Fifteen students selected as 2024 Lumen Scholars

Fifteen rising juniors at Elon have been selected to receive the 2024 Lumen Prize, the university’s premier undergraduate research award that includes 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.

2024 Lumen Prize Winners

Lillian Argabrite

• Biology
  • “The Impact of the Cystic Fibrosis Microenvironment on Pathogenic Bacterial Interactions”

Mentors: Tonya Train and Eryn Bernardy

Jo Bogart

• Creative Writing
  • “Dux Femina Facti: Feminist Translation and Re-Vision of Vergil’s Aeneid”

Mentors: Margaret Chapman and Kristina Meinking

Rony Dahdal

• Computer Science
  • “Contactless and Diagnostic Multi-Target Vital Sign Detection Using LiDAR and Deep Learning”

Mentor: Ryan Mattfeld

Kelly Donovan                                                  

• Applied Mathematics
  • “Novel Deep-Sea Coral Imputation Methods: Mathematically Filling in Missing Data to Further Coral Conservation”

Mentor: Nicholas Bussberg

Mira Fitch

• Political Science
  • “Judicial Partisan Influence on Juvenile Transfer: A County-Level Analysis in North Carolina”

Mentor: Jessica Carew

Kelsey Golden

• Art History & History
  • “New Crusaders, Old Problems: Interrogating the Use of Medieval Imagery in Contemporary Contexts”

Mentors: Evan Gatti and Lynn Huber

Madeline Hewgley

• Political Science
  • “Bullets & Bills: An Exploration of the Pattern of Policy Diffusion & Subsequent Proliferation of Second Amendment Preservation Acts at the State Level”

Mentor: Dillon Bono-Lunn

Jacob Karty

• Engineering
  • “Lensfree Holographic Imaging and Machine Learning to Protect Freshwater Resources”

Mentor: Jonathan Su

Niara Legette

• Public Health
  • Shades of Health: Exploring Colorism, Albinism, and Maternal Health Inequities

Mentor: Yanica Faustin

Rebecca Lovasco

• Psychology
  • Unraveling Neurocognitive Biases in Depression and Anxiety: An EEG Study on Reinforcement Learning and Conscious Visual Perception

Mentor: Kristina Krasich

Mallory Otten

• Public Health
  • “When Gender Matters: The Impact of Attractiveness and Sexual Orientation on Perceptions of Male and Female Intimate Partner Violence Perpetrators”

Mentor: Rena Zito

Natalie Peeples

• Psychology
  • “Early Childhood Well-Being as it is Expressed through Outdoor Play: A Cultural Comparison between Denmark and the U.S.”

Mentor: Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler

Grace Rasmussen

• Elementary education
  • “Reviving Dewey, Froebel, and Montessori: Two National Studies on Progressive Education and School Gardens”

Mentor: Scott Morrison

Lila Snodgrass

• Dance Performance & Choreography
  • “Knot Theory and Parallel Process in Mathematics and Dance”

Mentor: Nancy Scherich

Athena Vizuete

• History
  • “Enslaved Labor to Black Free Wage Labor in Postbellum North Carolina”

Mentor: Amanda Kleintop