MCC Daily Tribune

Congratulations to all Scholars' Day Participants!

Approximately 100 students presented at Scholars' Day and participated in the Celebration of Learning at the Brighton campus on April 28 and 29, respectively. Research topics represented a variety of academic disciplines, including the humanities, biology, math, engineering, GIST, and social sciences, as well as original creative works, showcasing the breadth and depth of scholarship at MCC. Congratulations to all students who participated!

Student presenters from MCC's 18th annual Scholars' Day competition were awarded scholarships on Wednesday, April 29th, at a celebratory reception. Thirty students received MCC Foundation scholarships ranging from $250 to $2,750 for their research presentations and posters.

Congratulations to the following MCC scholarship award recipients:

Oral Presentations:

Humanities, Literature and the Arts

1st Place: Noelle Becker, Marks of Sacrality: Location, Structure, Artistic Design, and Cultural Context of Natural and Man-made Sacred Spaces Across Millennia and Continents
2nd Place: Loralei Lisi, Shakespearean Suicidal Ideation
3rd Place: Seungmin Yang, Turning Failure into Repetition in Sports Advertising

Engineering, Technology & Innovation

1st Place: Senajith Sooriyamoorthy, Portable Driver Fatigue and Distraction Monitoring System
2nd Place: Connor Klute, "Pantry-Pi": DWIGHT Food Pantry Inventory System
3rd Place: Prince Tuyisingize and Tyler Thomas, Improved Traction Through Single-Motor 4WD Design

Psychology, Education, and Society

1st Place: Matt Miller, Beyond the Ban: Rethinking the Purpose of School
2nd Place: Michaela Sheffer, The Persistence of Pleasure: Rethinking the Experience Machine
3rd Place: Morreen Shropshire, Liberating Men from Hegemonic Masculinity

Social Justice & Human Rights

1st Place: Alex Rees, The Hidden Atrocities of the Forgotten War: Jeju 4-3
2nd Place: Beau Wagner, A Unique Lesbian Gender: Adrienne Rich's Exploration of Lesbian Identity and How It Reconciles the Waves of Feminism
3rd Place: Jalisia Burno, The Lasting Effects of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Posters:

1st Place (tie): Shawn Rooney, Invasive Growth on Lake Ontario Waterbodies
1st Place (tie): Mackenzie Romig, Jasper Torres, Emma Dorfner, and Amelia Pryharski, Protection of Corals From Increasing Ocean Acidity
2nd Place: Erin Riedel, Private Land Timber Harvest in Adirondack Park: Analyzing Forest Recovery
3rd Place: Tatiyanna Malave and Moss Hamilton, Effects of Stress on Memory

Honorable Mentions:

Nay'osia Ridley, The Science of Shine: Exploring Lip Gloss Through Art, Chemistry, and Mathematics
B. Faulkner, Building a Lunar Base in the Face of Climate Change: Nuclear Fission, Fusion, and a Reach for the Stars
Abigail Pottinger, From Silicon to Society: Engineering's Role in Social Change
Joshua Goetz, Democratizing Industrial AI: A Low-Code Framework for Multi-Modal Robotic Orchestration
Desi-Rae Charles, The Tombstone as a Diploma: A Lifespan Perspective on Psychological Growth
Leslie Greenwood, Re-Envisioning as Erasure: The Unconstitutional Suspension of the Monroe Doctrine
Brooke Otero, Forced Faith, Forced Birth: How Christianity Enforces Bodily Submission
Basma Mohamed, Evidence for a Hunga Tonga-Type Submarine Eruption in the Bismarck Sea
Sarah Periard, Statistical Analysis of Child Mortality and Measles Vaccination Rate

Additional information about all student presentations can be found on the Scholars' Day website.

Scholars' Day 2026 was made possible through the support of the presenting sponsor, the ESL Charitable Foundation, as well as contributions from local philanthropists through the MCC Foundation. Many thanks to them and the countless MCC faculty and staff who dedicated time and expertise to make this event happen.

Katherine Ghidiu
Scholars' Day
05/08/2026