Student achievement on display at the UM Undergraduate Research Showcase

The 2024 Undergraduate Research Showcase was host to more than 140 undergrads who shared their research findings with the wider UM community. The event highlights the important experiential learning opportunities provided through student research at UM. 

“I congratulate all student participants in the Showcase,” said Dr. Hans-Joachim Wieden, Associate Vice-President (Partnerships, Knowledge Mobilization & Innovation). “The sense of community and belonging experienced at the Undergraduate Research Showcase was truly inspiring. Research experience at the undergraduate level expands our horizons and can open doors to new career opportunities.”

The Showcase includes cash prizes in five categories across two streams of competition, oral presentations and research poster displays, judged by more than 90 subject matter experts representing 10 UM faculties.

Undergraduate Research Showcase 2024 winners

Applied Sciences

Poster format

1st– Hayley Turner, Getting to the Heart of Wearable Technology: A Proposed Validation Study of the Fitbit Inspire 3 in a Pediatric Sample
Research Supervisor: Leslie E. Roos, Faculty of Science

2nd– Shirley Morris, Using insect bites on plasticine sentinel caterpillars to identify insect predators in agroecosystems.
Research Supervisor: Alejandro Costamagna, Facuty of Agricultural and Food Sciences

Oral format

1st– Roy Daou, Electrochemical Detection of Drug Resistance in Cancer
Research Supervisor: Sabine Kuss, Faculty of Science

Creative Works

Poster format

1st– A.V. Ronquillo, Addressing Imbalanced Datasets in Machine Learning
Research Supervisor: Mark Meagher, Faculty of Architecture

Oral format

1st– Christine Hay, Place Writing in Educational Contexts: Studies of Practice
Research Supervisor: Michelle Honeyford, Faculty of Education

Health Sciences

Poster format

1st– Claudia Camila Oda Jallime, Investigating the therapeutic potential of interferon lambda in improving vaginal epithelial barrier function and preventing HIV infection
Research Supervisor: Thomas Murooka, Faculty of Science

2nd– Hubert Sidarta, What’s the T: Investigating the impact of cancer antigen density on CAR T cell fate and function
Research Supervisor: Yale Michaels, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences

Oral format

1st– Quynh Le, Evaluating Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Injection for Chronic Knee Pain: A Cadaveric Study
Research Supervisor: Terry Li, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences

2nd– Marith Been, Sex Steroids: The Importance in Lung Research
Research Supervisor: Neeloffer Mookherjee, Faculty of Science

Natural Sciences

Poster format

1st– TIE: Carolyn Currie, Stable Isotopes Reveal Synchronous Primary Flight Feather Moult Pattern of Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica); Tiana Steeves, Exploring microbial communities in a saline spring that are characterized by morphologically varied biofilms.
Research Supervisor: Gail Davoren, Faculty of Science; Marike Palmer, Faculty of Science

2nd– Reid Homik, Leveraging machine learning models to predict and test stabilizing mutations in human bFGF.
Research Supervisor: Zev Ripstein, Faculty of Science

Oral format

1st– Erica Wong, Investigating the role of Dach1 on neural progenitor proliferation
Research Supervisor: Lei Xing, Faculty of Science

2nd– Quinton Murdock, Simplifying Stream Water Analysis using Sulfamic Acid
Research Supervisor: Blake Cooney, Faculty of Science

Social Sciences and Humanities

Poster format

1st– Breanna Amoyaw, Investigating the Mental Models Children Use to Reason About Personal Data Transfers to Online Apps.
Research Supervisor: Shaylene Nancekivell, Faculty of Science

2nd– Scott Saindon, ‘Metis’: a decade in review
Research Supervisor: David Parent, Faculty of Arts

Oral format

1st– Arshpreet Gill, Incentives for renewable energy: Capital-dominated vs Margin-dominated projects
Research Supervisor: Maryna Klymchuk, Faculty of Arts

The Undergraduate Research Showcase is hosted annually by the office of the vice-president (research and international). Check the Undergraduate Research Showcase website for entry and prize details.

UM Today Staff