Undergraduate Researchers Receive Oswald Research and Creativity Awards
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 17, 2020) — The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently recognized and awarded 13 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity awards.
The Oswald Research and Creativity Competition was established in 1964 by then-President John Oswald as part of the university’s Centennial Celebration. The program is intended to promote creativity in all fields of study and provides annual awards in seven categories. The competition accepts reports of all forms of creativity and scholarship by undergraduate students.
Categories include Biological Sciences; Design, including architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design; Fine Arts, including film, music, photography, painting, and sculpture; Humanities, from creative and critical-research approaches; Physical and Engineering Sciences; and Social Sciences. All submissions are sent anonymously to faculty reviewers in related fields and are judged based on a rubric.
Awards in each category are: First Place: $350; Second Place: $200; and Honorable Mention, if applicable. Entries are judged on originality, clarity of expression, scholarly or artistic contribution, and the validity, scope and depth of the project or investigation.
This year's Oswald student award winners are:
Biological Sciences
Tyra Gilbert, First Place
Mentor: Chris Filmore Brainson
Metabolic Control of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 in Lung Disease and Lung Cancer
Rebecca Caldbeck, Second Place
Mentor: David Hildebrand
Feeding a growing population-Feasibility of leghemoglobin as visual marker for facilitating plant genetics based nutritional improvement
Design
Allyson McNulty, First Place
Mentor: n/a
The Pinnacle
Lainey Barschak, Second Place
Mentor: Angus Eade
Pit Stop
Fine Arts
Claire Thompson, First Place
Mentor: n/a
"Hag" (diptych)
Brianna Armstrong, Second Place
Mentor: n/a
"TO FREEDOM!"
Courtney Smith, Honorable Mention
Mentor: n/a
"The death of USPS"
Humanities: Creative
Haley Hintz, First Place
Mentor: Tara Tuttle
A Content Analysis of Representations of Women's Bisexuality in American Popular Music, 2008-2018
Tara Pulaski, Second Place
Mentor: n/a
A Legacy Through Carnations
Humanities: Critical Research
Haley Drake, First Place
Mentor: Miriam Kienle
Touch Sanitation: Maintenance Art as Ecofeminism
Sydney Wilcoxson, Second Place
Mentor: Kristen Mark
Consent and Sex Education: A Detailed Look into the Policy of 14 States and Washington, D.C.
Aly Norton, Honorable Mention
Mentor: n/a
The Guerrilla Girls: “Re-Inventing the ‘F’ Word” in the Context of Feminist Activism
Physical and Engineering Sciences
Rebecca Caldbeck, First Place
Mentor: David Hildebrand
Feeding a growing population-Feasibility of leghemoglobin as visual marker for facilitating plant genetics based nutritional improvement
Diana Sahibnazarova, Second Place
Mentor: Chris Crawford
A CsI Detector Array for the NDTGamma Test Measurement
Social Sciences
Sydney Wilcoxson, First Place
Mentor: Kristen Mark
Consent and Sex Education: A Detailed Look into the Policy of 14 States and Washington, D.C.
Haley Hintz, Second Place
Mentor: Zada Komara
A Digital Ethnography on the Role of Gender and the Use of Homeopathy: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
Elena Liu, Honorable Mention
Mentor: Yoko Kusunose
The Coffee in Your Cup: Reviewing Fair Trade’s Impact on Development
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.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.