2025 Oswald Research and Creativity Competition winners announced
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 19, 2025) —The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently announced the 21 undergraduate winners of the 61st annual Oswald Research and Creativity Awards. Chad Risko, faculty director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, and Research Ambassadors, presented the awards.
Founded in 1964 by President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Competition promotes 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 (both 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 based on originality, clarity, scholarly or artistic contribution and the depth, scope and validity of the research.
This year's Oswald student award winners are:
Biological Sciences
-
First Place: Matthew Sanders, agricultural and medical biotechnology and Lewis Honors senior; Mentor: Tianyan Gao, College of Medicine; “Regulation of Wnt Signaling by Src-mediated Tyrosine Phosphorylation of LRP6 in Colorectal Cancer”
-
Second Place (tie): Elizabeth Elliott, biology and Lewis Honors senior; Mentor: Robin Cooper, College of Arts and Sciences; “The Effect of Calcium Ions on Resting Membrane Potential”
-
Second Place (tie): Delaney McNeese, biomedical engineering senior; Mentor: Brian Noehren, College of Health Sciences; “Effect of Gait Pattern on Patellofemoral Joint Stress During Walking in Individuals with Patellar Instability”
Design
-
First Place: Conner Sinewe, product design senior; Kiefer Howland, product design senior; Jackson Deye, product design senior; Mentor: SK O’Brien, College of Design; “Effect of Gait Pattern on Patellofemoral Joint Stress During Walking in Individuals with Patellar Instability”
-
Second Place: Apirada Chetawatee, product design senior; Mentor: Kristi Bartlett, College of Design; “Closing the Loop: A Second Life for Rice Bag Packaging”
Fine Arts
-
First Place: Anna Zheng, arts administration & digital media design senior; Mentor: Trish Gibson, College of Fine Arts; “Weight”
-
Second Place (tie): Jess Harrison, environmental & sustainability studies, psychology, and Lewis Honors senior; “Learn to Behave”
-
Second Place (tie): Aiden Hutchins, music performance and Lewis Honors senior; “Pond of Tears”
-
Second Place (tie): Dominic Luthje, music performance senior; Mentor: ToniMarie Marchioni, College of Fine Arts; “A Day at the Beach: A Programmatic Work for Solo Oboe”
Humanities: Creative
-
First Place: Katherine Neglia, human health sciences and Lewis Honors sophomore; “Perfectly Imperfect”
-
Second Place (tie): Beaux Hardin, English, French/francophone, and Lewis Honors senior; Mentor: Jeorg Sauer, College of Arts and Sciences; “‘If America Could Talk’: Archival Poetry Collection”
-
Second Place (tie): Nikhil Kumar, biochemistry, mathematics, and Lewis Honors sophomore; “The Ferric Taste of Sanctuary”
Humanities: Critical Research
-
First Place: Gracie Burrows, physics senior; Mentor: Carol Street, UK Libraries; “Thomas Henshaw, the Forgotten Alchemist who Saved the Scientific Journal”
-
Second Place (tie): Genesis Pena-Lozada, media arts, Spanish, history and Lewis Honors senior; Mentor: Tracy Campbell, College of Arts and Sciences; “To Defy the Order of Injustice: How Civil Rights Legislation Failed and the Limits of Vice Presidential Power, 1949”
-
Second Place (tie): Joey Sharpe, anthropology and Lewis Honors sophomore; “Mary Seacole: The Forgotten Doctoress of the Crimean War”
Physical and Engineering Sciences
-
First Place: Ethan Mueller, physics sophomore; Mentor: Ron Wilhelm, College of Arts and Sciences; “Photometric Analysis of Recurrent Nova T Coronae Borealis”
-
Second Place: Claire Newman, mechanical engineering and Lewis Honors senior; Mentor: Alexandre Martin, Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering; “An Investigation into Analytical Methods for Calculating the Effective Thermal Conductivity of Adhesively Bonded Honeycomb Sandwich Structures”
Social Sciences
-
First Place: Matthew Sanders, agricultural and medical biotechnology and Lewis Honors senior; Mentor: Nathan Vanderford, College of Medicine; “The Structural-Cultural Feedback Model: A Social Epidemiologic Framework for Cancer Disparities in Appalachian Kentucky”
-
Second Place: Katherine Neglia, human health sciences and Lewis Honors sophomore; “Chlorpromazine and the Birth of Psychopharmacology”