WKU News

The Office of Research and Creative Activity is proud to announce that four outstanding undergraduate research projects have been accepted for presentation at the 24th annual Posters-at-the-Capitol (P@C) event on Thursday, March 5, 2026.

To accommodate the ongoing renovations at the Kentucky State Capitol building in Frankfort, this year's Posters-at-the-Capitol event will be held in the Capitol Annex Building. Each participating institution will present four undergraduate, faculty-mentored projects, which will be presented directly to Kentucky legislators to demonstrate the value of undergraduate research within higher education in the Commonwealth.

Students and their faculty mentors have prepared posters to exhibit at the Poster Display from 10:20 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. in Room 149 of the Capitol Annex Building on Thursday. 

We congratulate the following WKU students and mentors for their research projects:

• Answering the Call: Connections Between Volunteerism and Mental Health by First-year Dual Credit students Emma G. Macy and Ethan Gallaher of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Faculty Mentors: Dr. Ritchie Taylor, WKU, Department of Public Health and Dr. Kim Link, WKU, School of Nursing
• Effect of Photodynamic Treatment on Survival of Legionella Pneumophila by Senior Brandon A. Brion of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Simran Banga, WKU, Department of Biological Sciences
• Going No Contact: Intergenerational Estrangement between Mothers and Their Adult Children by Senior McKenna J. Ravenscraft of Hebron, Kentucky. Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gayle Mallinger, WKU, Department of Social Work

• Prediction of glioma tissue stiffness using metabolomic signatures by WKU Senior Gatton Scholar Vedant Garg of Louisville, Kentucky. Faculty mentors: Drs. Hermann B. Frieboes and Dylan A. Goodin, UL, Department of Bioengineering.

Posters-at-the-Capitol continues to be a key platform for elevating student voices in Kentucky's policy discussions. For more details on the event or to support our undergraduate researchers, visit the official 2026 Posters at the Capitol website.