Fifteen students selected as 2023 Lumen Scholars

Fifteen rising juniors at Elon have been selected to receive the 2023 Lumen Prize, the university’s premier undergraduate research award that comes with a $20,000 scholarship to support and celebrate their academic achievements and research proposals.

Lumen Scholars will work closely with their mentors during the next two years to pursue and complete their projects. Efforts traditionally include coursework, study abroad, research both on and off campus, internships locally and overseas, program development, and creative productions and performances.

The name for the Lumen Prize comes from Elon’s historic motto, “Numen Lumen,” which are Latin words meaning “spiritual light” and “intellectual light.” The words, which are found on the Elon University seal, signify the highest purposes of an Elon education.

2023 Lumen Prize Winners

Lauren Beuerle 

• Applied Mathematics and Data Analytics
  • Mathematical Modeling of COVID-19 Transmission with Focus on Asymptomatic Carriers and Vaccination Schedules

Mentor: Karen Yokley

Coral Clark

• Public Health Studies and Strategic Communications
  • Silenced and Sidelined: Examining the Intersectional Impact of Ableism and Racism on Maternal Health

Mentor: Yanica Faustin

Gabby Conover

• Biology
  • Interactions Between the Blood Brain Barrier and the Gut-Brain-Axis and its Impact on Brain Development and Behavior in Zebrafish

Mentor: Jen Uno Biology

Ryan Gibbons

• Environmental & Ecological Science and Cinema & Television Arts
  • Soil Carbon Sequestration in Elon Forest: Role of Past Land Use, Forest Age, and Landscape and Soil Characteristics

Mentor: Kelsey Bitting

Samantha Hinton

• Public Health Studies and Political Science
  • Policy & Discrimination: Service Provider Perspectives on Barriers to Healthcare Utilization of Latinx Immigrants in Post-ICE Alamance County

Mentor: Molly Green

Olivia Lancashire

• Psychology

• Intersections Between Christian Ideas of Hell and Religious Trauma

Mentor: Lynn Huber

Corey McCall

• Biology
  • Assessing the Effects of Covid and the Covid Vaccine on the Cardiac Health of the General Population: A Heart Rate Variability Study

Mentor: Robert Vick

Sam Perri

• Chemistry
  • Shedding Light on the Surface Composition of Aqueous Aerosols

Mentor: Anthony Rizzuto

Bailey Reutinger

• Statistics and Biology
  • Increasing the Accuracy of Tree-Ring Data Processing to Improve Models for Predicting Future Climate

Mentors: Nicholas Bussberg and David Vandermast

Aniya Scott

• Biology
  • Centering the Black Community in the Pittsboro, N.C. Water Crisis

Mentor: Jessica Merricks

Henry Searle

• Psychology and Biology
  • Who Is Being Real Versus Who Is Not: Correlates, Cues, and Accuracy of Perceptions of Others’ Authenticity

Mentor: Katrina Jongman-Sereno

Jackson Spaeth

• Biochemistry
  • Intercropping as a Method to Reduce the Concentration of Toxic Metals in Cash Crops

Mentor: Dan Wright

Christina Stafford

• English and Political Science
  • Abolition in the Modern U.S.: Media and Identity Influence on Perceptions of Prison Abolition

Mentor: Jessica Carew

Carter Stoke

• Exercise Science
  • Exploring the Power of Theacrine: Assessing the Impact of High Theacrine Doses on Hemodynamic Measures, Cognitive Measures, and Physiological Stress

Mentor: Titch Madzima

Archie Z.H. Tan

• Computer Science
  • Improving Early Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer with Synthetic Data

Mentor: Scott Spurlock