This year’s Oswald Research and Creativity Competition was the 53rd annual student competition. Established in 1964 by then-UK President John Oswald, the Oswald Research and Creativity Program encourages research and creative activities by undergraduate students at UK. The objectives of the program are to stimulate creative work by undergraduate students and to recognize individuals who demonstrate outstanding achievement.

Categories include Biological Sciences; Design, including architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design; Fine Arts, including film, music, photography, painting, and sculpture; Humanities, from creative and critical-research approaches; Physical and Engineering Sciences; and Social Sciences.  All submissions are sent anonymously to faculty reviewers in related fields and are judged based on a rubric.

Awards in each category are: First Place: $350; Second Place: $200; and Honorable Mention, if applicable. Entries are judged on originality, clarity of expression, scholarly or artistic contribution, and the validity, scope, and depth of the project or investigation. A very special thank you to our judges for their support of undergraduate student research.

This year's award winners are:

Biological Sciences

• First Place: Joshua Preston, “Maternal Nicotine Exposure Prior to and during Pregnancy and Nursing Increases Offspring Obesity Risk”
•  Second Place: Kelly Sovacool, “Developing a Global Homology and Collinearity Analysis Framework for Identifying Gene Duplication Events”

Design

• First Place: Brooke Holley, “Freedom of Fluidity”
• Second Place: Alexander Kistler, “The Woodlands, A Naturally Designed Residential Landscape”

Fine Arts

• First Place: Liz Moore, “Micro in the Macro”
• Second Place: Meredith Matia, “Ichigo, Ichie”
• Honorable Mention: Schuyler Baas, “The Remembrance”

Humanities: Creative

• First Place: Bridget Nicholas, “Lessons for Women”
• No  second place

Humanities: Critical

• First Place (tie): Andrew Johnson, “Kentucky Slavery: The Historiography of Human Property Records”
• First Place (tie): Isabelle Martin, “A Single Particle Among Billions: Yayoi Kusama and the Power of the Minute”
• Second Place: Beau Revlett, “Aristotle and game theory on human nature and ethics”
• Honorable Mention: Caitlin Dorris, “Complete History of the Nursing Home Ombudsman Program”

Physical and Engineering Sciences

• First Place: Grant Forbes, “Analysis of Current-mode Detectors For Resonance Detection In Neutron Optics Time Reversal Symmetry Experiment”
• Second Place: Rhett Croley, “Spin Transport of Polarized Helium-3 Atoms”

Social Sciences

• First Place: Veronica Scott, “Memes: The Interaction Between Imagery and Subculture”
• Second Place: Martha Tillson, “An Exploratory Study of Syringe Exchange Program Awareness and Perceptions in Kentucky”

More information about this award is available on the Office of Undergraduate Research website.