Newbury Award
The Newbury Award is provided by Boston University’s Newbury Center to support first-generation college students conducting summer research through UROP. The Newbury Center was founded in January 2021 with the aim to become a highly visible, transformative unit of the University, offering programming and services designed to ensure that first-generation students experience the same sense of well-being, belonging, self-efficacy, and academic accomplishment as their continuing-generation peers. For more information about the Newbury Center, please visit their website.
Newbury Center Members who receive UROP summer research funding are considered for the Newbury Award. For information on completing a UROP application, please click here.
2025 Awardees
Ocean Adhikari
Project title: The effects of organic matter quality on benthic gas flux
Mentor: Robinson Fulweiler
Hafsa Ahmed
Project title: Programming Robot Art
Mentor: SabrinaNeuman
Jennifer Alonzo Moreno
Project title: Ataxx Compressed Game Solving Analysis and Verification
Mentor: Jeffery Considine
Colin Bobocea
Project title: Building a Machine Learning Model to Predict Seasonal Rainfall Amounts in West Africa
Mentor: Yves Atchade
Ronald Chambergo
Project title: Turbofan Engine Fan Stage Broadband Noise Predictions
Mentor: Sheryl Grace
Taijah Chavis
Project title: Racial-Ethnic Differences in Social Anxiety Severity and Triggers
Mentor: Anthony Rosellini
Andrew Chen
Project title: Therapeutic Treatments of Sickle Cell Disease through Fetal Hemoglobin Induction by Administrations of Small Molecule ZLN005
Mentor: Shuaiying Cui
Ashlyn Davini
Project title: Moral Implications of Algorithmic Risk-Assessments in the Criminal Justice System: On Bias and Discrimination
Mentor: Daniel Munro
Shan Ji
Project title: Programming Robot Art
Mentor: SabrinaNeuman
Christian Lanier
Project title: SPROUT-ROOTS: RNAseq Of Organisms in the rhizoSphere – Unveiling Microbial Activity
Mentor: Jennifer Bhatnagar
Melissa Martin
Project title: Efficient Graph Neural Network Sampling with Modern Storage Technology: mmap
Mentor: Vasiliki Kalavri
Reena Nuygen
Project title: Engineering and Characterizing Lentiviral-transduced Cell Lines to Unravel Immune Modulation by Nipah Virus Strains
Mentor: Florian Douam
Chelsea Ohene-Addo
Project title: Treatment Disparities and Engagement for Substance Use Disorder Among Adolescents in the United States
Mentor: Samuel Meisel
Efe Omonzane
Project title: Hereditary Dopamine Addiction on Drosophila Aversive Behavior
Mentor: Kyle Gobrogge
Jessica Qiu
Project title: Chemical Composition and Heterogeneity of Lysosome Related Organelle in Caenorhabditis elegans Under Stress and Aging Conditions
Mentor: Ji-Xin Chen
Abigail Rosario
Project title: Generations Apart: The Impact of Puerto Rican Mainland Residency on Identity and Perceptions of Latinidad
Mentor: Pamela Zabala Ortiz
Emma Sanchez
Project title: Individual-Level Strategies of Lunar Cycle Patterns of Reproduction of Amphiprion percula
Mentor: Pete Buston
Kayla Valladares
Project title: Role of Bacterial OMVs on Lung Cell Death
Mentor: Yang Jin
Jimmy Zheng
Project title: Investigating Neuronal Communication in Trisomy 21
Mentor: Ella Zeldich
2024 Awardees
Di Chen
Project Title: Investigating Neuronal Activity Dynamics in Trisomy 21
Mentor: Ella Zeldich (MED Anatomy & Neurobiology)
Nathan Duong
Project Title:Limited Rights of Stateless Rohingya: Citizenship at the Intersection of Domestic and International Law
Mentor: Rachel Nolan (Pardee)
Emma Hardy
Project Title: Rap Music as a Tool of Power in Palestinian Political Movements
Mentor: Luluah Mustafa (CAS World Languages & Literatures)
Kelvin Huang
Project Title: The Impact of Defects on Binding Energy on MoS2 Surfaces.
Mentor: Shar Sharifzdeh (ENG ECE)
Stanley Huang
Project Title: Impacts of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) Raids on Pediatric Outcomes: Difference-In-Difference Analysis
Mentor: Tatianna Padilla (CAS Sociology)
Minh Le
Project Title: An investigation into hemocyte response during ovarian tumor growth in Drosophila melanogaster
Mentor: Kim McCall (CAS Biology)
Jonathan Leach
Project Title:Novel transgenic reporter mouse models for microglial and astrocytic responses to neural device implantation
Mentor: Tuan Leng Tay (CAS Biology)
Matthew Levy
Project Title: The Role of SHMT2 in Immune Cell Development
Mentor: Hui Feng (MED Pharmacology)
Li Lin
Project Title: Greenhouse experiment: EMF metabolic activity vs. nutrient cycling
Mentor: Jennifer Bhatnagar (CAS Biology)
Sophia Lin
Project Title: What is the concordance between caregiver reports and observed measures of behavioral inhibition in children?
Mentor: Nicholas Wagner (CAS Psychological & Brain Sciences)
Fari Mabud
Project Title: Examining How Feelings of Science Belongingness Relate to Evaluations of the Quality of Other People’s Explanations Across the Lifespan
Mentor: Deborah Kelemen (CAS Psychological & Brain Sciences)
Melissa Martinez
Project Title: Efficient Graph Neural Network Sampling with Modern Storage Technology: mmap
Mentor: Vasiliki Kalavri (CAS Computer Science)
Tyler Pauly
Project Title: Validation of an electronic health records algorithm to identify homelessness and housing insecurity in a safety-net hospital
Mentor: Heather Hsu (MED Pediatrics)
Jake Purinton
Project Title: Identification of Viral Cis-Regulatory Elements and Their Regulation Mechanisms
Mentor: Juan Fuxman Bass (CAS Biology)
Dafni Suresh
Project Title: Exploring associations between a novel computerized measure of affiliative preferences and social behaviors in children with callous unemotional traits.
Mentor: Nicholas Wagner (CAS Psychological & Brain Sciences)
Julyssa Villa Machado
Project Title: Benchmarking and Workload Analysis of Assistive Robot Motion Planning
Mentor: Sabrina Neuman (CAS Computer Science)
Jolinada Zhang
Project Title:Complement dependent cytotoxicity function of the Hormonal Contraception Antibody (HCA)
Mentor: Deborah Anderson (MED Medicine)
Jonathan Zhang
Project Title: The Correlation between PTSD and Postcombat Purification Rituals
Mentor: Luke Glowacki (CAS Anthropology)
2023 Awardees
Lenny Adonteng
Taelor Anderson
Brenden Blakley
Luciano Foranoce
Maxine Hsiung
Kelvin Kuang
Sofia Marin
Angel Morales
Hawa Ndiaye
Jake Purinton
Renzo Quintero
2022 Awardees
Grace Beery
Yongting Chen
Siria Coello
Denitra Douglas-Roberston
Sebastian Romani