The 2026 University of New Mexico McNair Scholars Research Conference

Session #2, 10:10 to 10:30 a.m. SUB Top Floor - Various Rooms. 
-----Scroll to the bottom to view abstracts in the Sched App or PDF----
Presentations:
Alva, Diana - Major: Biological and Biomedical Sciences, University of Northern Colorado
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Isleta
Title: Unnatural Death: Microbial Succession on Bones Exposed to Corrosive Chemicals 

Anaya, Kane - Major: Biology, University of New Mexico
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Lobo A
Title: Genetic structure and intraspecific variation of Five-Toed
Jerboas in sympatric populations
 
Bridgewater IV, Walter - Major: Screenwriting, Loyola Marymount University
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Fiesta A
Title: Greenlight to Cancellations: The Evolution of TV & Black Media

Costello, Katherine - Major: Planetary Geosciences and Math, University of Arizona
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Acoma A
Title: Advancing the Search for Life

Giokas, Emilia - Major: Advertising, Idaho State University
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Santa Ana B
Title: How the cookie crumbles: An examination of food related marketing, social media, and humor.

Lapahie, Krystal  - Major: Psychology , University of New Mexico
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Santa Ana A
Title: Prodromal symptoms of psychosis and their effects on learning and exploration in clinical high risk adolescents 

Pierre-Louis, Ethan - Major: Electrical Engineering , Ethan Pierre-Louis
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Lobo B
Title: Security and Low Income Communities

Silva, Lizett - Major: Spanish, West Texas A&M University
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Fiesta B
Title: Academic Challenges of First Gen: A Comprehensive Study

Torres, Joanna - Major: Sociology, Latina/o/x and Latin American Studies, Northeastern Illinois University
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Acoma B
Title: Under Surveillance: How School Surveillance Measures Shape Students’ Perceptions of Themselves and Each Other 

Wynn, Gianna - Major: Psychological Science, University of Arizona
Oral Presentation Session #2, Room: Luminaria
Title: Evaluating Self-Report and Direct Assessment of Cognitive-Linguistic Abilities Among Female FMR1 Premutation Carriers

Oral Presentation Information for presenters:

• Format: 12-minute presentation, and 3 minutes for Q&A (15 min. total).  Please do not go over your allotted time so that everyone can have a full 15 minutes.
• Organization of presentations:  To enhance your presentation experience at our conference, there will be evaluators and moderators (faculty, staff and grad students) in attendance that will fill out evaluation forms to provide feedback to presenters. Therefore, your presentation will be at the exact time and location as it appears in the schedule. We will not deviate even if there is a no-show.
• Please bring your presentation saved onto a thumb drive/USB drive.  Please arrive at your presentation room early, locate the moderator and ask them to assist you in copying your presentation to the laptop desktop before the session begins.  Then eject your USB drive.  Open up your presentation and make sure it works properly.
• For more information about presentation format, equipment, etc click this link