News

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Graduate School is pleased to announce spring 2026 Research Grants for Graduate Students (RGGS) award recipients.

The awards, valued at up to $500 each, support the research and creative activities of 52 graduate students studying in the College of Arts and Sciences and Schools of Education, Health and Human Behavior, Pharmacy and Engineering.

“SIUE’s Graduate School is proud to support our master’s students as they pursue research that deepens knowledge and creates real-world impact,” said Christopher Slaten, PhD, Associate Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School. “The RGGS awards reflect our commitment to providing resources and mentorship that help students move their ideas forward and contribute meaningfully to their fields. We celebrate the creativity and dedication of our awardees and look forward to seeing the outcomes of their work.”

Faculty advisors oversee the students’ individual research or creative activity. The primary purpose of the RGGS program is to support the graduate students’ work, particularly as it relates to their thesis or final project.

The spring 2026 RGGS projects are listed at siue.edu/graduate-students/awards/research-grants. A sampling of projects is listed below.

• Evaluation of Low Input and Degraded Bone Samples for DNA Recovery and STR Profiling Using Qiagen Extraction Kits (Kennedy Lamb, Forensic Sciences, Faculty Advisor: Sylvia Baehman)
• Participation, Preparation and Educational Pathways in the International Earth Science Olympiads (Pareeksha Gauli, Environmental Sciences, Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sharon Locke)
• Temperature Field Analysis of an Oil-Cooled Single-Cell Battery: A Computational Fluid Dynamics Investigation (Aditta Mallick, Mechanical Engineering, Faculty Advisor: Dr. Majid Molki)
• The Relationship between Food Insecurity and Perceived Stress in African Americans in East St. Louis (Katelyn Calentine, Public Health, Faculty Advisor: Dr. Cedric Harville)
• Exploring Body Image Through Art Therapy for Adolescents with Eating Disorders (Lauren Manhardt, Art Therapy Counseling, Faculty Advisor: Dr. Shelly Goebl-Parker)
• Integrating Real Clinical Data into Digital Patients for Dynamic Nursing Simulation (Richmond Osei Bonsu, Industrial Engineering, Faculty Advisor: Dr. Siqi Zhang)
• Determining if Kismet Interacts with Proteins Correlated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Paula Boser, Biological Sciences, Faculty Advisor: Dr. Faith Liebl)
• Metal-Organic Frameworks as Sorbents for Quick and Easy Toxic Metal Analysis with ED-XRF (Joao Nail, Chemistry, Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kevin Tucker)
  
   
  PHOTO: Sydney Worth, graduate student in Chemistry and former RGGS recipient, presents her research at the 2026 Graduate Student Symposium