2020 Research Showdown Winners Announced

On March 10, the Office of Undergraduate Research announced the winners of the fifth annual Texas Student Research Showdown, a research communication competition. Participants created two-minute videos to explain their research and creative activity to a general audience. A panel of 15 judges scored the videos on their ability to capture an audience’s attention, tell a narrative, convey rigorous scholarship, and target a general audience. More than 1,500 current UT undergraduates also voted for an audience award winner.

This year’s event featured 43 videos from 62 students competing in two categories: science/technology/engineering and arts/humanities/social sciences. Videos included several team submissions, submissions from previous participants who took advantage of the opportunity to improve their work, and videos from students whose work has involved international travel and cooperation. The winning videos received awards generously funded by a gift from Kimberly and Scott Martin.

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Winners

First Place ($2000)
Mariel Calara, communication and leadership senior; Sophia Luongo, anthropology and Italian senior; Collin Ma, mechanical engineering senior; and Julia McNulty, public health senior

• Watch: The Roman Waste Crisis: An Ethnographic Study of Retake Roma and Community-Driven Solutions

Second Place ($750)
Naseem Shafaei, speech-language pathology senior

• Watch: Do You Know How I Feel? Investigating Communication Attitudes in Children Who Stutter

Honorable Mentions
Ely German, studio art sophomore

• Watch: Life Through Line

Austin Ali, music composition and Plan II senior

• Watch: A Musical Portrait of Triton, the Rogue Moon of Neptune

Michael Sanchez, Plan II senior; Anastasiya Byelousova, Plan II senior; Parth Gupta, computational engineering and Plan II senior; and Lyndsey Wang, history and Plan II senior

• Watch: Lowering Maternal Mortality Rates: What Texas Can Learn from the Republic of Georgia 

Science, Technology, and Engineering Winners

First Place ($2000)
Maxx Wilson, mechanical engineering honors senior; and Seong Hyo Ahn, mechanical engineering senior

• Watch: Minimally Invasive Surgery using Soft Robots with Variable Stiffness

Second Place ($750)
Philip Tan, electrical engineering honors senior

• Watch: Blood Pressure E-Tattoo: It's Ultra-Soft!

Honorable Mentions
Jiayin Li, biology senior

• Watch: Stopping Metastatic Breast Cancer and The Future of Cancer Research

Hannah McChesney, biology and Plan II senior

• Watch: Native Pollinators Research

Abby Rex, biology honors junior; and Tien Nguyen, biology honors junior

• Watch: Caffeinated Coli

Thomas Quintero, geological sciences senior

• Watch: Knox Rocks

Audience Award ($1000)
Robbie Hutton, chemical engineering senior; Amanda Macfarlane, public relations and textiles and apparel senior; Heny Patel, chemical engineering senior; Mamadou Balde, chemical engineering senior; Andrea Gonzalez, chemical engineering senior; and Iann Karamali, mechanical engineering and humanities senior

• Watch: SAFE Biodegradable Sanitary Pad