This important campus-wide event, led by the Office of Academic Programs, Student Success, and Effectiveness, the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, the Honors College, the University Library, and the UIC Alumni Association, showcases undergraduate student research covering a broad range of scholarship across a variety of disciplines. This year, the Undergraduate Research Forum will be featured as part of UIC Research Week, an annual series of events to celebrate and share the exceptional efforts of our faculty, staff, students and research trainees. We look forward to your participation in this week-long celebration of UIC’s research community.

If you are an undergraduate student who is involved in research or creative inquiry projects on campus under the direction of a UIC faculty member or other project supervisor, please consider attending the Undergraduate Research Forum to present your work. Registration for student presenters will open Monday, February 10, 2025 and close Wednesday, April 2, 2025:

  • If registering for a group: Groups are limited to a maximum of 4 undergraduate team members. One team member should submit a single registration for all students in the group.
  • All student presenters are required to submit their abstract (300 words or less) as a Microsoft Word document, containing the Project Title at the time of registration. Abstracts should also be submitted by pasting the text into this form.

UIC Undergraduate student presenters registration link: https://go.uic.edu/URF25Student

Faculty, staff, postdoc researchers and graduate students: Please consider volunteering your time and expertise to serve as a judge for the event. Judges play a crucial role in the success of the event, and the student presenters and event organizers are grateful for the service you provide. Registration for judges will  open Monday, February 10, 2025 and close Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

Faculty, staff, postdoc researchers and graduate student judges registration link: https://go.uic.edu/URF25Judge

See below for additional information pertaining to the event, including registration links, resources to help students prepare their research abstracts, presentations, and posters. If you have additional questions, email us at our@uic.edu.

 

Undergraduate Research Forum 2025 Abstract Book

**Social Sciences**

Presenter: David Dobria

Project Title: The Emotional and Cognitive Correlates of Addictive Behavior in Adolescents

Supervisor: Dr. Alessandra Passarotti

Presenter: Valeria Esparza

Project Title: Preschool Teachers’ Knowledge Collaborating with Specialists for an Inclusive Environment

Supervisor: Dr. Katherine Zinsser

Presenter: Sylvia Waechter

Project Title: Evaluating Sidewalk Conditions Using Project Sidewalk

Supervisor: Dr. Yochai Eisenberg

** Life Sciences**

Presenter: Ricky Chen

Project Title: Characterizing the Biochemical and Synaptic Proteome of TMEM97 in Alzheimer’s Disease

Supervisor: Dr. Alison Ondrus

Presenter: Yasmina Eshac

Project Title: Extrinsic Electrical Modulation impacts glioblastoma tumor growth by disrupting its intercellular communication

Supervisor: Dr. Timothy Sita

Presenter: Christian Kim

Project Title: Should Autologous Serum Tear Eye Drops Be Used in Sjögren’s Syndrome Patients With Dry Eye Disease?

Supervisor: Dr. Sandeep Jain

Presenter: Rishi Patel

Project Title: The Role of Endothelial ACKR1 in Breast Cancer Metastasis

Supervisor: Dr. Naiche Adler

**Arts, Design & Humanities**

Presenter: Isabella Agostinelli

Project Title: Childhood, Angels and Le Petit Prince

Supervisor: Dr. John Ireland

Presenter: Elijah Girik

Project Title: From Crisis To Closeness: Rethinking Crisis Mental Healthcare as an Avenue for Disability Justice

Supervisor: Kim O’Neil

Presenter: Christian Rodriguez-Hernandez

Project Title: Street Archivism through Murals: Surveying Latino In/Visibility in Chicago-area Archives

Supervisor: Dr. Lilia Fernandez

**Business, Computer Science & Mathematics**

Presenter: Sanjay Ganesh

Project Title: Uveal Melanoma Detection, Classification, and Segmentation: A Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Tasks

Supervisor: Dr. Michael Heiferman

Presenter: Sophia Rasche

Project Title: Framing the Wind: How Social Movement Influences State Support for Renewable Energy

Supervisor: Dr. Jocelyn Leitzinger

Presenter: Noah Zabelka

Project Title: On Gilbreath’s Conjecture and the Distances between Consecutive Elements of Sequences of Integers

Supervisor: Evangelos Kobotis

**Engineering and Physical Sciences**

Presenter: Giuliana Adrianzen

Project Title: Tracking Glacier Loss in the Cordillera Real

Supervisor: Dr. Andrew Malone

Presenters: Fatima Jassim & Purv Patel

Project Title: AI-integrated Tool for Audio Analysis in DDK Rate Automation

Supervisor: Dr. Hananeh Esmailbeigi

Presenter: Paul Peretz

Project Title: Analysis and Simulation of a 5-Bar Mechanism for Complex Motion Generation

Supervisor: Dr. Pranav Bhounsule

**Honors College Capstone Innovation Award**

Presenter: Daniel Lappin

Project Title: A Third Way: A Proposal for a New Housing Culture in Chicago

Supervisor: Dr. Sarah Dunn

Presenter: Sumedha Sethi

Project Title: Deciding to Deliver a Victim Impact Statement in Sexual Abuse Cases: Factors Contributing to the Timeline of Statements Given by the Victims of Larry Nassar

Supervisor: Dr. Edna Erez