Virtual Academic Festival Showcases Student Excellence

Students share impressive culmination of research

As Sacred Heart University continued to adapt to the ongoing pandemic’s effects on traditional campus events, this year’s Academic Festival became a virtual affair. Organized by the Committee for Undergraduate Research, the annual conference, held on April 24, showcased the outstanding research of students by using a number of digital platforms.

While more than 130 posters, papers and video presentations were available on the University’s Digital Commons webpage, 12 presentations were given in a live stream hosted on Microsoft Teams, with subjects ranging from athletic training and nursing to chemistry and business.

“Our aim was to create a special day for students to share their research that would be as similar as possible to what we’ve done in the past,” said Steven Michels, associate provost at Sacred Heart. “Many students and faculty remarked that this year’s festival was as good, if not better, than previous years.”

Afterward, Michels awarded 14 prizes to participants, including several Dean’s Prizes for individual colleges and the Provost’s Prize.

“I gained a lot of experience from the Academic Festival,” said Stephen Clarke ’20, a double mathematics and computer science major whose presentation, “Quantum Computing, A Mathematical Analysis of Shor’s Algorithm,” took first place in the Writing Across the Curriculum category. “The research I presented was actually going to be for a mathematics senior seminar. From there, I prepared for a presentation to the mathematics department and, a couple of months later, I presented the same topic at a mathematics conference at Babson College. So, the Academic Festival was my third time presenting on the topic,” he said.

“It was actually the first time I had a full, online presentation, and it felt a lot different than I had imagined,” Clarke continued. “Your nerves are a bit calmer when you’re not standing in front of an audience. Going forward, I will be a lot more confident in giving these types of presentations.”

Krissy Rimmel, an English major who is on track to get her master’s degree in secondary education, won the Most Meaningful prize for her presentation, “Inviting Empathy into the Classroom: The Importance of Implementing Multicultural Education.” Rimmel said she gained confidence in herself and her work throughout the process, with support from her professors. “I am actually going to take my topic one step farther and utilize my research at the school where I will be working in the fall while I continue to work on my thesis. Eventually, I want to publish my work as academic writing that will help teachers across the nation,” she said.

Clarke and Rimmel both said they would encourage students to participate in upcoming Academic Festivals.

“Presenting is a great opportunity to share your work with the community, and it gives you a great sense of accomplishment,” said Clarke. “At the same time, you are able to tune in to the other presentations and learn a little bit about what the people around you are doing.”

“Choose a topic that you are passionate about and really dig deep into your research,” said Rimmel. “By choosing to explore something that interests you, you not only will enjoy the process, but you might uncover a passion you never knew you had.”

Other 2020 Academic Festival awards were:

• Writing Across Curriculum—second place, Thai Nguyen, and third place Chad Pierson
• Most Meaningful—honorable mentions, Keira Tobia and Daniel Marino
• Best Multidisciplinary Research or Collaboration—winner Rianna McNamee, with honorable mentions Ashley Penczynzyn, Kelly Rosenbaum and Maya Benyaacov
• Most Creative—winner Chelsea Thakkar, with honorable mentions Madison Bradley and Danielle Mannino
• Best Visuals—winner Mackenzie Grace McCormick, with honorable mentions Nicole Marie Langlais and Stephanie Castagliuolo
• Most Scholarly Impact or Potential—winners Anastasia Apotsos, Sarah Haze and Erica Allocca, with honorable mentions Madison Bradley and Jacqueline Noftle
• Campus Choice—first-place winners Nicole Bruzik, Shorabh Das, Madison Keenan, Kendall Kreager, Christina Magliocco, Sonia Morales, Michael Nietupski, Christian Rodriguez, Gavin Thurlow and Stavros Xanthacos, with second-place winner Madison Bradley and third place winner Kirsten Cunha
• Dean’s Prize for the College of Arts & Sciences—winners Madison Robotti, Marisa Otto, Kate Rybak and Jeffry A. Young III, with honorable mentions Madison Bradley and Cassie Simonides
• Dean’s Prize for the College of Health Professions—winner Danielle Mannino, with honorable mentions William DiGiuseppe and Kirsten Cunha
• Dean’s Prize for the Dr. Susan L. Davis, R.N., & Richard J. Henley College of Nursing—winner Olivia Lyon, with honorable mentions Jillian Milano and Victoria Gajewski
• Dean’s Prize for the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology—winner Alexa Malerba, with honorable mentions Daniel Marino and Anthony Smith
• Provost’s Prize—winners Madison Robotti, Marisa Otto, Kate Rybak and Jeffry A. Young III.