Undergraduate Exhibition

2023 Undergraduate Exhibition

Virtual Exhibition

  • Monday, April 10–Wednesday, April 12

In-Person Component

  • Wednesday, April 12
  • 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
  • Alumni Hall, HUB-Robeson Center, University Park campus

Background

Penn State's annual Undergraduate Exhibition communicates and celebrates the participation of undergraduate students from across the University in scholarly inquiry, research, and creative endeavors.

Undergraduates from all Penn State campuses are eligible to enter one of four formats for sharing research and creative inquiry:

  • Undergraduate Exhibition for Research, Inquiry, and Creative Activity
    • Traditional research poster
    • Oral research presentation – five-minute presentation for disciplines or projects for which traditional research posters are not traditionally used (e.g., an original piece of visual art)
    • Performance – five-minute performance (e.g., music; writing or poetry reading; dance, theatre)
  • Engagement Experience Poster Exhibition
    • Posters highlighting and reflecting on student engagement achievements (NOT a research poster)

In addition to the Undergraduate Exhibition at University Park, exhibitions and research fairs are regularly hosted across the Commonwealth. Please see our Getting Help section for campus-specific resources.

  • Current undergraduate
  • Endorsed by a Penn State research mentor

The application deadline for the 2023 Undergraduate Exhibition for Research, Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Engagement Experiences has passed. 

Questions about the Exhibitions should be directed to Alan Rieck, associate vice president and associate dean for undergraduate education, at 814-863-1864 or ajr83@psu.edu.

The application for the 2023 Undergraduate Exhibition closed on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. 

Please note the Exhibition formats and schedule:

  • Monday, April 10–Wednesday, April 12, 2023 — Required online virtual Exhibition (all participants and all formats)
  • Wednesday, April 12, 2023 — In-person poster presentations in Alumni Hall, Hetzel Union Building at University Park; space is limited for each session and assignments are first come, first served based on the date and time the completed application was submitted through InfoReady.

Judge sign up requires login through Symposium.

Volunteer judges are asked to sign up by April 2, and judges will receive judging assignments by April 7.

Gerard A. Hauser Award

The Gerald A. Hauser Award is given to the exhibition entry judged to be the best overall. Named in honor of a former director of Penn State's honors program, it is accompanied by a $500 prize.

Category Awards

First, second, and third place is awarded in each of the Exhibition’s entry categories, including arts and humanities, course-based projects, engineering, health and life sciences, physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and oral presentations and performances.

Peter T. Luckie Award for Outstanding Juniors

The Peter T. Luckie Award for Outstanding Juniors is sponsored by the Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Mentoring office and the Penn State Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society. The award recognizes an outstanding junior entry in each of the three following areas: health and life sciences, humanities and social sciences, and physical sciences and engineering. Each award is accompanied by a $200 prize.

Information about the Penn State chapter may be found at www.phikappaphi.psu.edu.

University Libraries' John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy

The University Libraries' John Sr. and Kimlyn Patishnock Undergraduate Research Award: Excellence in Information Literacy recognizes scholarly work based on a foundation of careful background research and literature review. The award is given to entries that demonstrate excellence in information literacy through the following: showcasing your research process and strategies; selection of sources that contribute to your argument and ideas; social, ethical, or economic considerations in accessing information; and credit and proper citation for any quotes, tables, graphs, images, and other content displayed. 

Information on this award and the judging rubric may be found at the Libraries' website or by contacting Student Engagement Librarian Danica White (dew5422@psu.edu). 

GERARD A. HAUSER AWARD

  • Hannah Kline - Investigating The Role of the ER in Axon Regeneration

ARTS & HUMANITIES

First Place

  • Casey Sennett - Overlooked Histories: An Ethnographic and Historical Study of the Jewish Communities of Central Pennsylvania

Second Place

  • Luisina Kemanian Leites - A Solution to 'The Problem from Hell'?: Quantifying the Effects of Military Interventions on the Severity of Mass Killings and Genocides

Third Place

  • Mackenzie Flanders - When Do Partisans Defect from Norm Violations?

ENGINEERING

First Place

  • Vancie Peacock - Analysis of microbial efficiency in oxidizing low-concentration methane through biofiltration

Second Place

  • Alessandro Ascani Orsini - Fabrication of porous SiO2 Nanoparticles for analyte sensing in the brain

Third Place

  • Quinn Deitrick - The Impact of Visual and Multi-Sensory Haptic Cues on Motion Accuracy

HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES

First Place

  • Arisha Tariq - The Effects of Choline Supplementation on Blood Pressure Regulation in a Mouse Model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Second Place

  • Samar Latefa - Aquatic Health of the Danube Basin: Assessment of Select Areas within the Brăila Islands, Romania 

Third Place

  • Rishika Patil - Establishing Caenorhabditis elegans as a Model for ADSSL1-Caused Nemaline Myopathy

PHYSICAL SCIENCES

First Place

  • Sunday Siomades - What's in the Sand? Caribbean Reef Sediment as an Analog of the Living Community

Second Place

  • Hannah Bauer - Ribosome rescue inhibitors are new antibiotics that kill Streptococcus mitis

Third Place

  • Logan Coomes - The Antimicrobial Properties of Additives in Photocured Dental Resins

SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL

First Place (Three way tie)

  • Abigail Ransom - A Bidirectional Analysis of the Longitudinal Relationship Between Depression and Cognitive Impairment in a Sample of Adults Aged 50 and Older
  • Matthew McHugh - The Influence of Parental Marital Status on Teen Drinking Outcomes
  • Vincent Mariani - Emphasis, Certainty, and Interdiction: Particles in Gisida Anii 

ORAL & PERFORMANCE

First Place

  • Abigail Heilenman - New Antibiotics Found in Trans-Translation Pathway

Second Place

  • Leah Gallo - An Archaeological Analysis of early Christianity along Paul's Second Missionary Journey in Greece and Anatolia