Related Articles

• SURF Stories 2026: Chris Guider ’29 tackles NFL kickoff rules
• SURF Stories 2026: Ryder Hutchinson ’28 researches how to fight cancer with viruses
• SURF Stories 2026: Catherine Dierker ’27 researches how to get out the youth vote
• SURF Stories 2026: Amanda McGee ’26 designs campaign to spark healthier living
• SURF Stories 2026: Maddie Hewgley ’26 explores the rise of state gun rights laws through undergraduate research

51������ held its largest-ever Spring Undergraduate Research Forum on April 28, featuring 384 presentations, including 229 poster presentations, 155 oral presentations, and performances.

SURF Day is an annual event at the university, during which other campus activities are suspended to celebrate the academically centered creative endeavors and research efforts of Elon students. Undergraduate research is also one of the five Elon Experiences, which provides a natural extension of the work students do in the classroom and ensures that Elon graduates are prepared for both graduate school and careers.

“SURF continues to be the flagship event for undergraduate research on campus,” said Justin Clar, director of the undergraduate research program and associate professor of chemistry. “The record number of submissions is evidence of not only student involvement, but the work of dedicated mentors committed to preparing students for future success.”

Jen Hamel, associate director of undergraduate research and associate professor of biology, says putting together such a large event is a team effort.

“A lot of people work to make this day possible at Elon: our dedicated events and facilities staff, the Powell student workers, the faculty session moderators, abstract reviewers, and mentors and the Undergraduate Research team. And of course, the students work all year on their research and creative projects,” Hamel said.

Throughout the day, students gave poster presentations in three sessions held in Alumni Gym, with oral presentations held throughout campus. Emily Stuart ’26, a professional writing and rhetoric major from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, was presenting for the first time at SURF. Her research focused on the perception of artificial intelligence integration in the digital marketing and communication workforce.

“I am a graduating senior, so I wanted to feel as prepared as possible for the workforce, and I do know that AI integration has become a major part of a lot of different fields,” Stuart said. “It felt like a really good way to tie it all together as part of my senior experience.”

Stuart did a literature review and sent out a survey to Elon alumni to get their perspectives. She found alumni discussed similar benefits to AI, including helping with productivity, but also expressed concerns over the environment, job loss and data privacy.

“This is my capstone research, I have spent a lot of time on it, and it does feel good to have people come up and want to learn about my research and being interested in it. It’s been a really cool way to end my semester,” she said.

While Stuart is capping off her Elon career with SURF, Chris Guider ’29, a business analytics and economics double major from Holly Springs, North Carolina, is beginning his academic career at the annual event.

Guider’s project examines the effectiveness of the new NFL kickoff rules introduced in 2024. The changes, designed to improve player safety, created multiple “touchback” scenarios, situations where the ball is placed at different yard lines depending on how a kickoff ends.

“It’s rewarding because there are a lot of skills I’m learning, like coding in R or being able to interpret data,” he said. “It’s just reinforcing that I chose the right school because of the relationship I have with the professors I’ve been able to work with here.”

Students collaborate closely with faculty mentors throughout the research process—an aspect Abram Darby ’26, a psychology major, especially appreciated while working with his mentor, Adi Wiezel, assistant professor of psychology.

“She’s very motivated, enthusiastic and outgoing. It was easy to get involved in the project,” Darby said. “Our lab environment is great, too.”

Darby’s research examined how voters’ views on childcare policies might influence their preference for different types of political leaders—specifically, a knowledgeable female leader versus a more dominant and threatening male leader.

Initial pilot data suggested a connection, but it was based on the 2016 presidential election, when the Democratic candidate was a woman and Democrats were already associated with childcare policies. To explore the idea further, Darby selected an election in which a Republican female candidate defeated a male Democratic candidate. He removed party identifiers and asked participants which candidate they preferred, along with their reasons.

“What we found was among people who are motivated by childcare policies, when they perceive the female leader as being more prestigious than the male leader, they prefer them over the male leader significantly, suggesting that childcare policies may be a good proxy for who is going to win an election,” Darby said.

Catherine Dierker ’27, a history major with teaching licensure from Marietta, Georgia, also explored the political landscape, but in a different way. Her oral presentation focused on how educators can better prepare young people to participate in democracy. Her project examines effective practices in civics education, drawing from national and international data, teacher interviews and existing scholarship.

Mentored by Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Carrie Eaves, Dierker said the experience has been both academically rigorous and personally meaningful.

“She’s fantastic,” said Dierker of Eaves. “It’s those little connections that were nice to talk about and then really dive into the details of the research.”

In addition to SURF, students also have the opportunity to present research during the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience in June/July.

Lumen Scholars will work closely with their mentors during the next two years to pursue and complete their projects. Efforts traditionally include coursework, study abroad, research both on and off campus, internships locally and overseas, program development, and creative productions and performances.

“It was another very competitive year, and the Lumen Advisory Board saw many good applications,” said Michael Carignan, director of the Lumen Prize and professor of history. “These 15 represent truly special talent and engagement. We look forward to watching the projects unfold over the next two years.”

The name for the Lumen Prize comes from Elon’s historic motto, “Numen Lumen,” which are Latin words meaning “spiritual light” and “intellectual light.” The words, which are found on the 51������ seal, signify the highest purposes of an Elon education.

2026 Lumen Prize Winners

Tajallah Amirkhil
Mentor: Molly Green
Major: Public Health & Biochemistry
Project: Barriers and Resilience: Exploring Mental Health among Afghan Refugee Women in North Carolina

Emma Briceño
Mentors: Dan Burns & Tita Ramirez
Major: English (Creative Writing)
Project: The Desert Lighthouse, a Novel: an Exploration of Queerness and Safety through Body Horror, Immortality, and Genre Reinvention

Kelley Calvillo
Mentor: Renay Aumiller
Major: Dance Performance and Choreography
Project: The Body Knows: Developing a Feminist Framework for Distributed Choreographic Authorship

Chloe Cone
Mentors: Eryn Bernardy & Ahlam Armaly
Major: Biochemistry
Project: Solutions in the Soil: Unearthing Novel Antibacterial Compounds from Soil Microbes to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

Sanai Crosby
Mentors: Lauren Kearns & Matt Wittstein
Major: Exercise Science & Dance Science
Project: Dance and Neural Activity: Examining Neural Activity Across the Choreographic Process and Performance Environments

Fleur Helmantel
Mentor: Scott Wolter
Major: Biomedical Engineering & Chinese Studies
Project: Development of Tissue-Mimicking Phantoms for the Treatment of Breast Cancer

Anna Keller
Mentor: Scott Morrison
Project: Perceptions and Practices of Outdoor Literacy: a Two-Part Mixed-Methods Study

Nevaeh Kimmie
Mentor: Katrina Jongman-Sereno
Major: Psychology & Economics
Project: To Code-Switch or Not to Code-Switch: Authenticity, Psychological Outcomes, and Social Judgement of Black College Students in Predominantly White Academic Spaces

Lisa Kranec
Mentors: Hwayeon Ryu & Efrain Rivera-Serrano
Major: Biomedical Engineering & Applied Mathematics
Project: Mathematical Modeling of Excessive Collagen Production in Cardiac Fibrosis

Jordyne Lewis
Mentor: Steve DeLoach
Major: Economic Consulting & Data Analytics
Refugees, Emotional Wellbeing, and Financial Inclusion in Uganda

Kendall Lewis
Mentor: Jen Uno
Major: Biochemistry & Mathematics
Project: Can the Microbiome Heal the Brain?Evaluating Butyrate’s Efficiency in Reducing Stroke Severity within the Context of Obesity

Ja’Mir Parham
Mentor: Zack Hutchens
Major: Astrophysics
Project: RESOLVE, ECO, and eRASS: Probing Galaxy Growth through Cold and Hot Gas

Danny Stern
Mentor: Karl Sienerth
Major: Chemistry
Project: From Backlog to Breakthrough: Use of Fluorescence Quenching for the Development of an Explosive Identification Database

Ainsley Thompson
Mentor: Yuko Miyamoto
Major: Biochemistry
Project: Decreasing Platinum Chemotherapy Resistance by Downregulating STAT3 and Upregulating PTEN in the SKOV3 Cell Line

Scout Winter
Mentor: Bill Evans
Major: Exercise Science
Project: Effects of a Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet on Insulin Resistance and Inflammation in Adults with Type 1 Diabetes

William S. Long Professor and Professor of Education Jeff Carpenter was honored with the Career Impact Award from the Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning Special Interest Group.

TACTL promotes the development and evaluation of preservice and in-service programs aimed at transforming teacher education, preparing technology-proficient educators to meet the needs of 21st-century learners.

“The TACTL board honored Jeff with this award because of his tremendous impact in terms of time (his many years of contributions to the field), reach (he has collaborated with colleagues around the world and is cited everywhere), imagination (he has changed the way the world thinks about teachers and social media), and care (he has done all this while being a mentor to countless students and early career colleagues, and he consistently uplifts everyone around him),” said Bret Staudt Willet, chair of the Teachnology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning Board.

Carpenter was honored with the award during the American Educational Research Association conference in Los Angeles, California. Several of Carpenter’s colleagues spoke at the event and also recorded recognizing his work and accomplishments.

“You gave me wings, twice, in two different ways,” said Hermann Dzingel, a research associate and Ph.D. candidate from Universität Potsdam. “When we visited you in Elon in 2025, you picked me up from the airport, and you took me straight to a restaurant and treated me to chicken wings because I was really hungry (…). The second way was more important metaphoriclaly because I went into research four years ago, having been a teacher for a long time, having great imposter syndrome, not belonging here and meeting you in 2024 and remmebering sitting with you (…) you told me about your life (…) and this gave me the wings to carry on in research and I wouldn’t be here (without) you.”

Carpenter previously served on the leadership team of the Special Interest Group and was previously awarded the Best Reviewer and Best Paper Awards. He says TACTL-SIG and its members have had a positive impact on him and his career.

“The Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning Special Interest Group gave me a home in the American Educational Research Association,” Carpenter said. “This was particularly the case at the AERA Annual Meeting, as the SIG made a potentially impersonal event that draws 16,000 attendees start to feel like a chance to see and catch up with valued friends. It was particularly meaningful that 16 kind folks (including many of my co-authors) shared generous and humbling words about my impact on them, and the SIG. The award was a complete surprise, and I was fortunate to have my father in attendance to share in the moment.”

Related Articles

• SURF Stories 2026: Chris Guider ’29 tackles NFL kickoff rules
• SURF Stories 2026: Ryder Hutchinson ’28 researches how to fight cancer with viruses
• SURF Stories 2026: Catherine Dierker ’27 researches how to get out the youth vote
• SURF Stories 2026: Amanda McGee ’26 designs campaign to spark healthier living

Nearly 400 51������ students will present their work at the Spring Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF) on April 28 in Alumni Gym and other locations across campus. With a total 384 presentations, this will be the largest SURF Day in the events 33 year history.

SURF Day is a time each year where the university suspends other campus activities to celebrate the academically centered creative endeavors and research efforts of Elon students. As one of the five Elon Experiences, undergraduate research is a highly valued part of the academic experience for Elon students.

SURF Day will open with a special College Coffee outside of Koury Center and Alumni Gym at 8:15 a.m.

Highlights for this SURF: 

• A total of 384 presentations, including 229 poster presentations and 155 oral presentations and performances
• Eighty-three presentations self-identified as projects related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
• Thirty-five presentations self-identified as projects related to sustainability
• One hundred and forty three presentations self-identified as data intensive projects
• An interdisciplinary symposium on “From Crawling to Coding: Embodiment and Learning in Babies and Robots”
• An interdisciplinary symposium on “American Studies Research”
• A student panel on “A Periclean Journey: Rooted Locally, Reaching Globally Through Mutually Beneficial Partnerships and Community Engagement”
• Five poster presentations by student groups from Walter M. Williams High School mentored by Elon faculty

Sudibyo, an assistant teaching professor of Spanish who joined Elon in 2023, brings a global perspective shaped by her Indonesian roots and academic journey. Through her teaching, research and campus involvement, she is creating spaces where students feel a sense of belonging, something she says first drew her to Elon.

“I really enjoyed the company of my colleagues, and they were such wonderful people,” Sudibyo said of her first visit to Elon. “Then the students, during my teaching demo, were all engaged, and it just felt like a great place.”

Being from Indonesia, Sudibyo describes her academic path as somewhat “random.”

“We don’t speak Spanish in Indonesia, it’s not our national language and we don’t have a lot of connections to the Spanish-speaking world in that way,” said Sudibyo, who decided to major in Spanish.

Now, as a professor, Sudibyo focuses on bridging those connections, encouraging students to think beyond traditional cultural boundaries, particularly through her research studying the intersections of the Asian and the Spanish-speaking world. Her scholarship highlights stories that, she says, are often overlooked, including the history of the Philippines under Spanish colonial rule and the presence of Asian voices within Hispanic culture.

“Something I’ve discovered that is not talked about a lot are the Hispanic Philippines,” she said. “There are a lot of cultural productions, all in Spanish, and it was never taught to me as a graduate student. It became very personal.”

By bringing these perspectives into her courses, including “Women’s Writing in the Hispanic World,” Sudibyo is broadening how students understand language, culture and identity, while also increasing visibility for Asian narratives in traditionally Eurocentric spaces.

Outside the classroom, Sudibyo continues that work as a faculty-in-residence in the Danieley Neighborhood, where she connects with students on a more personal level.

“It’s a very rewarding experience because you get to interact with students outside of class,” she said. “They get to see me as a human being.”

She also serves as an advisor to the Polyglot Living Learning Community, helped launch the Spanish Club in Fall 2025, and channels her passion for event planning into creating inclusive, community-building experiences.

For Sudibyo, mentorship is one of the most meaningful aspects of her role, and central to creating spaces of belonging.

“Seeing the students’ growth and seeing them reaching the goals that they’ve said they wanted to do—I think that’s the most rewarding part,” she said.

That impact is also felt by her students.

“Dr. Sudibyo has impacted me at Elon by being a mentor for me as a student but also as a person,” said Hailey Landers ‘28, president of the Spanish Club and a dance science major from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. “Her guidance and genuine support have made a lasting difference in both my personal and academic journey.”

During API Heritage Month, Sudibyo’s presence on campus also carries deeper significance. As one of the coordinators of Elon’s API Employee Resource Group, she is intentional about increasing visibility and challenging narrow perceptions of what it means to be Asian.

“When we say ‘Asian,’ a lot of us think of East Asia,” she said. “For me, it’s important to show up because it shows Asia is a diverse continent with so many cultures and so many languages.”

Through her teaching, mentorship and advocacy, Sudibyo is helping ensure that diversity is not just acknowledged at Elon but actively understood, represented and celebrated.

Elon honors Asian & Pacific Island Heritage Month

As part of Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, 51������ is sharing stories through Today at Elon that highlight Asian and Pacific Islander students, faculty and staff who contribute to a campus environment where cultural identities and experiences are celebrated year-round. Throughout the month, Elon is also recognizing API Heritage Month through a series of events and programming.

Anya Bratić ’26, an international & global studies major, has completed her service term as a North Carolina Civic Impact Fellow.

The North Carolina Civic Impact Fellowship (NC-CIF) is a statewide civic leadership program through North Carolina Campus Engagement that equips exceptional student leaders to build a stronger civic life on their campus. Fellows are nominated by their institution’s president or chancellor and campus administrators, and selected based on their outstanding civic leadership potential.

During her fellowship year, Bratić collaborated with the Kernodle Center for Civic Life and the Student Government Association to advance an initiative that strengthened campus-community connections and student civic participation. Bob Frigo, Assistant Dean of Campus Life and Director of the Kernodle Center for Civic Life, served as Bratić’s mentor for the project.

Bratić began her fellowship by assessing Elon’s civic engagement efforts and identifying opportunities to fill gaps in awareness, access, or participation. Guided by her findings, Bratić organized a campus-wide Town Hall through the Student Government Association (SGA), where students heard directly from local community leaders and changemarkers about pathways into service. This event helped students visualize their own trajectory into a life and career of service. Bratić then institutionalized SGA’s commitment to service by advancing SGA bylaw amendments that formally require a Civic Engagement Senator to lead at least one substantive civic initiative for the student body during their term.

“I’m proud of the number of students from diverse groups and backgrounds who demonstrated a genuine commitment to learn more from civic, business and educational leaders in Alamance County,” said Bratić, “College students are uniquely positioned and equipped with the resources of their campuses to make tangible changes in their communities. A space like this provides a platform for students to exercise their strengths and creativity that will last beyond their four years in college.”

Bratić presented the outcomes of her fellowship project and offered recommendations to sustain the work during a capstone presentation to several project stakeholders and local community partners.

Chris Guider’s research, which will be presented at the Spring Undergraduate Research Forum on April 28, will be more than just a poster session; it will offer insights for a real-world client.

A business analytics and economics double major from Holly Springs, North Carolina, Guider’s project examines the effectiveness of new NFL kickoff rules introduced in 2024. The changes, designed to improve player safety, created multiple “touchback” scenarios, situations where the ball is placed at different yard lines depending on how a kickoff ends.

“We’re looking at the expected outcome based on whether you start at one yard line versus the other,” Guider said. Specifically, Guider is comparing drives that begin at the 20 and 35-yard lines, analyzing how starting position affects offensive success.

The project originated when his mentor, Assistant Professor of Statistics Andre Waschka, approached Guider with an opportunity tied to NFL kicker Joshua Karty, a kicker for the Arizona Cardinals and son of Joel Karty, Elon’s Sydney F. & Kathleen E. Jackson Professor of Chemistry and chair of the Department of Chemistry.

For Guider, who is also involved in Elon’s Sport Management Living Learning Community, the topic was a natural fit: “I like talking sports,” he said, “and I like working with data.”

Using statistical programming tools such as R, along with methods like TMLE and Super Learner, Guider and his team are analyzing thousands of plays across the NFL season. They are measuring variables such as number of plays per drive, total yards gained and scoring outcomes, including touchdowns, field goals and turnovers.

Although the dataset is still being finalized, early findings suggest that field position may not be as influential as expected.

“We’re actually finding there’s not as much of a difference as we thought there would be,” Guider said. “So, 15 yards isn’t really as much of a difference when it comes down to score.”

The research process has been both challenging and rewarding, particularly for a first-year student.

“Actual data collection is mind-numbing,” Guider said with a laugh, describing the hours spent manually inputting thousands of lines of data. “I’ve been working through about 2,000 lines… you’re sitting there for hours at a time doing this.”

Despite the tedious work, Guider emphasized the value of the experience.

“It’s rewarding because there are a lot of skills I’m learning, like coding in R or being able to interpret data,” he said. “It’s just reinforcing that I chose the right school because of the relationship I have with the professors I’ve been able to work with here.”

During SURF Day, all other campus activities are suspended so the Elon community can come together around students’ creative endeavors and research efforts. Undergraduate research is also one of the five Elon Experiences, which provides a natural extension of the work students do in the classroom and ensures that Elon graduates are prepared for both graduate school and careers.

Following SURF, Guider and his team plan to expand their findings into a formal research paper that could be published and shared directly with their NFL collaborator.

“It’s something that’s actually going to be used,” he said. “That to me is the most rewarding thing, being able to see that be implemented.”

As the midterm election approaches in November, Catherine Dierker ’27 is asking a timely question: Can educators better prepare young people to participate in democracy?

An Elon history major with teacher licensure from Marietta, Georgia, Dierker’s research focuses on improving civic engagement among young voters. She will present her findings during the Spring Undergraduate Research Forum on April 28.

“Considering that the youth turnout rate is so low, what can we do to make students feel prepared and make them feel like when they graduate, they can make a difference?” she said.

Dierker’s interest in research grew through Elon’s Teaching Fellows program, where she developed an inquiry project that eventually evolved into her SURF presentation.

“I’ve always really been very curious,” she said. “It was something that I was interested in, but then given the opportunity to develop.”

Her project examines effective practices in civics education, drawing from national and international data, teacher interviews and existing scholarship. While her findings reveal no single solution, they point to three key strategies that can help foster civic engagement among students.

“The first being to embrace controversy,” Dierker explained. “People shy away from trying to tackle big subjects that are a little controversial, but it’s what makes people engaged. It fires people up, and passionate people are going to act.”

In addition, her research highlights the importance of promoting civic agency, helping students feel that their voices matter, and incorporating service learning into classrooms.

“Allowing people to get out in their local community and do a semester-long project really demonstrates to them that they have made a difference,” she said.

Dierker emphasized that her work is less about prescribing a single method and more about offering a framework for educators.

“There’s not one thing that we can say to all teachers, do this and all of your students will go out and vote,” she said. “But if we apply these strategies, we will see a lot better turnout and results from our civic education.”

Her research process combined large-scale data analysis with qualitative insights. She examined U.S. census data, compared state-level education practices and reviewed studies from both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Mentored by Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Carrie Eaves, Dierker said the experience has been both academically rigorous and personally meaningful.

“She’s fantastic,” said Dierker of Eaves. “It’s those little connections that were nice to talk about and then really dive into the details of the research.”

During SURF Day, all other campus activities are suspended so the Elon community can come together around students’ creative endeavors and research efforts. Undergraduate research is also one of the five Elon Experiences, which provides a natural extension of the work students do in the classroom and ensures that Elon graduates are prepared for both graduate school and careers. Although this will be her first time presenting at SURF, Dierker is looking forward to sharing her work.

“I’m nervous, but I’m excited. I’m really passionate about it. I love talking about things that I’m passionate about,” she said.

As she prepares for a future in the classroom, Dierker hopes her research will help shape how civics is taught and how students see their role in society.

“It’s more of a framework to guide how we go about education and how we go about interacting with our community and with our nation,” she said.

Pate McMichael, director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition and instructor of communications, was quoted by Axios Charlotte about the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Charlotte’s Web, which yielded 1,300 arrests in the city.

Axios Charlotte reports that much of the information about Operation Charlotte’s Web has come out of lawsuits, and there is a lack of transparency about the details of the operation.

“It’s a very dangerous thing for the government to be doing. It is an abuse of power,” McMichael said. “They’re not following the law, and that’s why they’re getting sued, and that’s why they’re losing.”