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Winners Announced for Record-Breaking Mathias Conference

American University’s 35th Annual Robyn Rafferty Mathias Student Research Conference was largest-to-date and presented new AI research awards

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Katharine Grace McCartha presents her winning poster, Buried Histories: Examining Anti-Blackness in the Afterlives of Q StreetKatharine Grace McCartha presents her winning poster, "Buried Histories: Examining Anti-Blackness in the Afterlives of Q Street"

With more than 200 participants and two newly introduced award categories focused on artificial intelligence, American University’s 35th Annual Robyn Rafferty Mathias Student Research Conference marked its largest gathering to date. Held in person on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Don Myers Technology and Innovation Building, the daylong event spotlighted the original research, scholarship, and creative work of undergraduate and graduate students from across the College of Arts and Sciences.

The 2025 conference came on the heels of AU’s newly earned R1 research status, a recognition that underscores the university’s expanding research activity. Reflecting that momentum, two new awards were introduced this year to honor student excellence in artificial intelligence (AI)-related research—one in the mathematical, computer, and natural sciences, and another in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our College of Arts and Sciences students—their creativity, rigor, and drive were on full display at the largest-ever Mathias Conference,” said CAS Dean Linda Aldoory. “In a milestone year marking our new R1 status and the debut of two AI award categories, the competition was intense, and every participant impressed us with their innovative research.”

Meet the 2025 Mathias Winners—Congratulations to all! 

Graduate Award Winners

Arts

Amy Abraham

Amy Abraham
Quiet dignity on display: Laura Wheeler Waring’s portrait of Anna Washington Derry

Humanities

Les Whitehead

Les Whitehead
European Classical Music in the 18th Century Anglo-American Parlor

Social Sciences

Endometriosis: The Crossroads of Healthcare and Internalized Ableism

  • Olivia Salamone
    Jessica Chacko
    Wendy Anderson
    Garrett Washington
    Caryalyn Jean

    Hannah Wingo
  • Tabby Ford
    Amanda Vincent
    Sofia Guerra Oropeza
    Frenika Mudd
    Katheryn Olmos

Endometriosis: The Crossroads of Healthcare and Internalized Ableism

 
 

AI in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Biboswan Biswas

Biboswan Biswas
A Comparative Study of Self-Supervised and Pre-Trained Models for Speech Restoration

AI in Mathematical, Computer Sciences, and Natural Sciences

Chen Hsu

Chen Hsu
Comparing Direct Classifications with Pairwise Comparisons Using Generative Large Language Models

AI in Mathematical, Computer Sciences, and Natural Sciences

Yi-Hung Lu

Yi-Hung Lu
Comparing Direct Classifications with Pairwise Comparisons Using Generative Large Language Models


Social Sciences Poster

Rida Hameed

Rida Hameed
Pollution and Labor Supply: Evidence from Bangladesh

Social Sciences Poster

Eric Baran

Eric Baran
Leveraging Large Language Models to Detect and Interpret Antisemitic Terminology in Social Media Content

Natural Sciences Poster

AU

Nina Ghasem Ardabili
Impact of a High Fat/Sugar Diet on Morphine-Stimulus Control: Implications for Dysregulated Drug Intake

Natural Sciences

Nathaniel Ramis Fleming

Nathaniel Fleming
Examining Retinal Regeneration via Intracellular and Molecular Pathway Difference from Chemically Damaged Zebrafish Retinas


Undergraduate

Arts

AU

Jessica Papay
Manet’s Political Allusions: Mademoiselle V… in the Costume of Empress Eugénie

Humanities

Melissa Lopez Vasquez

Melissa Lopez Vasquez
Beyond Allocation: Civic Engagement and PB Process in Underserved Communities

Humanities

Audrey Magill

Audrey Magill
(De)Constructions of Identity Through Divinity in 20th-century Abrahamic Literature

Social Sciences

Tommy Soodak

Thomas Soodak
How Tourist Economies Cope with Negative Demand Shocks: A Case Study of Consumer Spending in Ocean City, Maryland

AI in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Simon Ellerbe

Simon Ellerbe
Live Multilayer Perceptron Based Control of Guitar Effects

AI in Mathematical, Computer Sciences, and Natural Sciences

Sam Spivak

Sam Spivak
Relationship Between Language of LLM Tokens and Dimension, Ricci Curvature

AI in Mathematical, Computer Sciences, and Natural Sciences

Griselda Jesse Dodoo

Griselda Jesse-Dodoo
Relationship Between Language of LLM Tokens and Dimension, Ricci Curvature


Arts & Humanities Poster

Katharine Grace McCartha

Katharine Grace McCartha
Buried Histories: Examining Violence, Anti-Blackness, and the Systematic Displacement of Black Afterlives Beneath Georgetown

Arts & Humanities Poster

E.G. Street

EG Street
“Were You There?”: A Case Study for Identity and Absence within Anti-War Movements

Social Sciences Poster

Braley Haviland

Braley Haviland
Moral Disengagement in the Legal Profession

Physical Sciences Poster

Benjamin Kanzer

Grennon Gurney, Benjamin Kanzer (pictured), Jasmin Mundi
Degeneracies and Emergent Symmetries in the Anyon-Hubbard Model

Natural Sciences Poster

Andra Mutu

Andra Mutu
Building a JC Virus-Specific T Cell Bank for Treatment of PML : Allele Selection for Optimizing Donor - Recipient Compatibility

Natural Sciences

Raelyn Akdag

Raelyn Akdag
Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species and Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Natural Sciences

Shayna Friedman

Shayna Friedman
The Impact of Nesting Diet on Songbird Health: A Natural Experiment During the 2021 Periodical Cicada Emergence