2026 Research Day Presentation List
Schedule for Poster Sessions
- 2:00-2:20 pm: Poster Session A
- 2:30-2:50 pm: Poster Session B
- 3:30-3:50 pm: Poster Session C
- 4:00-4:20 pm: Poster Session D
Poster Session A
Room 215
1. Gabrielle Johnson, Environmental Health Sciences. Using cycle-timed air pollutant estimates to model fecundability. Faculty sponsor: Carrie Nobles.
2. Samantha Kloft, Health Promotion and Policy. Trust in Public Health Authorities: Social Position, Political Attitudes, and Policy Legitimacy. Faculty sponsors: Daniel López-Cevallos; Airín Martínez.
3. Carolyn Carkeek Cramoy, Nutrition. Associations between iron-status and folate-status in US women of child-bearing age: A possible path to understanding birth defect risk in overweight/obese mothers. Faculty sponsor: Zhenhua Liu.
4. Ileana Carrion & Mariana Pinto Alvarez, Health Promotion and Policy. Marketing, Availability, and Industry Influence: Commercial Determinants of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage–Related Health in U.S. Latinx Communities—A Scoping Review. Faculty sponsor: Megan Patton-Lopez.
5. Elsa Hanrahan, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Sleep Quality and Subjective Cognitive Impairment Among U.S. Adults: The Role of Physical Activity in the National Health Interview Survey. Faculty sponsor: Nicole VanKim.
6. Jaclyn Nguyen, Biology. Associations between 24-hour Movement Behaviors and Working Memory in Preschool Children. Faculty sponsor: Christine St. Laurent.
7. Jessica Magee, Public Health Sciences. Association of antisocial behavior and substance use in Western Massachusetts teens. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.
8. Maxwell Carcione, Public Health Sciences. Family involvement and the Relationship with Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.
9. Emily Tyszka, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Evaluating County Forecasts in the California Omicron Wave via the Allocation Score: A Case Study in Forecast Evaluation Methods. Faculty sponsor: Nicholas Reich.
10. Kameron Wong, Environmental Health Sciences. Developmental PFOS exposure increases pancreatic β-cell sensitivity to secondary ROS-driven stress in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. Faculty sponsor: Alicia Timme-Laragy.
11. Thomas Robacker, Mathematics & Statistics. The SARS-CoV-2 Variant Nowcast Hub: One Year of Collaborative Modeling and Insights. Faculty sponsor: Nicholas Reich.
12. Addison Witkes, Public Health Sciences. R Package for Visualizing Contraceptive Method‑Mix Data. Faculty sponsor: Leontine Alkema.
13. Claire Schwartz, Public Health Sciences. The Effects of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on Women's Reproductive Health. Faculty sponsor: Carrie Nobles.
Room 230
1. Nina Fernandes, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Estimating Prevalence of Neurodivergent Conditions by Same-Sex Sexual Partner Status in the UK Biobank. Faculty sponsor: Nicole VanKim.
2. Alesya Lazerko, Kinesiology. Head stability and visual task performance during running. Faculty sponsor: Richard van Emmerik.
3. Julie Mulloy, Kinesiology. Predicting Low Back Pain in Collegiate Dancers Through Functional Movement Screening and Lower Crossed Syndrome Assessment. Faculty sponsor: Judi LaBranche.
Room 240
1. Patricia Henegan, Environmental Health Sciences. Smoke Signals: PM2.5 Emissions from Industrial Wood Burning. Faculty sponsor: Richard Peltier.
2. Yuanyuan Deng, Nutrition. Post-diagnosis adherence to healthy dietary patterns and risk of frailty among men with prostate cancer. Faculty sponsor: Chaoran Ma.
3. Yingxue Guan, Nutrition. Supplementation of Shiitake Mushroom as a Whole-food Approach Mitigates High-Fat Diet-Induced Intestinal Inflammation by Remodeling the Gut Microbiota in C57BL/6 Mice. Faculty sponsor: Zhenhua Liu.
4. Elisabeth Scheu, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Environmental Chemical Exposure among Immigrants in the United States working in Nail Salons. Faculty sponsors: Katherine Reeves and Jamie Hartmann-Boyce.
5. Amelia Amack, Kinesiology. Associations Between Sleep Health, Performance Anxiety, and Mental Burnout in Adolescent Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study. Faculty sponsor: Christine St. Laurent.
6. Summer Golen, Public Health Sciences. Stories That Connect Us: Expanding Access to Intergenerational Digital Storytelling as a Community-Based Response to Address Loneliness. Faculty sponsor: Gloria DiFulvio.
7. Arni Potnis, Public Health Sciences. Implementation of Enhanced In-Facility Depression Screening and Treatment for Patients Receiving Long-Term Dialysis. Faculty sponsor: Sarah Goff.
8. Caroline Kolmodin, Kinesiology. Associations between gluteal muscle morphology and gait variability in older adults. Faculty sponsor: Katherine Boyer.
9. Sope Liang, Environmental Health Sciences. Environmental PFAS Exposure and Immune Function: A Systematic Review. Faculty sponsor: Jamie Hartmann-Boyce.
Poster Session B
Room 215
1. Maud Muosieyiri, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Measuring Total PFAS Body Burden: Mixture-Based Analysis of Sociodemographic and Biological Predictors. Faculty sponsor: Katherine Reeves.
2. Carissa Lange, Environmental Health Sciences. High-resolution modeling of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) constituents and their associations with birth outcomes in Accra, Ghana. Faculty sponsor: Raphael Arku.
3. Xiaotian Yu, Kinesiology. Associations of Cat Ownership with Physical Activity Outcomes: A Systematic Review. Faculty sponsor: Katie Potter.
4. Samantha Swartz, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Determining the Association Between Asymptomatic Food Handlers and Norovirus Transmission. Faculty sponsor: Jamie Hartmann-Boyce.
5. Kaitlyn Kleeman, Kinesiology. The Impact of Pregnancy on Hip, Knee, and Ankle Strength. Faculty sponsor: Sarah Roelker.
6. Maisy Aronson, Public Health Sciences and Environmental Science. Association Between Air Pollution Exposure and The Development of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). Faculty sponsor: Carrie Nobles.
7. Sofie Mirafzali, Nutrition. The Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in The Dietary Recommendation for Health: Nutrition for Colorectal Cancer Prevention as a Case Study. Faculty sponsor: Zhenhua Liu.
8. Gloria Walker-Hoover, Public Health Sciences. Cultural Understandings of Trauma among the Mayan People: A Review of the Literature. Faculty sponsor: Thomas Mackie.
9. Sofía Michelle Osuna Uribe, Environmental Health Sciences. Air Quality Across Borders: Los Dos Laredos Network for PM2.5. Faculty sponsor: Richard Peltier.
10. Eva Pelliccio, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Quantifying Human Risk for Tick Exposure using Integrated Spatial and Demographic Data in Western Massachusetts. Faculty sponsor: Andrew Lover.
11. Anika Maharaj, Public Health Sciences. Breasts matter: endocrine disrupting chemicals and altered timing of thelarche. Faculty sponsor: Laura Vandenberg.
12. Danish Humayun, Public Health Sciences. Evaluation of Chicopee & Holyoke Access to Treatment & Services (CHATS): Results From Year 2. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Evans.
13. Megan Fisher, Kinesiology. The Effects of Psychological Skills Training on Putting Performance and Competitive State Anxiety in Amateur and Youth Golfers. Faculty sponsor: Christine St. Laurent.
Room 230
1. Xinyi Shang, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Analyzing Helix Formation and Rearrangement During Co-Transcriptional RNA Folding. Faculty sponsor: Zhengqing Ouyang.
2. Cheng Wang, Nutrition. Early-Life High-Fat Diet-Driven Mammary microRNA Remodeling Bridges Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis and Breast Microenvironment Alterations. Faculty sponsor: Zhenhua Liu.
3. Anika Elahi, Public Health Sciences. What factors impact CVD incidence and management in HPSAs? Faculty sponsor: Jamie Hartmann-Boyce.
Room 240
1. Kaniz Rabeya, Environmental Health Sciences. Exposure to air pollution mixtures and reproductive hormone levels across the menstrual cycle in a time-to-pregnancy cohort. Faculty sponsor: Carrie Nobles.
2. Bushra Islam, Health Promotion and Policy. Effect of Cannabis Legalization Policy on Mental Illness: Analysis by Difference-in-difference and Synthetic Control Method. Faculty sponsor: Jennifer Whitehill.
3. Mengqi Duan, Nutrition. Maternal Non-Nutritive Sweetener Consumption During Pregnancy and Its Association with Child Weight. Faculty sponsor: Sarah Gonzalez-Nahm.
4. Thea Lehne Carabajal, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Eating Behavior Patterns Among Adolescents. Faculty sponsor: Hannah Laue.
5. Diane Mas, Public Health Graduate Certificate Program. Mapping Health Co-Benefits in Climate Adaptation Infrastructure: A Scoping Review. Faculty sponsor: Michael Mascari.
6. Chrissy Mavrakis & Therese Zelenski, Kinesiology. Validity of Gait Ankle Kinematics Comparing Overground and Treadmill Surfaces. Faculty sponsor: Douglas Martini.
7. Annabelle DiGiorgio, Bachelor’s Degree with Individual Concentration. Ankle Strength and Flexibility as Predictors of Balance and Injury Risk in Dancers. Faculty sponsor: Judi LaBranche.
8. Oviya Srikanth, Public Health Sciences. A novel crossdisciplinary application of PDSA model to a learning management system. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Chen.
9. Fatimah Laher, Public Health Sciences. Medical Apartheid and Its Effects: A Comparative Analysis of Apartheid in South Africa & the State of Palestine. Faculty sponsor: Airín Martínez.
Poster Session C
Room 215
1. Rebekah Kristal, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Depression Severity is Associated Longitudinally with a Metabolomic Profile Related to Psychological Distress and Cardiometabolic Risk. Faculty sponsor: Raji Balasubramanian.
2. Janet Akinde, Health Promotion and Policy. When Complications Occur: Heterogeneity in Hospital Price Disclosure for Shoppable Inpatient Services. Faculty sponsor: Michal Horný.
3. Maria Wigati, Nutrition. Learning the Landscape of Produce Prescription Programs in the United States. Faculty sponsor: Lorraine Cordeiro.
4. Cole Spinale, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Comparing Class Imbalance Strategies for UKB Proteomics-Based Prediction of Ischemic Stroke. Faculty sponsor: Raji Balasubramanian.
5. Lily Bialkin, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Barriers and facilitators of receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) after release from carceral settings in the United States. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Evans.
6. Griffin Gasdia, Ryan Coutts, & Will Klawson, Biomedical Engineering and Biochemistry. Characterizing the impact of helmet loads on threat discrimination and target acquisition in dismounted soldiers. Faculty sponsor: Josh Liddy.
7. Gianna Salvati, Kinesiology. Associations between Socioeconomic Factors and Sedentary Behavior in Preschool Children. Faculty sponsor: Christine St. Laurent.
8. Firdaus Muhammad, Public Health Sciences. Perceived “Coolness” of Drinking and Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Role of Social Status Norms. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.
9. Lu Xiao, Environmental Health Sciences. Sorbent Amendment Reduces PFAS Bioavailability and Ecotoxicity in Soil: Evidence from Caenorhabditis elegans. Faculty sponsor: Meichen Wang.
10. Shivranjani Gandhi, Health Promotion and Policy. Using a participatory scoping review and a modified Delphi panel to create a Template for Description of Engagement Strategies (T-DES). Faculty sponsor: Thomas Mackie.
11. Farhana Tasnim, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Prenatal Exposure to Bisphenol A Substitutes and Thyroid Hormone Disruption During Pregnancy: A Scoping Review. Faculty sponsor: Mariana Chilton.
12. Priscillia Meta, Public Health Sciences. Bridging the Gap through Evaluating Maternal Health Policies and Racial Disparities in Postpartum Hemorrhage. Faculty sponsor: Carrie Nobles.
13. Nailah Chowdhury, Microbiology and Public Health Sciences. The Timing of the Burden: Demographic Disparities in the Temporal Concentration of Medical Out-of-Pocket Spending. Faculty sponsor: Michal Horný.
Room 230
1. Jiahui Zhu, Environmental Health Sciences. Interplay of Multiple Environmental Exposures in Shaping the Human Sperm Epigenome. Faculty sponsor: Alexander Suvorov.
2. Ruby Hornuvo, Kinesiology and Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Implementation Outcome of a Six-Month Fundamental Movement Skill-based Intervention on Preschoolers’ Physical Activity. Faculty sponsor: Sofiya Alhassan.
Room 240
1. Aparna Tiwari, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Premenstrual syndrome and incident type 2 diabetes in a prospective study. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.
2. Chesi Piccolo, Nutrition. How does participation frequency at a produce distribution program (PDP) influence fruit and vegetable (F/V) intake and access? Faculty sponsor: Lisa Troy.
3. Lin Cai, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Statistical Methods for Regression Analysis with Interval-Censored Covariates. Faculty sponsor: Jing Qian.
4. Nana Ama Wilson, Environmental Health Sciences. Prenatal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and birth length in a prospective cohort in Accra, Ghana. Faculty sponsor: Raphael Arku.
5. Swastika Dev, Biology. Financial Burden of Hospitalizations Among Medicare Beneficiaries. Faculty sponsor: Michal Horný.
6. Willa Davis, Public Health Sciences. Caregiver Experiences with Pediatric Behavioral Health Care After Implementation of Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations in Massachusetts. Faculty sponsor: Sarah Goff.
7. Damien Leach, Health Promotion and Policy. The Healing Frequencies Studio: Co-creating a Participatory Action Research Project Using Hip Hop Multimodal Media to Explore Young People's Experiences, Well-Being, and Mental Health Priorities. Faculty sponsor: Aline Gubrium.
8. Gabriella Ferreira, Public Health Sciences. Oxidative Stress, Cardiometabolic Factors, and Reproductive Hormone Dynamics Across the Menstrual Cycle. Faculty sponsor: Carrie Nobles.
9. Bella Higgins, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Does Bilateral Access Affect Hearing Device Use in Youth with Unilateral Hearing Loss. Faculty sponsor: Richard Freyman.
Poster Session D
Room 215
1. Benjamin Abakah Abijah, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Sex Differences in Proteins Associated with Incident Ischemic Stroke in the UK Biobank. Faculty sponsor: Raji Balasubramanian.
2. Judy Kim, Nutrition. Repeated Weight-Loss Dieting Reshapes Gut Microbiota and Regulates Gut–Hypothalamic Neuroendocrine Signaling. Faculty sponsor: Young-Cheul Kim.
3. Saharra Dixon, Health Promotion and Policy. Gendered Racial Expectations and the Brain's Reward System: A Black Feminist Neurobiological Account of Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors. Faculty sponsor: Aline Gubrium.
4. Lin Cai, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Grace Periods in Comparative Effectiveness Studies. Faculty sponsor: Aaron Sarvet.
5. Eric Pederson, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. kmeRNA: Paired Nucleic Acid Embedding for Machine Learning of RNA-RNA Interactions. Faculty sponsor: Zhengqing Ouyang.
6. Marie Fandy, Kinesiology. Feasibility and Acceptability of Assessing Electroencephalography and Cognition Following Acute Bouts of Physical Activity in Preschool Children. Faculty sponsor: Christine St. Laurent.
7. Monica Barsoum, Public Health Sciences and Biology. A Literature Review examining the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic performance and psychological well-being of college students: Preliminary Results. Faculty sponsor: Ann-Marie Sylvia.
8. Jessica Applebaum, Biology. Behavioral Sleep Interventions in Preschool Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Systematic Review. Faculty sponsor: Christine St. Laurent.
9. Chengyu Du, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. A Computational Framework for Mapping Cotranscriptional RNA Structure Dynamics Across the Pre-rRNA Transcript. Faculty sponsor: Zhengqing Ouyang.
10. In Kyu Park, Environmental Health Sciences. Socioeconomic disparities in prenatal exposure to noise and air pollution in Accra, Ghana. Faculty sponsor: Raphael Arku.
11. Shanelle Fakhri, Kinesiology. Thigh muscle torque output, size, and fat content respond differently in older females and males to power and resistance training. Faculty sponsor: Mark Miller.
12. Patricia J. Ojambo, Health Promotion and Policy. Power in the Birth Room: Childbirth Experiences and Postpartum Depression Among Black and Immigrant Birthing People in the U.S. Faculty sponsor: Mariana Chilton.
13. Sedam Park, Public Health Sciences. State of the United States’ Child Psychiatry Access Programs: Findings From a National Survey. Faculty sponsor: Thomas Mackie.
Room 230
1. Yue Hao, Environmental Health Sciences. Trapping PFAS in the Gut: Sorbent-Based Strategies to Reduce Bioavailability and Toxicity. Faculty sponsor: Meichen Wang.
2. Geraldine Puerto, Health Promotion and Policy. “What’s your why?”: Young Adult Researchers Explore Gambling and Health Through Digital Storytelling. Faculty sponsor: Kathryn Derose.
3. Sonia Hills, Biostatistics & Epidemiology. Associations between age at menarche and adverse maternal and fetal pregnancy outcomes in postmenopausal women. Faculty sponsor: Cassandra Spracklen.
Room 240
1. Seokhee Seo, Nutrition. Nicotinamide riboside supplementation attenuates adipocyte ferroptosis induced by pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Faculty sponsor: Soonkyu Chung.
2. Jihyun Hwang, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. How long pauses affect workers’ processing of requests from a customer with aphasia. Faculty sponsor: Jennifer Mack.
3. Nikolaj Freschlin, Kinesiology. High-Functioning Older Adults Use Greater Muscle Contributions to Whole-Body Angular Momentum than Younger Adults to Regulate Balance. Faculty sponsor: Sarah Roelker.
4. Isabelle McKee, Environmental Health Sciences. Risk of mental illnesses and household solid fuel in women of child-bearing age: A meta-analytic approach using Demographic and Health Surveys from four countries. Faculty sponsor: Raphael Arku.
5. Brielle Los, Kinesiology. Compliance with the World Health Organization 24-Hour Movement Behavior Guidelines in Preschool Children in Western Massachusetts (SUNRISE Study). Faculty sponsor: Christine St. Laurent.
6. Katarina Sasaki, Public Health Sciences. Beyond Media Literacy: A Developmentally Informed, Theory-Driven Intervention to Address Adolescent Nutrition and Body Image Behaviors. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Chen.
7. Abigail Lowry, Public Health Sciences and Biology. Disparities in Bystander CPR Performance Depending on Patient Sex. Faculty sponsor: Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson.
8. Danish Humayun, Public Health Sciences. Mitigation of Forever Chemicals Using Edible Clay. Faculty sponsor: Meichen Wang.
9. Nidhi Manchikanti, Public Health Sciences. Seasonal Variations in Reproductive Hormones: An Analysis of the EAGeR and BioCycle Studies. Faculty sponsor: Carrie Nobles.