The Holster Scholars Program
2025 Fall Symposium
(TENTATIVE)
Friday, September 19
Konover Auditorium, Dodd Center
Storrs Campus
#UHLevent11174
A downloadable/printable version of the program, including photos and biographies of the 2025 Scholars, project descriptions, and information about the Holster Scholars Program, will be available closer to the date. In the meantime, click here to learn more about the 2025 Scholars.
(See below for an accessible/all-text version of the program’s content.)
***
Presentation Schedule
Introduction (2:00 p.m.)
DR. VIN MOSCARDELLI, Director of UConn’s Office of National Scholarships & Fellowships and Coordinator of the Holster Scholars Program
Panel #1: The Science of the Mind (2:10 p.m)
CHRISTOPHER SMITH, Music & You: Practicing with Neuroplasticity
HANNAH VAN RIJNSWOU, Lost in Translation: Chomskyan Analysis of Language Variation in AI, Post-Critical Learners, and Native Speakers
AKSHAT VISWANATH, How Attention Related Brainwaves Vary with Performance on Speech-In-Noise Tasks
– BREAK –
Panel #2: Building Better Materials (3:00 p.m.)
ISABELLA KULAWIK, A Shocking Approach to Cleaner Chemistry: Using Electricty to Drive Chemical Reactions
SASHAH WILSON-THOMPSON, Multi-Bit-Per-Cell Phase Change Memory Devices for AI Applications
AKHIL POTDAR, Developing a Low Temperature Pathway for the Synthesis of Two-Dimensional WS2 Nanosheets
– BREAK –
Panel #3: Advancements in the Biological Sciences (4:00 p.m.)
NEEKA OGHLI, The Impact of Long-Term Exposure to Lip Cosmetics on the Fertility of Female Drosophila melanogaster
DANIEL D’SOUZA, Investigating the Role of G2/Jockey-3 in R-loop formation at the Centromeres of Drosophila melanogaster
Closing Comments (4:45 p.m.)
DR. JENNIFER LEASE BUTTS, Associate Vice Provost for Enrichment Programs | Director of the Honors Program
About the Holster Scholars Program
The Holster Scholars Program is a selective enrichment opportunity for curious Honors students that supports a select number of motivated students interested in independent research the summer following their first year. Holster projects are in-depth, individualized learning experiences. Beyond some basic requirements, projects are self-designed. Now in its 15th year, the Holster Scholars Program is made possible by a generous gift from Robert (’68) and Carlotta (’68) Holster.
Applications, due in early November, are reviewed by an interdisciplinary committee of faculty and staff who then invite about a dozen students to enroll in a one-credit proposal development seminar in the spring. Finalists spend the first half of the spring semester refining their proposals before submitting them mid-semester. At that point, the committee reviews the proposals and interviews the finalists before naming the new cohort of Holster Scholars. Scholars conduct their research over the summer under the guidance of a faculty mentor and then present their research to the university community at the Holster Scholars Research Symposium in the fall.
In addition to receiving individualized mentoring, the Holster Scholars provide peer support to each other as they develop their projects. After their first year, Scholars have the opportunity to serve as peer mentors to new Holster Scholars and are encouraged to pursue additional research and enrichment opportunities, including (but not limited to) those offered by the Office of Undergraduate Research (e.g., IDEA, SURF, SHARE, and Change Grants; the Health Research Program, and the BOLD Scholarship), the Division of Student Affairs (e.g., the Leadership Legacy Experience and various Student Life Awards), and the Office of National Scholarships & Fellowships (e.g., Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Udall, and Fulbright).
Return to the Holster Scholars Program homepage.