Fall 2025 Graduate Research Symposium
Research lies at the heart of Villanova鈥檚 mission鈥攁nd it鈥檚 one of the defining elements of the graduate experience in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Graduate students鈥� pursuit of knowledge deepens understanding across disciplines and drives meaningful change in the world.
On Friday, November 14, 2025, 32 students showcased their creativity, curiosity and scholarly excellence during the annual Graduate Research Symposium, in the Villanova Room of the Connelly Center, with 3MT-style oral presentations, followed by poster sessions.
鈥淏y giving students the time and space to focus on their research, we empower them to do work that we believe will have tremendous impact,鈥� said Emory Woodard, PhD, Dean of Graduate Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
鈥淭he stories behind this research translate anywhere because scholarship only truly serves the world when people can understand it, engage with it and act upon it,鈥� he said.
The symposium celebrates the impactful work of our graduate researchers, many of whom were supported by Summer Research Fellowships鈥攋ust one of the opportunities that empower Villanova students to elevate their graduate education. Graduate students are also encouraged to take advantage of resources such as conference travel funding, language workshops, and , Villanova鈥檚 interdisciplinary graduate research journal. Partners including the Villanova Institute for Research and Scholarship, the Center for Research and Fellowships, and the Center for Graduate Research and Education further strengthen our vibrant research community.
Oral Presentations
Jessie Pagan, Theology
"A Study in Embodied Historiography of a Late Thirteenth Century Female Monastic Community"
Sarah Wright, Theatre
"Reconciling Familial Love, Loss, and Secrets"
Nicholas Ashenfelter, Psychology
"That鈥檚 Just My Opinion: Political Identity Threat in Virtual and In-Person Environments"
Anna Bilotta, Psychology
"Exploring Material Use in Ants"
Danielle Buckley, Psychology
"Continuity versus Categoricity in Tactile Perception"
Colin Bodayle, Philosophy
"The Logic of Paradox"
Blake Perry, Philosophy
"Aporetic Anthropology: Dialectical Humanism in Kant and Adorno"
Weronika Gradjura, History
"The Philly Cheesesteak Pierogi: Food in the Creation and Recreation of Polish-American Identity"
Alexandra Shehigian, History
"A Survey of Personal School Sports Memorabilia Collections in Town- and County-Level Archives of Central and Eastern Pennsylvania"
Livia Graham, Environmental Science
"Impacts of Road Salt Application on Water Quality in Suburban Headwater Streams"
Charles Sylvester, Environmental Science
"Monitoring Criteria Air Pollutants in West Philadelphia Using Low-Cost Sensors"
Alexis Atwood, English
"Vulnerability, Poetry of Witness, and Human Rights"
Ismail Khan, Biology
"Investigating immune checkpoint blockade of Ly-6A protein as cancer immunotherapy in mice"
Cordon Wade, Biology
"Uncovering Diversity and Investigating the Evolutionary History of a Group of Southern-African Lizards"
Poster Presentations
Abigail Robison, Biology
"The Effects of Estrogen on Sexual Signaling in Eastern Fence Lizards (Sceloporus undulatus)"
Soumya Swain, History
"鈥楢merican Dream, Indian Nightmare鈥�? Rethinking the afterlife of the Green Revolution through pesticides"
Rachel Girard, Chemistry
"Development of a Liquid Chromatography Post-Column Derivatization Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method for the Analysis of Vitamin D"
Michael Carrion, Mathematics
"Maximizing the Number of q-Colorings in Graphs"
Jenna Kosnick, English
"Global Images in By the Bog of Cats鈥�"
Shawn Huberdeau, Philosophy
"Archaeology against Anthropology: Foucault against German philosophical modernity"
Ashley Lee, English
"Expanding Asian American Studies: Han Kang鈥檚 The Vegetarian and Human Acts and Engaging with Deborah Smith鈥檚 Translation"
Nicole Amoachi, Psychology
"Investigating the Association between Postpartum Depression and the Mother-Infant Relationship"
Julia Reagan, English
"Economic Policy in Contemporary Literature"
Madison Battinelli, Psychology
"Understanding Student Internship Experiences: Work-Nonwork Boundaries"
Adelma Argueta-Roman, Environmental Science
"Exploring the effect of Phragmites australis on soil and carbon accumulation in wetlands"
Abigail Gilbert, Psychology
"Dark Triad Measurements to Safeguard High-Stakes Roles"
Emily Myers, Environmental Science
"The Nexus of Air Pollution, Social Vulnerability, and Chronic Disease in U.S. Cities"
Amy Kennedy, Psychology
"Acoustic cue integration over prolonged timescales"
Prottoy Roy, Environmental Science
"Identifying methodological opportunities in computational modeling of neighborhood-scale shallow inundations"
Alexandra Stefanovici, Psychology
"Parenting Stress and Child Self-Regulation"
Amanda Laule, History
"Reforming Utopia: Interrogating Infrastructural Inequality and Public Health Reform on the Main Line"
Perdian Tumanan, Theology
"Sphere of Sovereignty and Common Grace: Moral Construction in Abraham Kuyper鈥檚 Theological Thoughts"
About 麻豆村鈥檚 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Since its founding in 1842, 麻豆村鈥檚 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has been the heart of the Villanova learning experience, offering foundational courses for undergraduate students in every college of the University. Serving more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students, the College is committed to fortifying them with intellectual rigor, multidisciplinary knowledge, moral courage and a global perspective. The College has more than 40 academic departments and programs across the humanities, social sciences, and natural and physical sciences.
SYMPOSIUM ARCHIVES
SCHEDULE YOUR CAMPUS TOUR
The CLAS Office of Graduate Studies offers personal tours of the beautiful Villanova campus. All tours begin in the Graduate Studies Office, located in Vasey Hall.
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