UNM Graduate Studies honors 13 winners from Graduate Poster Showcase 2026

Recently, Graduate Studies held its annual Graudate Poster Showcase 2026 event in the Student Union Building with a brand-new format. Instead of the format from past years, which featured three overall winners, the new arrangement divided participants into 13 different topical tracks based on their research.

The event saw nearly 100 students (72 Ph.D., 28 master's, eight MD programs) participate across all tracks and increased interest from across the student body representing 5 schools or colleges and 34 departments. The event was judged by almost 40 different judges, who represented both UNM and the wider community.

The showcase brings students together from across campus to display their research and give them an opportunity to present their work to a more general audience; as well as providing a chance for researchers from across campus to see some of the other work that is going on.

Erika Alvero, who took first place in the Society, Culture and Human Experiences track, entered as part of her scholarship program and said she enjoyed getting to see all the other work that is occurring across campus.

"It was very interesting to see all the posters and research work from graduate students in other departments at UNM," she said. "I'm very impressed by all the incredible research being conducted throughout the university."

Sneha Gupta, who took first place in the Materials track, is pursuing a Master of Science in civil engineering through UNM's shared credit program.

"I decided to participate in the Graduate Poster Showcase because it provided a great opportunity to share my research with a broader audience and receive feedback from students and faculty outside my immediate research area," Gupta said. "Participating in the showcase was a very rewarding experience, I enjoyed discussing my research with people from different academic backgrounds and learning about the diverse projects being conducted across the university."

Gloria Kim, a third-year student in the school of medicine, took first prize in the clinical track. As a returning participant from last year, she appreciated the new format of the event.

"I thought my experience participating was a lot more streamlined than last year; I really appreciated the changes… made to shorten the day, and I know a lot of my friends also felt the same way," Kim said.

The 13 winners are:

Track #1 - Applied Science

• 1st place: Joshua Yeboah #8, "It's Like Inflating a Balloon-Or Is It?": A Lung Reinflation Strategy After Single-Lung Ventilation
• 2nd place: Gideon Gargar #4, Correlates of Systolic Blood Pressure Among Middle-Aged U.S. Adults: A Survey-Weighted Regression Analysis of NHANES 2017 - 2018

Track #2 - Basic Science I

• 1st place: Eric Burns #11, Single-Molecule Tracking Reveals Amphiregulin Mediated Modulation of HER2
• 2nd place: Crystal Cevering #12, Woodsmoke as an Environmental Amplifier of Autoimmune Pathology in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) Mouse Model

Track #3 - Basic Science II

• 1st place: Xavier Deleon #16, Acid Sensing Ion Channel 1a Deficiencies Contribution to Glucose Homeostasis
• 2nd place: Somayeh Dadras #15, Modulating IL-1R1/IL-1RAP Signaling: A Dual Approach to Reducing Neuroinflammation and Tau Pathology

Track #4 - Clinical

• 1st place: Gloria Kim #26, Biomarkers for Differentiating Good vs. Poor VEGF-Responders in Diabetic Macular Edema
• 2nd place: Anum Amin #22, Cognitive and Cognitive-Linguistic Interventions in Aphasia Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review of Treatment Approaches and Outcomes

Track #5 - Community Engaged Research

• 1st place: Haley Hughes #28, Addressing Rural Healthcare Workforce Challenges in New Mexico: Recruitment, Retention, and Policy Implications
• 2nd place: Abdul Ganiu Tanko #34, Developing Spatial Analysis Guidance to Support Community-Based Watershed Planning: Addressing Water Resource Challenges in Underserved Communities Affected by Extraction Activities in New Mexico.

Track #6 - Diversity, Equity or Inclusion

• 1st place: Rachel Granzow #37, Differential Aging: Gait Speed Disparities in Older Adults
• 2nd place: Charlotte Auh #35, Hispasians in New Mexico: The Education of Mixed Race Latinx-Asian American Students in Albuquerque Public Schools

Track #7 - Environment

• 1st place: Cristina Coffman #44, Uranium-bearing dust disrupts the colonic mucus layer and alters goblet cell physiology
• 2nd place: Ansbert Aduko #42, Climate change and water dependent systems in the Chuska Mountains: Adaptive strategies to ensure water security for communities.

Track #8 - Human Body

• 1st place: Myranda Thompson #55, Bacterial serine protease EspP promotes enteroendocrine cell differentiation and alters mucosal immune signaling in human colonic organoids
• 2nd place: Monica Long #50, Investigating the Effects of Alcohol on Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cell Angiogenesis and Permeability in a 3D Model of the Neurovascular Unit

Track #9 - Innovation and Technology

• 1st place: Teo Brandt #59, Safe Motion Planning for Autonomous Systems Using Constraint Admissible Positive Invariant Sets
• 2nd place: Abid Mohammad Ali #56, Reinforcement Learning for Uplink Access Optimization in UAV-Assisted 5G Networks Under Emergency Response

Track #10 - Interdisciplinary Research

• 1st place: Peace Ikwuemesi #67, Sublingual siRNA Delivery for Sickle Cell Disease
• 2nd place: Eunice Quartey #69, FRα Targeted Liposomal DM4 Nanoparticles for Platinum-Resistant Ovarian Cancer (PROC)

Track #11 - Materials

• 1st place: Sneha Gupta #73, CO₂ Mineralization of Recycled Concrete and Industrial Wastes for Carbon-Negative Cementitious Materials
• 2nd place (tie)- Leila Shahriari #78- Bioinspired CO₂ Mineralization Using Tannic Acid and Ultrasonication
• 2nd place (tie) - Tayyab Zafar #79- Effect of Pumice Internal Curing on 3D Printed Engineered Cementitious Composites Exposed to Various Curing Regimes

Track #12 - Methods and Methodology

• 1st place: Hannah Kaye #82, Mast cells integrate mechanical cues to fine-tune FcεRI activity
• 2nd place: Ryan Martinez #83, Mechanism of Adgrf5-mediated regulation of A-type Intercalated Cells

Track #13 - Society, Culture & Human Experience

• 1st place: Erika Alvero Koski #87, Indigenous Pedagogies: A Case Study of a Ute Mountain Ute School
• 2nd place: Karina Schenk #9, 'Difficult,' or autistic and has difficulty with transitions? A mixed-methods study of the impacts of internalized stigma in the lived experiences of late-diagnosed autistic women

For more information, visit Graduate Poster Showcase 2026.