Ninety-seven students gain valuable skills in the Student Research Poster Competition & Experiential Learning Expo

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Student Research Poster Competition & Experiential Learning Expo and their advisors! With 68 judges, including 18 faculty members, the activity was fast and furious!

This year the event featured a “competition with the competition”: Six of the doctoral students who entered research posters were also finalists in the “Three-Minute Thesis,” where they described their research as an “elevator pitch” to appeal to a general audience.

A huge thank you goes to sponsors of the event – Eaton, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Generac, the We Energies Foundation.

group of people looking at posters — Nearly 100 students and 68 judges filled the Wisconsin Room for the event.

a woman explains a poster to a man — First-place winner in the research Undergraduate Category Hannah Vincent describes her work to Qingsu Cheng, assistant professor, biomedical engineering. Vincent, also presented her poster in the all-campus Undergraduate Research Symposium.

three men talking among themselves — Shuaiqi (Roger) Shen (right), assistant professor, electrical engineering, shares a light moment with Yu Chen Chang and other students.

man in a hardhat gives 'thumbs up' — Robert Barwick, civil/ environmental engineering, shows off some of the head wear needed during his internship Payne and Dolan.

two men, id twins, looking at the camera — Twins Cheikh (left) and Kada Kada have a lot in common. For example, the grad students both work with Professor Ryo Amano, mechanical engineering. One difference? Cheikh just won the top honor at the research poster competition. Way to go, Cheikh!

a woman showing a man her poster — Graduate student Brianna Geurts shows a visitor her research. Geurts’ advisor is Weizhong Wang, associate professor, electrical engineering.

a man pointing at a poster — Md Tarif Raihan, mechnical engineering, explains his poster to a judge.

A smiling woman stands in front of a poster — Spirits were high as participants like Mikayla McWilliams, biomedical engineering, tried to impress the judges.

a man giving hand gesture — Graduate student Massum Bellah, mechanical engineering, makes a point. Bellah also was a finalist in the Three-Minute Thesis.

Overall, there were 52 graduate student research submissions and 25 on the undergraduate side. In addition, 20 students entered a poster from an outside-the-classroom learning experience, describing senior design projects, co-ops, or work with student organizations.

Graduate

First Place: Cheikh Kada, mechanical engineering. Advisor: Professor Ryo Amano
Second Place (tie): Joshua Estell, mechanical engineering. Advisor: Xiaoxiao Zhang
Second Place (tie): Mohamed Maache, mechanical engineering. Advisor: Professor Ryo Amano

Undergraduate

First Place: Hannah Vincent, biomedical engineering. Advisor: Assistant Professor Mahsa Dabagh
Second Place: Mona Said, biomedical engineering. Advisor: Aswin Narasimhan
Third Place: Anna Lutz, mechanical engineering. Advisor: Professor Rani El Hajjar

Experiential Learning

First Place: Abhi Roop Reddy Tokala, biomedical engineering. Advisor: Mohamed Yahiaoui
Second Place: Andrew Hinz, mechanical engineering. Advisor: Professor Deyang Qu
Third Place: Greta Boehm, biomedical engineering. Advisor: Mohamed Yahiaoui

3M Thesis winner

Abul Borkot Md Rafiqul Hasan, mechanical engineering. Advisor: Professor Kishna Pillai