Image of Research Competition

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry (OURI) is proud to present the 2nd Annual Image of Research Competition. The contest is a multidisciplinary competition celebrating the diversity and breadth of undergraduate student research, design, and creative work at Rice University. All undergraduates are invited to submit entries consisting of an image and a brief text that articulates how the image relates to the research, design, or creative work completed during their time at Rice. Images and text submissions will be judged by a panel of peers. The winning students will receive the following cash prizes:

1st Prize: $300

2nd Prize: $200

3rd Prize: $100

To submit an entry for the 2025/2026 Academic Year, use this form. The deadline for submissions is March 6th.

2025 Submissions and Winners

a close-up photo of a 47-year-old male’s eye, taken after panretinal photocoagulation for proliferative diabetic retinopathy

1st Place Winner: Ellen Kang, Panretinal Photocoagulation for Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

an image of droplet formations in protein aggregation

2nd Place Winner: Anya Patel, Understanding Protein Aggregation and Droplet Formation is Crucial to Unraveling the Progression of Neurological Diseases such as ALS

image of brain scans

3rd Place Winner: Somya Mittal, Understanding Sarcasm Requires Theory of Mind After Acute Stroke

image of people sitting at a concert facing a colorful screen

Wenshi Chen, Cracking the Musical Code: The Intersection of Algorithm Music and Live Performance

image of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird that had hit O-Conner

Andy Liu, Texas A&M/National Audubon Lights Out Study on migratory birds

image of a prison inmate's hands clasped together over a book

Simran Singh, Religious freedom for Sikhs in US prisons

image of a chemical reaction

Eitan Feldman, Engineering more stable catalysts for climate change mitigation

image of musicians playing classical instruments with an image a brain scan behind them

Amara Anyanwu, Your Brain on Music

image of 1.5 inch Sierra White granite core cylinder

Jessica Xu, Simulating Proppant Performance in Fractures under EGS Conditions

image of small village in Sardinia, Italy

Juliet Ali-Caccamo, Living to 100: A Deep Dive into Sardinia’s Blue Zone and the Lifestyle Gap with Sicily

image of small blue dots on black background

Bennett Husick, Generation and Homogenization of Optical Tweezer Arrays Using a Spatial Light Modulator and Adaptive Algorithms

image of ultrasound data visualizing the collapse of Anabaena gas vesicle

Sanjay Senthilvelan, Creating Acoustic Pressure Collapse Curves for Anabaena Gas Vesicles

image of large-mouthed coral suddenly opening in response to stimulation

Zahin Rahman, Vishnu Sriram and Krish Shah, Conferring Thermotolerance upon Coral Symbionts through Genetic Transformation

image of polypropylene surface with the word "RICE" on it

Kory Sila, Programming Polar and Non-polar Liquids via Plasma Patterned Surfaces

image of mRNA

Benjamin Joshua Johnson, Ligation Method Developing a Site-Specific mRNA Modification Methodology for Next-Generation mRNA Therapeutics

a black and white image of graffiti that reads "we the people unemployed hungry" on a building

Precious Akinrinmade, Tag You're It: Alternative Literacies Across Urban Landscapes

image of an in-vitro snail embryo in a test tube

Seryna Ayala, Enhancing in In Vitro Culture Development for Biomphalaria glabrata