10 CLA students win 2026 Auburn Research Symposium awards

4/10/2026

Cambria Beane accepting the award for best graduate poster presentation — Cambria Beane, a graduate student in the Department of Psychological Sciences, won first place in the university-wide Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Creative Arts and Humanities poster category for graduate students. Beane is one of 10 CLA students who won an award from the 2026 Auburn Research Symposium.

Following the 2026 Auburn University Research Symposium, 10 College of Liberal Arts students received awards for their posters and oral presentations.

Cambria Beane, a graduate student in the Department of Psychological Sciences, won first place in the university-wide Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Creative Arts and Humanities poster category for graduate students. She presented “FAAH SNP moderates link between momentary cannabis craving and subsequent cannabis use in daily life.”

Psychological Sciences undergraduate student Victoria Holcomb placed third among undergraduate student winners in the university-wide Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Creative Arts, Nursing and Humanities poster category. Her presentation focused on “Speech recognition and perceptual decision-making in ADHD.”

In the university-wide Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Creative Arts, Nursing and Humanities category for undergraduate student oral presentations, Liberal Arts students received all three top honors.

Political Science student David Walker placed first with “Unrecognized and declared: the Islamic State and conceptions of statehood.”

Law and Justice student Margaret Haggerty won second place with “Guiding responsible artificial intelligence use in higher education: A student-centered framework.”

Aviation student Maxton Yeast placed third with “Economic Development and Air Service Impact: A Global and Regional Perspective.”

In the university-wide Human Sciences, Social Sciences, Creative Arts and Humanities category for graduate student oral presentations, Psychological Sciences student Ava White placed second with a “Meta-analytic review of the neurometabolic makeup of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in major depressive disorder (MDD).”

For poster presentations from the College of Liberal Arts, Psychological Sciences’ Darienne Jefferson won the top prize for graduate students with a study on the “Modulation of right frontal eye field functional connectivity using rTMS: A study of high risk drinkers and healthy controls.” Denisen Justice, a student in Psychological Sciences, won the undergraduate category with “Applying the Policy Triangle Framework to Understand the Role of Policy in the Alabama Food System.”

The college awarded its top prize for graduate oral presentations to Economics student Uchenna Udoji’s “Beyond broadband: Poverty, race, and telehealth use in rural communities.” In the undergraduate category, Philosophy and English student Connor Copeland won for his presentation, titled “On the very Idea of aesthetic perception.”

Find more information about the symposium at the Auburn Research website.

Tags: Research Students Psychological Sciences Political Science Aviation Economics Philosophy English