Six University of South Carolina students have been honored by University Libraries with 2026 Undergraduate Research Awards.
Held in the spring of each academic year, the awards celebrate excellence in undergraduate use of library resources and services and demonstrate the contribution of the Libraries to student learning.
Award winners are selected in each of two tracks: the Garnet Track for juniors and seniors, and the Black Track for freshmen and sophomores.
This year’s winners include:
Garnet Track
1st Place
Zachary Gardiner – Junior, Chemical Engineering, Honors College: “Exploring the Existence of the Word LIBERTY on the South Carolina Moultrie Flag”
2nd Place
Maggie Davisson – Junior, Biomedical Engineering and Theater, Honors College: “The Mechanical Actor: Meyerhold’s Biomechanics and the Birth of the Analyzable Body”
3rd Place:
Abigail Still – Senior, English: “’Readers Respond’: The Ladder and the American South”
Black Track
1st Place:
Isabella Benson – Freshman, Nursing: “The Female Gothic’s Lasting Influence in Contemporary Society”
2nd Place:
Sofia Aponte – Freshman, Engineering: “Cat Attack: Why Imperfect Data Does Not Justify Inaction”
3rd Place:
Conner Ouellette – Freshman, Engineering,: “Public Scrutiny, Scientific Stigma, and Ethical Failures within Dr. Montague’s Hill House Experiment”
With topics ranging from the physics of theatrical stagecraft to the difficulty of assessing the extent of wildlife predation by cats to the possibility that a famous Revolutionary War flag may have had a different appearance than is commonly believed, the award-winning projects showcased both the breadth of student research at the university and the thoroughness and skill with which these students embraced the research process.
"We are delighted to honor and showcase student research and how the University Libraries help to support student achievement,” said Director of the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Michael Weisenburg, who chaired this year’s Undergraduate Research Awards review committee. “Each of the awardees demonstrates what is great about the promise of a liberal arts education. Beyond being well-researched, all of their projects demonstrate a wide breadth of interests and creativity beyond their major program of study."
The winning entries for the Undergraduate Research Awards were selected by a review committee from a competitive pool of submissions. Each winner receives a cash prize. Since the start of the awards 19 years ago, 87 students have been recognized with more than $24,000 in monetary prizes.
The winners contribute their projects to Scholar Commons, the institutional repository to preserve, collect and disseminate the research and scholarship of the University of South Carolina.