On March 4, 2024, the Office of Undergraduate Research announced the winners of the ninth annual Texas Student Research Showdown at an award ceremony.
Students participating in this research communication competition created 2-minute videos to explain their research and creative activity to a general audience. A panel of faculty and staff judges scored the videos on their ability to capture an audience’s attention, tell a narrative, convey rigorous scholarship, and target a general (rather than expert) audience. Current undergraduates also voted for an audience award winner.
This year’s event featured 40 videos from 67 students competing in two categories (science, technology, and engineering; arts, humanities, and social sciences). The submitters of the winning videos received awards generously funded by a gift from Kimberly and Scott Martin.
STEM category
Honorable mention
Nisu Karki
The Metabolomic Fingerprint of Texas Tempranillo Grapevines
Catherine Nguyen, Amy Pham
PLC CRISPR Knockout
Carolina Ponce, Justin Le, Constanza Blanco
A Sustainable Textile Biomaterial with Antimicrobial Properties
Sarayu Parthasarathy, Anya Chatterjee
LAMPing the Way: Rapid Malaria Detection in Resource-Scarce Settings
Krisha Chaudhari, Brian Matibag, Katherine Dullen, Alexa Morton, Vibhav Iyengar
Assa-cin
2nd place, $500
Fiona Wyrtzen
Mangrove Carbon Stock
1st place, $1,500
Annie Nguyen
Carbon Gardener
Audience award, $1,000
Carolina Ponce, Justin Le, Constanza Blanco
A Sustainable Textile Biomaterial with Antimicrobial Properties
Arts, humanities, and social sciences category
Honorable mention
Chantal Alvarado
Long-term effects of academic discrimination
Cedar Etherington
William J. Battle Sculptural Casts
Scottie Hutchens, Olivia Jiang, Kaylyn Perry, Angelica Powell, Grace Pratchett
Softening the Blow of Social Rejection
Lizette Wong
Fermata Reeds
2nd place, $500
Brooklynn Cnare, Ellie Slaton
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Documentation
1st place, $1,500
Isha Bhasin
The Rotten Reality of Avocados