Discovery and curiosity come together in undergraduate research

From exploring ethical considerations of AI to decoding the genetic mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) students have been hard at work this academic year. Twenty-three undergraduate students in Iowa State’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) received the LAS Dean’s High Impact Award for Undergraduate Research during the fall 2025 semester. As funded researchers, students worked alongside faculty mentors from across the university to drive forward real-world research in diverse academic disciplines.

Following is a look at some of the research projects students conducted during the fall 2025 semester. A list of all fall 2025 recipients appears at the end of this article.

Students can also apply for the summer research awards now through March 15.

Alexis Greteman (’26 psychology)
Mentored by: Jason Chan, professor in the Department of Psychology

Can online exams be trusted in an era of easily accessible AI tools? Alexis Greteman’s (’26 psychology) undergraduate research is helping address a new problem by building on prior Iowa State research.

The prior study, led by Professor Jason Chan’s Memory, Law, and Education Lab, examined cheating during online, unproctored exams. The study used data from the spring 2020 semester, which included both in-person and online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Surprisingly, the study found that students’ performance rankings remained largely consistent between in-person exams early in the semester and online exams later on, suggesting that online exams were less fragile than many educators had previously assumed,” Greteman said.

Since the initial study, AI tools have rapidly developed. The lab’s new study will revisit the trustworthiness of online exams in today’s changed technological environment, and Greteman had a unique chance to help design the experiment from the ground up. She developed core research materials, helped build the study’s infrastructure, and contributed to the design and deployment of a pilot study.

“Being involved in research that updates an important conversation in higher education and has clear, real-world implications for instructors has been the most compelling part of the project for me,” Greteman said.

Greteman is applying for graduate school to earn her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and pursue a career in academia and research. She said she feels ready for her next steps, thanks to the supportive environment created by Chan and psychology graduate student Zohara Assadipour.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with both of them, as they were incredibly supportive and thoughtful mentors who trusted me with a high level of independence,” Greteman said. “They allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them, helped build my confidence in my contributions, and supported my growth into a more capable and informed researcher.

“Beyond teaching me technical research skills, they pushed me to think more critically, ask stronger questions, and hold myself to a high standard as a researcher,” she added. “Their mentorship has prepared me well for the next step of graduate school and for a future in academia.”

Emily Pedersen (’26 genetics)
Mentored by: Qian Wang, adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition

Emily Pedersen’s (’26 genetics) undergraduate research on Alzheimer’s disease today could positively impact her future patients in the years to come. Pedersen will attend the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in the fall to pursue her goal of becoming a geriatrician.

Pedersen has conducted research for several years alongside faculty mentor Qian Wang, adjunct assistant professor of food science and nutrition. In the Wang Lab, Pedersen examines mutations from two genes – APOE and TOMM40 – that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Using gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR Cas9 and others, Pedersen studies how these mutations affect cell growth and development to understand better their impact on the human body and disease progression.

A previous recipient of the LAS Dean’s Undergraduate Research Award, Pedersen has developed professionally both as a researcher and a leader in the Wang Lab. She now mentors other undergraduates in her lab group, honing her teaching and mentoring skills while demonstrating patience and compassion.

“Learning from my mentor and fellow research assistants has been incredible to improve both my lab skills and understanding of what each procedure accomplishes,” she said.

Outside the lab, Pedersen’s part-time job involves working with patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Those connections have created new layers of meaning for her research experience and help motivate her to continue pursuing its potential.

“As someone who works with individuals who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, learning more about the underlying biological mechanism has increased my understanding and empathy for those patients and residents,” she said. “Recognizing the potential benefits of this research on those who have Alzheimer’s disease due to genetic predisposition has to be the coolest thing!”

Elizabeth Quam (’26 biochemistry)
Mentor: Rizia Bardhan, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

The phrase “two are better than one” certainly applies to the research Elizabeth Quam (’26 biochemistry) conducted last fall in the Bardhan Laboratory.

As part of the lab team, Quam studied how chitosan, a complex carbohydrate derived from the natural polymer chitin, can be synthesized into nanoparticles to improve drug stability, efficacy, and transport throughout the body. Chitosan is well suited for nanoparticle-based medicine because it is a biopolymer, meaning it is both biodegradable and eco-friendly. It is also ideal for absorption and promoting a healthy gut environment.

“Given these many advantages, we were seeking to understand the effect of nanoparticle stiffness on cell uptake in a few types of immune and cancer cells so that future studies can design optimal nanomedicine for specific diseases,” Quam said.

Developing nanomedicine that pinpoints specific diseases in certain parts of the body could help advance cancer treatments without harmful or uncomfortable side effects.

“Nanomedicine technology … has incredible potential to improve the efficacy of many drugs and reduce the often-worrying side effects that accompany even everyday medicine, thanks to targeted delivery to specific tissues, rather than the system-wide circulation that drugs are normally subject to,” Quam said.

Through her undergraduate research experience, Quam was immersed in the joy of scientific discovery, a passion she will carry with her beyond Iowa State as she pursues a career in biotechnology.

“All of our modern scientific understanding and so many of the technologies that we now benefit from were once unknown, and it was through experimentation and investigations that they were uncovered, just like we are still doing today,” Quam said. “It is amazing and such a privilege to get to be working on the forefront of advancements that are driving the technology of tomorrow, particularly in the fascinating realm of precision medicine.”

Tirtho Roy (’26 data science)
Mentors: Soumik Sarkar, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and courtesy professor in the Department of Computer Science; Priyanka Jayashankar, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Marketing

Today, questions surrounding the ethical use of AI encompass virtually every facet of society. From business to education to health care, AI’s influence is becoming hard to dismiss.

Last fall, Tirtho Roy (’26 data science) worked in Iowa State’s Translational AI Center to investigate whether persuasive digital content – such as fundraising or marketing videos – influence people’s decisions.

“In simple terms, I studied how cutting-edge AI models can learn patterns from narrative to figure out what makes a message convincing, not just visually appealing,” Roy said. “We focused on developing explainable pathways to identify which features are most important for creating more communicable and sustainable video content.”

Roy said by better understanding what messages genuinely resonate with people and making these insights explainable, AI tools can support more ethical, effective, and sustainable communication around important social and public issues.

“It was exciting to see how data science and artificial intelligence could be applied to real-world challenges with meaningful social impact, especially in making AI systems more transparent and trustworthy,” he said.

Another highlight of Roy’s research was learning that AI excellence goes beyond technical performance.

“Building strong AI systems requires more than technical accuracy,” he said. “Thoughtful evaluation, ethical considerations, explainability, and understanding human context are just as important as performance metrics.”

Remaining fall 2025 LAS Dean’s High Impact Award for Undergraduate Research recipients:

Caelen Camplain (’26 bioinformatics and computational biology)
Mentored by Hua Bai, associate professor of genetics, development, and cell biology

Benjamin Coberly (’26 computer science)
Mentored by Claus Kadelka, associate professor of mathematics

Reid Frighetto (’26 biology)
Mentored by Sudhir Kumar, assistant professor of biomedical sciences

Sageena Garg (’27 computer science)
Mentored by Anuj Sharma, professor of civil construction and environmental engineering

Rachael Gorman (’26 biochemistry)
Mentored by Olga Zabotina, professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology

Veronika Hokrova (’26 biology)
Mentored by Don Sakaguchi, Morrill Professor of genetics, development, and cell biology

Garrison Hughes (’25 psychology)
Mentored by Alison Phillips, professor of psychology

Rishabh Jain (’27 computer science)
Mentored by Anuj Sharma, professor of civil construction and environmental engineering

Jessica Johnson (’26 biology)
Mentored by Ping Kang, adjunct assistant professor of genetics, development, and cell biology

Owen Kennedy (’27 bioinformatics and computational biology)
Mentored by Dior Kelley, associate professor of genetics, development, and cell biology

Caden Klopfenstein (’26 bioinformatics and computational biology)
Mentored by Claus Kadelka, associate professor of mathematics

Marie Claire Ndefua (’27 biology)
Mentored by Ping Kang, adjunct assistant professor of genetics, development, and cell biology

Bach Nguyen (’26 computer science)
Mentored by Goce Trajcevski, professor of electrical and computer engineering

Keagan Potter (‘27 biochemistry)
Mentored by Kristen Johansen, professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology

Kylie Ridgway (‘26 biochemistry)
Mentored by Kristen Johansen, professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology

Shea Sopher (’26 biology)
Mentored by Don Sakaguchi, Morrill Professor of genetics, development, and cell biology

Hannah Soucek (’26 genetics)
Mentored by Ping Kang, adjunct assistant professor of genetics, development, and cell biology

Ushashi Battacharjee (’26 bioinformatics and computational biology)
Mentored by Dior Kelley, associate professor of genetics, development, and cell biology