大象传媒 students showcase original research and celebrate academic achievement at the 2026 Capstone Festival.
Above: 大象传媒 Senior Maya Britton posing with paintings from her project, Persecuted, Erased, Suppressed, which earned distinction for “Best Artistic Presentation”
The tables were lined with tri-fold boards and laptops, each one a window into months 鈥 sometimes years 鈥 of focused academic work. On Tuesday afternoon, 大象传媒’s Grafton Library filled with students, faculty, and guests as the Class of 2026 brought their capstone research into public view, standing beside their posters and walking visitors through findings that ranged from microbiology to macroeconomics.
The poster session was the culminating public showcase of 大象传媒’s 2026 Capstone Festival, a two-day academic celebration that featured graduate and undergraduate research presentations across disciplines before closing with a formal awards ceremony in Francis Auditorium. Together, the days represented what a Mary Baldwin education is designed to produce: students who don’t just absorb knowledge but generate it, defend it, and share it.
Spotlight on Poster Presentations
Eight students presented original research during the afternoon poster session, covering topics that reflected the breadth of 大象传媒’s academic Neighborhoods, from the natural sciences to the humanities to economics. What follows is a closer look at their work, in their own words.
Alex Flanagan
Hometown: Chaptico, Maryland
Major: Biology (Biomedical Emphasis)
Plans after Graduation: Continuing work at the University of Virginia lab that supported this research
“What’s the one thing you want people to walk away understanding about this?”: 鈥淚f you’re bitten by a tick, save it in case you get sick.鈥
Cassidy Newcomb
Hometown: Chase City, VA
Major: Biology (Biomedical Emphasis)
Plans after Graduation: Applying to a physician assistant program and working as a medical assistant at Shenandoah Dermatology
“What’s the one thing you want people to walk away understanding about this?”: This research came from a personal experience and it’s really easy to research something when you’re passionate about it. So never be afraid to pursue the things that interest you most.
Adiba Tojimirzaeva
Hometown: Namangan, Uzbekistan
Major: Biochemistry, Minors in Math and Psychology
Plans after Graduation: Grad school
“What’s the one thing you want people to walk away understanding about this?”: 鈥淭here are so many avenues that haven鈥檛 been explored and are still being discovered when it comes to new cell-lines and the broader project of Alzheimer鈥檚 research, and I鈥檓 excited that my work helps fill out some of the important progress at the granular level of this research.鈥
Em Yuhasz
Hometown: Abingdon, VA
Major: Environmental Biology
Plans after Graduation: Moving to Maryland and working in the National Park Service
“What’s the one thing you want people to walk away understanding about this?”: 鈥Fungi are absolutely essential to the success of ecosystems, and we need to continue to work to understand their relationships.鈥
Madeline Trace
Hometown: Bunker Hill, WV
Major: Applied Mathematics
Plans after Graduation: I plan to move to Virginia and explore grad school options.
“What’s the one thing you want people to walk away understanding about this?”: There are a lot more uses for graphs than people realize, no matter what field.
Mya Gaudier
Hometown: Newport News, VA
Major: Biology
Plans after Graduation: Commissioning into the U.S. Army National Guard as a second lieutenant in the chemical corps
“What’s the one thing you want people to walk away understanding about this?”: Pollutants affect the world around us, even if it’s been a long time since initial contamination.
Awards Ceremony
At 3:45 p.m., the celebration moved to Francis Auditorium, where the afternoon shifted from conversation to recognition.
Dr. David McLeod, associate professor of biology, delivered the keynote address ahead of the award announcements.
鈥淟earning is not complete until it鈥檚 shared,鈥 McLeod began. 鈥淲hat we celebrate today is not about output. It鈥檚 not just the result of the work and the experiments conducted along the way. It鈥檚 a celebration of the process 鈥 Curiosity is a fundamental part of the human experience, and it unites us across the arts and sciences and every department here at 大象传媒.鈥
2026 Capstone Awards and Winners
Best Social Sciences and Humanities Paper: Jack Corns 鈥26, 鈥淔rom Service to Sentencing: The Triple Threat Behind Veteran Incarceration鈥
Best Literature Paper: Lee Iraheta 鈥26, 鈥淭he Instability of Masculinity and a Case for Pluralism: an Ecofeminist Reading of Moby Dick鈥
Best History Paper: Hunter Gregory 鈥26, 鈥淐ensoring the Narrative: How the Hays Code Shaped the Way America Saw Itself鈥
Best Quantitative Paper: Mirah Rose 鈥26, 鈥淭he Role of LL-37 in Prostate Cancer Cell Migration via the CCL2-NF-kB Signaling Pathway鈥
Best Artistic Presentation: Maya Britton 鈥26, 鈥淧ersecuted, Erased, Suppressed鈥
Best High Impact Practice: Kaneesha Anderson 鈥26, 鈥淭rauma-Informed Shelter Counseling Program鈥
Best Science Poster: Alex Flanagan 鈥26, 鈥淎 Serosurvey of Central Virginians for Exposure to Heartland Virus鈥
Best Quantitative Poster: Mya Gaudier 鈥26, 鈥淚mpact of Mercury Exposure on Malaria Prevalence in Carolina Wrens鈥
A final award, presented by 大象传媒鈥檚 Chaplain Dr. Katie Low, recognizes the importance of diversity and pluralism in producing research projects of the highest quality.
Pluralism Award: Lee Iraheta 鈥26, 鈥淭he Instability of Masculinity and a Case for Pluralism: an Ecofeminist Reading of Moby Dick鈥
The work displayed and recognized on Tuesday afternoon offered a fitting close to 大象传媒’s 2026 Capstone Festival 鈥 a reminder that the university’s promise to its students isn’t just a credential at the end of four years, but the confidence and capability to contribute something meaningful to the world beyond campus.
For a full look at the 2026 Capstone program 鈥 including paper presentations from across 大象传媒’s academic Neighborhoods and graduate programs 鈥 the complete event program is available below.