Spring 2026 CNS Honors Thesis Symposium
Thursday, April 16 • SESSION 1 • 9:00-9:50 AM
Human Relationships with Art and the Environment (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Jarred Lewis-Peacock, Department of Psychology
| Hillary Xu | Sustaining the UT Microfarm: Growing Food, Growing Community |
| Amelia Canright | Painting a Healthy Mind: Enhancing Emotion Regulation with Abstract Visual Art |
| Aira Balasubramanian | It's Getting Hot in Here: A Disability-Informed Framework towards Critical Heat Studies |
Disability and Access to Medical Care (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Mike Mauk, Department of Neuroscience
| Adviti Pilla | Who Gets Left Behind? Digital Health, Operational Barriers, and AI Solutions for Patient Adherence |
| Priyanka Bhasi | Beyond Abortion: Restrictive Abortion Policies impact on Breast Cancer Care |
| Sneha Chandak | Death of DEI: Implementation and Impacts of SB-17 at UT Austin |
Thursday, April 16 • SESSION 2 • 10:00-10:50 AM
Health Communication and Advertising (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Mike Mackert, Center for Health Communication
| Lily Boddy | Evaluating Large Language Models for Automated Assessment of OSCE Communication Performance |
| Sarah Ravdel | From Labs to Market: How Pharmaceuticals Impact Health |
| Lily Barrow | Framing the "Miracle Drug": Health Communication, Credibility, and Public Understanding of GLP-1 Medications |
Access to Medicine and Culturally Congruent Care (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Amy Simmons, Butler School of Music
| Aditi Bhat | Misrepresented: Improving Treatment of Dementia in Asian Indian Americans |
| Sreya Yadavalli | Caught Between Two Cultures: Asian American Immigrant Healthcare |
| Juslyn Dhingra | Integrated Care Models for Maternal Mental Health in Rural and Immigrant Populations in Texas |
Thursday, April 16 • SESSION 3 • 11:00–11:50 AM
Sports, Leadership, and Long-term Health (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Michela Marinelli, Department of Neuroscience
| Amshula Gajula | Investigating How Adolescent Sports Participation Impacts Long-Term Health Outcomes |
| Cameron Boswell | Put Some Ice on it: Impact of Leadership on Health in Ice Hockey |
| Anika Sarna | Squash as a Supportive Intervention for Adolescent Mental Health: A Narrative Review and Program Model |
Ethical AI in Clinical Communication and Diagnosis (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. David Laude, Department of Chemistry
| Kyle Kekish | Responsible Implementation of Large Language Models for Patient Education |
| Suhani Gajera | Designing for Trust: Ethical and Relational Challenges of AI Health Tools for Older Adults |
| Jessica Moran | Who Gets Diagnosed Early? At-Home Testing and the Future of Melanoma Detection |
Thursday, April 16 • SESSION 4 • 1:00-1:50 PM
Historical and Cultural Constructions of Medicine (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Chiu-Mi Lai, Department of Asian Studies
| Teja Meka | Medicine in Myth: Effects of Mythological Medical Figures on Ancient Healthcare |
| Avery Matthews | A Body or Embodied: Arguing for an Embodiment-Focused Philosophical Anthropology in Medicine |
| Reethi Ravi | Mutation or Manipulation: The History Behind Modern-Day South Asian Genomes |
| Arissa Rahman | She's Just Hysterical!: Impact of hysteria on diagnosis and treatment for marginalized women |
Social Connectivity and the Lived Experience of Physicians and Students (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Tepera Holman, CNS Assistant Dean for Community and Student Engagement
| Shubhranshu Mishra | Impact of Social Connectivity on the Effectiveness of On-Campus Mental Health Outreach at UT Austin. |
| Grace Lee | The Triad of Distress: Burnout, Loneliness, and Empathy Fatigue in Liver Transplant Care Providers |
| Krishna Hariprasad | Navigating Gender-Affirming Care Amid Political Hostility: A Qualitative Analysis of Physician Narratives |
Thursday, April 16 • SESSION 5 • 2:00–2:50 PM
Psychological Health and Wellbeing (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Michela Marinelli, Department of Neuroscience
| Hannah Fialho | Online Mindfulness as a Mental Health Intervention in Higher Education |
| Sowmya Sridhar | The Quest for Social Connection in the 21st Century |
| Lauren Sukhu | Level the Playing Field in School Safety |
Pediatric Care and Chronic Illness (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Amy Bryan, Human Development and Family Sciences
| Jeremiah Cano | How Pediatric Illness Affects Mental Health |
| Valerie See | Expanding Rural Pediatric Healthcare: The Role of Telemedicine |
| Lane Loudamy | The Current Landscape of Immunotherapy Within Pediatric Oncology |
Thursday, April 16 • SESSION 6 • 3:00–3:50 PM
Modern Topics in Mathematical Research (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Maggie Miller, Department of Mathematics
| Srikha Chaganti | Understanding the Unknotting Number Under Connected Sum and Mutation |
| Carrie Liang | Optimal Stopping Strategies and Decision Boundary Analysis |
| Allison Podanoffsky | Developments in Solving the Slice-Ribbon Conjecture |
Thursday, April 16 • SESSION 7 • 4:00-4:50 PM
Early Detection and Preventative Health (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Steven Abrams, Dell Medical
| Kashish Sawant | Implementing Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Opioids in the Opioid Epidemic |
| Maitreyi Dhavala | Causes of inconsistencies in dermatological diagnoses |
| Aysha Ameerah | Enhancing Rural Prenatal Care with Pregnancy Care Kits |
Integrative Approaches in Biology and Health (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Enamul Huq, Department of Molecular Biosciences
| Ivy Fan | Exploring microbial community operons with the ProximonGraph |
| Simali Shah | Effects of Alcohol on the Gut Microbiome and Autoimmune Neuroinflammation in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis |
| Yasmin Jackson | Investigating the molecular mechanisms by which phospholipase C (PLC) signaling regulates epidermal development in plants. |
| Mercy Okougbodu | The Weight of Watchfulness: Race-Related Vigilance and Adolescent Well-Being |
Friday, April 17 • SESSION 8 • 9:00–9:50 AM
Perspectives on Family Life, Disability, and Parenting (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Stacy Jorgensen, Department of Public Health
| Inaya Momin | Asian American Alcohol Use & Parent-Based Interventions |
| Lizzie Pittman | Reshaping Perspectives on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities |
| Teresa Nieto | Family Life Across Time: A Comparative Analysis of Parenting Practices in the 1960s and the 2020s |
Music, AI, and Emotional Wellbeing (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Natalie Ammon, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences
| Anjie Liu | Data bias in artificially generated music: a case study in guzheng |
| Jacob Henderson | Bridging the Gap of Musical Genres |
| Rishit Yokananth | Hip Hop and Mental Health: How Storytelling Influences the Wellbeing of Minority Communities |
Friday, April 17 • SESSION 9 • 10:00–10:50 AM
Bodies, Power, and Media (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Rachel Cohen-Ford, CNS Career Success
| Catherine Martin | The Training Montage: How Hollywood Reinforces Gender Stereotypes in Film |
| C.D. McAdams | Menstrual Mental Health: Emotional Regulation and Creative Interventions |
| Katelyn Hawkins | Women in American Eugenics |
Health, Technology, and Design (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth LaBate, Director of Advising and Student Support
| Tony Zhu | The Impact of Free Open-source Software on Community Health Organizations |
| Justin Le | On the Design and Development of a SMART Textile for Medical Applications |
| Thomas Philip | The Weight of Uncertainty: AI Diagnostic Tools in Medicine |
Friday, April 17 • SESSION 10 • 11:00–11:50 AM
Language, Disability, and Medicine (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Corinne Jones, Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
| Grace Pernoud | Saying it Right: Understanding Disability Language, Identity, and the Emotional Stakes of Naming |
| John Sylvalie | Language Brokering in High-Stakes Healthcare Environments: How to Proceed |
| Elena Delgado | Medication Adherence and Physician Relationships: How cultural connections in the patient-physician relationship can impact medication adherence in cardiovascular disease and diabetes |
Brain Health, Sleep, and Dementia (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Andrea Gutierrez, Department of Asian Studies
| Tobbie Berrian | The Sleepless Brain |
| Carolyn Herman | Assessing the Effectiveness of a Community-Based Exercise Program for Those with Parkinson's Disease: A Qualitative Analysis and Proposed Model for Implementation |
| Arishia Mishra | Life after Brain Injury: Understanding Long-term Recovery and Support |
Friday, April 17 • SESSION 11 • 1:00-1:50 PM
Wellness and Psychosocial Wellbeing (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Mónica Siañez, Department of Public Health
| Vineeth Murugan | Cancer-Free‚ but Not Care-Free: A Study of Psychosocial Needs and Life After Cancer |
| Andrea Montenegro Polanco | First, do no harm. Exploring Wellness in Texas Medical Schools |
| Maya Glenn | Designing the Longevity Brand: longevity science and the consumer wellness industry |
Friday, April 17 • SESSION 12 • 2:00-2:50 PM
Social Determinants of Health (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Michele Hockett Cooper, Nutritional Sciences
| Kai Robinson | Double Barriers, Double Stigma: Examining Barriers to Treatment Access for People with Co-Occurring Disorders |
| Ashmeet Nanda | Improving Health of Unhoused Populations Through Nutritional Interventions |
| Andrew Samson | Social Health and Musculoskeletal Health |
Innovations in Computational, Physical, and Biomedical Sciences (WEL 3.320)
Moderator:
| Darby Dermanoski | Calibrationless Image Processing and Satellite Detection Through A-Contrario Methodologies |
| Sanjeev Medam | Pharmacological Enhancement of Cerebrospinal Fluid Flux Reduces Secondary Pathogenesis Post Traumatic Brain Injuries |
| Antony Elvin Fermando | Effects of Iron on Nickel Nitride and its Electrochemical Activity towards Hydrogen Evolution Reaction |
| Daichi Suwa | S-wave Superconductivity and Vortex Core |
Friday, April 17 • SESSION 13 • 3:00-3:50 PM
Technology, Data, Politics, and the Law (WEL 3.310)
Moderator: Dr. Brian Roberts, Department of Government
| Sissi Zhang | Exploring AI Techniques to Accelerate the Production of Traditional 2D Animation |
| Arshia Verma | Legislating Neural Data Privacy in the Age of Neurotechnological Advancement |
| Eesha Nayak | Algorithmic Personalization and Political Polarization in the 2016 U.S. Election |
Cultural Identity and Mental Health (WEL 3.320)
Moderator: Dr. Rosa Schnyer, School of Nursing
| Yumna Zaidi | The Weight of Silence: Cultural Stigma, the Model Minority Myth, and Mental Health Help-Seeking Behavior Among South Asian American Adolescents |
| Angie Kim | The Interplay of Asian American Culture and Parental Influences in Shaping Children's Mental Health Outcomes |
| Phuong Tran | Distal and Proximal Risk Factors to Suicide Desirability Among 1st, 1.5, and 2nd Generation Asian Americans |