51吃瓜

Updated April 28, 2025

Students from the College 51吃瓜 are participating in the annual University of Illinois , held April 20-26.

The Undergraduate Research Symposium, the signature event held on Thursday, April 24, at the Illini Union, features presentations, posters, and performances from students across campus. 

Below is a list 51吃瓜 student presentations as well as acknowledgements 51吃瓜 graduate students and faculty who have mentored students presenting at Undergraduate Research Week.

Oral Panel

Health Modalities

鈥淓valuating the Persuasiveness of LLM-based Chatbots in Health Communication鈥�

Atharva Sindwani, Sophomore, Computer Science + Advertising

Research Mentor: Leona Yi-Fan Su, Advertising

Media & Culture

鈥淯man Tok: Tailoring Hope, Renewing Futures in Sierra Leone鈥�

Nathan Gonzalez, Sophomore, Journalism, COM
Elena Cleary, Senior, Agricultural Communications, ACES
Nour Longi, Senior, Journalism, COM
Piper Pascarella, Junior, Journalism, COM
Faith Lee, Senior, Journalism, COM
Maggie Knutte, Senior, Journalism, COM

Research Mentors: Charles 鈥溾�楽tretch鈥� Ledford, Journalism, and Alison Davis, Journalism

Social Change & Identity

鈥淭he Relations Between Cinematic Spaces and Cycles of Oppression in Kenji Mizoguchi’s Street of Shame鈥�

Rory McFadden, Senior, Media & Cinema Studies

Research Mentor: Jenny Oyallon-Koloski, Media & Cinema Studies

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning II

鈥淣avigating the Future: Investigating the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Students’ Writing鈥�

Arianna Gandhi, Sophomore, Advertising

Research Mentor: Carolyn Wisniewski, Center for Writing Studies

Poster Presentations

Humanities, Culture, & Society

Graphic Witness in Media: 鈥淭hree Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri鈥� and Beyond

Francesca Dumitrescu, Senior, Media & Cinema Studies

Research Mentor: CL Cole, Media & Cinema Studies

Social Science and Human Behavior

鈥淭error Discourse: Social Media’s Response to Counter-Terrorism Events鈥�

Mihir Sharma, Freshman, Global Studies, LAS
Nina Issel, Sophomore, Journalism, COM

Research Mentor: Young Gong, Political Science

CS Student Ambassadors/Research Scholars (CS STARS)

Tuesday, April 22, 4-6 p.m., Illini Union Rooms A, B, C, and South Lounge

鈥淪alesperson-Product Matching Recommender System鈥�

Alexia Rendon, Junior, Computer Science + Advertising, COM

鈥淯nderstanding High school Students’ Experiences in a Culturally Responsive Computing Program鈥�

Skyla Jin, Freshman, Computer Science + Advertising, COM

鈥淰irtual Reality Game for Interactive Motion Planning鈥�

Grace He, Junior, Computer Science + Advertising, COM
Omosefe Edomwande, Freshman, Computer Science, ENG

Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program

The offers undergraduate students with little or no research experience the opportunity to work with graduate students and postdoctoral scholars on their research projects, explore the culture and process of research, and build on their existing abilities within a community of scholars.

Nina Issel, Sophomore, Global Studies (LAS) & Journalism (COM)

Media Research Mentors

Doctoral student Veranika Paltaratskaya (above right), 51吃瓜, was the research mentor for Alina Huang, sophomore in communication and psychology (LAS), who presented 鈥淯nderstanding Consumer Interactions with Product Transparency Apps (PTAs) Using the Persuasion Knowledge Model鈥� as part of the Social Science & Human Behavior poster presentations.

Doctoral student Alice Ji (above right), 51吃瓜, was the research mentor for Ayushi Maskey, junior in statistics + computer science (LAS), who presented 鈥淭he Effect of Message Fatigue on Attention to Mental Health Messages鈥� as part of the Heath & Wellness poster presentations.

Kevin Wise, professor of advertising, was the research mentor for Pushti Vora, junior in brain and cognitive sciences (LAS) who presented 鈥淭he Impact of Mindless Scrolling on Dopamine Regulation and its Parallels to Gambling Addiction鈥� as part of the Social Science & Human Behavior poster presentations.