2024 Oswald Research and Creativity Competition winners announced
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 22, 2024) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently announced the 22 undergraduate winners of the 60th annual Oswald Research and Creativity Awards. Chad Risko, faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and research ambassadors celebrated the winners and presented the awards.
Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Competition aims to promote undergraduate research and creative endeavors across all academic disciplines.
The competition spans various categories, including biological sciences, design (architecture, landscape architecture and interior design), fine arts (film, music, photography, painting and sculpture), humanities (from creative and critical research approaches), physical and engineering sciences and social sciences. Faculty in relevant fields anonymously review each submission using a set rubric.
Awards in each category are: First Place $350 and Second Place $200. Entries are judged on originality, clarity, scholarly or artistic contribution and the validity, scope and depth of the research. Organizers expressed special thanks to the judges for their continued support of undergraduate research.
This year’s Oswald student award winners are:
Biological Sciences
- First Place: Joy Bidros, biology and Lewis Honors College freshman; Mentor: Robin Cooper, College of Arts and Sciences; “The Effect of Magnesium Concentration on Myogenic Cardiac Function: Larval Drosophila”
- Second Place: Zoe McComas, environmental and sustainability studies and Lewis Honors College junior; and Zachary McComas, political science and Lewis Honors College junior; Mentors: Caleb Wilson, Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE) and Kenton Sena, Lewis Honors College; “The influence of forest age on the presence of insect natural enemy communities within reforested urban sites & their dispersion into managed landscapes”
Design
- First Place: Anna Melchers, Madelyn Blankenship and Kamryn Lin; all landscape architecture juniors; Mentor: Tracey Miller, Martin-Gatton CAFE; “Walk Across Time: A Living Exhibit for The Arboretum, State Botanical Garden of Kentucky”
- Second Place: Anna Quarles, product design junior; Mentor: Kristi Bartlett, College of Design; “Designing a Modern Sewing Bag”
Fine Arts
- First Place (tie): Anna Zheng, arts administration and digital media design junior; “it’s okay; i will protect you forever”
- First Place (tie): Vincent Donahue, art studio junior; Mentor: Brandon Smith, College of Fine Arts; “Waiting For The Invitation To Arrive”
- Second Place: Caleb Weber, music and biology and Lewis Honors College senior; Luise Wendroth, music performance and accounting and Lewis Honors College sophomore; Michell Lynch, music performance sophomore; Jackson Arnold, music education and performance senior; and Maia Smith, music performance and Lewis Honors College junior; “Coleridge-Taylor Clarinet Quintet”
Humanities: Creative
- First Place: Colin Nelson, natural resources and environmental science senior; Mentor: Michael Carter, College of Arts and Sciences; “Pallbearer Once, Twice”
- Second Place: Noah Edgar, English senior; Mentor: Margaret Whelan, College of Arts and Sciences; “Bullets of the Mind”
Humanities: Critical Research
- First Place: Faith Lindsay, arts administration with minors in art history and studio arts senior; Mentor: Miriam Kienle, College of Fine Arts; “Rewriting History: Hung Liu’s Transcultural Critique of the Portrayals of Chinese Women”
- Second Place: Ella Brown-Terry, English and Lewis Honors College senior; Mentor: Andrew McGillivray, University of Winnipeg; “Two Women, a War, and a Pandemic: A Comparative Analysis of Katherine Anne Porter’s Pale Horse, Pale Rider and Rosa Kuhn’s 1918 Love Letters”
Physical and Engineering Sciences
- First Place: Gracie Burrows, physics and Lewis Honors College junior; “Exploring Flux Expulsion on Halfwave and 5-Cell Coaxial Cavities.”
- Second Place: Adarsh Khullar, neuroscience and biology and Lewis Honors College freshman; “Computational Drug Optimization: Constructing Models to Inhibit EZH2”
Social Sciences
- First Place: Adarsh Khullar, neuroscience and biology and Lewis Honors College freshman; Mentor: Joe Martin, College of Communication and Information; “Security Investment, Narcotic Eradication, and Alternative Development: United States Intervention in Colombia.”
- Second Place: Reese Coffman, history and psychology senior; Mentor: Scott Taylor, College of Arts and Sciences; “Scottish Jacobitism and the ’45”
For more information, visit https://our.uky.edu/oswald-competition.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.