New Award Categories and More Award Funding Mark Winter 2026 Research Conference

Innovation is front and center on April 9 as students present research they conducted over the past semester at the Mentored Student Research Conference.

BYU geography students pose by their research poster "Stronger Families, Stronger Societies?" at the Winter 2026 Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Student Research Conference on April 9. The poster won first place in the Becoming BYU category for mission-inspired scholarship. — BYU geography students Thomas Barrett and Ruth Ann Jessee pose by their research poster "Stronger Families, Stronger Societies?" at the Winter 2026 Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Student Research Conference on April 9. The poster won first place in the Becoming BYU category for mission-inspired scholarship.

Inside the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom at Brigham Young University, rows of research posters are stretched across the room as students from the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences stand ready to share their months of research and collaboration. At the Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Student Research Conference, the focus is on the progression from student learner to being a contributor to their field.

This year’s conference featured 448 posters presented by 690 students working alongside 132 faculty mentors — the largest conference in its 22-year history. The room buzzed with fresh ideas showing exactly what happens when students and mentors put their heads together to tackle big questions.

Conference Changes this Semester

Award amounts for winning posters changed in a unique way this semester. In the past, the prize amount for winning posters was split equally across the number of co-investigators for a poster, which was fine for posters with one or two researchers. However, when research for a poster was carried out by a larger group of students — perhaps eight or more — the prize earnings became rather trivial for group members.

A college donor recognized this disincentive for collaborative research and decided to make an additional donation to ensure that no team member receives less than half of the prize their poster might earn.

Also new to this semester’s conference are two additional judging categories: Museum of Peoples and Cultures and the Initiative for Peacemaking. The peacemaking category grew out of work in the Political Science Department, where faculty focus on reducing polarization and improving dialogue, while the Museum of Peoples and Cultures sought a category that reflects its emphasis on cultural understanding and historical interpretation. According to Jeff Nokes, associate dean for students in the college, the goal is to recognize more student work.

“Adding more awards allows us to recognize more students,” Nokes says. “There is a lot more great research than we’re able to recognize, so adding categories helps us highlight more of that work.”

The Mentoring Relationship

One student, Aderyn Dettman, a senior from Phoenix who studies psychology, presented research focused on barriers people face when trying to reach daily step goals. Her project explores how identity and personal priorities influence long-term health behaviors.

“We found that certain identities make it harder to retain your steps even though they show more identity integration and growth,” Dettman says.

The idea for the project began through her work assisting a graduate student with qualitative coding in a lab run by Blake Jones, psychology professor. What started as a coding assignment developed into an opportunity to navigate academic research at a deeper level.

“I know for me that I face a lot of barriers with trying to get my steps in, so I wanted to see what other people were struggling with and how we can make interventions easier for people to reach that goal,” Dettman says.

At its heart, this conference is about the partnership between students and faculty. These relationships take research off the page and put it into the hands of the students, turning their theories into meaningful, lived experience.

“Dr. Jones is really great at helping people learn, and he created a lot of space for us to figure things out,” Dettman says.

A Great Accomplishment for Budding Researchers

Across the ballroom, students presented projects addressing a wide range of topics, from spirituality and artificial intelligence to the psychology of war. Each project reflected the individual curiosity and influence of faculty guidance and interdisciplinary thinking.

Student participants, faculty mentors, and judges, along with university administrators and college friends gathered in the Garden Court for an awards luncheon after the conference. Faculty mentor Loren Marks, professor of family life, and one of his research assistants, Savannah Lowe, addressed the guests about their experiences with mentoring and mentored research. International Vice President Renate Forste also shared remarks with the group.

A palpable sense of accomplishment filled the air as the event came to a close. These students are moving forward as true researchers, equipped with the experience and the drive for continued contributions to their fields.

“It helped me learn that not knowing anything in the beginning doesn’t mean you’re wrong — it means you can still learn and figure things out,” Dettman says.

Explore the full gallery of this semester’s posters at fultonconference.byu.edu and review this year’s winners in the list and photo gallery below.

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1st Place Anthropology Graduate: "2025 Excavations in Terrace: Insights into the Living Quarters of Chinese Railroad Workers in Utah" Talia Gluch and Paul Stavast pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Zach Chase

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2nd Place Anthropology Undergraduate: "Chinese Leisure and Identity in the American West" Sofia Eyring poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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1st Place Economics Undergraduate: "Paying for Parenthood: The Causal Effect of State Paid Family Leave on Child Penalties" Ethan Pixton and Clark Avondet pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Miles Pavia, Mikaela Beck and Riley Wilson

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2nd Place Economics Undergraduate: "The Irrelevance of Filing Speed: Evidence from a Regulatory Reporting Discontinuity" Bryson Mumford poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Riley Wilson and Joe Price

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1st Place Family Life Graduate: "Breakup and Breakdown: How Romantic Breakups, Family of Origin Experiences, and Sexual Partnerships Relate to Emerging Adults’ Attachment Trajectory" Carlotte Potter and Sarah Coyne pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Dean Busby and Brian Willoughby

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3rd Place Family Life Graduate: "Faith Crisis or Faith Renovation? Spiritual Struggles, Distress, and Growth" Christina Bartholomew, David Dollahite, Loren Marks, and Nathan Leonhardt pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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4th Place Family Life Graduate: "Her story...and her daughter's? Intergenerational Patterns in Mother-Daughter Perceptions of Gender Discrimination" Cambria Siddoway, Sarah Coyne and Adam Rogers pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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1st Place School of Family Life Undergraduate: "Blessing or Burden?: Parental Authentic Religiosity and LGBTQ Adolescent Well-Being" Lindsey Maner, Emma Griffitts, and Adam Rogers pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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2nd Place School of Family Life Graduate: "Fatherhood in Utah vs Nationwide: Assessing the Correlation Between Father Presence and Child Well-Being" Emily Blackhurst poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Jocelyn Wikle

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3rd Place School of Family Life Undergraduate: "Meals or Leisure—What Saves Marriage from Debt?" Michelle Si and Ashley LeBaron Black pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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2nd Place Geography Undergraduate: "Who Waits? Modeling and Mapping Fire Station Coverage Gaps and Community Vulnerability in Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah" Morgan Baird, Anna Kreipi, and Grayson Morgan pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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4th Place Geography Undergraduate: "Where's Our Water? Invasive Saltcedar's Thirsty Trek Across the Shoreline of Lake Mead" Mia Morgan and Ruth Kerry pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Joseph Penrod

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1st Place History Undergraduate: "The “Heavy Burden” of Colonial Taxation: Examining the impact of British taxation policy in Birzeit, Palestine" Andrew Rosenbalm and Jeff Hardy pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Daren Ray

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2nd Place History Undergraduate: "Stronger Families, Stronger Societies? A County-Level Spatial Analysis to Determine Correlation between Family Strength and Societal Success" Trent Robinson, Wyatt Jennings, Wyatt Anderson and Joseph Stuart pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Joseph Stuart

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3rd Place History Undergraduate: "Narrating the Bucolic South: How Southern Living Reflected and Shaped the South in the 1990s" Krista Wright poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Rebecca de Schweinitz

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1st Place Political Science Undergraduate: "Talk Is Not Cheap: How Leaders Talk Their Way Into (and Out of) Military Interventions" Emma Tolman poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Rebecca Dudley

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2nd Place Political Science Undergraduate: "Unintentional Gerrymandering: How Changing Human Geography Affects Congressional Redistricting" Dallin Bundy and Jonah Messinger pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Michael Barber

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3rd Place Political Science Undergraduate: "Women, Religion, and Authoritarian Regimes" Hannah Keen and David Romney pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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4th Place Political Science Undergraduate: "Do Political Elites Shape Racial Attitudes? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Utah" Hannah Criser and Parker Davis pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not Pictured: Jessica Preece and Quin Monson

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3rd Place Psychology Undergraduate: "Adverse Childhood Experiences Predict Perceived Sleep Problems in Adolescence" Alicia Goff poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Kara Duraccio

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4th Place Psychology Undergraduate: "Deliberate Practice for Multicultural Orientation" Lucero Otero Bazan, Kayla Pereira and Ben Ogles pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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3rd Place Social Work Graduate Student: "Does Religion Help? Childhood Religious Practices and Depression Following Trauma in Native American Emerging Adults" Adrian Bautista and Gordon Limb pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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1st Place Sociology Undergraduate: "Faith and Friendship: The Influence of Friendship on Religious Activity Among Young Men" Greta Asay and Michael Cope pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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1st Place Sociology Undergraduate: "The Elephant (and Donkey) in the Room: How Political Difference Shapes Romantic Interest Among Young Adults" Cambria Hays, Taryn Frerichs, and Greg Wurm pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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2nd Place Sociology Undergraduate: "FHSS Collaborations: Departmental Cohesion and Inter-Departmental Ties" Alexandra Williams, Aaron Hunter, Sydney Goodson, Caleb Hansen, and Michael Wood pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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3rd Place Sociology Undergraduate: "ICE Arrests: Data vs. Framing" Ivette Galvez Laparra and Jacob Rugh pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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1st Place Becoming BYU: "Stronger Families, Stronger Societies? A County-Level Spatial Analysis to Determine Correlation between Family Strength and Societal Success" Thomas Barrett, Ruth Ann Jessee and Grayson Morgan pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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2nd Place Becoming BYU: "Breaking News: Failing Democratic Norms" Owen McKay, Jonah Messinger, and Chris Krewson pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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3rd Place Becoming BYU: "Mapping Campus Peacemaking: A Strategic Framework for Student-Led Depolarization Efforts" Alexander Keogh, Jessie Moore, Mirabella Rose Archibald, and Kylee Jackman pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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1st Place Civic Engagement: "Transforming Public Service: Outward Mindset Training as a Catalyst for Ethical Governance" Molly Meredith and Emily Brunson pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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3rd Place Civic Engagement: "Hostile Sexism and the Trump Vote: Why Voters' Gender and Sexism's Target Matter" Parker Davis and Christopher Karpowitz pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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1st Place Museum of Peoples and Culture: "Chinese Leisure and Identity in the American West" Sofia Eyring and Paul Stavast pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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2nd Place Museum of Peoples and Culture: ""Hay Una Barrera"-"There is a Barrier" Translation Services and the New Spanish Stakes of Northern Utah" Sabrina Pelaez and Elizabeth Thomas pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Sebastian Pelaez

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3rd Place Museum of Peoples and Culture: "2025 Excavations in Terrace: Insights into the Living Quarters of Chinese Railroad Workers in Utah" Talia Gluch and Paul Stavast pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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4th Place Museum of Peoples and Culture: "“Tradition, Heritage, A Story, and Pain”: The Racial Experiences of Hair Among Black Latter-day Saints" Lexy Comish, Hanna Wilkins, Jacob Rugh, Michael Wood, and Paul Stavast pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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2nd Place Peacemaking: "Transforming Public Service: Outward Mindset Training as a Catalyst for Ethical Governance" Molly Meredith and Emily Brunson pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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3rd Place Peacemaking: "Mapping Strikes: Using GIS To Map How Russia Has Targeted Ukrainian Infrastructure" Spencer Bennett poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Chelsea Ackroyd

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4th Place Peacemaking: "“An Antidote for War”: T. H. White’s Quest for Peace during World War II" Clark Bailey poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Paul Kerry

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2nd Place School of Family Life Undergraduate: "Fatherhood in Utah vs Nationwide: Assessing the Correlation Between Father Presence and Child Well-Being" Emily Blackhurst poses with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Jocelyn Wikle

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4th Place Redd Center For Western Studies: "Interrogating AI with Primary Sources: Using CCC Oral Histories to Evaluate AI-Generated Historical Claims" Abigail Delorey and Jeff Nokes pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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Redd Center For Western Studies Honorable Mention: "Faith, Race, and Community" Dezirae Gracia, Emily Alger, and Joseph Stuart pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not photographed: Abraham Gutierrez

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Best Presenter: "The Future of Kazakh-Russian Relations: Assessing Kazakhstan’s Sovereign Autonomy and Russian Integration" Megan Green, Alex Guglielmo, Sam Tustison and Samuel Otterstrom pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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Most Eye-Catching Poster: "Pawsitive support: The Human-Dog Bond and Student Mental Health" Brinley Donohue, Raquel Griffin, Isabel Martinez and David Simpson pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker. Not pictured: Sandra Sephton

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Timeliest Topic: "Do Americans Think the Federal Government Should Be Involved in NIL Regulation?" Marshall Rhodes and Bennett Thompson pose with IVP Renata Forste and Dean Laura Padilla-Walker.

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Award Category	Place	Poster Title	Participating Student(s)	Faculty Mentor

DEPARTMENT AWARDS
Anthropology Graduate	1st	2025 Excavations in Terrace: Insights into the Living Quarters of Chinese Railroad Workers in Utah	Talia Gluch	Zach Chase
Anthropology Undergraduate	1st	Gestural and Spatial Behavior as a Grammatical Structure of Korean Communication	Alisa Funke	Lynette Finau
Anthropology Undergraduate	2nd	Chinese Leisure and Identity in the American West	Sofia Eyring	Zach Chase
Economics Undergraduate	1st	Paying for Parenthood: The Causal Effect of State Paid Family Leave on Child Penalties	Ethan Pixton, Clark Avondet, Miles Pavia, Mikaela Beck	Riley Wilson
Economics Undergraduate	2nd	The Irrelevance of Filing Speed: Evidence from a Regulatory Reporting Discontinuity	Bryson Mumford	Joe Price Riley Wilson
Family Life Graduate	1st	Breakup and Breakdown: How Romantic Breakups, Family of Origin Experiences, and Sexual Partnerships Relate to Emerging Adults’ Attachment Trajectory	Charlotte Potter	Sarah Coyne Dean Busby Brian Willoughby
Family Life Graduate	2nd	Are You Willing to Adopt? Uncovering Latent Classes and Longitudinal Trajectories	Lanette Nelson	Sarah Coyne Ashley Larsen
Family Life Graduate	3rd	Faith Crisis or Faith Renovation? Spiritual Struggles, Distress, and Growth	Christina Bartholomew	David Dollahite Loren Marks Nathan Leonhardt
Family Life Graduate	4th	Her story...and her daughter's? Intergenerational Patterns in Mother-Daughter Perceptions of Gender Discrimination	Cambria Siddoway	Sarah Coyne Adam Rogers
Family Life Undergraduate	1st	Blessing or Burden?: Parental Authentic Religiosity and LGBTQ Adolescent Well-Being	Lindsey Maner Emma Griffitts	Adam Rogers
Family Life Undergraduate	2nd	Fatherhood in Utah vs Nationwide: Assessing the Correlation Between Father Presence and Child Well-Being	Emily Blackhurst	Jocelyn Wikle
Family Life Undergraduate	3rd	Meals or Leisure—What Saves Marriage from Debt?	Michelle Si	Ashley LeBaron-Black
Family Life Undergraduate	4th	Do All Lives Matter in Adolescent Health Research?: A Systematic Review Focused on U.S. Racial/Ethnic Minorities	Nairobie Rubio	Roy Bean
Geography Undergraduate	1st	Stable Isotope Analysis to Improve Water Security in Antisana, Ecuador	Emily Stewart	Chelsea Ackroyd
Geography Undergraduate	2nd	Who Waits? Modeling and Mapping Fire Station Coverage Gaps and Community Vulnerability in Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah	Morgan Baird Anna Kreipl	Grayson Morgan
Geography Undergraduate	3rd	Snow Cover Duration and Temperature Trends by Elevation in the Northern Utah	Colin Peacock	Ruth Kerry
Geography Undergraduate	4th	Where's Our Water? Invasive Saltcedar's Thirsty Trek Across the Shoreline of Lake Mead	Joseph Penrod Mia Morgan	Ruth Kerry
History Undergraduate	1st	The “Heavy Burden” of Colonial Taxation: Examining the impact of British taxation policy in Birzeit, Palestine	Andrew Rosenbalm	Jeff Hardy Daren Ray
History Undergraduate Student	2nd	Topaz: Fact vs. Facade	Trent Robinson Wyatt Jennings Wyatt Anderson Melia Finken	Joseph Stuart
History Undergraduate Student	3rd	Narrating the Bucolic South: How Southern Living Reflected and Shaped the South in the 1990s	Krista Wright	Rebecca de Schweinitz
History Undergraduate Student	4th	Pretty in Print: The Construction of Wartime Femininity through Propaganda Posters	Caroline Clark Spencer Haddock Nicole King	Aaron Skabelund
Political Science Undergraduate Student	1st	Talk Is Not Cheap: How Leaders Talk Their Way Into (and Out of) Military Interventions	Emma Tolman	Rebecca Dudley
Political Science Undergraduate Student	2nd	Unintentional Gerrymandering: How Changing Human Geography Affects Congressional Redistricting	Dallin Bundy Jonah Messinger	Michael Barber
Political Science Undergraduate Student	3rd	Women, Religion, and Authoritarian Regimes	Hannah Keen	David Romney
Political Science Undergraduate Student	4th	Do Political Elites Shape Racial Attitudes? Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Utah	Hannah Criser Parker Davis	Jessica Preece Quin Monson
Political Science Undergraduate Student	Honorable Mention	The "Crayola" Effect	Caleb Leach	Joshua Gubler
Psychology Graduate Student	1st	Sleep Resilience in Division I Football Players: Validation of the SRQSA	Dustin Sherriff-Clayton	Scott Baldwin Kara Duraccio Daniel Kay
Psychology Undergraduate Student	1st	Testing Sufficiency of Variably Timed Purkinje Cell Activation for VOR Adaptation	Andrew Carter Todd Gonda Sam Caine	Trace Stay
Psychology Undergraduate Student	2nd	The Effects of At-Birth Adoption on Maternal Behavior and Infant and Adolescent Outcomes	Morgan Huguely	Elizabeth Wood
Psychology Undergraduate Student	3rd	Adverse Childhood Experiences Predict Perceived Sleep Problems in Adolescence	Alicia Goff	Kara Duraccio
Psychology Undergraduate Student	4th	Deliberate Practice for Multicultural Orientation	Lucero Otero Bazan Kayla Pereira	Ben Ogles
Social Work Graduate Student	1st	Does Suicide Cognition Influence Help-Seeking Behavior?	Emily Hatch	Steven Hoffman David Wood
Social Work Graduate Student	2nd	Why do therapists claim to practice so many types of therapy?	Rhiannon Gray	Cole Hooley
Social Work Graduate Student	3rd	Does Religion Help? Childhood Religious Practices and Depression Following Trauma in Native American Emerging Adults	Adrian Bautista	Gordon Limb
Social Work Graduate Student	4th	Health Literacy and Self-Efficacy in College Athletes—What's the Connection?	Eva Willis	Steven Hoffman
Sociology Graduate Student	1st	Faith and Friendship: The Influence of Friendship on Religious Activity Among Young Men	Greta Asay	Michael Cope
Sociology Undergraduate Student	1st	The Elephant (and Donkey) in the Room: How Political Difference Shapes Romantic Interest Among Young Adults	Taryn Frerichs Cambria Hayes	Greg Wurm
Sociology Undergraduate Student	2nd	FHSS Collaborations: Departmental Cohesion and Inter-Departmental Ties	Alexandra Williams Aaron Hunter Sydney Goodson Caleb Hansen	Michael Wood
Sociology Undergraduate Student	3rd	ICE Arrests: Data vs. Framing	Ivette Galvez Laparra	Jacob Rugh

CATEGORY AWARDS
Becoming BYU	1st	Stronger Families, Stronger Societies? A County-Level Spatial Analysis to Determine Correlation between Family Strength and Societal Success	Thomas Barrett Ruth Ann Jessee	Grayson Morgan
Becoming BYU	2nd	Breaking News: Failing Democratic Norms	Owen McKay Jonah Messinger	Chris Krewson
Becoming BYU	3rd	Mapping Campus Peacemaking: A Strategic Framework for Student-Led Depolarization Efforts	Alexander Keogh Jessie Moore Mirabella Rose Archibald Kylee Jackman	Paul Kerry
Becoming BYU	4th	Community Religious Adherence is a Poor Predictor of Poverty Rates—Except in Utah and Idaho	Connor Biser	Jeff Hardy
Belonging & Diversity	1st	Autism in South Korean Classrooms: Structural Barriers to Inclusion	Brinley Donohue	Greg Thompson
Belonging & Diversity	2nd	A Hard Pill to Swallow: Opposition to Contraceptives and Population Control Practices as Recorded and Analyzed by the Nation of Islam, 1962–1975	Eliza Mancilla	Joseph Stuart
Belonging & Diversity	3rd	Risk and Resilience: Discrimination, Cultural Identity, and Body Image in Latina Adolescents	Isabella Mendez	Sarah Coyne
Belonging & Diversity	4th	When Support Isn’t Enough: Loneliness, Suicidality, and Academic Confidence in Zambian Adolescents	Emily Hodder	Sherinah Saasa
Civic Engagement	1st	Transforming Public Service: Outward Mindset Training as a Catalyst for Ethical Governance	Molly Meredith	Emily Brunson
Civic Engagement	2nd	When Identity Trumps Ideology: Determinants of Identity Party Vote Share in Europe	Katelyn Boyer	Quinn Mecham
Civic Engagement	3rd	Hostile Sexism and the Trump Vote: Why Voters' Gender and Sexism's Target Matter	Parker Davis	Chris Karpowitz
Civic Engagement	4th	"But What About...?": The Rise of Whataboutism in Online Debate	Sydney Jezik	Ethan Busby
Gerontology	1st	Relationship Quality, Sleep, and Inflammatory Biomarkers (IL-6, hsCRP) in Older Couples	Fernando Bello Vargas	Jeremy Yorgason Jocelyn Wikle
Museum of Peoples & Cultures	1st	Chinese Leisure and Identity in the American West	Sofia Eyring	Zach Chase
Museum of Peoples & Cultures	2nd	"Hay Una Barrera"-"There is a Barrier" Translation Services and the New Spanish Stakes of Northern Utah	Sabrina Pelaez Sebastian Pelaez	Elizabeth Thomas
Museum of Peoples & Cultures	3rd	2025 Excavations in Terrace: Insights into the Living Quarters of Chinese Railroad Workers in Utah	Talia Gluch	Zach Chase
Museum of Peoples & Cultures	4th	“Tradition, Heritage, A Story, and Pain”: The Racial Experiences of Hair Among Black Latter-day Saints	Lexy Comish Hanna Wilkins	Jacob Rugh Michael Wood
Peacemaking	1st	Budgets vs. Bullets: Divergent Effects of Economic and Security Threats on Nationalism	Mary Moody	Celeste Beesley
Peacemaking	2nd	Transforming Public Service: Outward Mindset Training as a Catalyst for Ethical Governance	Molly Meredith	Emily Brunson
Peacemaking	3rd	Mapping Strikes: Using GIS To Map How Russia Has Targeted Ukrainian Infrastructure	Spencer Bennett	Chelsea Ackroyd
Peacemaking	4th	“An Antidote for War”: T. H. White’s Quest for Peace during World War II	Clark Bailey	Paul Kerry
Redd Center for Western Studies	1st	FATHERHOOD IN UTAH VS NATIONWIDE: Assessing the Correlation Between Father Presence and Child Well-Being	Emily Blackhurst	Jocelyn Wikle
Redd Center for Western Studies	2nd	Tracking the Russian Invasion of Utah Wheat Fields	Eliza Hammari	Ruth Kerry
Redd Center for Western Studies	3rd	Southwest Provo Runoff & Flood Risk Mapping	Austin Parley Child	Ruth Kerry
Redd Center for Western Studies	4th	Interrogating AI with Primary Sources: Using CCC Oral Histories to Evaluate AI-Generated Historical Claims	Abigail Delorey	Jeff Nokes
Redd Center for Western Studies	Honorable Mention	Faith, Race, and Community	Abraham Gutierrez Dezirae Gracia Emily Alger	Joseph Stuart

STUDENTS' CHOICE AWARDS
Best Presenter	Undergraduate	The Future of Kazakh-Russian Relations: Assessing Kazakhstan’s Sovereign Autonomy and Russian Integration	Megan Green Alex Guglielmo Sam Tustison	Samuel Otterstrom
Most Eye-Catching Poster	Undergraduate	Pawsitive support: The Human-Dog Bond and Student Mental Health	Brinley Donohue Raquel Griffin Isabel Martinez	Sandra Sephton David Simpson
Most Interesting Research	Undergraduate	Multisensory Integration of Vestibular and Proprioceptive Inputs in the Cerebellar Flocculus	Allie Bentley Carys Morgan	Trace Stay
Timeliest Topic	Undergraduate	Do Americans Think the Federal Government Should Be Involved in NIL Regulation?	Marshall Rhodes Bennett Thompson	Alejandra Aledridge

Media Contact: Jordan Karpowitz