See recordings of all Research Live! finalists in MediaSpace.

2024 Winners

• Grand Prize: Kyle Timmer, "A Biomimetic Scaffold to Improve Rotator Cuff Shoulder Repair" (Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering)
• Design Award: Andrew Freeman, "Breaking the Ice: Fast and Reliable Aircraft Wing Deicing" (Electrical Engineering)
• Impact Award: Satinderpal Kaur, "Flooding, Food Security and Plant-insect Interactions" (Entomology)
• Visionary Award: Vincent Carlson, "Shatterpoints: An Adaptation Theory" (Theatre)
• Storyteller Award: Vignesh Srinivasakuma, "AI Teaches AI to Teach" (Computer Science)
• People's Choice: Dhanush Gandavadi, "Origami for Cancer Therapy" (Bioengineering)

2024 FINALISTS

• Aravind Baby (Materials Science and Engineering)
• Anwesh Bhattacharya (Computer Science)
• Byron Juma (Recreation, Sport and Tourism)
• Alexandra Richmond (Special Education)
• Julia Stowell (Music)
• Kshitij Tewari (Recreation, Sport and Tourism)

2023 Winners

• Grand Prize: Charles Nudelman, "Preventing Vocal Injuries in Teachers Using Voice Acoustic Biomarkers and Immersive Virtual Reality" (Speech and Hearing Science)
• Design Award: Erick Hernandez Alvarez, "How Much is a Color Worth? Quantum Dots Can Tell You!" (Materials Science and Engineering)
• Impact Award: Ricky Price, "Why Work Matters" (Special Education)
• Innovation Award: Yaman Yu, "How do Internet Users from Bangladesh and India Deal with Targeted Ads on Social Media? (Information Science)
• Storyteller Award: Joe Mirabelli, "How Ecological Perspectives Can Help Address Graduate Student Stress" (Educational Psychology)
• People's Choice: Abdulgafar Sulaiman, "Be Asphalt, My Friend!" (Civil Engineering)

2023 FINALISTS

• Nicole DelMastro-Jeffrey, "Mapping at the Margins of Environmental Justice and Racial Equity in Education" (Education Policy, Organization and Leadership)
• Nina Frye, "Why Are You the Way That You Are?: Antiracism in Public School Teachers" (Education Policy, Organization and Leadership)
• Yash Laxman Kamble, "Color Changing Smart Materials: Rethinking Material Synthesis" (Chemical Engineering)
• Breanna Metras, "Keeping Kefir Authentic" (Nutritional Sciences)
• William Nguyen, "The Gut Microbiome: The Invisible Heroes of Your Health" (VMS - Comparative Biosciences)
• Taiylor Rayford, "'What Did You Expect?': The Importance of Expectations and a Sense of Belonging" (Educational Psychology)

Watch each of the 2023 finalist presentations via the recording of the 2023 Research Live! Finalist Showcase.

2022 Winners

• 1st Place: Alex Gagliano, "A New Eye on the Exploding Sky" (Astronomy)
• 2nd Place: Tawni Williams, "Piglet Behavior Analysis" (Animal Sciences)
• 3rd Place: Ipshita Upadhyay, "Shots Against Cholera" (VMS - Pathobiology)
• People's Choice: Adam Nelczyk, "Frying Cured Meat Awakens Dormant Breast Cancer Cells" (Molecular and Integrative Physiology)

2022 Finalists

• Alicia Cabrera-Prado, "Reshaping U.S. Dual language Teacher Training With Study Abroad" (Education Policy, Organization and Leadership)
• Meghan Connolly, "Does the Immune System Play a Role in Neurodevelopmental Disorders?" (Neuroscience)
• Apurva Godbole, "Is it a Stem Cell? Developing a New Tool to Phenotype Cells" (Chemical Engineering)
• Katlin Harris, "Bands and Brands in the Wake of Union Demands" (Musicology)
• Ian Ludden, "From Sharing Cake to Fairer Voting Districts" (Computer Science)
• Giavanna McCall, "Examining the Effects of Reading Engagement on Cognition" (Educational Psychology)
• Azlan Smith,"Voices: Crowd-Sourced Storytelling" (Creative Writing)
• Kerry Xu, "Your Neurons are Playing the Telephone Game" (Chemistry)
• Jiadi Zhang, "Heritage Language Maintenance and Bilingual Education" (Curriculum and Instruction)

Watch each of the 2022 finalist presentations via the recording of the 2022 Research Live! Finalist Showcase.

2021 Winners

• 1st Place: Sherry Yi, "Using Videogames to Spark Interest for Learning" (Educational Psychology)
• 2nd Place: Shonit Nair Sharma, "Paperometer: A Low-cost Incentive Spirometer" (Medicine)
• 3rd Place: Joseph Puthussery, "Ambient Particulate Matter Induced Toxicity" (Environmental Engineering in Civil Engineering)
• People's Choice: Maitreyee Sharma Priyadarshini, "Trying Not to Burnout, Literally!" (Aerospace Engineering)

2021 fINALISTS

• Sara Bell, "Single Cell Chemistry of the Brain" (Chemistry)
• Caitlin Bloomer, "Mapping the Route to Crayfish Conservation" (Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences)
• Ragini Chakraborty, "Bodies at the Borders: Exploring Gendered Violence During 1947 Partition" (Comparative Literature)
• Karen Chiu, "Phthalates: The Everywhere Ingredient" (Nutritional Sciences)
• Hanna Dahlstrom, "Preserving Videogames in the 21st Century" (Library & Information Science)
• Travis Dore, "Hydro All the Way Down" (Physics)
• Taylor Jorgensen, "Circadian Rhythms in Astrocytes" (Neuroscience)
• Aubrie Powell, "Why Consider Country?" (Musicology)

2019 Winners

• 1st Place: Rebecca Andrus, "Can We Reinvent the Toilet" (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
• 2nd Place: Lucas Buccafusca, "The Tragedy of the Wind Turbine" (Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering)
• 3rd Place: Mary E. Lyons, "In an Era of Academic Rigor, Play in Kindergarten" (Curriculum and Instruction)
• People's Choice: Sana Saboowala, "Investigating the Biological Effects of Historical Trauma in South Asia" (Integrative Biology)

2019 Finalists

• Mehmet Yalcin Aydin, "Who is Smarter? Tomopology Optimization of Heat Sinks" (Mechanical Science and Engineering)
• Mayank Boob, "Two Ways to Fight Pressure" (Biophysics and Quantitative Biology)
• Abhilasha Gulhane, "Vision of an Eye, Smile on the Face ... Can Telemedicine Help?" (Technology Management)
• Dong Liu, "So Close Yet So Far: A Tale of Public Transit" (Geography and Geographic Information Science)
• Srinivasu Mudalagiriyappa, "Toxoplasma Gondii - A Mind-Altering Parasite" (Pathobiology)
• Gelson Pagan, "Understanding the Brain by Building BRaNEs" (Bioengineering)
• Pranjali Priyadarshini, "Towards a Greener Chemistry: Direct Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide" (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)
• Swati Rastogi, "Economic Efficacy of Mahila Bazaar (Women Vendors-only Market), Delhi, India" (Urban and Regional Planning)
• Magen Rooney, "Accessibility of Work-Based Learning Experiences for Students with Severe Disabilities" (Special Education)

2018 Winners

• 1st Place: Tim Yang, “On the Road to Self-Driving... Drivers?” (Kinesiology)
• 2nd Place: Gabriel Piqué, “The University of Illinois Saxophone Ensemble: Exploring Old Works in A New Format” (Music)
• 3rd Place: Dhawal Thakare, “Self-Healing Coatings: The Future of Smart Materials” (Mechanical Science & Engineering)
• People's Choice: Kelly Clary, “Reducing Drug Use Among Emerging Adult Veterans” (Social Work)

2018 Finalists

• Parinaz Fathi, “3D-Printed Gastrointestinal Stents” (Bioengineering)
• Hope Holland, “Everyday Experiences of Street Harassment: Death by Paper Cut, or No Big Deal?” (Psychology)
• Belinda Pacheco Johnson, “Lasers, Shockwaves, and the Initiation of Explosives” (Chemistry)
• Collin Kaufman, “Using Cells to Make a Walking Robot” (Neuroscience)
• Junghwan Kim, “Evaluating Public Transit Systems - From a User’s Perspective” (Geography)
• Aditya Kumar, “How Soft Materials Break and Heal: Enabling the Development of Next-generation Materials” (Civil & Environmental Engineering)
• Lee Ann Lyons, “Fighting the Uptick in Tick-Borne Disease” (Pathobiology)
• Jennifer Leigh Sears Scheier, “From Bells to Headsets: The Untold History of the American Stage Manager” (Theatre)
• Whitney Sinclair, “Inhale, Exhale” (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)

2017 Winners

• 1st Place: Laura Adamovicz, "Turtles in Trouble: Applications of Health Assessment for Conservation" (Comparative Biosciences) 
• 2nd Place: Elizabeth Davis, "Your Brain is Talking Directly to Your Stem Cells" (Neuroscience)
• 3rd Place: Payel Kundu, "Harnessing Plant Compounds to Promote Healthy Aging" (Neuroscience)
• People's Choice: Robby Goldman, "Unearthing the Secrets of Volcanic Eruptions" (Geology)

2017 Finalists

• Adrienne Ertel, "Prehistoric Supernova: Unearthing the Remains of Exploding Stars in Ocean Material" (Astronomy)
• Kartik Hegde, "Enabling Real-time Video Understanding Based on Deep Neural Networks" (Computer Science)
• Huancui Hu, "Linking Atmospheric River Hydrological Impacts on the U.S. West Coast to Rossby Wave Breaking" (Atmospheric Sciences)
• Derek Jung, "On the Shoulders of Giants" (Mathematics)
• Elizabeth Maxwell, "Killing Cancer with Chemo-Beads" (Veterinary Science)
• Cassandra Nikolaus, "The Student's Dilemma: Supper, Sleep or Social Life" (Human Nutrition)
• Sree Kalyan Patiballa, "Auxetics: Materials for the Future (?)" (Systems & Entrepreneurial Engineering)
• Jennifer Peruski, "Fetishizing the Foot: Mobility and Meaning in Indian Ocean Sandals" (Art History)
• Sarvagya Sharma, "Diamonds: A Physicist's Best Friends" (Physics)

2016 Winners

• 1st Place: Ritu Raman, "Bio-Bots: Building Beyond Biology" (Mechanical Engineering)
• 2nd Place: Janelle Mapes, "What Makes Breast Cancer Cells Grow?" (Molecular & Integrative Physiology)
• 3rd Place (tie): Christina Bronson-Lowe, "Complexity and oral motor learning: a path to better treatment of swallowing disorders?" (Speech & Hearing Science)
• 3rd Place (tie): S.K. (Kayleigh) Van Poolen, "Started with a Hurricane Named Katrina" (Library & Information Science)
• People's Choice: Vaibhav Karve, "Recognizing patterns in New York traffic" (Mathematics)

2016 Finalists

• Arif Abdullah, "Mimicking Venus Flytrap: Autonomous Structures That Sense and Respond" (Mechanical Engineering)
• Kamalika Chatterjee, "Studying mechanical deformation of aircraft materials : Have a safe flight!" (Mechanical Engineering)
• Kyung Yun Choi, "Impact Resistant Prosthetic Hand: The Soft Overcomes The hard" (Aerospace Engineering)
• William Davies, "Condensation on an Inclination" (Mechanical Engineering)
• Jessica Hekman, "Domestication comes in on little feet -- like, microscopic ones" (Animal Sciences)
• Jamie Pearson, "'You Need to Keep Those Kids Quiet': Autism in African American Communities" (Special Education)
• Widya Aulia Ramadhani, "Please Remove Shoes: The Relation of Shoes Removal Practice, Transitional Space, and Human Health" (Architecture)
• Jessica Saw, "Urinary Stones: A Product of Dynamic Interactions Between the Microbiome and Mineral Precipitation" (Molecular & Integrative Physiology)
• Lisa Schlein, "A Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Brain Cancer" (Pathobiology)

2015 Winners

• 1st Place: Ipek Tasan, “Finding Partners in Crime Causing Colon Cancer” (Biochemistry)
• 2nd Place (tie): Marc R. Gancayco, “Sublancin: An Antibiotic with a Sweet Side” (Chemical Biology)
• 2nd Place (tie): Vahid Mirshafiee, “Targeted Delivery of Anticancer Drugs to Tumors” (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)
• People's Choice: Robin Holland, “Taking Down the Powerhouse” (Vet Med Pathobiology)

2015 Finalists

• Himel Dev, “’Don’t Just Post and Regret, Ask Me Instead!!!’ – Cassandra” (Computer Science)
• Ipek Ensari, “Effects of acute exercise on anxiety: Results of a meta-analysis” (Kinesiology)
• Juan Gerardo, “Humanizing Mathematics Teaching” (Curriculum & Instruction)
• Boon Chong Goh, “Solving 3D jigsaw puzzle of a young virus” (Physics)
• Larisa Hussak, “From Wall St. to Planet Wuggy: What 4-year-olds’ Explanations Can Tell Us About Income Inequality in America” (Psychology)
• Ismaeel Muhamed, “Decoding a cell’s body language” (Biochemistry)
• Amir Saberi, “Planarians and their Parasitic Cousins” (Cell and Developmental Biology)