Spring 2026 Research Symposium

Photo of Spring 2026 Honors Class with Professor Hedy Lee

The Spring Research Symposium is an annual event where the sociology honors students, with support from honors director Hedwig (Hedy) Lee and other faculty members, present their research to the wider community. Various faculty, students, friends and family came out to support each of our students during their poster presentations and reception.

Poster Presentations:

Chase Adkins: "Navigating Extremes: Middle-Class Identity at an Elite University"

Margaret Cole: “The Hidden Costs of Defense: A Gendered Analysis of the Implications of Military Service on Mental Health"

Umang Dhigra: "Everyone and Their (Grand)Mother: Tracing Reliance on Childcare Infrastructure Under the Two-Child Benefit Limit in the UK"

Deborah Lendore: "Beyond Barriers: Understanding Patient and Provider Experiences of Healthcare Access for Chronic Illness in Grenada and Carriacou"

Nadia Ouhaj: "Reimagining the White Coat: Constructing the Contemporary Physician"

Alexa Pylant : "The Faithful and the Fruitful: How Religion Motivates Fertility Attitudes and Behavior in Catholic Women"

Henry Stephens IV : "The Geography of Advantage: How Education Influences Racialized Mortgage Outcomes"

Kennedy Wallace: "Selective Storytelling: Race and Gender Bias in Media Coverage During the 2024 NCAA Basketball Tournament"

The recipient of the Jaya Thomas Sastry Poster Award for the best honors presentation poster was Deborah Lendore, for their poster on "Beyond Barriers: Understanding Patient and Provider Experiences of Healthcare Access for Chronic Illness in Grenada and Carriacou".

Judges for this award consisted of five of our PhD students.