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Media students present at 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium



Undergraduate Research Week program cover 2025

Updated April 28, 2025

Students from the ϲʹ 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 of Media student presentations as well as acknowledgements of Media graduate students and faculty who have mentored students presenting at Undergraduate Research Week.

Oral Panel

Health Modalities

“Evaluating the Persuasiveness of LLM-based Chatbots in Health Communication”

  • Atharva Sindwani, Sophomore, Computer Science + Advertising

Research Mentor: Leona Yi-Fan Su, Advertising

Atharva Sindwani

Media & Culture

“Uman Tok: Tailoring Hope, Renewing Futures in Sierra Leone”

  • 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 “‘Stretch” Ledford, Journalism, and Alison Davis, Journalism

Journalism students present on Uman Tok at Undergraduate Research Symposium

(From left to right: Elena Cleary, Maggie Knutte, Piper Pascarella, Faith Lee, Nour Longi. Not pictured: Nathan Gonzalez.) 

Social Change & Identity

“The Relations Between Cinematic Spaces and Cycles of Oppression in Kenji Mizoguchi’s Street of Shame”

  • Rory McFadden, Senior, Media & Cinema Studies

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

Rory McFadden

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning II

“Navigating the Future: Investigating the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Students’ Writing”

  • Arianna Gandhi, Sophomore, Advertising

Research Mentor: Carolyn Wisniewski, Center for Writing Studies

Arianna Gandhi at Undergrad Research Symposium


Poster Presentations

Humanities, Culture, & Society

Graphic Witness in Media: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and Beyond

  • Francesca Dumitrescu, Senior, Media & Cinema Studies

Research Mentor: CL Cole, Media & Cinema Studies

Francesca Dumitrescu

Social Science and Human Behavior

“Terror Discourse: Social Media’s Response to Counter-Terrorism Events”

  • 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

“Salesperson-Product Matching Recommender System”

  • Alexia Rendon, Junior, Computer Science + Advertising, COM

“Understanding High school Students’ Experiences in a Culturally Responsive Computing Program”

  • Skyla Jin, Freshman, Computer Science + Advertising, COM
Skyla Jen

“Virtual Reality Game for Interactive Motion Planning”

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


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

Alina Huang and Veranika Paltaratskaya

Doctoral student Veranika Paltaratskaya (above right), Institute of Communications Research, was the research mentor for Alina Huang, sophomore in communication and psychology (LAS), who presented “Understanding Consumer Interactions with Product Transparency Apps (PTAs) Using the Persuasion Knowledge Model” as part of the Social Science & Human Behavior poster presentations.

Ayushi Maskey and Alice Ji

Doctoral student Alice Ji (above right), Institute of Communications Research, was the research mentor for Ayushi Maskey, junior in statistics + computer science (LAS), who presented “The Effect of Message Fatigue on Attention to Mental Health Messages” as part of the Heath & Wellness poster presentations.

Pushti Vora

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