Graduate School

2025 Research Matters Virtual Program

Graduate Students Talks: Celebrating Ideas and Discoveries
Thursday, April 17, 2025, 4-6 p.m.
Grant Recital Hall or watch via livestream (link below)

The Graduate School is delighted to host Research Matters: Celebrating New Ideas and Discoveries. Research Matters bolsters intellectual exchange among graduate students, offering a public forum for presenting research and developing presentation skills.

With short talks aimed at an interdisciplinary audience, Research Matters showcases exceptional graduate student scholarship taking place at Brown. The first Research Matters event in September 2014 was part of Brown’s 250th Anniversary Fall Celebration. 

Each year, we continue this tradition of celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of our graduate students. We are delighted to showcase the ways graduate students are contributing to the academic excellence and advancement of knowledge that makes Brown unique and bold. 

Our speakers range across disciplines and stages of graduate study at Brown, from chemistry to English to mathematics to public health. They include students at the beginning of their studies and those about to receive their degrees. After a general call for nominations, our student speakers were selected from among 20 semifinalists to present their research today. 

Our speakers are eager to showcase their research with the broader community. 

We hope you enjoy the talks!

Schedule

Watch the livestream.

INTRODUCTIONS | 4-4:15 p.m.

Vanessa Ryan
Organizer and Senior Associate Dean of Student Development, Graduate School

Thomas A. Lewis
Dean, Graduate School

Dr. Ashish K. Jha 
Dean, Brown University School of Public Health

SESSION 1 | 4:15-5 p.m.

TALKS

Nicole Giron
Caring for an Aging Population in Community Health Centers

Anthony Bruno
Visual Motion Improves Our Sense of Time

Silverio Johnson
Impact of Bacterial Motility

Ning Zhang
How Brain-Inspired Imaging Reveals Hidden Worlds

Gray Babbs
Seeing Us

BREAK | 5-5:15 p.m.

SESSION TWO | 5:15-6 p.m.

TALKS

Alec McCall
Breaking Through the Biofilm Barrier

Akashleena Mallick
The Missing Link in Brain Health: Why Literacy and Community Matter

Patrick McKee
It’s Good to Have a Body, Even if You’re an AI

Brendan Knittle
Polymeric Nanoparticles as Next-Generation Vaccines

Morgan Woodman-Sousa
Egg-Sploring Ovarian Aging and Fertility

Joey Leszczynski
Bridging Epidemiology and Organizational Change

Melaine Ferdinand-King
Reimagining Cultural Frameworks: Afrosurrealism in Practice

Speakers

Coordinating Team and Selection Committee Members

  • Vanessa Ryan Senior Associate Dean, Graduate School
  • Byrd McDaniel Assistant Director of Student Development, Graduate School
  • Melissa Simon, Director of Business Development with Brown Technology Innovations
  • Jason Liu, Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science
  • Muna Ugoh, Master's Student in Public Health
  • Caitlin Giannetti, Career Counselor in the Division of Master's and Professional Programs
  • Susan Ely, Communications and Special Events Manager, Graduate School
  • Sunjidmaa Sukhbaatar Event Specialist, Event and Strategy Management
  • José Mendoza Event Specialist, Event and Strategy Management

Thanks

We are grateful to the Department of Music and Julia Craig, events coordinator, for their support of this program and for assistance with the Grant Recital Hall space. We are also grateful to the members of the selection committee, especially for their helpful feedback on speaker presentations.

The event will be recorded and live-streamed by Brown Media Services with audiovisual support provided by New England Showtime Productions.