Author: Betsy Lewis

UMW students participate in Scholars Transforming through Research (STR), CUR’s Advocacy Program`

For the first time, a team of undergraduate researchers in the Biological Sciences from the University of Mary Washington participated in the Scholars Transforming through Research Advocacy Program, through Council for Undergraduate Research. Throughout the academic year, students Lillian Burbulis (BIOL ’26), Tyler Downs (BIOL ’26), Brooke Martin (BMED ’27), and Abby Powers (BMED ’27), along […]

Basque Loanwords: Study abroad inspires ethnolinguistic research

Wiley Prior (Spanish 2026) spent Spring semester 2025 in Bilbao, Spain, as part of the UMW study abroad program there. Wiley, who is a Spanish major, enjoyed interacting with the Basque people, taking in as much as possible. In addition to further developing his skills in Spanish, he also experienced the vitality of the Basque […]

Wanted: Dead and Immunogenic: Investigating a therapeutic strategy to induce death in breast cancer

Senior Sofia Szczepankiewicz (Biomedical Sciences ’26) wants to help cure cancer. Her independent research, conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Laura Sipe, investigates whether a common antidiabetic drug, metformin, can pharmacologically trigger a self-eating process called autophagy in triple negative breast cancer cells and that, when combined with a platinum-based chemotherapy named either cisplatin or […]

Students research AI and political discourse in Project Frozone

A look at the headlines in the news, or even just scrolling our personal social media feeds, it is evident that online political discussions are fraught with problems from misinformation to toxic exchanges between users.  For the past two semesters, students Garrett McKenzie (Data Science and Computer Science ’27), Laura Rider (Engligh Lit and Computer […]

Consilience: Exploration of Medical Poetry to Enhance Clinical Empathy

Why might lovers of literature listen to what a student headed to medical school says about poetry? And how can a student of poetry clarify patient care for medical clinicians? Rebecca Cherian (Class of 2026), a major in Biomedical Sciences and minor in English, might answer in one word: Consilience. Consilience is the strong concurrence […]