RICE celebration showcases student expertise, faculty mentorship

Each year during RICE Week, Centre College shines a spotlight on the work students have been doing in the classroom, community, laboratory and art studio. RICE is an opportunity for the larger College community to celebrate the work going on each day throughout the academic year.

RICE, which gets its name from research, internships and creative endeavors, also gives students a chance to polish their presentation skills in an academic conference setting.

“It's more than a showcase — it's a celebration of what happens when students go beyond learning existing knowledge and start contributing new ideas and insights of their own,” said a message from Karin Gill, Mei Li Inouye, and Fernando Gonzalez, RICE Symposium Co-Chairs and Secretary.

This year’s symposium featured 68 student presentations, including oral and poster presentations. These projects spanned many subjects and highlighted an array of research methods that had students working closely with professors and community partners, putting all the skills they’ve learned in class to the test.

Two Centre students, Ricardo Munoz Sanchez and Arpith Jinu John, showcased their research into factors affecting battery performance and how these issues influence the development of rechargeable batteries for use in energy-intensive machines such as airplanes.

Hannah Embree presented her work on how content creators use artificial intelligence to encourage distrust in expert opinions and spread anti-academic messages by pushing out archaeological conspiracy theories.

Presenter Morgan Dawson compared mythologies of different eras while examining how popular depictions reflect cultural attitudes toward women by examining two witches: Medea from ancient Greek mythology and popular superhero Wanda Maximoff, or the Scarlet Witch,  from the Marvel cinematic and comic universe.

Students shared findings from their work in the local community, including developing a smartphone app for the local community to showcase area attractions to examining health inequalities in the local community with an eye on income, race, gender, age and access to healthcare.

Another team of presenters, Bracken Castle, Adrie Jo Mitchell-Butler, Mattie Osborne, Onix Rios and Sam Stephenson, held a roundtable presentation on their ongoing research into what is considered “successful” aging within a local assisted living facility where they have been working with the residents.

Students also presented on research and internships conducted while taking part in Centre’s Study Abroad and Away programs, from supporting teens who recently moved from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. to an examination the ways that commercial tourism limits genuine intercultural learning on the island of Sardinia.

The week of programming concluded with a student art exhibition displaying multiple works, including blown glass, paintings, pottery, photography, drawings, mixed media and steel sculpture.

Dr. John Barton Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship Awards

Earlier in the week, three members of the Centre faculty were honored for their work mentoring students.

The award is named in honor of the late John Barton ’79, a beloved Kentucky physician and longtime member of the Centre Board of Trustees, who was an ardent supporter of RICE week. His commitment to faculty-student collaboration inspired the creation of the Dr. John Barton Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award.

At the third annual luncheon held this year, the recipients of the Dr. John R. Barton Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award were:

Division I: Philip Limerick, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Division II: Weiss Mehrabi, Assistant Professor of Politics
Division III: Emily Crabb, Assistant Professor of Physics