2025

2025 USRSC Award Winners

Oral Presentations –

Business Session:

1^st prize
Ethan Broccolina
The Effect of Maryland’s 2022 Minimum Wage Increase on Employment in the Fast-Food Industry
Faculty Mentor: Kerry Tan (Economics)

Natural Applied Session:

1^st prize
Olivia Welch
Presumptive Testing for the Comparison of Human and Animal Blood Droplets
Faculty Mentor: Rhys Williams (Forensic Studies)

Social Science Session: 

1^st prize
Annabella Ritter-Pleitez
No Corn, No Country: A Content Analysis on U.S. Immigration Policy
Faculty Mentor: Oral-Matt Beverlin (Political Sciences)

2^nd prize
Lauren Quinn
The Impact of Alpha Brain Wave Enhancement on Visual and Auditory Reaction Times in Athletes
Faculty Mentor: Jeff Lating (Psychology)

3^rd prize
Benjamin Bison
Potential Strategies and Implications of China's Taiwan Takeover
Faculty Mentor: Carsten Vala (Political Sciences)

Social Science, Humanities, and Fine Arts:

1^st prize
Sophia Randle
Charm City
Faculty Mentor: Professor Mary Beth Akre (Visual Arts)

2^nd prize
Victoria Scott, Nima Rafei, Brennon Schifman
Examining Cultural Appropriation Attitudes, Personality and Privilege Awareness in Undergraduate Students
Faculty Mentor: Michiko Iwasaki (Psychology)

3^rd prize
Olivia Pare
Incomplete Justice: Evaluating Transitional Justice for Survivors of Wartime Sexual Violence
Faculty Mentor: Mary Kate Schneider (Political Science)

Poster Presentations –

Education Session:

1^st prize
Katharine Burris
Word Games to Enhance Vocabulary Comprehension for English Language Learners
Faculty Mentor: Melissa Mulieri

 2^nd prize
Jackie Lewis
Decoding Decoding
Faculty Mentor: Melissa Mulieri

3^rd prize (tie)
Tie Manuel
Foundational Literacy Components
Faculty Mentor: Melissa Mulieri

3^rd prize (tie)
Christina Franciosa
Ownership and Responsibility in Singing
Faculty Mentor: Antoinette Carr

3^rd prize (tie)
Molly Schindler
Mastering Sight Words
Faculty Mentor: Melissa Mulieri

Natural Applied Session: 

1^st prize
Tina Sung, Sophie Werner
Determining the Activity of Small Batch Insulin in Promoting Glucose Uptake in 3T3-L1
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Scheifele (Biology)

2^nd prize
Grace Mills, Muskaan Wadhava
Optimizing screening and quantification methods for glargine production in Pichia pastoris yeast
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Scheifele (Biology)

3^rd prize
Brady Westerberg
Investigation of Turbulence Model Impact on Numerical Simulation of Savonius Vertical
Faculty Mentor: Robert Timothy Bailey (Engineering)

3^rd prize
Aenisha Goti, Kaylee Serio, Eduardo Ugarte
The study of miRNA-222 to drug-resistant and drug-sensitive breast cancer cell lines
Faculty Mentor: Armina Kazi (Biology)

Social Science Session with Business:

1^st prize
Sophia Launay-Fallasse, Kayla Nunes
Investigating Semantic and Visual Interference in Monolinguals Using the Stroop Task
Faculty Mentors: Kathleen Siren; Tepanta Fossett (Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences)

2^nd prize
Victoria Marcondes
Predictors of Fear of Falling
Faculty Mentor: Christopher Higginson (Psychology)

3^rd prize
Gretchen Morris, Ben Chico, Sara Jaffie, Emma O’Hare
Accounting for Early School Start Times: Commute Times and Mode of Transportation for U.S. Teens
Faculty Mentor: Amy R. Wolfson (Psychology)