Student Successes

Across the College, undergraduates achieved great success in 2022-23 by receiving national scholarships and prizes, completing high-quality undergraduate research with faculty mentors, publishing articles and presenting at conferences. These are some highlights from the year.

Danielle DaSilva, wearing a black shirt, smiles for the camera in front of a brick sidewalk on Elon University's campus.

Danielle DaSilva ’24 awarded a Goldwater Scholarship

Danielle DaSilva, an Honors Fellow double majoring in applied mathematics and computer science, was selected as a Goldwater Scholar, a highly selective scholarship from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation supporting college sophomores and juniors pursuing STEM research careers.

DaSilva was one of only 413 recipients nationwide chosen from more than 5,000 applicants and is Elon’s seventh Goldwater Scholar. Her research with mentor Karen Yokley, professor of mathematics, involves mathematical modeling around obesity trends in the U.S.

Nicholas Rugbart and Bo Dalrymple stand together beside Fonville Fountain on Elon University's campus.

Nicholas Rugbart ’25 and Bo Dalrymple ’25 awarded international scholarships

Nicholas Rugbart ’25, an Elon College Fellow and double major in political science and international and global studies, was selected to study at the University of Bristol in summer 2023 through the Fulbright Summer Institute. The U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission-sponsore program selected just 36 U.S. students out of an applicant pool of more than 500.
Along with Bo Dalrymple ’25, a political science and international and global studies double major, Rugbart was also awarded the Boren Undergraduate Scholarship to spend six months studying in Taiwan. Their scholarships of up to $25,000 from the National Security Education Program support study abroad experiences in areas critical to U.S. security interests.

A collage featuring headshot images of five accomplished Elon University students and alumnae selected for the Fulbright Program, accompanied by the Fulbright logo in the top-left corner.

Five selected to teach, research through Fulbright Program

Three members of the Class of 2023 and two members of the Class of 2022 were selected to teach English or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

  • Joycelyn Bentley ’22, a religious studies and cinema and television arts double-major, received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Botswana.
  • Madeline Fayne ‘23, a psychology major, received a Fulbright grant to teach English in France.
  • Emily Katz ’22, a psychology major, received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Spain.
  • Louisa Malchodi ’23, psychology and strategic communications double major, received a Fulbright grant to teach English in Taiwan.
  • Natalie Triche ’23, a religious studies and international & global studies double major, received a Fulbright grant to conduct independent research in Morocco investigating how changes to the Moroccan constitution post-Arab Spring have impacted the daily lives and practices of women.

Awards and recognitions

Nicholas Hom, adorned in a maroon graduation cap and gown, smiles proudly for the camera at Elon University.

Nicholas Hom ’23, an international and global studies and religious studies double major, was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship through the U.S. Department of State for Hindi language study in India.

Elon Women in STEM members gather around oversized balloons shaped as the letters 'P' and 'H' along with the numbers '2' and '3'.

Two teams of Elon Women in STEM members competed at the Pearl Hacks hackathon at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Anna Mitchell ’23, Sreyrath Poeun ’23, Anahy Felipe de la Cruz ’24 and Bridgette Mercier ’24 won Best Fintech Hack for their program to help banks predict whether potential clients would accept loan offers.

Wearing a sharp dark suit and striped tie, Ainsley Shan smiles warmly for the camera outside a brick building on Elon University's campus.

Biology major Ainsley Shan ’23 won first place for Ecology, Zoology and Botany at the N.C. Academy of Science for his oral presentation about his research into mutualistic ants, insect predators and treehopper vibrational signals. He was mentored by Associate Professor of Biology Jen Hamel and Professor of Biology Mike Kingston. Shan is enrolled in a post-baccalaureate program at Boston University this fall.

On the left: Maddy Starr, adorned with a cheerful smile, wearing a stylish floppy black hat. On the right: Peyton Rohlfs, also beaming with a smile, dressed in a white shirt, photographed outdoors amidst blooming bushes and trees.

Maddy Starr ’23 took first prize and Peyton Rohlfs ‘23 second runner-up for best papers at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Southeast Region in March. Starr was mentored by Professor of Religious Studies Amy Allocco. Rohlfs was mentored by Assistant Professor of English Dinidu Karunanayake.

Talya Geller, donning her maroon graduation gown, smiles warmly for the camera against the backdrop of red brick columns on Elon University's campus.

Talya Geller ’23 presented research at the Southeast American College of Sports Medicine, National American College of Sports Medicine and American Heart Association meetings on the effectiveness of Elon’s HealthEU Program and metabolic disease risk reduction. Professor of Exercise Science Svetlana Nepocatych and Lecturer in Exercise Science Elizabeth Bailey were her mentors.

Six psychology majors — Hannah Higgins, Parker Fairfield, Abbey Rose, Sophia Templeton, Juliet Stevenson and Michaela Guerin — presented at the Southeastern Psychological Association annual meeting.

Jenna Weber ’23 was the Department of Art’s first intern at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem, N.C. The internship resulted in Weber’s full-time employment following graduation.

Reb Carranza ’23, a biology major, shared her research into insect vibrational signals at the Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society, San José, Costa Rica and was recognized with the Genesis Award for Best Undergraduate Poster. Carranza was accepted into the Biology Ph.D program at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Jackie Jovanovic ’23, double majoring in statistics and music in the liberal arts, attended and presented her baseball analytics research at the Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Conference in Oct. 2022. She was mentored by Senior Lecturer in Statistics Ryne VanKrevelen.

Six teams of undergraduate researchers from the Department of Engineering presented at the IEEE Symposium on Systems and Information Engineering Design.

Graduating senior Natalie Triche’s “Subject Not Citizen: Negotiating Identity in Secular, Authoritarian Egypt,” was accepted pending revisions for the Undergraduate Journal of Humanistic Studies. Her mentor was Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brian Pennington.

Sitare Sadeghi ’25, a music theatre major, won second prize in the annual National Student Auditions competition by the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Sadeghi rehearsed with Senior Lecturer in Music Polly Cornelius.

Aaron Satko ’24, a computer science major, took first prize in the 2023 Elon Innovation Challenge sponsored by the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Satko’s Campus Conscious system involved turning single-use plastic drinking bottles into 3D printing filament and a reward program based on amount recycled.

Kai Mitchell ’24, Greg Seelagy ’24 and Kai Whiteside ’25 took first prize in Elon’s Multimodal Writing Competition among students from the College for their video, “This is Not a Suicide Note.” They completed the project in Professor of English and director of Writing Across the University Paula Rosinki’s PWR 3120 Multimedia and Visual Rhetorics course.

Laura McGuire ’23 presented her research into the normalization of unpaid theater internships at the Southeastern Theater Conference. Her mentor was Associate Professor of Arts Administration David McGraw.