Students earn Kirmser awards for research completed with K-State Libraries

Group grand prize winners of the 2025 Kirmser Undergraduate Research Awards. | Download this photo.

By Lexi Liby

K‑State Libraries

Kansas State University students have access to a wealth of research resources through K-State Libraries, and several students have been recognized for putting these resources to excellent use in coursework.

The 2025 Kirmser Undergraduate Research Awards, presented by K-State Libraries, honor undergraduate students for their effective use of library resources in completing research projects for K-State courses. A committee of faculty members from a range of disciplines reviewed submissions and selected this year's winners.

Grand prize awards were distributed across four categories: freshman, individual non-freshman undergraduate student, group project and continued research. Each individual category winner received $1,500, and group project winners shared a $3,000 prize. Honorable mentions received $100 each.

The grand prize in the group research category was awarded for the project "PTSD and Substance Abuse among Homeless War Veterans," completed for the Social Work Research Methods and Analysis course taught by Sim Jun. Group members included Symone Simmons, senior in social work, Garden City; Rylie Yoakum, sophomore in social work with a minor in conflict analysis and trauma studies, Lawrence; Morgan Doane, senior in social work, Parkville, Missouri; and Cate Alling, junior in social work with a minor in psychology, Amarillo, Texas.

The following students were recognized as individual grand prize recipients:

• Lillianna Lamagna, senior in English literature, Hutchinson, received the grand prize in the continued research category for her project, "You're Just Making Up Sounds: Radical Creative Possibilities Through Translanguaging in Everything Everywhere All at Once." The project was completed for the Love and Money English capstone course taught by Anne Longmuir.
• Nicholas Edwards, senior in biomedical engineering, Overland Park, received the grand prize in the non-freshman category for his project, "A Formal Report Exploring the Addition of Endoscopic Suturing as an Anti-Migration Feature for Boston Scientific's Vici Venous Stent System," completed for the Written Communication in Engineering course taught by Phillip Marzluf.
• Eleanor Braynock, senior in biological systems engineering, Wichita, received the grand prize in the non-freshman category for her project, "Therapeutic Strategies for Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)," completed for the Written Communication in Engineering course taught by Theresa Merrick Cassidy.
• Emma Rupprecht, freshman in secondary English education, Diller, Nebraska, received the grand prize in the freshman category for her project, "Branching Out of Grief: Ada Limón Navigating Grief Through the Use of Trees," completed for the Introduction to Literary Studies course taught by Wendy Matlock.

The following students received honorable mentions:

Sarah Bechtel, senior in psychology and German, Lenexa, group research project; Shawna Logue, senior in social work, addiction counseling and social sciences, Manhattan, non-freshman category; Grayson Yoder, freshman in architecture and German, Olathe, group research project; Chloe Bramble, junior in elementary education with a minor in German, Platte City, Missouri, group research project; Harrison Jones, freshman in English literature, Stilwell, freshman category; Ezekiel Hook, senior in political science and history, Topeka, group research project; Sophia Silence, freshman in political science with a secondary major in international studies and a minor in German, O’Fallon, Illinois, group research project; and Allison Meerian, junior in English literature and history, Gretna, Nebraska, continued research.

The Kirmser Undergraduate Research Awards are made possible by the generosity of Philip and Jeune Kirmser, whose commitment to education continues to make a lasting impact on K-State students.

###