Nine Students Honored with Student Research Awards

Before the spring semester wrapped up, ACPHS hosted the 16th Annual 2026 Research Symposium featuring in-depth, innovative student and faculty research. Over 53 students participated — almost 30% over last year’s symposium reflecting the energy and enthusiasm for research that continues to flourish across the campus community.

The event serves as a vehicle for facilitating inter-disciplinary collaborations and provides students with the opportunity to build and grow a professional network of research peers that will serve them well throughout their time at ACPHS and beyond.

Following this event, the College was pleased to share the recipients of the 2026 ACPHS Student Research Award Program (SRAP) designed to promote student engagement in diverse research and scholarly activities; encourage mentoring relationships between students and faculty; and provide students with practical research skills and experience.

“We are excited by the breadth of this year’s funded projects — from basic and applied scientific research to work in the humanities — and by the meaningful mentoring relationships these awards will help cultivate,” said Director of Research and Sponsored Projects, Joseph Carreno ’10, PharmD.

This year’s cohort represents a versatile range of projects spanning the sciences and humanities, including:

• Eric Gayne, Microbiology with Dr. Tim Larocca

Effects of ginsenoside 20(S)-Protopanaxadiol on the hyperglycemic shift of apoptosis to necroptosis

• Donovan Gioia, Microbiology and Molecular Biosciences with Dr. Vir Singh

Induction of NRF2 signaling by RTA-408 may allow differential regulation of NF-kB and interferon signaling pathways and control HIV latency

• Nytik Jaiswal, Public Health with Dr. Stacy Pettigrew

Measuring the Urban Heat Island Effect and the Impact of Tree Cover

• Samantha Lozier, Biotechnology with Dr. Binshan Shi

Impact of Biological Factors on Host Innate Immune Response by Regulating Cell-to-Cell Transmission of HIV-1

• Dylan Mattison, Pharmaceutical Sciences with Dr. Marcel Musteata

Development of Microextraction Probes for In Vivo Analysis of Pembrolizumab

• Julie Park, Health Sciences, with Dr. Maria Rovito

History of Laparoscopic Technology and its Application to Endometriosis

• Fabiana Pinos Sarmiento, Pharmaceutical Sciences with Dr. Kideok Jin

CCL5 and Engolin as Therapeutic Targets in ER positive Breast Cancer

• Benjamin Rounds, Microbiology and Molecular Biosciences with Dr. Payel Datta

Production and Analysis of Purified Recombinant Cas9 Nuclease

• Kacia Scott, Microbiology and Molecular Biosciences with Dr. Anne McCabe

Exploring Molecular Mechanisms of Collateral Sensitivity in Gentamicin-Resistant Klebisella pneumoniae

Read about all of the innovative research abstracts from both the 2025 and 2026 symposiums.