Works in Progress Symposium 2026 Awards

Hosted by the Helen Hardin Honors College, the Works in Progress Symposium (WIPS) is an annual event at which undergraduate students present their research in a formal, juried setting. This year, WIPS featured over 50 presentations by students at the UofM. Thank you to all of the students who participated in the 2026 Works in Progress Symposium and to all the research mentors, faculty judges, and moderators who supported the event!

Presentations are grouped into disciplinary categories and cash awards are provided for the most outstanding presentations in each category. The Helen Hardin Honors College is proud to showcase the awards for outstanding presentations below:

Winners in Each Disciplinary Category

Engineering

1^st place: Alex Castro "Advancing Flow Field Characterization Through Multi-Point Pressure Sensor Array" (Eddie Jacobs; Electrical & Computer Engineering)

2^nd place: Aidan Espy "Seismic Vulnerability Evaluation Framework for Tennessee Bridges" (Shahram Pezeshk; Civil Engineering)

Math & Computer Sciences

1^st place: Jonathan Sanchez "Virtual Reality Exploration of Integrated Fault Systems with Human-Built Environments" (Christodoulos Kyriakopoulos; CERI)

2^nd place: William Turner "Graph Bootstrap Percolation" (Alexander Gavrilyuk; Mathematical Sciences)

Life & Health Sciences

1st place: Julia Whitehead "Cold Tolerance Plasticity in Lady (Coccinelli-dae) and Leaf (Chrysomelidae) Beatles" (Leigh Boardman; Biological Sciences)

2nd place (tie): Luke Kaimimoku "Development of 3D Nanofiber Scaffolds for Circulating Tumor Cell Culture in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer" (Xiaohua Huang; Chemistry); Anna Wright "Biological Aging Variation Across the Range of American Black Bears" (Emily Puckett; Biological Sciences)

Social & Behavioral Sciences

1st place: Joshua Hackney "Momentary Purpose and Suicide-Specific Cognitions: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study in College Students" (David Rudd; Psychology)