Category: STEM

UMW Math Students Win Awards at MAA 2026

Two UMW mathematics students, Juniper Creskoff (Math ’27) and Ashton Crawford (Math ’28), recently presented their research at the Mathematical Association of America’s 2026 Mathfest in Boston, MA. Both students were led by Professor of Mathematics Dr. Randall Helmstutler.  Juniper presented the project “Determining the Maximum Probability Gain in the Birthday Problem.” Ashton’s project was […]

UMW Students Present at NCUR 2026

Fourteen UMW students recently traveled to Richmond to present at the 2026 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). This annual conference, sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) and held this year April 13-15, 2026, brought together more than 4000 undergraduate students from all 50 US states, as well as several other countries, to […]

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 […]

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 […]