The Office for Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (URaCE) hosted a get-together for the 2025-26 SEARCH Award recipients.
A group of 21 undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga met on Friday, Sept. 26, for a welcome meeting to discuss their award-winning research projects.
Recipients of the Scholarship, Engagement, the Arts, Research, Creativities and Humanities (SEARCH) Awards—which are given to students across all disciplines to begin research under UTC faculty supervision—discussed where they are in the research process.
The scholarships are provided through the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (URaCE).
According to URaCE Executive Director Lisa Piazza, the SEARCH Award is open to all UTC undergraduate and graduate students. Recipients receive a $1,000 prize, “and students get to use that money to support the projects that you hear about here.”
With a variety of topics covered in the research projects, ranging from “Composing The Self: Investigating the Meaning in Narratives of Authenticity and Self-Transformation” to “Coffee-Derived Carbon Quantum Dots for Biofuel Enhancement: A Green Approach to Combustion Efficiency,” Piazza described this as an opportunity to build connections with individuals going through the same process in similar or different fields.
Many of the students could even be facing similar issues while conducting their research.
Research is built on trial and error, Piazza explained. These could occur in or outside the lab setting. For some students, the process may be challenging to find suitable subjects for interviews or to deal with lab constraints.
With students discussing some of the challenges they currently face or expect to encounter in the future, the meeting provided a community of people willing to hear about their current research progress.
Piazza added that the purpose of these introductory meetings is to show support for many students who are conducting research for the first time.
“These students were granted awards in early summer,” she said. “Some are at the very beginning stages, and they may not finish until February or March of next year. Some students are making some really good progress—and they’re going to finish a little earlier—but they’re all at different phases. That’s kind of how research works depending on the project.
“That’s why we talked about failures, challenges, things that maybe popped up that were unexpected when you started. That’s a really important part of research. Failure is part of the process, and if you can get comfortable with that and turn it around and transform failure into success, you’re going to be great at anything that you do in life.”
Piazza provided the students with helpful information, including contact details for questions and a designated place for any concerns or further clarifications.
“We have a really diverse group of projects and disciplines, and just a variety in terms of the types of research,” she explained. “In some cases, this might be the only funding that students get, so it’s really, really important to be able to support initiatives like this and hopefully continue to grow them.”
For students interested in pursuing their education post-undergraduate degree, Piazza said that applying to the SEARCH Awards would be beneficial.
“Many of the undergrads are basically training to be successful grad students when you do research at the undergrad level,” she said.
Applications for next year’s SEARCH Awards are now available and close on March 8, 2026.
Piazza explained that the benefits of these opportunities extend beyond the classroom.
“It’s all career skills,” she said. “Research skills are career skills and that’s why it’s really important to be able to provide these opportunities.”
2025-26 SEARCH Award recipients (student/faculty advisor/project title)
Merna Abdrabo … Dr. Hamdy Ibrahim … Acoustic Mixing Process Optimization for Strengthened Magnesium-Based Nanocomposite
Menekse Adar … Dr. Serkan Varol … Exploring Emotional States and Gaze Behavior in Digital Learning Platforms: A Multimodal EEG and Eye-Tracking Approach
Claire Beach … Dr. Bret Eschman … Attentional Control after Childhood Adversity: Evaluating Temperament as a Protective Factor
Taylor Claxton … Dr. Ruth Walker … Exploring the Experiences of Male Victims of Intimate Partner Violence When Seeking an Order of Protection
Gracie Crooks … Dr. Ayça Çetinkaya … Least-Squares Solution and Optimization in Ill-Conditioned Linear Systems
Hannah Daugherty … Dr. Ricardo Wilhelm … Decoding Belief: Neural Mechanisms of Conspiracy Message Evaluations
Samantha Dean … Dr. Amanda Clark … Anxiety or Advantage? Detecting Malingered Symptoms in College Students Seeking Academic Accommodations
Katelyn Hamilton … Dr. Venkateswara Kode … Coffee-Derived Carbon Quantum Dots for Biofuel Enhancement: A Green Approach to Combustion Efficiency
Aidan Harrison … Dr. Jared Pienkos … Exploiting the N-oxide functional group to create imaging agents
Elizabeth Hendricksen … Dr. Jannatul Ferdoush … Elucidation of overexpression of Transcription factor, TAF7 in Eukaryotic Cell
Luke Hicks … Dr. Jill Shelton … Investigating the Pursuit of Prosocial Goals among Neurodivergent Individuals: A Prospective Memory Study
Taylor Lange … Dr. Ruth Walker … Expanding Our Conceptualization of Transformative Justice Practices for Survivors of the Commercial Sex Industry
Lennon Learn-Houston … Dr. John Lee … Design of New Anti-Cancer Ruthenium – Based Molecular Squares
Izabella LeBlanc … Dr. David Ross … Perceived Justice-System Support of Victims and Attitudes on Justice
Elizabeth Minneci … Dr. Ruth Walker … The Culture of the Convent: Recruitment, Retention, and Talent Development for Catholic Nuns in America
Julia Perry … Dr. Cindy Poole … Emotional Intelligence through Music Creation in Children: A Case Study
Matthew Pruitt … Dr. Reetesh Ranjan … Effects of Multi-component Surrogates on the Dynamics of Non-Reacting Diesel Fuel Spray
Dexter Rowland … Dr. Pratibha Deepak … The Role of Individual-Level Cultural Tightness-Looseness in Reward Preferences and Organizational Outcomes
Joseph Rush … Dr. Jared Pienkos … Synthesis of Iridium Based Imaging Agents
Matthew Schaublin … Dr. Jill Shelton … Composing The Self: Investigating the Meaning in Narratives of Authenticity and Self-Transformation
Rachel Teti … Dr. Anna Kiel … Exploring the Relationship Between Physical Activity, Cognitive Function, and Balance in Assisted Living Facility Residents
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Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor
