2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Celebrating 20 Years of the UGRS @LehighU

Since 2005, the David and Lorraine Freed Undergraduate Research Symposium has convened the best of the best from across Lehigh's undergraduate engineering labs to celebrate their innovations and discoveries.

The annual event offers undergraduate researchers an opportunity to present their work from a broad spectrum of engineering disciplines. Students also use the event as a training opportunity by making a formal presentation before a panel of judges, and engaging in conversations with symposium visitors, faculty, students and staff.

The top finishers, judged by a panel of academic and industry researchers, win travel stipends to attend professional conferences for yet another opportunity to promote their work and practice the art of communication.

This year, the annual UGRS was held at Lehigh's newly-renovated Clayton University Center on Thursday, April 10, 2025.

Congratulations to sophomore Lillian Wu (1st place; pictured right with Rossin College Dean Steve DeWeerth), junior Alexis Kelerchian (2nd place), senior Maria Rizio (3rd place), and junior Jose-Gabriel Castro (honorable mention) for their top presentations among a strong field of competitors.

• First Place: Lillian Wu, "The Synergistic Activity of Positively Charged Liposomes and LL-37 on Bacteria"
• Second Place: Alexis Kelerchian, "Turning the Spatiotemporal Presentation of Growth-Factor Mimetic Peptides in PCL-Based Scaffolds"
• Third Place: Maria Rizio, "Functional Polythiophene Coatings to Improve Electrode Performance in Lithium-Ion Batteries"
• Honorable Mention: Jose-Gabriel Castro, "Functionalized Cell Penetrating Peptides for the Development of Targets CRISPR Delivery System"
• People's Choice Award: Marti Colasurdo, Matthew Giovetsis, "Turbidity and E.coli Removal with Novel Portable Paper Water Filters for Developing Countries"