Five Villanova Undergraduates Participate in Fourth Annual BIG EAST Undergraduate Research Symposium
Five students represented Villanova at the 2025 BIG EAST Undergraduate Research Symposium. From left to right: Grace Hansen, Will Stozenski, Janice Park, Datamis Ghorbanian and Swopnil Panday.
VILLANOVA, Pa. (April 4, 2025)鈥�Five Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellows (VURF) represented the University at the fourth annual BIG EAST Undergraduate Research Symposium, held March 15 at Madison Square Garden. The event, which took place ahead of the BIG EAST Men鈥檚 Basketball Championship Game, featured student researchers from all 11 conference institutions showcasing their work across a wide range of disciplines.
鈥淧articipation in undergraduate research is foundational for students who wish to innovate and engage in scholarly pursuits, and it is often their first exposure to that type of academic work,鈥� said Catherine Stecyk, Director of the Center for Research and Fellowships (CRF). 鈥淭he accomplishments of Datamis, Grace, Swopnil, Janice and Will are a testament to the merit and rigor of the VURF program and other research initiatives proudly sponsored by CRF.鈥�
A total of 55 undergraduate research teams鈥攆ive from each BIG EAST school鈥攑resented their work in a poster session competition. Teams, consisting of one or two students, were evaluated on multiple criteria, including visual content, clarity of introduction and results, discussion of findings, presentation style, and responses to questions.
Villanova鈥檚 representatives were selected from the 2024 summer Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellowship cohort, which consisted of 49 Villanova undergraduate researchers, using similar criteria to those employed at the BIG EAST competition. Five were invited to represent Villanova at the conference-wide event.
Below are the Villanova students who participated in the BIG EAST Undergraduate Research Symposium, along with their poster titles and faculty mentors.
Datamis Ghorbanian
Faculty Mentor: Hashem Ashrafiuon, PhD (Mechanical Engineering/College of Engineering)
Title: 鈥淭he Blind Robot鈥�
Grace Hansen
Faculty Mentor: Steven Goldsmith, PhD (Geography and the Environment/College of Liberal Arts and Sciences)
Title: "Sowing the Seeds of Pollution: How Agricultural Plastics are Shaping Soil Chemistry"
Swopnil Panday
Faculty Mentor: Venkat Margapuri, PhD (Computing Sciences/College of Liberal Arts and Sciences)
Title: 鈥淣oteNinja: A Currency Recognition APP using Deep learning鈥�
Janice Park
Faculty Mentor: Stephanie Campos, PhD (Biology/College of Liberal Arts and Sciences)
Title: "Impacts of vasotocin on social odors, brains, and chemosensory behavior in A. Carolinensis"
Will Stozenski
Faculty Mentor: Jacob Elmer, PhD (Chemical and Biological Engineering/College of Engineering)
Title: 鈥淚dentifying Proteins that Inhibit Gene Therapy鈥�
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