Undergraduate Research month culminated with the 2026 Conference on Undergraduate Research and Engagement (CURE) at NIU. CURE brought together over 300 students to share 208 research, artistry and engagement projects. 100 judges played a key role by providing students with feedback on their ability to communicate their work in meaningful and engaging ways.
CURE offers students the opportunity to share their work through posters, exhibits and round table conversations. This year, numerous students who showcased their work through exhibits earned top scores. Emily Burris, a chemistry major, received the Honors Capstone Award for her exhibit “The Elements Among Us: The Periodic Table Reimagined”, mentored by Elizabeth Galliard.
Another standout exhibit earned first place in the Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Computational Sciences category, with computer science major Terron Taylor—also a Research Rookie in the University Honors Program—and fellow computer science major Santos Rodriguez-Hughes recognized for their project “Enhancing Performance and Maintainability in Unreal Engine 5 XR Applications through Optimization Techniques and Refactoring”. Honors student and computational sciences major Ethan Olvera was also recognized for the exhibit “Anyone, Anywhere, In Real Time: Exploring the World of Virtual” Federico Bassetti, Office of Innovation, mentored both projects.
The Engagement Showcase debuted this year with 50 stude
nts completing 24 projects. The Engagement Showcase gives students involved in high impact experiences such as internships, study abroad, student leadership, civic engagement and advocacy, service learning, entrepreneurship and business and clinical, fieldwork or practicums a forum to reflect on their experience and share it with others.
“The goal of the Engagement Showcase is to give students practice in articulating their learning by making connections between academic concepts and their real world experiences and reflecting on the impact of the experience both personally and professionally, so students can talk about what they learned or skills they gained in a meaningful way to future employers or during graduate school interviews,” Emily Reilly, OSEEL associate director said.
The student evaluations validated the goals of the showcase with 92% of survey respondents reporting the experience helped them communicate their learning and why it matters.
Two projects in the Engagement Showcase earned perfect scores, including an internship experience by accountancy major and Honors student Hubert Stasik, “Expirir: Reducing Household Food Waste Through Smart Expiration Tracking”, advised by Christine Mooney in the College of Business. Also, a service-learning and community engagement group project by environmental studies majors Sam Soria, Ryan Regelbrugge and Maxwell Alexander titled, “Consulting for Chicagoland: Updating the Greenest Region Compact”, advised by Melissa Burlingame Greenhagen of the Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability and Energy.
An additional six Research and Artistry presentations earned perfect scores from judges:
- “Expression of Genes in the Bacterium Pseudomonas 20ei1 in Response to Co-culture with the Fungus Aspergillus nidulans”
- Mike Nasseri
- Faculty Mentor: Scott Grayburn
- “Revolutionary or Risky?: How Educators Perceive and Use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)”
- Rachel Stowers
- Faculty Mentor: Melanie Koss
- “The Visual Culture of American Popular Music”
- Mia Peterson
- Faculty Mentor: Kathryn Sowinski
- “The Visual Culture of Wildlife Biology”
- Clara Malone
- Faculty Mentor: Kathryn Sowinski
- “How do Autobiographical Memory Abilities Compare with other Cognitive Functions in an Adult Presenting with HSAM (Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory) and Autism? A Case Study”
- Emilia Rzeszutek
- Faculty Mentor: Jamie Mayer
- “Do Blue-Light Filtering Lenses Provide Measurable Benefits for Eye Strain and Sleep Quality Compared to Standard Lenses?”
- Sara Rozalowski
- Faculty Mentor: Kathryn Mazurek
View the CURE Awards page for a complete listing of award winners and their mentors. View full presentation titles and descriptions of Engagement Showcase and research and artistry projects from specific colleges by visiting the digital program guide.
