Sixty-nine University of Alabama at Birmingham honors students were selected as the UAB Honors College delegation 2025 UAB Honors College NCUR Delegation– the largest cohort to date – to participate at the annual National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), April 7-9.

Hosted in Pittsburgh, PA, NCUR25 allowed honors students to engage with other students, as well as faculty and administrators, from higher education institutions throughout the United States to learn from peers about cutting-edge research and innovations. The conference is sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) and has been held on different campuses since 1987.

“Our honors delegates proudly represented UAB and our Honors College as they presented their scholarly work, participated in networking and career-building opportunities, and enjoyed the sights of Pittsburgh,” said Mark Bevensee, Ph.D., assistant dean of the UAB Honors College. “The camaraderie of our students and their interaction with fellow students around the country engendered a strong environment of learning, different perspectives, support and respect, and lasting memories.”

Every year, the Honors College sponsors students of all disciplines to attend NCUR who have an interest in pursuing research in fields that complement their major or explores themes based on their interests.

Bao Pham, 2025 NCUR Honors Delegate “The NCUR25 conference was an incredible experience that gave me the opportunity to connect with many brilliant and passionate peers not only from other universities but also within the Honors College,” said Bao Pham, a rising senior in the UAB Honors College and 2025 NCUR honors delegate. “Engaging with such a wide range of research topics demonstrated how immense and diverse research is, spanning both the sciences and the arts. The conference embodied and reaffirmed that research is more than just the pursuit of knowledge."

NCUR25 allowed students to not only enhance their research portfolio, but provided educational workshops, special keynote sessions, student presentations, art galleries, and interactive networking experiences.

“It was truly wonderful to witness the enthusiasm, growth, and leadership that our students displayed during this year’s conference,” said Shannon L. Blanton, Ph.D., dean of the UAB Honors College. “This experience encouraged the growing interest from our students to engage in their own scholarly activity and pursue additional opportunities outside of the classroom to enhance their personal academic journey.”

There were four categories in which students presented their scholarly work: oral, poster, visual arts, and performing arts. Students from various fields and disciplines shared their research that ranged across an array of topics, including Alzheimer’s Disease, cancer, literacy teaching, depression, legal practices, Huntington’s Disease – and many others.

“Being surrounded by students from across the country who were equally passionate about research made me feel part Naisha Kohli, 2025 NCUR Honors Delegateof something bigger,” said Naisha Kohli, a senior in the UAB Honors College and 2025 NCUR honors delegate. “Seeing like-minded peers present their work taught me the importance of integrating scientific inquiry with the broader world, and it reminded me that there is still so much left to discover. This experience made me more certain that I want to pursue a career where research, communication, and impact intersect within each other.”

Students who presented research as part of the UAB Honors College Delegation at NCUR include:

Anjani Allada
Scoping review of the effects of breathwork in women with breast cancer

Narcy Amireddy
Impact of Estrogen-related receptor gamma (Esrrg/ERRg) Modulation on Activity-dependent Gene Expression in Drd1 & Drd2-expressing SPNs: Implications for Huntington’s Disease

Lalitha Appana
Targeting retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRɑ) in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Shrijith Balasundararajan
Changes in Mitochondrial Electron Transport Chain Complexes Expression in Postmortem Human AD Brain

Caylee Barnes
Role of Splicing Factor EXC-7 and UNC-75 in Neuronal Maturation in C. elegans

Anurag Bhattarai
Applying Novel Methods for Assessing the Blood Brain Barrier after Traumatic Brain Injury

Sarah Bhayani
End-of-Life Care and Bereavement: Impact on Siblings of Patients with Chronic Illnesses

Sathvik Bodepudi
Exploring circadian variations in autonomic input preceding ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation: a pathway to predictive models for sudden cardiac death

Anabel Byars
Circadian rhythm disruption by unpredictable disturbance and its effects on physical activity and lifespan

Isabella Campos
Limiting Attorney Fees Limits Access to Justice

Juan Carcamo Dal Zotto
Alzheimer’s Disease Neuropathology Present in TgF344 Rat and Ketone Diester Effects on TgF344 Behavioral Impairments

Sofia M. Chaves
Building a comprehensive comparative osteological collection of Gulf of Mexico fishes for scientific studies

Jari Chen
Bridging the Gap in Parathyroid Research: Comparing Classic and Normocalcemic Hyperparathyroidism Using the TriNetX Database

Audrey Dahlen
Examining a Potential Therapeutic approach for Parkinson's Disease Using Overexpression of ATP6VoA1

Pranav Danasekar
Role of Parkinson’s Disease-Linked PINK1 in Histone Modifications

Amuktha Dasari
Heterozygous knockdown of cofilin 1 in rod photoreceptors exacerbates effects of degeneration in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa.

Amelia Davidson
Brain Injury Increases Progranulin Expression in Microglia and Astrocytes

Sonoka Deguchi
Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis as a Pathway for Cellular Uptake of Nanoplastics

Shree Delwadia
Various Factors of Hospital Performance Assessment

Palak Desai
Inducible Lentiviral Re-Expression of PKD1/PKD2 Genes Restores PC1/PC2 in Human Kidney Organoid-Derived Cystic Cells

Elizabeth Eason
Drugging C. elegans Worms to Study Cocaine Use Disorder

Grace Fagan
Morphology Analysis of iPSC-derived BCAT1 Deficient Neurons

Gabrielle Gaspar
Impact of Tumor Treating Fields Therapy on Patient-Derived Glioblastoma Models with Varying Radiation Sensitivities

Audrey Gilbert
C. elegans as a Model Organism to Study the Effects of Acute and Chronic Cocaine Exposure

Bridget Goins
Comparing Symptom Severity in Parkinson's Patients on the Protein Consistent and Protein Redistribution Diets

Andrew Griffin
Unfolded Protein Response in Early-life stress Mediated Depressive Behavior

Zoya Hasan
Dynamic interference effects in reflected light from cone photoreceptors in the living human eye

Amelia Herron
The Role of Calcium Sensitive GAPs in Endocytic Trafficking Pathway

Morgan Hicks
Striatal astrocytes and their morphological changes in Huntington’s disease

Alexandria Howard
Progranulin insufficiency disrupts the immune response to TDP-43 pathology

Mikayla Jackson
Impaired Motor Learning in Rett Syndrome Mice with MECP2 Deletion in Purkinje Cells of the Cerebellum

Kaavya Jaichandar
A Study on the Effects of Park Visits on the Mental Health of Residents in Low-Income Senior Living Communities (SLCs)

Samantha Jerry
Evaluation of Meso-scale Eddies in MOM6-NEP Simulations using Satellite Data

Madison Johnson
Enhancing Medication Management for Patients with Diabetes

Saad Khan
Relation of Emotion and Cognitive Processing Word Frequency to Emotional Distress in Stroke Survivor-Family Caregiver Dyad Interviews

Naisha Kohli
Factors Associated with HPV Vaccine Uptake Among Rural Parents in Alabama

Eshika Kudaravalli
Review of Behavioral Interventions to Build Resilience and Improve Coping Skills of Health Workers in Africa

Abigail Kulkarni
UNG1 Overexpression Alters Mitochondrial Function and Therapeutic Resistance in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Punarvi Mandadapu
Early life stress-induced aortic NOX4 and VCAM1 expression is mediated by endothelial cell HDAC9

Leona Mbila
Tapping Into Trouble: Investigating Microplastics and Heavy Metals in Birmingham’s Water

Amitis Moradkhani
Interrogating the Role of Astrocytic Cilia in Astrocytic Response to Diffuse Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Pari Motivaras
Stress Induced Regulation of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 15 (MAPK15) in Ovarian Cancer Models

Avanti Murukan
Evaluation of ICAM-2 expression in patient-derived xenograft models of neuroblastoma

Pranav Nagila
Endothelial cell HDAC1 mediates vascular and kidney damage in diet-induced obesity

Zena Patel
Timing of energy intake and associations with adiposity among postpartum women: A pilot study

Hyma Patel
The Identification of a Safer Alternative to BPA Using a Zebrafish Model

Bao Pham
Structural Basis for HIV-1 Matrix Maturation

Marianee Pichardo-Luna
Using the Black Immigrant Literacies Framework to Establish Relevance to Teaching

Anna Claire Potier
The Impact of Propionate on Glioma Cell Migration: A Potential Therapeutic Target

Sneha Rajendran
The Relationship Between p21 Expression and PKD1 Cyst Formation

Arjun Ram
The Isolation of Acetylated Triterpene Saponin from Agrostemma gigatho L. for Medicinal Chemistry Studies

Pratheek Reddy
PET Imaging of Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor (uPAR) in Aggressive Thyroid Cancer

Naira Rehman
Novel RNA-Binding Proteins Interacting With tRNA Fragments in Glioblastoma

Kaitlin Ross
Exploring the Effects of Chemotherapy-Induced Senescence in the Tumor Microenvironment

Elizabeth Salerno
Testing the efficacy of topical RT175 for enhancing pigmentation

Rishab Samant
Enhancing Diagnostic Accuracy in Laryngeal Cancer: A Comprehensive CLE Scoring System

Subrata Satyal
Evaluating Probiotic Delivery of Angiotensin (1-7) for Cognitive and Pathological Improvement in TgF344-AD Rats

Neha Singaravelan
Understanding the Synergistic Effects of the Combination of Polyphenols Indole and Curcumin in Breast Cancer Cell Lines to be used as a Preventative Treatment

Ashish Singh
Creating a data processing pipeline for single cell RNA sequencing and spatial analysis on cells of the entorhinal and occipital regions of the brain using Seurat v5

Neha Singhal
Designing a User-Friendly Preprocessing Software in Python for the Analysis of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Data

Vamsi Singu
MD simulations of Alzheimer’s disease–associated APOE isoforms, such as APOE3Christchurch, highlight potential shared mechanism of protection.

Sowmya Suresh
Comparative genomic and antimicrobial susceptibility analysis of Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates in a large U.S. Deep South hospital system

Ananya Theneti
Role of chemical neurotransmission on post-embryonic neuronal maturation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Evan Toler
Observing effects in longer lived worms when supplemented with serine

Samanvi Vootukuri
Diet Impact on Knee Osteoarthritis Pain, Mental And Physical Health: A Holistic Approach to Medicine

Ellie Walls
An Examination of the Relationships between Pain Catastrophizing, Pain Modulation, and Cognitive Function in Older Adults with Knee Osteoarthritis

Keegan A. Williford
Influenza A Virus Alters Iron Homeostasis in the Microenvironment of Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells within Air Liquid Interface Cultures

Srivatsav Yaddanapudi
Novel Finding of Type I Muscle Fiber Contribution to Running Economy in Recreational Runners

Pheven Yohannes
Understanding the Effects of Ketone Diester Supplementation on Reducing Neuroinflammation and Neuropathology in TgF344 AD Rat Model of Alzheimer’s Disease across the Lifespan