2026 URCA Symposium featured new academic participation, new award
ASHLAND, Ohio – While the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Symposium at Ashland University’s John C. Myers Convocation Center on April 22 may have looked familiar to those who have attended some of the previous 16 editions, upon closer inspection there were a couple of new features this year that added a nice twist to the annual event that is equally enlightening and entertaining.
Since 2009, the URCA Symposium has provided an opportunity for students within AU’s College of Arts and Sciences to enhance their educational experience by showcasing their original research or by exhibiting new works in creative writing, design or fine art. For some, it helps them prepare for presentations at professional conferences, while for others, it gives them practice to compete and perform at state, regional and national levels. But, it was always an opportunity only afforded to those in the College of Arts and Sciences.
That all changed this year, when the URCA Symposium committee opened the event up to one and all, inviting AU students from the Dauch College of Business and Economics, the Dwight Schar College of Education and the Dwight Schar College of Nursing and Health Sciences to share their major projects.
Several students took advantage of the new opportunity, including Nathan Slater, a senior dietetics major and member of the Honors Program. He enjoyed the public presentation aspect and thought it helped enhance his understanding of his project, “Pre-Run Carbohydrate Intake and Its Influence on 60-Minute Performance in Division II Distance Runners.”
“I think it’s just really good practice at vocalizing what you’ve already researched. If you can talk about what you’ve done, then you know it,” said Slater. “It provides you with a nice sense of confidence and it does cause you to dive a little deeper because you don’t want to be wrong so you look a little further into the research.”
For Georgi Moodi, a senior nursing major from Huron, Ohio, it was a way to explore in-depth a personal interest. Her project, “Aromatherapy Use in Oncology,” a literature review evaluating the use of aromatherapy on specific oncology symptoms in Turkey and the U.S., was inspired by her passion to help those in her life who have battled cancer.
“You’re also making research move forward in a different light. Especially as nurses and taking care of other people, we want to find different interventions for them that’s not always focused on their diagnostics. (It’s) more focused on the person as a whole,” she explained.
Max Vesper, a senior business analytics and finance double major, appreciated the real-world application of his project, “Demand Forecast Optimization Using AI Models.” In fact, he plans to use similar forecasting models on real data in his upcoming job with the Ashland Water Group.
“I think it’s awesome whenever we get the chance to put a lot of effort into a project like this. I think that’s when you learn the most,” said Vesper. “Getting the chance to be part of URCA, I think it pushes us to learn more.”
Similar sentiment was shared from the more than 100 student presenters across this year’s URCA Symposium, which also featured an award for the first time.
Coordinated by the Archer Library and the Instructional Resource Center, the Archer Library Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award was created to honor outstanding research and to emphasize the critical role of the research process, including the effective use of library databases, discover tools and strategic search methodologies.
The winner of the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award was Prabesh Sunar for “AU Marketplace – A Campus Platform for Free Exchange and Market Behavior Analysis.” Sunar’s research explored how a campus-based, zero-price digital exchange platform influences participation, trust and patterns of resource redistribution within a university community.
There were six other finalists for the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Award:
- Oleksandra Bibik, “Soviet‑Born Wounds in Ukraine: Holodomor Genocide and the Lingering Trauma of a Nation”
- Ayden Mason, “Host Range Testing Bacillus cereus Bacteriophages”
- Aniket Patel, “Two-Stage Driver Monitoring System: Road-First Violation Detection With On-Demand Driver State Analysis”
- Colin Pham, “Phosphazene-Based Metal Organic Frameworks Incorporating Coinage Metals for Drug Delivery Applications”
- Raechel Serafimov, “Analysis of Nicotine and Toxic Metals in Nicotine and Tobacco Pouches”
- Zack Van Farowe, “The Church as Alternative Polis: John Howard Yoder's Vision for Christian Social Action”
