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Virtual Poster Showcase: Past Winners

Previous showcases

Virtual Poster Showcase (VPS) is a proud supporter of a diverse and inclusive talent pool from which to draw participants. We have past student participants from across the United States and around the world.

VPS has been running at least two showcases per year since 2015. Each year, the winners have demonstrated exemplary research presentation skills as determined by peers and expert judges well versed in science communication. 

We encourage you to look through our past winners’ work.

Learn more about the showcase

Submit a question or comment about the Virtual Poster Showcase to our team.

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VPS Abstracts

Accepted VPS abstracts are housed in the AGU abstract database. We encourage you to peruse the database for examples in writing a concise and effective AGU abstract.

VPS has also been featured in Eos, read the articles below for more information on the program.

VPS winner Trista McKenzie stands in front of an image of Hawaii's Big Island holding her winner's plaque.

Past showcase winners

 

Name

Institution

Place

Showcase

Research

Rebecca deGraffenried

University of Hawaii at Manoa

First Place

Fall 2019 Graduate Showcase

“Ground-truthing lava flow propagation models with examples from the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano, HI.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Anitha Ravishankar

Jagiellonian University, Poland

Second Place

Fall 2019 Graduate Showcase

“Beauty and(or) a Beast: Prediction of Arrival time of Coronal Mass Ejections.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Lara Hughes-Allen

Université‚ Paris-Sud, France

Third Place

Fall 2019 Graduate Showcase

“Initial analysis of the greenhouse gas contribution potential of lakes in Central Yakutia (eastern Siberia).” Poster (PDF) | Video

Victor Font Bartumeus

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

First Place

Fall 2019 Undergraduate Showcase

“Life Cycle Assessment of Earthen Construction Materials.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Nikhil Chari

University of California Berkeley

Second Place

Fall 2019 Undergraduate Showcase

“Temperature dependency of anaerobic microbial activities in a tropical vs. temperate soil.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Simon Lin

University of Waterloo, Canada

Third Place

Fall 2019 Undergraduate Showcase

“Water Quality Responses of Wildfire-Affected Forest Catchments.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Monica Christopher

Chief Ivan Blunka School, New Stuyahok, Alaska

Honorable Mention (High School Participant)

Fall 2019 Undergraduate Showcase

“Swimmers Itch (Avian Schistosomes): Expanded Range to Lake Aleknagik, Alaska.” Poster (PDF) | Video coming soon

Synclaire Truesdale

Texas A&M University

First Place

Spring 2019 Graduate Showcase

“The Evolution of Methods and Understanding of Upper Ocean Responses to Hurricanes.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Xiao Ge

Texas A&M University

Second Place

Spring 2019 Graduate Showcase

“Impacts of the Loop Current on the Circulation System in the Gulf of Mexico.” Poster (PDF) 

Michael Windisch

ETH Zurich

Third Place

Spring 2019 Graduate Showcase

“Locating the most suitable reforestation sites for climate change mitigation efforts.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Cara Baez

Saint Louis University

First Place

Spring 2019 Undergraduate Showcase

“Aftershock Sequences of Intermediate-depth Earthquakes Beneath Japan.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Ariana David

Texas A&M University

Second Place

Spring 2019 Undergraduate Showcase

“Nearshore sediment transport mechanisms, Bonaire, Southern Caribbean.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Miguel Manning

Texas A&M University

Third Place

Spring 2019 Undergraduate Showcase

“Seismic Refraction Study of Carbonate Platform Structure, Bonaire, South Caribbean.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Vince Tran

Upper Darby High School

Honorable Mention

Spring 2019 High School Showcase

“Using Onset Diameter to Predict Surface Composition of Charon.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Laura Vuorinen

University of Turku, Finland

First Place

Fall 2018 Graduate Showcase

“High-speed jets impinging on the Earth’s magnetosphere: A statistical study on when and where they occur.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Jacob Kegerreis

Durham University, United Kingdom

Second Place

Fall 2018 Graduate Showcase

“How Uranus Fell Over: Giant Impact Simulations at High Resolution.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Marlene Vargas-Sánchez

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Third Place

Fall 2018 Graduate Showcase

“3-D Rockfall Simulation Model using Terrestrial LiDAR in the Active Pajacuaran Fault, Mexico.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Prudence Crawmer

Pikes Peak Community College

First Place

Fall 2018 Undergraduate Showcase

“Using CrowdMag to Catalog Magnetic Anomalies from Urban Infrastructure and Geological Features.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Cynthia Tong

Southern California Earthquake Center

Second Place

Fall 2018 Undergraduate Showcase

“Predictive Skill: A Study of RSQSim and UCERF3 Using the Bayesian Inference.” Poster (PDF) 

Zenja Seitzinger

SUNY Geneseo

Third Place

Fall 2018 Undergraduate Showcase

“Geophysical Analysis of the Three Sisters Outcrop Located in El Paso, Texas.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Ameya Naik

Mira Loma High School

Honorable Mention

 

“The Effect of Ground Terrain on Sacramento Valley Supercells.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Nick Richmond

University of Maine

First Place

Spring 2018 Graduate Showcase

“3D Bedrock Channel Evolution with Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Coupled to a Finite Element Earth.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Veronica Ruiz-Xomchuk

Texas A&M University

Second Place

Spring 2018 Graduate Showcase

“Tracing Variability in the Budget Balance of Bottom Water Dissolved Oxygen In the Texas-Louisiana Shelf.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Daniel Beverly

University of Wyoming

Third Place

Spring 2018 Graduate Showcase

“Blame it on the Moon: How Vegetation Responded to the 2017 Solar Eclipse.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Sarah Hall

Texas A&M University

Honorable Mention

Spring 2018 Graduate Showcase

“Analysis of Symbiodinium Adaptations Within Coral in Relation to Earth’s Increasing Ocean Temperatures. Poster (PDF) | Video

Andy Kasun

Northland College

First Place

Spring 2018 Undergraduate Showcase

“Measuring Geomorphological Changes from Recent Flood Events in North Fish Creek, Wisconsin.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Zane Grissett

University of Rhode Island

Second Place

Spring 2018 Undergraduate Showcase

“An ~1000 year Sedimentary Record of Past High-Energy Wave Events From Conanicut Island, Rhode Island, USA.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Cora Watts

University of British Columbia

Third Place

Spring 2018 Undergraduate Showcase

“Rotavation of Eurasian Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) and its Impact on Internal Phosphorus Loading in Wood Lake, BC.” Poster (PDF) 

Marisa Ulman

Northland College

Honorable Mention

Spring 2018 Undergraduate Showcase

“Quantifying the Distribution of Phosphorus Fractions in Sediment of Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Liam Nolan

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

First Place

Spring 2018 High School Showcase

“A Statistical Tool for Black Hole Location.”

Zulekha Tasneem

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Second Place

Spring 2018 High School Showcase

“The Effect of Heavy Metals on Cephae cephaeand Chrysaora chesapeakei Polyps Metabolic Rates.”

Sean Clancy

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Third Place

Spring 2018 High School Showcase

“The Effect of Different Shoreline Designs on Beach Erosion and Flooding.”

Rachel Ma

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Honorable Mention

Spring 2018 High School Showcase

“Refining Models of Atmospheric Diatomic Oxygen Using Stellar Occultation.”

Ruadhan Magnee

University of Queensland, Australia

First Place

Fall 2017 Graduate Showcase

“Magma dynamics recorded in clinopyroxene megacrysts: Investigating the destructive 1669 eruption of Mount Etna.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Elena Hartner

Bayreuth University, Germany

Second Place

Fall 2017 Graduate Showcase

“Aerosol Removal Efficiency of Moss: Influence of Relative Humidity and Aerosol Size in an Experimental Chamber.” Poster (PDF) 

Neil Page

University of Wollongong, Australia

Third Place

Fall 2017 Graduate Showcase

“Using observations and modelling to quantify mercury biogeochemical cycling in the Australian context.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Caitlin Hoeber

San Jose State University

First Place

Fall 2017 Undergraduate Showcase

“Spatial and temporal effects on diversity of Monterey Bay’s microbiome.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Siuling Pau

College of San Mateo, California

Second Place

Fall 2017 Undergraduate Showcase

“The MegaMovie Project: Optimization of an Affordable, Automatic Photo Documentation System.” Poster (PDF) 

Aizah Khurram

University of California-Berkeley

Third Place

Fall 2017 Undergraduate Showcase

“Effects of soil texture and flow rate on leaching of arsenic from historically contaminated soils.” Poster (PDF) 

Babak Jalazadeh Fard

Northeastern University

First Place

Spring 2017 Graduate Showcase

“Effective Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Public Health Impacts of Heatwaves for Brookline, MA.” Poster (PDF) 

Maureen Haley

Miami University

Second Place

Spring 2017 Graduate Showcase

“Constructing Continental Crust: Tracking Petrogenesis in Granitic Batholiths of the Oslo Rift, Norway.” 

Kevin Clay

North Carolina State University

Third Place

Spring 2017 Graduate Showcase

“Temporal Variation in Groundwater and VOC flux through a Sandy Streambed.” Poster (PDF) 

Jacob Smith

Clemson University

First Place

Spring 2017 Undergraduate Showcase

“The Effect of Atmospheric CO2 on the Chemical Weathering of Silicate Minerals as Measured by Cation Flux in the Vadose Zone.” Poster (PDF) 

Jordan Skipwith

Texas A&M University

Second Place

Spring 2017 Undergraduate Showcase

“Geophysical Analysis of Anomalous Extrusive Volcanism In South Atlantic Oceanic Crust.” 

Collin Brandl

Texas A&M University

Third Place

Spring 2017 Undergraduate Showcase

“Constraining Regional Stress and Deformation around Bonaire and the Bonaire Basin: A Seismic Reflection Study.” Poster (PDF) 

Hannah Kim

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

First Place

Spring 2017 High School Showcase

“The Effect of Disease Resistance on the Bacterial Community of the Fecal Microbiome of Crassostrea virginica.” 

Emma Glass

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology

Second Place

Spring 2017 High School Showcase

“The Effect of Decreased Salinity on the Filtration of Crassostrea virginica.”

Christopher DeMott

Upper Darby High School

Third Place

Spring 2017 High School Showcase

“The Effect of Lava Flow Velocity on Lava Channel Sinuosity in the Olympus Mons Region.” 

Leo Lemordant

Columbia University

First Place

Fall 2016 Graduate Showcase

“Modification of land-atmosphere interactions by CO2 effects: implications for summer dryness and heatwave amplitude.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Amanda Gerotto

Federal University of Paraná

Second Place

Fall 2016 Graduate Showcase

The South China Sea mixed layer depth changes in response to the East Asian Monsoon since the Last Glacial Maximum: A planktonic foraminiferabased reconstruction.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Samuele Papeschi

University of Pisa

Third Place

Fall 2016 Graduate Showcase

“Ductile to Brittle Shear Localization in the Upper Crust During Thermal Anomaly: the Calamita Complex (Elba Island, Italy).” Poster (PDF) |Video

Stephanie Schneider

University of Alberta

First Place

Fall 2016 Undergraduate Showcase

“The Photoreactivity of Atmoshperic Dust: Quantifying Hydroxyl Radical Production Using Molecular Probes.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Rushana Karimova

Jacobs University Bremen

Second Place

Fall 2016 Undergraduate Showcase

“Characterization of surface roughness of ASGUAD Rover test terrains and correlation with mobility on the Vulcano Island planetary analogue ROBEX site (Italy).”  Video

Kimberly Diep

Western Washington University

Third Place

Fall 2016 Undergraduate Showcase

“How do Temperature and CO2 affect the anemone Anthopleura elegantissima and its green symbiont Elliptochloris marina?”  Video

Trista McKenzie

University of Hawai’I at Manoa

First Place

Spring 2016 Multi-society Undergraduate Showcase

“Quantifying Atmospheric Fallout of Fukushima-derived Radioactive Isotopes in the Hawaiian Islands.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Stephanie Gardiner

Westminster College

Second Place

Spring 2016 Multi-society Undergraduate Showcase

“New 40Ar/39Ar sanidine dates for the Green Canyon Flow, Yellowstone Volcanic Field, and implications for a revised volcanic stratigraphy.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Timothy Chui

University of British Columbia

Third Place

Spring 2016 Multi-society Undergraduate Showcase

“On the Use of Multiple Planetary Boundary Layer Parameterization Schemes for Forecasting Temperature and Precipitation in Complex Terrain.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Elliot Vaughan

University of Wisconsin-Madison

First Place

Fall 2015 Graduate Showcase

“The influence of land use and soil order on soil carbon storage in Puerto Rico.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Graeme MacGilchrist

University of Oxford

Second Place

Fall 2015 Graduate Showcase

“Chaos in Ocean Ventilation.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Yu-Chen Ling

University of Melbourne

Third Place

Fall 2015 Graduate Showcase

“Microbial Distribution and Activity in a Coastal Acid Sulfate Soil System.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Yuxi Suo

University of California Los Angeles

First Place

Fall 2015 Undergraduate Showcase

“An Open Source, Cross-Platform Tool for Implementing River Discharge Algorithms for the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Satellite Mission.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Aldwin Vazquez

University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

Second Place

Fall 2015 Undergraduate Showcase

“Hunting for Ultra-Low Velocity Zones using SKS and SKKS Differential travel time residual.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Ariel Pezner

University of California Los Angeles

Third Place

Fall 2015 Undergraduate Showcase

“Drought Influence on Chlorophyll Fluorescence in Evergreen and Drought Deciduous Plant Species of Southern California.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Kaitlin Frei

University of Notre Dame

First Place

Fall 2015 Multi-society Undergraduate Showcase

“You are what you dine from your fins to your spines: Pterois volitans dietary habits.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Hitomi Okada

Colorado State University

Second Place

Fall 2015 Multi-society Undergraduate Showcase

“Using Photosynthetically Active Radiation as a Proxy to Estimate the Impact of NEON’s Tower Infrastructure on Microclimate Measurements.” Poster (PDF) | Video

Emma Scott

North Carolina State University

Third Place

Fall 2015 Multi-society Undergraduate Showcase

“Freshly Falling Snow: Identifying New Snowflake Geometries from Photographs.” Poster (PDF) | Video