SLU Sigma Xi Announces Research Symposium Award Winners

04/14/2025

SLU Chapter Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society held its annual research symposium on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

This year the sympoisum received over 90 abstracts from various disciplines. A group of more than 50 volunteers from across campus served as judges for the posters.

Also at the symposium, new members to Sigma Xi were also recognized and participated in an induction ceremony. Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society is the world’s largest multidisciplinary honor society for scientists and engineers. Its mission is to enhance the health of the research enterprise, foster integrity in science and engineering, and promote the public understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition.

The top award winners for each division will receive a cash prize. 

Postdoc – All Disciplines

• A leaf phenomics approach to estimating below-ground traits in North American Licorice  —  Zachary N. Harris, Vivian Tran, Emelyn Piotter, Meredith T. Hanlon, Matthew J. Rubin, Ph.D; and Allison J. Miller, Ph.D.

Graduate Physical Sciences and Engineering

• First place:  WHIMS: Development of a Wearable Haptic Integrated Mindfulness System — Jake Little, Jennifer L. Tennison, Ph.D.; and Jenna L. Gorlewicz, Ph.D.
• Second place (tie):  Seeing the Unseen: Hyperspectral Sensing of Below-Ground Carbon Stock in Soil Profiles — Bishal Roy, Vasit Sagan, Ph.D.; Alifu Haireti, Ph.D.; Jocelyn Saxton, and Nadia Shakoor, Ph.D.
• Second place (tie):  Chemical synthesis of biologically relevant glycoconjugates — Ashley R. Dent and Alexei V. Demchenko, Ph.D.

Undergraduate Physical Sciences and Engineering

• First place (tie):  The inverse non-constant conductivity recovery problem in electroencephalography — Leendert (Leo) Schrader and Elodie Pozzi, Ph.D.
• First place (tie):  A Novel Solution to Aerial Rescue Operations — Mia Arndt, Nate Mercier, Zach Conti, Will Jameson, JP Lacroix, Chuka Okeke, Ian Roudebush, and Srikanth Gururajan, Ph.D.
• Second place (tie): Giant Bipolar Cells Form Synaptic Circuits with Directionally Selective Cells in the Macaque Retina — Aryn Rehr, Saachi Kumar, Niveditha Jose, Varsha Dara, and Judith M. Ogilvie, Ph.D.
• Second place (tie): Advancing Autonomy within the SUAS team — Abdelrahman Ibrahim, Alejandro Crespo Cuellar, Amrik Chana, Christopher Schaefer, Divine Nwaokorie, Michael Brady, and Srikanth Gururajan, Ph.D.

Graduate Biological and Life Sciences

• First place:  Development of polyethylene glycol hydrogel drug delivery device to study intramuscular adipose tissue signaling — Rebekah Boos, Chang Gui, Gretchen A. Meyer, Ph.D.; and Silviya P. Zustiak, Ph..D
• Second place:  FGFR3 Autoantibodies Induce Sensory Neuron Hyperexcitability and Pain — Lyuba Salih, Nicolas Dumaire, Christine Kim, Christian Moritz, Jean-Christophe Antoine, Jérôme Honnorat, Liberty Francois-Moutal, Ph.D.; and Aubin Moutal, Ph.D. 
• Third place:  Loss Of Insulin Signaling In Lymphatics Causes Atherogenic Dyslipidemia In Mice — Silvia Gonzalez-Nieves, Ph.D.; Simon Guignard, Ph.D.; Thi Nguyen, Ph.D.; Jay McQuillan, and Vincenza Cifarelli, Ph.D.

Undergraduate Biological  and Life Sciences

• First place (tie):  ESKAPE Antibiotic Resistance: Unknown Environment Microorganisms Producing Antibiotic Activity Against ESKAPE Pathogens — Imandi Mendis, Nathan Krugman, Julia Gaugel, and Blythe Janowiak, Ph.D.
• First place (tie):  Investigating the Development of Autoantibodies after Helicobacter pylori Infection — Melody Zhang, Stella G Hoft, and Richard DiPaolo, Ph.D.
• Second place (tie):  Investigating the molecular mechanism of Hog1 inhibition by combined osmotic stress and oxidative stress — Marisa Penner, Fangli Weng, and Yuqi Wang, Ph.D.
• Second place (tie):  Altering ribosomal stoichiometry by targeting eIF6 decreases cancer cell viability  —  Megan Li, Poonam Roshan, Ph.D.; Aparna Biswas, Sinthyia Ahmed, Zhenguo Lin, Ph.D.; and Sofia Origanti, Ph.D.

Graduate Social and Behavioral Sciences

• First place:  Examining Disparities in Substance Use Treatment Completion by Gender, Insurance, and Mental Health Status  —  Vibol Kong and Jesse J. Helton, Ph.D.
• Second place:  A Closer Look into the Effects of School Closures in St. Louis City  — Vanessa de Becze and Ness Sandoval, Ph.D.

Undergraduate Social and Behavioral Sciences

• First place:  The impact of culture and in-group bias on rating behavior: A cross-cultural analysis of international airport reviews  —  Ella Hallett, Isabella Dietrich, and Xiaowen Chen, Ph.D.

Assisting with the event were the College of Arts and Sciences, The International Faculty and Staff Association, and The Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation.

Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society is the world’s largest multidisciplinary honor society for scientists and engineers. Its mission is to enhance the health of the research enterprise, foster integrity in science and engineering, and promote the public understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition.

Sigma Xi chapters can be found at colleges and universities, government laboratories, and industry research centers around the world. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members. Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society was founded in 1886, and it has over 500 chapters in the world. SLU Chapter was founded in 1944. For more infomration, contact blythe.janowiakmulligan@slu.edu.