Over 400 UR students present at the 40th Arts & Sciences Student Symposium
Research & Innovation
Aerial performers, documentary filmmakers, and scientists in the making were among the many students presenting at the 40th Annual Arts & Sciences Student Symposium. The single-day event took place in classrooms, performance halls, galleries, and hallways throughout campus on April 18.
“The A&S Student Symposium is truly my favorite day of the year. It’s a vibrant celebration of the incredible intellectual and creative energy that defines our school,” said Jennifer Cavenaugh, dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. “This year, over 400 Arts & Sciences students — guided by more than 170 dedicated faculty mentors — shared the results of their research, artistic endeavors, and fieldwork.”
In one Gottwald classroom, senior biology major Kalynn Cheeks reported on her study on the gut microbiome of rats in Richmond that were trapped in 10 areas throughout the city and then brought back to the lab for further research. Sixty-three percent of all rats were infected with at least one pathogen, Cheeks said. Beyond their disease, the rats exhibited increasingly diverse gut microbiomes correlating with rising urbanization, “which show they are thriving in their environments,” she said.
A different type of dissection took place in Booker Hall, where English Honors student Olivia Couch explored how the self-sacrificing sibling devotion in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women was less appealing in Edith Wharton’s Bunner Sisters and J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. In Wharton’s novel, for instance, “devotion, when taken to an extreme, can destroy,” said Couch, a double major in English and classical civilization.
At the Keller Art Gallery, senior Marianna Vrakas connected her chemistry and visual & media arts practice majors in her exhibition, "Natural Art." She explained that she created her own paint by extracting pigments from natural materials — crushing stones with a mortar and pestle, then binding the pigments using traditional mediums such as animal glue. She collected the stones from various geographic regions across Greece, each selected for its unique mineral composition and cultural significance. One site even included sediment historically used in prehistoric cave paintings.
“I wanted to find a way to bridge chemistry and art, and to explore how those elements relate to my memories of the landscapes they come from,” said Vrakas, of her earth-toned paintings. Her work also incorporates silk surfaces and traditional Japanese painting techniques, reflecting her study abroad experience and a deep interest in blending traditional materials used for art from different cultures. “The resulting pieces explore the intersection of geography, memory, and artistic process through a dialogue between Greek pigments and Japanese methods,” she said.
Later in the day, senior Anush Margaryan wrapped her feet around aerial silks hanging from the ceiling of the Cousins Studio Theatre and pulled her way up. She twisted and spun and arranged herself in a variety of poses while dangling in the air. It was a dance performance set to music. The biochemistry & molecular biology major wanted to try something in the arts for her final semester. She’s happy that she’s conquered her fear of doing an inversion, a move in which she flips upside down between the twin pillars of silk. “It was challenging to let my mind go to be able to hang,” Margaryan said.
The symposium reflected the diversity of the School of Arts & Sciences, which includes 24 departments and 13 interdisciplinary programs. This year, the event carried over to the next day, for the Humanities Fellows Saturday Symposium supplement.
“Whether in the labs, studios, archives, or out in the field, our students are engaging deeply with complex questions and producing work that contributes meaningfully to their disciplines. They are not only learning — they are generating new knowledge and advancing creative scholarship in ways that inspire us all,” Cavenaugh said.
Check out this video to learn more about the 40th Arts & Sciences symposium.