UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Forty-one Penn State graduate students earned first place, second place, third place, or honorable mention prizes at the 2024 Graduate Exhibition, held March 18-22 on the University Park campus and online. More than 175 students participated in one of five categories throughout the event: research, design, performance, visual arts and video.
Founded in 1986, the Graduate Exhibition is a Penn State tradition that provides graduate students with an opportunity to discuss their research and scholarship with a general audience. Judges comprise local community members in addition to Penn State staff, faculty and students.
In addition to competing for a prize in each of the five exhibition categories, students can choose to be evaluated for two awards recognizing excellence in themes that are important for many areas of research and scholarship. The University Libraries hosts an annual Data Visualization Award, and the Exhibition also includes an award to recognize a presentation that explores themes of diversity, equity and inclusion as they relate to the student’s discipline.
In each category and for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award recipients, first place recipients receive $1,000, second place recipients receive $500, and third place recipients receive $250. For the Data Visualization Award, first place receives $275, second place receives $175 and honorable mention receives $75.
A full list of award recipients is below.
Design Option
First Place
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Andre Brandao de Castro, College of Arts and Architecture / Theatre, “The Scenic Experience of ‘Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812’”
Second Place
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Michael Ciaramitaro, College of Arts and Architecture / Theatre, “When Stars Collide: Designing Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812”
Performance Option
First Place
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Zephyr Willis, College of Arts and Architecture / Performance, viola, “Zoltán Kodály's Serenade for Two Violins and Viola Op. 12,” performed with Allison Smith, violin and Vinicius Vieira, violin
Second Place
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Isabella Scotti, College of Arts and Architecture / Performance, percussion, “‘Derivative’ by Jlin from the Album ‘Perspective’ - Electronic Composition to Acoustic Performance,” performed with Jack Kerness, percussion; Paul Robeson, percussion; and Michael Valente, percussion
Third Place
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Jonida Lazellari, College of Arts and Architecture / Piano Performance, piano, “Emma Lou Diemer- Toccata for Piano (1979)”
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Rui Zhang, College of Arts and Architecture / Piano Performance, piano, “Zhao Zhang’s Numa Ame and its Exploration of Eastern and Western Musical Elements”
Research Poster Option
Arts and Humanities
First Place
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Brandon Johnson, College of the Liberal Arts / Communication Arts and Sciences, “The Rhetoric of The CEO Presidency”
Second Place
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Sarah Cathry Dweik, College of the Liberal Arts / Communication Arts and Sciences, “Memory Work in the ‘Old Cities’ of Bethlehem and Hebron”
Third Place
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Minjin Kim, College of the Liberal Arts / Applied Linguistics, “Exploring the potential of using ChatGPT for rhetorical move-step analysis: The impact of prompt refinement, few-shot learning, and fine-tuning"
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Maria Jose Andrade Gabino, College of the Liberal Arts / Spanish, “Negotiating Homosociality and Masculinities: Pedro Henríquez Ureña and the Ateneo de la Juventud Mexicana”
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Gavin Davis, College of the Liberal Arts / English, “The Dividing Blade: The Sword as an Ideologically Contested Object in the Literature of Tenth Century England”
Engineering
First Place
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Yanqiu Yang, College of Agricultural Sciences / Agricultural and Biological Engineering, “Approach to Biodiversity Protection: Employing AI and IoT Systems for the Containment of Box Tree Moth Proliferation”
Second Place
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Sujay Hosur, College of Engineering / Electrical Engineering, “MagSonic: Hybrid Magnetic-Ultrasonic Wireless Interrogation of Millimeter-Scale Biomedical Implants with Magnetoelectric Transducer”
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Yue Yan, College of Engineering / Bioengineering, “Personalized Intravesical Immunotherapy for Bladder Cancer”
Health and Life Sciences
First Place
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Jisung Yuk, College of Health and Human Development / Kinesiology, “Concurrent anodal HD-tDCS to the posterior parietal cortex modulates the learning of a direction skill task”
Second Place
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Mengzhu Tang, College of Agricultural Sciences / Pathobiology, “The role of vitamin D in host resistance to H1N1 influenza infection”
Third Place
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Ram Neupane, College of Agricultural Sciences / Plant Pathology, “Peeling the Rotten Onion: A Three-Year Bacterial Survey of Onion Fields across Pennsylvania and New York”
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Sherif Olanrewaju, Nese College of Nursing / Nursing, “Invisible Minority: The Experiences of Migrant Nurses Caring for Older Adults in U.S Long-Term Care Facilities. A Preliminary Finding”
Physical Sciences and Mathematics
First Place
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Ayat Tassanov, Eberly College of Science / Chemistry, “Prediction and accelerated laboratory discovery of AMMQ3 compounds using tolerance factor approach”
Second Place
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Tejal Shirsat, College of Agricultural Science / Soil Science, “Spatio-temporal Heterogeneity in Snow and Glacier Melt Runoff: Implications for Water Management in the Western Himalayas Transboundary Chenab River Basin”
Third Place
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Shreya Mathela, Eberly College of Science / Chemistry, “Optical Signatures of Dopant Defect Coupling in Vanadium doped Tungsten Disulfide Monolayers”
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Rory Changleng, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences / Geosciences, “Diamonds trace formation of 3 Ga continental roots”
Social and Behavioral Sciences
First Place
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Makenna Lenover, College of the Liberal Arts / Anthropology, “Irritable bowel syndrome and the nutrition transition: contextualizing modern disease within cultural shifts”
Second Place
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Madisen Plunkert, College of Agricultural Sciences / Education, Development, and Community Engagement, “Implementing Agricultural Literacy in Pennsylvania Elementary and Middle Schools: Perceptions of Principals”
Third Place
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Sana Ahrar, College of Arts and Architecture / Architecture, “Mapping Community Dynamics: Integrating Social and Spatial Perspectives in decoding the functioning of Mixed-income Informal Neighborhoods”
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Daisuke Hayashi, College of Health and Human Development / Nutritional Sciences, “Reactivity to food cues and energy intake among women with binge-eating disorder: a pilot ecological momentary assessment study”
Video Option
First Place
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Connor Huxman, College of Engineering / Mechanical Engineering, “Flexible Orthopaedic Implants for Improved Bone Healing”
Second Place
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Yiwen Zhang, College of the Liberal Arts / Criminology, “Do “Plea Rewards” Exist in Prison?”
Third Place
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Megan Veltri, College of the Liberal Arts / Anthropology, “The Effect of Early and Late Life Chronic Social Stress on the Cellular Morphology of the Spheno-Occipital Synchondrosis in Female Post-natal Mice”
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Casey Tilley, College of the Liberal Arts / Comparative Literature, “Brazilian Cordel on the Amazon: Grassroots Poetry Between Extraction and Conservation”
Visual Arts Option
First Place
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Negar Dehghan, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Bake The Night Away: A Yalda Celebration Festival”
Second Place
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Forough Yazdanpanah, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Welcome to my world”
Third Place
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Elizabeth Krick, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Climate Changed: II-IV; and Untitled: I & II”
Data Visualization Award
First Place
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Ram Neupane, College of Agricultural Sciences / Plant Pathology, “Peeling the Rotten Onion: A Three-Year Bacterial Survey of Onion Fields across Pennsylvania and New York”
Second Place
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Jisung Yuk, College of Health and Human Development / Kinesiology, “Concurrent anodal HD-tDCS to the posterior parietal cortex modulates the learning of a direction skill task”
Honorable Mention
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Abby Gancz, College of the Liberal Arts / Anthropology, “Ancient dental calculus derived oral microbiomes as markers of disease in past populations”
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Kittiphum Pawikhum, College of Agricultural Sciences / Agricultural and Biological Engineering, “Design End-effector for Automatic Mushroom Harvesting”
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Yanqiu Yang, College of Agricultural Sciences / Agricultural and Biological Engineering, “Approach to Biodiversity Protection: Employing AI and IoT Systems for the Containment of Box Tree Moth Proliferation”
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Yue Yan, College of Engineering / Bioengineering, “Personalized Intravesical Immunotherapy for Bladder Cancer”
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award
First Place
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Keegan Peterson, College of Health and Human Development / Kinesiology, "More Barriers, Less Benefits: LGBTQ+ College Student’s Perceptions Impacting Physical Activity Participation”
Second Place
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Negar Dehghan, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Bake the Night Away: A Yalda Celebration Festival”
Third Place
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Forough Yazdanpanah, College of Arts and Architecture / Art, “Welcome to my world”