{"id":172720,"date":"2026-04-21T14:59:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T18:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=172720"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:57:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:57:30","slug":"explore-the-breadth-of-student-research-at-mount-david-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/21\/explore-the-breadth-of-student-research-at-mount-david-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"Explore the breadth of student research at Mount David Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At Bates, student researchers are empowered to ask and answer big questions across numerous fields of study. They tackle everything from human biology and marine ecology, to literature reviews of legal movements and the politics of memory, to media analysis of film, literature, and television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 10, more than 200 of these student researchers presented their work to the Bates community and their family and friends during the annual Mount David Summit in Pettengill Hall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMount David is not just a harbinger of spring and the nearing conclusion of the winter semester, though it is those things,\u201d Bates President Garry W. Jenkins said during the day\u2019s opening remarks. \u201cIt’s also a chance for our community to come together to celebrate the academic heart of our mission. And it’s an extraordinary opportunity for Bates students to show off their research, their brilliant and insightful analysis, and their dazzling creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Women
In Pettengill Hall’s Perry Atrium , Mount David Summit attendees listen to President Garry W. Jenkins’ opening remarks, kicking off an afternoon of learning and discovery. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In between attending student-led talks and panels, attendees weaved through rows of posters on display in Pettengill\u2019s Perry Atrium. The room was buzzing with questions, and students were eager to answer, discussing their research methods, their main takeaways, and why they were motivated to pursue their projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the student researchers were presenting their senior thesis work, representing the culmination of their Bates academic careers. Mount David Summit is a day to celebrate student achievement and the people who supported the students along the way, said Joanne Roberts, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt takes a village to bring an idea from its first spark through its final expression, and we owe a huge thank you to everyone involved, from our committed faculty, to our stellar academic staff, and our invaluable research librarians,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
From left, President Garry W. Jenkins and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty Joanne Roberts ascend the stairs in Perry Atrium to deliver the day’s opening remarks. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about a few of the 200-plus student projects from across disciplines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

STEM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Biology major Zoe Ash<\/strong> \u201926 of New York City presented a poster on bottle-nose dolphins\u2019 social behavior as it corresponds to how often they do or don\u2019t follow boats. She conducted research while studying abroad in Croatia, where a day in the lab looked like spending hours on a boat sailing over the Adriatic Sea, snapping photos of dolphins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy favorite discovery from this project was that we see higher social associations in dolphins that follow boats less frequently than we do in dolphins that follow boats more frequently or not at all. \u2026 It tells you that discreet communities are forming,\u201d Ash said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Biochemistry major Mohammed Mohammed \u201926, at center, of Iowa City, Iowa, discusses his senior thesis research exploring a potential therapeutic treatment for respiratory syncytial virus during the first poster session of Mount David Summit. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also presenting a poster was Enathe Muhawenimana<\/strong> \u201926 of Rwanda, a double major in biology and French and Francophone studies, whose project investigated why skin infections are often more severe in patients with diabetes. Her research determined that high glucose level in a diabetic patient was correlated with a higher severity of skin infection. She hopes that her work could be used to advance antibiotic or other therapeutic treatment for diabetes patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLearning about this is so rewarding to me, but it can help people out there as well,\u201d Muhawenimana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During an afternoon presentation by members of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships’ Community-Engaged Research Fellowship Program, seven students shared their senior thesis projects. Mathematics major Hope Stafford<\/strong> \u201926 of Mountain View, Calif., shared her research on flooding patterns in Providence, R.I. Using a community flood-reporting app called MyCoast, Stafford discovered that floods were likely caused not only by rainfall but also by infrastructure varying across the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reason I was using this [app] is to emphasize community voice,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cWe really want to focus on floods that community members are pointing out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Neuroscience major Sergio Beltran \u201926, at left, of Palo Alto, Calif., fields questions and comments about his project “Can A Sniff Predict Your Brain\u2019s Health?” (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During that same panel, neuroscience major Ariya Tayal<\/strong> \u201926 of Pittsburgh, Penn., shared her research on how women who are experiencing homelessness access reproductive health resources, a project inspired by Tayal\u2019s experience working as an emergency room technician and noticing that many women she had met through volunteering in the Lewiston-Auburn community were coming to the ER to access primary care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat’s such a sad thing to see in our healthcare system,\u201d Tayal said. \u201cPeople should not be finding out if they\u2019re pregnant or not at the ER. That’s not appropriate.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her research, Tayal interviewed 19 local women experiencing homelessness and distributed disposable cameras among them for a research method called photovoice, during which participants document their lived experiences and narratives by taking photographs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a panel on STEM research, James Hillers<\/strong> \u201926 of De Witt, N.Y., presented his research, entitled \u201cAgent-Based Modeling of Sponge and Algae Endosymbioses.\u201d Looking closely at the relationship between sponge and algae, Hillers used simulations to determine that even though these two symbionts are \u201ccomparatively unfit,\u201d they thrive together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cI really like making the visualizations,\u201d Hillers said. \u201cWhenever you’re doing computational work, you produce a lot of data, and it’s kind of a pain to do individual visualization. So getting to create robust scripts that can take a ton of data and visualize it into super nice experimental stuff is super fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
From left, Kitty Northrop Friedman \u201995, Helen A. Papaioanou Professor of Biological Sciences Ryan Bavis, and Bates President Garry W. Jenkins listen to Lindley Friedman \u201926 of Park City, Utah, discuss her research studying hypoxia and metabolic depression in neonatal rats. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the same panel, Gemma DeCarolis<\/strong> \u201926 of Santa Monica, Calif., presented research drawn from her summer internship at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. The 2024 hurricane season resulted in significant vegetation loss, and DeCarolis studied the impact on sea turtle nesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was able to take nesting data, disorientation data, and aerial imagery from Sarasota County GIS,\u201d DeCarolis said. \u201cAfter I’d done all of this quantification and worked with the data, I did statistical analysis in R, using generalized linear models and beta regressions.\u201d She hopes to continue parts of this research as she moves forward with her studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social Sciences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Economics major Willa Laski <\/strong>\u201926 of Bellevue, Idaho, presented a poster on her senior thesis research investigating the relationship between the reintroduction of the gray wolf to the western U.S. and the livestock ranching industry in that region. Laski\u2019s research found that lethal control of wolf populations did not have a statistically significant effect on livestock depredation \u2014 meaning that controlling wolf populations with lethal measures did not meaningfully impact, positively or negatively, livestock populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Willa Laski \u201926, at center, of Bellevue, Idaho, discusses her senior economics thesis research on the relationship between the reintroduction of the gray wolf and the livestock ranching industry with her grandparents, Dennis Card (at right) and Maureen McCanty. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During a panel called \u201cWhat\u2019s Law Got To Do With It?\u201d three senior politics students shared thesis research that explored the law and legal questions. Their presentations covered centuries of U.S. court precedent and legal writing \u2014 from research by Matthew Peeler<\/strong> of New York City exploring intricacies of legal language dating as far back as the 1700s, to research by Sammy Freeman<\/strong> of Dallas exploring how religious exercise arguments from a Jewish standpoint could be used to advocate for abortion access, to a literature review by Reese Hillman <\/strong>of Wayne, Penn., investigating division in the conservative legal movement during President Donald J. Trump\u2019s second term in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy thesis comes out of my desire to make sense of some of Donald Trump’s more puzzling legal actions this year,\u201d Hillman said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
During the panel presentation “What\u2019s Law Got To Do With It?” Sammy Freeman \u201926 of Dallas shares her politics senior thesis research exploring how religious exercise arguments from a Jewish standpoint could be used to advocate for abortion access. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And as psychology major and community-engaged research fellow Katie Heumann<\/strong> \u201926 of Ann Arbor, Mich., shared during the Harward Center\u2019s presentation, civic engagement can begin long before adulthood. Heumann researched how students experience civic engagement in elementary school classrooms in Lewiston through collective participation and norms like classroom jobs, development of individual agency, and socialization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of these classrooms really fostered pro- social behaviors,\u201d Heumann said. \u201cThese were things like respect and kindness, but more importantly, inclusivity. Being a friend to all, celebrating one another, being inclusive, being friends to boys and girls were some of the key things that students talked about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arts and Humanities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lining the walls of Perry Atrium, on the edge of the bustling crowds at the poster presentation, were more than 50 photos from the Barlow Off-Campus Study Photography exhibition featuring countries like Nepal, Chile, Hungary, France, Japan, China, and the Netherlands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
In Perry Atrium, Mount David Summit attendees take in the dozens of photos in the Barlow Off-Campus Study Photography exhibition. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some students, like religious studies major Shay Campolongo<\/strong> \u201926 of Midlothian, Va., found ways to incorporate visual art into their thesis projects on other subjects. For her thesis research on how people understand and memorialize the United States\u2019 Japanese-American internment camps during World War II, with particular attention to memorialization of Buddhists in the camps, Campolongo invited Bates faculty, staff, and students to two listening sessions prior to Mount David Summit where she presented her research, led discussions, and invited attendees to fold paper cranes. These cranes, made in every color of the rainbow and with intricate patterns, lined her poster during Mount David Summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJapanese-American internment is a piece of history that is often forgotten, but especially the Buddhist lens, and the way that it was not only racially but religiously motivated,\u201d Campolongo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catalina Passino<\/strong> \u201926 of Leesburg, Va., a community-engaged research fellow who presented during the Harward Center\u2019s panel, connected her psychology thesis research to visual art, inspired by her experience taking ceramics classes at Bates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just amazed about how clay affected me and the restorative effects that I felt personally,\u201d Passino said. \u201cI thought, \u2018Man, we should study this beyond just me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passino organized an eight-week clay workshop for children in the Lewiston-Auburn immigrant and refugee community and observed how the children experienced mindfulness, resilience, belonging, and emotional regulation throughout the workshop. For their final project, Passino asked the children to create a clay pot that represented each of them, resulting in a collection of unique pieces that Passino displayed in Olin Arts Center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
From left, Ava Elghanayan \u201926 of Katonah, N.Y., and Samantha Manogue \u201926 of Wynnewood, Penn., cheer while presenting their thesis research during the Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Thesis Extravaganza. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Connor Gerraughty<\/strong> \u201926 of Hartsdale, N.Y., presented work on synoptic surveillance in The Truman Show<\/em>, a project which emerged after a patient process of selecting just the right film and finding just the right lens through which to read the film. Though he certainly learned about Foucault and film along the way, his biggest takeaway was about the writing process. \u201cThere is no perfect, is what I realized,\u201d Gerraughty said. \u201cIt’s basically just improving and improving. You could work on it forever and you could still make it better.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Connor Gerraughty \u201926, at center, of Hartsdale, N.Y., presents his rhetoric, film, and screen studies senior thesis research on surveillance in the acclaimed film The Truman Show<\/em>. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response, his advisor, Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Stephanie Kelley-Romano said, \u201cI’m so heartened to hear that it wasn’t going to be perfect and you’re okay with that. I love it. My job here is done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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