UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Winners of 2025 UPEI Student Program for Research Engagement and Excellence poster competition announced

Undergraduate and graduate students who participated in the 2025 UPEI Student Program for Research Engagement and Excellence (SPREE) poster competition presented their posters on August 27 in McMillan Hall, W.A. Murphy Student Centre.

Dr. Marva Sweeney-Nixon (centre) with the winners of the 2025 UPEI Student Program for Research Engagement and Excellence (SPREE) poster competition: (left to right) undergraduate students Riley Arsenault, Abby Chapman, and Brenna Ing; graduate students Lauren Gaudet, Shelby Squires, and Atif Zahoor

Three winners in each category - undergraduate and graduate - were recognized equally with an Outstanding Research Poster Award and a $300 prize. Twenty-five of the 45 undergraduate and graduate students who participated in the program this year took part in the optional poster competition.

Winners in the undergraduate student category were Riley Arsenault, Biology, for their project titled "Prenatal sweet tooth, postnatal brain shift: Tyrosine hydroxylase changes in the reward circuit"; Abby Chapman, Sustainable Design Engineering, for "Patient-specific breast cancer modeling for optimizing power delivery in microwave ablation"; and Breanna Ing, Biology, for "Determining phytochemical interactors of the protein peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase.

Winning the graduate student category were Lauren Gaudet, MSc, Human Biology, for "Using human cell models to test lipid nanoparticle response"; Shelby Squires, PhD candidate, Molecular and Macromolecular Sciences, for "Using CRISPR to overexpress muscle disorder gene Pde10a in mouse muscle precursor cells"; and Atif Zahoor, PhD candidate, Environmental Sciences, for "Impact of climate variability on water needs of wild blueberry in Atlantic Canada."

New this year was a People's Choice Award category. Undergraduate students Leah Meister, Applied Climate Change and Adaptation, and Annalena Mauz, Biology, who competed as a pair, won the award for their project titled "Orchids: The charismatic canary" and shared the $300 prize.

Dr. Marva Sweeney-Nixon, Associate Vice-President of Research and Dean of Graduate Studies, was very impressed by the quality of the work done by all of the students in the SPREE program.

"The SPREE program is a meaningful way to advance our strategic research plan," she said. "Through involvement with faculty members and fellow participants, the students gain first-hand experience with inquiry, engage in self-directed learning, and explore potential career pathways in research. I am very proud of everyone who participated this year, and I thank the faculty and staff who guided them through the program."

Fourteen UPEI faculty and staff members were the judges for the undergraduate and graduate competitions. The People's Choice Award was voted on by student researchers, UPEI campus community members, and the public.

During the program, which began in June, the students conducted research across a range of disciplines including sustainable design engineering, biology, foods and nutrition, chemistry, physics, psychology, island studies, environmental sciences, education, biotechnology, and applied health sciences. They learned from experienced researchers about designing and managing a research project, effectively communicating research, research-focused careers, and more.