Wyndham Robertson Library is proud to announce the winners and finalists of this year’s Undergraduate Research Awards!

In the First-Year/Sophomore category:

  • Winner: “Syncretism of Culture Through Restoration at Cyrene’s Temple of Lykeian Zeus” by Melanie Stevenson (’28), recommended by Dr. Katelin McCullough.
  • Finalist: “Genetic Causes of Classical Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: Investigating a Pathogenic Single Nucleotide Variant in the COL5A1 Gene” by Annika Gulling (’27), recommended by Dr. Shaun Davis.

In the Junior/Senior category:

  • Winner: “Women’s Movement and Mobility in New York City: Restriction, Rejuvenation, and Resistance in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920” by Helene Erlbaum (’26), recommended by Dr. Chris Florio.
  • Finalist: “Missionaries and Magic: Freed People, Conjure and Reformation During and After Southern Reconstruction” by Sanaa Belton (’26), recommended by Dr. Chris Florio.
  • Finalist: “Exploring the Ephemeral: California’s Light and Space Artists” by Shasta Power (’26), nominated by Dr. Genevieve Hendricks.
  • Finalist: “The Impacts of Wing-flashing by Northern Mockingbirds on Foraging, Parental Care, and Reproductive Success” by Anna Starman (’26), nominated by Dr. Morgan Wilson.

These excellent research projects will soon be available on the library’s website along with messages from students about their entries, and comments from this year’s judges. We congratulate the winners and finalists, and thank everyone who submitted their work for this year’s award.

The Undergraduate Research Awards have been an annual celebration at the library since 2011. The awards recognize extensive and creative usage of library resources, and students’ ability to synthesize their projects. All finalists’ projects are published in the Hollins Digital Commons repository, where they can be read by a worldwide audience. As an example, 2014 finalist Victoria West’s paper on Barack Obama’s inaugural addresses has been downloaded more than 45,000 times.

The awards are co-sponsored by the Library and the Office of Academic Affairs to recognize exemplary student research projects completed in Hollins courses, with a cash prize of $300 for winners and $100 for finalists, along with publication in the Hollins Digital Commons.

Our thanks also go to the faculty who recommended students for the award, and to this year’s judges:: Sofia Craig (’26); Susan Eagle, Assistant Professor of Public Health; Isabel Folck, Archivist and Digital Collections Librarian; Katelin McCullough, Assistant Professor of Classics, Rebecca Seipp-Behnisch, Assistant University Librarian and Humanities Liaison.