Undergraduate Research Day Winners Announced At Western Illinois University
The Western Illinois University Centennial Honors College has announced the winners of the 22nd Annual Thomas E. Helm Undergraduate Research Day, which was held Wednesday, April 16. A total of 51 scholarly presentations were delivered by 59 students, spanning 18 majors.
Podium Competition
First Place: Olivia Rueschhoff, senior, of Manito, with faculty mentors Dinesh Ekanayake and Amy Ekanayake, Mathematics – “Shaping the Future: Education, Economy and Policy Influence Life Expectancy and Fertility”
Second Place: Ariana Sanchez, sophomore, of St. Charles, with faculty mentor, Kristine Kelly, Psychology – “Comparing White Fragility Across Three Measures”
Third Place: Emma Evans, senior, of Keokuk, IA, with faculty mentors Amy Ekanayake and Dinesh Ekanayake, Mathematics – “Shark attacks and the story they reveal”
Poster Competition
First Place: Payton Wiggins, junior, of Batavia, with faculty mentor John Determan, Forensic Chemistry – “The Use of Silica Nanoparticles as Biosensors for the Detection of Illicit Drugs”
Second Place: Anvith Devarashetty, sophomore, of United Arab Emirates, with faculty mentor, Leslie Melim, Geology – “Petrographic Comparison of Torosites with New Samples from Shoveleater Cave, WV”
Third Place: Owen Beck, junior, of Good Hope, with Brian Bellott, Chemistry – “Solid State Synthesis of Athabascaite (Cu5Se4)”
Winners are awarded monetary prizes of $200 for first place, $100 for second place and $50 for third place. Winners’ abstracts can be viewed at wiu.edu/researchday. All of the presenters and the titles of their abstracts can be viewed at wiu.edu/researchday/program.
Emma Evans, senior, of Keokuk, IA, took third place in the podium competition.
