Throughout April, students across the University shared their impactful, world-changing research and creative activity through the many events making up Research Week 2025.
Research Week kicked off with the Office of Undergraduate Research announcing the 10th annual Texas Student Research Showdown winners. Students participating in this competition created 2-minute videos to explain their research and creative activity to a general audience, and a panel of faculty and staff judges scored the videos on their research communication. This year's event featured 41 videos from students competing in two categories (science, technology, and engineering; arts, humanities, and social sciences).
Next, the Office of Undergraduate Research hosted the annual Longhorn Research Poster Session in the Perry-Castañeda Library on April 9. More than 200 students presented large-format research posters at this interdisciplinary event. Faculty judges made awards based on presenters' poster designs and oral presentations.
Wrapping up Research Week, the Office of Undergraduate Research hosted a first-ever Research Recognition Reception on April 14 to celebrate the achievements of student researchers who have received campus-wide awards or participated in selective interdisciplinary research programs.
Elsewhere on campus, spring research events hosted outside Undergraduate College included the student-organized Capital of Texas Undergraduate Research Conference, the interdisciplinary research and internships presented at the Bridging Disciplines Programs poster session, and poster sessions and symposia in the Plan II Honors Program, Arts and Entertainment Technologies, the College of Natural Sciences, and other units.
Texas Student Research Showdown
STEM Category
First Place ($1,500)
- Rhea Lazar, Holsen Moore, and Yuni Lee
Second Place ($500)
Audience Award ($1,000)
Honorable Mentions: Check out the honorable mentions on the OUR website.
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Category
First Place ($1,500)
- Kevin Bobby, Andrew Alan, Suraj Chaturvedi, Sara Hashim, Ananya Tirmula, Shubhranshu (Rishi) Mishra, Aleeza Virani, Srishanti Chanal, Nethra Middela, and Keshv Srinivasan
Second Place ($500)
- Sarah Tarrance and Avery Cooney
Honorable Mentions: Check out the honorable mentions on the OUR website.
Longhorn Research Poster Session
First Place ($750)
- Bibhasha Tripathi, Cassandra Cardenas, and Cassidy Bernstein
- Make up your Mindset: School Counselors' Beliefs About Students' Post-Secondary Outcomes
Second Place ($500)
- Sriya Cheemalamarri and Xiaowo Kang
- Engineering Organoids for Exploration of Stiffness Related Immune Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
Third Place ($250)
- Areli Velasquez, Alondra Trejo, Catherine Byelousova, Zachary Courreges, Kimberly Tran, Sommer Montes, and Zenaida Rodriguez
- Exploring Thermal Variability in Urban Creeks: The Combined Influence of UHI and Hydrogeology
Audience Award ($1,000)
- Daniel Vo, Annie Nguyen, Julia Gancayco, Sophia Dai, Arianna Digman, and Trinity Ivy
- Enhanced Rock Weathering Carbon Dioxide Removal Viability in Central Texas
Poster Design Award (tie, $125)
- Anya Gokul, Elizabeth Schweers, Mihir Saripalli, and Matthew Scheberle
- Spatial Design Strategies to Reduce Transfer Penalties in Urban Transit Hubs
- Sofia Leal Cavazos
- Root to Recovery: Bio-Engineered Solutions for Soil Stability
- Areli Velasquez, Alondra Trejo, Catherine Byelousova, Zachary Courreges, Kimberly Tran, Sommer Montes, and Zenaida Rodriguez
- Exploring Thermal Variability in Urban Creeks: The Combined Influence of UHI and Hydrogeology
- Trace Larue, Collin Haese, Diego Guajardo, and Manuel K. Rausch
- Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve Repair: An In-Vitro Study of Kinematic Alterations
Honorable Mentions: Check out the honorable mentions on the OUR website.