College celebrates students' research excellence at Discover Symposium

Awards presented to top entries in undergraduate and graduate divisions

Monday, Apr 27, 2026 • Greg Pederson :

Discover 2026 Winners

The extraordinary research work being done by College of Science students was on display during the College’s annual Discover Student Research Symposium in the Chemistry & Physics Building on April 17.

The event provides undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to show their research projects to their peers and the wider University community. This year saw 168 students submit project abstracts. Online judging done by faculty and postdoctoral researchers narrowed the pool down to five undergraduate and five graduate finalists.

The 10 finalists each presented their projects during a live showcase in the UTA Planetarium following the morning poster symposium. A panel of judges graded the finalists’ oral presentations, and awards were presented for first, second, and third place and honorable mention in each division. Certificates and cash prizes went to each finalist.

Showcase judges included Dave Mire, who earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UTA in 1999; Nancy Schaefer, who earned a BSN in nursing in 1982 and an M.S. in health care administration in 2016 from UTA; College of Science Dean Morteza Khaledi; Todd Castoe, associate dean for research; and Frank Foss, interim associate dean of graduate studies. Laura Mydlarz, associate dean for academic affairs, is coordinator of the symposium.

“Congratulations to the award winners and to all the students who entered and participated in Discover this year,” Mydlarz said. “We’re very proud of the extremely high quality of research that our students are doing. It’s so inspiring to walk around during the symposium and see the depth and breadth of their work.”

Graduate Student Division

  • 1st place — Sophie Lorenz | Psychology | Faculty Mentor: Stephen Lomber
    Title: Investigating Structural Modifications in the Optic Nerves of Deafened Cats
  • 2nd place — Alisher Talgatov | Chemistry & Biochemistry | Faculty Mentor: Sherri McFarland
    Title: Photobiological Applications of Light-Activated Metallodrugs
  • 3rd place — Karissa Cordero | Earth & Environmental Sciences | Faculty Mentor: Nathan Brown
    Title: Luminescence Dating of Maar Eruptions in the Clear Lake Volcanic Field
  • Honorable Mention — Joseph Balderas | Mathematics | Faculty Mentor: Li Wang
    Title: Distance Preserving Variants of t-SNE for Data Visualization
  • Honorable Mention — Yidan Zhang | Earth & Environmental Sciences | Faculty Mentor: Yike Shen
    Title: Childhood Gut Microbiome Communities and Functional Modules Associate with Metal Exposure and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in a Canadian Birth Cohort

Undergraduate Student Division

  • 1st place — Sarah Al-Noubani | Chemistry & Biochemistry | Faculty Mentor: Kay Johnson-Winters
    Title: Biochemical Investigations of F420-Dependent Sugar-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase from Cryptosporangium Arvum
  • 2nd place — Diego Maldonado, Sidhantaa Sarna, Tiffany De La Cruz | Data Science | Faculty Mentor: Masoud Rostami
    Title: Comparing Machine Learning and CNN Models for Skin Lesion Classification
  • 3rd place — Vy Duong | Biology | Faculty Mentor: Soroush Ghaffari
    Title: Accelerated Wound Regeneration through Pulsed Negative Pressure Therapy: Insights on Immune Modulation
  • Honorable Mention — Prithak Bhattarai | Physics | Faculty Mentor: Jaehoon Yu
    Title: Background Characterization for the Stage 1 DAMSA (DArk Messenger Searches at an Accelerator) Using GEANT4 Monte Carlo Simulations
  • Honorable Mention — Anhthu Trang | Psychology | Faculty Mentor: Kathryn King
    Title: Reduced Theta-band Functional Connectivity in Adolescents with Epilepsy During Emotional Conflict: A MEG Study

See a photo gallery of award winners at the Discover website and see award winners’ project videos on the COS YouTube channel.

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