2025 College of Humanities Undergraduate Research Awards
College of Humanities Students were honored at the Undergraduate Research Awards for Office of Undergraduate Research along with recipients from other colleges across the University of Utah.
2025 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awardees & Scholarship Recipients
Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher – Jasmine Aguilar Lopez
From left to right: Jasmine Aguilar Lopez, Leandra Hernadez
The 2025 College of Humanities Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher is Jasmine Aguilar Lopez. Jasmine is graduating in spring 2025 with an honors degree in Communication and an honors degree in Health, Society and Policy. Leandra Hernadez in the Department of Communication has been a mentor for Jasmine since Spring 2024. Jasmine enrolled in Dr. Hernadez’s Health Communication and Culture course and Dr. Hernadez said, “Jasmine was an integral member of our class community and contributed to constructing a community that valued critical thinking, stellar research skills, and praxis-based applications.” Jasmine developed a pilot research study exploring Latina women’s perceptions of reproductive and environmental in/justice related to air quality, toxins, and family health in Salt Lake City. Jasmine also works with Dr. Robin Jensen in one of her research labs and Dr. Jensen says that Jasmine is one of the only undergraduate students she has had join one of her labs, but that Jasmine is an excellent member of the team and is a natural at quantitative analysis.
In 2025, Jasmine presented research at the Research on Capitol Hill in early February, at the Western States Communication Association (WSCA) Undergraduate Research Conference in mid-February in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. Jasmine received a UROP award for her research for two semesters and also received a Wilkes Research Fellowship. Jasmine was one of the only undergraduates to be accepted to the WSCA Regional Communication conference.
Jasmine’s research excellence is also represented by her work in Pfizer’s Breakthrough Fellowship Program and the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) Pathmaker Scholars Program. Jasmine was selected as part of the fourth cohort of the Pfizer Breakthrough Fellowship Program, which selects 20 students from underrepresented backgrounds across the United States. The program begins during the students’ junior year and operates through senior year during a 10-week internship program, followed by two years of employment and a fully funded master’s degree. Jasmine’s goal with this program is to apply her research experience in strategic health communication and health policy. She has already begun working towards her goal, as she collaborated on several literature reviews during her summer internship, facilitated Pfizer’s Communities in Action for Health Equity grants program event, reviewed grant projects, met with several academic and institutional partners, and even worked on new technologies related to AI and grant development. Second, during her time with the HCI Pathmaker Scholars Program, Jasmine worked on two different research projects and co-authored two research papers published in the American Journal of Health Promotion and Cancer Causes and Control.
From left to right: Jakob D. Jensen, Wanda Pillow, Jasmine Aguilar Lopez, Leandra Hernadez
Jasmine’s Citations:
Jensen, R. E., Krall, M. A., Garza, G. Y., Lopez, J. A., & Jordan, M. (2024). Talking About Fertility in Sex-Education Class: STIs, Substance Use, and Reproductive Technology as Grounds for Discussion. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 1–23.
Playdon, M., Rogers, T. N., Brooks, E., Petersen, E. M., Tavake-Pasi, F., Lopez, J. A., Quintana, X., Aitaoto, N., & Rogers, C. R. (2023). Sociocultural influences on dietary behavior and meal timing among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women at risk of endometrial cancer: a qualitative investigation. Cancer Causes & Control: CCC, 34(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-022-01628-0
Rogers, C. R., May, F. P., Petersen, E., Brooks, E., Lopez, J. A., Kennedy, C. D., & Thiese, M. S. (2022). Factors Associated with Colorectal Cancer Prevalence Among Long-Haul Truck Drivers in the United States. American Journal of Health Promotion: AJHP, 36(7), 1142–1151. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171221090500
Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor – Dr. Peter Roady
From left to right: Wanda Pillow, Peter Roady, Paul Reeve
Dr. Peter Roady, Assistant Professor in History, received the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor award for 2025. Dr. Roady has been an exemplary mentor for undergraduate students as a UROP mentor, an honors thesis advisor, and as an instructor who mentors undergraduate Supplemental Instructors for the History 1700 General Education course.
Professor Paul Reeve, History Department Chair, said, “Peter is an exceptionally gifted mentor who cultivates professional, caring, and enduring relationships with the students he guides.”
A couple of examples of Dr. Roady’s mentorship include one student who developed a digital humanities research tool and another who researched the historical impact of changes in the socioeconomic composition of the CIA’s workforce.
Monson Essay Prize winner – Kaylee Meyer
Kaylee Myers is the 2025 winner of the Monson Essay Prize for her essay A.I. in the World Around Us: more than meets the eye. Kaylee is an honors student in Biochemistry who studied with Dr. Elizabeth Callaway, Assistant Professor in English, in an honors Praxis lab. In the year-long course, Kaylee researched YouTube’s recommendation algorithm and biases, and then in semester 2, Kaylee played a leadership role as students developed their own interventions in response to AI related issues.
From left to right: Wanda Pillow, Elizabeth Callaway, Kaylee Meyers, Karl Schatten
Dr. Callaway said, “I have no doubt that she will continue to produce high-impact work in whatever academic or professional path she pursues.”
The Monson Prize is in honor of Charles H. Monson Jr. who served as chair of the Philosophy Department and as Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs. This annual award is given to an undergraduate student who writes an outstanding paper about social change.
Also recognized at the award ceremony were Francis Family Scholarship recipient, MaryLinda Gonzalez (English and Ethnic Studies) for her research Traditional Dance and the Development of Latinx Identity (Latinidad) in Utah with faculty mentor Ed Muñoz in Transform. Wen Lee (Communication) was awarded the Undergraduate Research Symposium poster prize for her poster presentation InterSEXionality: Analyzing Media Representation of Feminine Stereotypes Among Women of Color in Romantic Comedies, where she was recognized for best Citations and Literature Review.
From left to right: Wanda Pillow, Michelle M. Camacho, Marylinda Gonzalez, Ed Munoz
Francis Family Scholarship Recipients)
Wen Lee
College of Humanities Research Award Winners
In addition to the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher, the College of Humanities also celebrates these undergraduate Scholars with the Humanities Research Award.
Brooke Newson, History BA and English HBA
Casey Miller, Linguistics BA and Computer Science BCS
Elise Lemmonier, English HBA and Art History HBA
Jason Ripplinger, Philosophy BS and Geographic Info Science BS
Julia St. Andre, Communication HBS