Four University Honors students recently presented at the 2026 Honors Council of the Illinois Region (HCIR) Spring Symposium at DePaul University in Chicago. The annual Spring Symposium is the HCIR’s main event to celebrate the excellence of Honors undergraduate research. It is an opportunity for some of the brightest undergraduate minds in Illinois and the surrounding regions to connect and share original research, scholarship, and ideas with a greater academic community. The Spring Symposium showcases outstanding honors student research and creative activities as well as faculty-student research and creative collaborations.
Congratulations to all those who were selected to present at the 2026 Honors Council of the Illinois Region Spring Symposium!
A Related-Rates Problem With an Unexpected Twist: Charlie Vazquez Acosta
Faculty Sponsor: Sien Deng, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics; Steven Kifowit, Ph.D., Waubonsee Community College, Department of Mathematics
Quench Propagation on Rare-Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) Tape Stacks: Han Ju
Faculty Sponsors: Maria Baldini, Scientist at Fermilab; Nicholas Pohlman, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering
Living Archaeology, Artifacts, and Implications in the Thais in Illinois Oral History Project: Alia Moran
Faculty Sponsors: Dana Bardolph, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology; Kanjana Thepboriruk, Ph.D., Department of World Languages and Cultures
Identification of New Genes Involved in Epithelial Basement Membrane Protein Deposition: Anna Wiginton
Co-Author: Hemin Shah
Faculty Sponsor: Olivier Devergne, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences
