On March 7, the Office of Undergraduate Research announced the winners of the eighth annual Texas Student Research Showdown at an award ceremony.

Students participating in this research communication competition created two-minute videos to explain their research and creative activity to a general audience. A panel of faculty and staff judges scored the videos on their ability to capture an audience’s attention, tell a narrative, convey rigorous scholarship, and target a general audience. Current undergraduates also voted for an audience award winner.

This year’s event featured 36 videos from 59 students competing in two categories (science, technology, and engineering; arts, humanities, and social sciences). The submitters of the winning videos received awards generously funded by a gift from Kimberly and Scott Martin.

STEM Category

First Place ($1500)
Mandy Tran

• Watch: Biodiversity & Insect Herbivory: The Growth-Defense Trade-Off

Second Place ($500)
Bennett Xu and David Park

• Watch: Teaching Computers How To Smell

Honorable Mention
Fu-Yao Jefferson Yu

• Watch: JAttack: Java Compiler Testing using Template Programs

Shreyas Satewar, Shravan Ravi, Gary Want

• Watch: Visually Adaptive Geometric Navigation

Brian Matibag

• Watch: Nature’s Living Art | Painting a Clearer Picture for Diatom Classification

Valeria Calucho

• Watch: Sociality & Behavioral Development in Poeciliidae

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Category

First Place ($1500)
Vidhyasai Annem, Breigh Plat, Zia Kinzy

• Watch: Transitions

Second Place ($500)
Mckenzie Bentley

• Watch: Ancestors in Agony

Honorable Mention
Ember Beeler

• Watch: The Newburgh Project

Ruth Befekadu

• Watch: Perceptions of Depression Among Ethiopian Priests and Imams

Ingrid Piña

• Watch: Stranded by the United States: Venezuelan Migrants Fill the Gaps in Migratory Policy Communication

Angelique Noel Trotter, Abigail Romeo, Kennedy Zapalac

• Watch: Finding Focus

Audience Award ($1000)

Mckenzie Bentley

• Watch: Ancestors in Agony