Undergraduate Researchers Receive Oswald Research and Creativity Awards

The University of Kentucky Office of Undergraduate Research recently recognized and awarded 13 students with the Oswald Research and Creativity awards. 

The Oswald Research and Creativity Competition was established in 1964 by then-President John Oswald as part of the university’s Centennial Celebration. The program is intended to promote creativity in all fields of study and provides annual awards in seven categories. The competition accepts reports of all forms of creativity and scholarship by undergraduate students.

Categories include Biological Sciences; Design, including architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design; Fine Arts, including film, music, photography, painting, and sculpture; Humanities, from creative and critical-research approaches; Physical and Engineering Sciences; and Social Sciences. All submissions are sent anonymously to faculty reviewers in related fields and are judged based on a rubric.

Awards in each category are: First Place: $350; Second Place: $200; and Honorable Mention, if applicable. Entries are judged on originality, clarity of expression, scholarly or artistic contribution, and the validity, scope and depth of the project or investigation.

This year's Oswald student award winners are:

Biological Sciences 

• Tyra Gilbert, First Place Mentor: Chris Filmore Brainson Metabolic Control of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 in Lung Disease and Lung Cancer  
• Rebecca Caldbeck, Second Place Mentor: David Hildebrand Feeding a growing population-Feasibility of leghemoglobin as visual marker for facilitating plant genetics based nutritional improvement

Design

• Allyson McNulty, First Place Mentor: n/a The Pinnacle  
• Lainey Barschak, Second Place  Mentor: Angus Eade Pit Stop

Fine Arts 

• Claire Thompson, First Place Mentor: n/a "Hag" (diptych)  
• Brianna Armstrong, Second Place Mentor: n/a "TO FREEDOM!"  
• Courtney Smith, Honorable Mention Mentor: n/a "The death of USPS"

Humanities: Creative

• Haley Hintz, First Place Mentor: Tara Tuttle A Content Analysis of Representations of Women's Bisexuality in American Popular Music, 2008-2018  
• Tara Pulaski, Second Place Mentor: n/a A Legacy Through Carnations

Humanities: Critical Research 

• Haley Drake, First Place Mentor: Miriam Kienle Touch Sanitation: Maintenance Art as Ecofeminism  
• Sydney Wilcoxson, Second Place Mentor: Kristen Mark Consent and Sex Education: A Detailed Look into the Policy of 14 States and Washington, D.C.  
• Aly Norton, Honorable Mention Mentor: n/a The Guerrilla Girls: “Re-Inventing the ‘F’ Word” in the Context of Feminist Activism

Physical and Engineering Sciences 

• Rebecca Caldbeck, First Place Mentor: David Hildebrand Feeding a growing population-Feasibility of leghemoglobin as visual marker for facilitating plant genetics based nutritional improvement  
• Diana Sahibnazarova, Second Place Mentor: Chris Crawford A CsI Detector Array for the NDTGamma Test Measurement

Social Sciences 

• Sydney Wilcoxson, First Place Mentor:  Kristen Mark Consent and Sex Education: A Detailed Look into the Policy of 14 States and Washington, D.C.  
• Haley Hintz, Second Place Mentor: Zada Komara A Digital Ethnography on the Role of Gender and the Use of Homeopathy: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis   
• Elena Liu, Honorable Mention Mentor: Yoko Kusunose The Coffee in Your Cup: Reviewing Fair Trade’s Impact on Development