aged Females. The Stop Protocol, Ava Krall
  Faculty mentor: Rachel Kowal

Engineering

• 1st place: Estimating Pedestrian Crossing Times at Scramble Crossings via Machine Learning and Agent-Based Modeling, Sho Takami
  Faculty mentor: Kyu Cho
• 1st place: Analysis of Brain Signals Using Machine Learning Algorithms, Maria Corzo Roberti
  Faculty mentor: Kyu Cho
• 2nd place: Electron Beam Irradiation for Water Treatment of Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), Scott Mueller, Caleb Maue and Coltin Prentice
  Faculty mentor: Eric Lee

Health and Human Sciences

• 1st place: The Effectiveness of Kinesio taping for Pain Perception in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Topical Literature Review of Recent Randomized Control Trials, Jayla Scott
  Faculty mentor: Ting Xia
• 1st place: Brain Activation in Balanced vs. Unbalanced Bilingual Spanish-English Speakers: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) study, Gia Gurgone
  Faculty mentor: In-Sop Kim
• 2nd place: Expanding Brain Games: What Have We Learned from a Program Designed to Support Healthy Brain Aging for Older Adults?, Ella McKinney
  Faculty mentor: Jamie Mayer

Interdisciplinary Studies

• 1st place: The Study of Black Hair: Oppression in the Mainstream Media, Kia Clair
  Faculty mentor: T. Ajewole Duckett
• 1st place: Navigating Politics and Public Health: Analyzing Health Perspectives, Political Identity and Vaccine Views Among College Students, Molly Schmidt
  Faculty mentor: Tomoyuki Shibata
• 3rd place: Strategic Sustainability Communication: How Local Governments Can Use Social Media to Inspire Action, Hallela Wagner
  Faculty mentor: Colin Kuehl

Physical Sciences, Math and Computational Sciences

• 1st place: Detecting Storm Mode with Machine Learning, Sean Phipps
  Faculty mentor: Alex Haberlie
• 2nd place: Scientific Machine Learning for Estimation of Material Thermal Diffusivity, Hannah Havel
  Mentor: Alexander Heifetz
• 3rd place: Deep Learning Based Gait Video Data Validation, Michael Sensenbrenner
  Faculty mentor: Ziteng Wang

Social and Behavioral Sciences

• 1st place: Financial-Aid Challenges for Undocumented Students: Psychological Impacts and Potential Solutions, Marco Sotelo Avila and Jayce Stone
  Faculty mentor: Ibette Valle
• 1st place: Evaluating the Extent and Consequences of Polarization in the Supreme Court, Brianna Pechman
  Faculty mentor: April Clark
• 1st place: Perception of Criminal Cases: The Role of Race and Afrocentricity, Nya Thomas
  Faculty mentor: Katja Wiemer

Civic Engagement

Congressional Leaders: How old is too old?, Eli Freet
Faculty mentor: Scot Schraufnagel

Community Engaged Research

Downers Grove Environmental Sustainability Plan Implementation: Benchmark Analysis and Performance Management Plan, Allison Gazda and Jude St. Clair
Faculty mentor: Melissa Burlingame

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Do Educators Recognize Student Struggles? A Look into Mental Health Perceptions and Knowledge in Biology, Stephanie Drendel and Kanza Arshad
Faculty mentor: Heather Bergan-Roller

Honors Capstone

Evolution of House Fly Behavioral Resistance to a Bittering Agent Used in Toxic House Fly Baits, Lillian Garncarz
Faculty mentor: Bethia King

• 2024 Award Winners
• 2023 Award Winners
• 2022 Award Winners