Student Research News

MiJin Cho is a junior in the VCU Honors College studying psychology and English in the College of Humanities and Sciences. (Courtesy of MiJin Cho)

VCU student selected for prestigious STEM scholarship

June 2, 2022

As a Goldwater scholar, MiJin Cho will conduct research in translational neuroscience and endocrinology focusing on stress and trauma.

Jamie Zaleta, a VCU Forensic Science graduate student, holds a bullet casing in the VCU Police Department's firing range in November 2021. (Photo: Corey Byers, University Public Affairs)

Forensic science graduate student collaborates with VCU Police sergeant on bullet casing research

May 12, 2022

Students from Chris Gough and Stephen Fong's class show off the finished product of one of their projects with the Science Museum of Virginia, a spiral garden with sun-loving plants at the top and shade-loving plants at the bottom. Their design can be seen on the ProtoPath, a pedestrian path connecting Leigh Street to Terminal Place along the west side of the Science Museum. (Courtesy of Chris Gough)

Building a sustainable urban park – from the ground up

May 6, 2022

How a class of VCU students’ research – on soil to vegetation and everything in between – is laying the groundwork for the Science Museum of Virginia to develop the sustainable green space of the future

Trevohn Robinson, a graduating senior majoring in chemistry and minoring in mathematics in the College of Humanities and Sciences, will enter the Ph.D. program in Analytical Chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, this fall. (Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing)

Class of 2022: Commuting hundreds of miles per week, Trevohn Robinson has the drive to succeed in chemistry

May 6, 2022

Graduating senior Robinson credits his mentors at VCU, his parents and his Honda Civic as he prepares for a doctoral degree and career as a chemist.

Erika Misseri is developing an app that will help voters see who's donating to their local candidates' campaigns. "You could pull up, for example, the mayor [of your local community] and see his stockholdings, if he has them, who he is married to, his recent tweets, his vote history, who’s donating to him based on what industry they’re in and who else [those donors] are donating to," she said. (Allen Jones, University Marketing)

Undergraduate co-founds, leads nonprofit to give U.S. voters easier access to info on local candidates’ campaign finances

April 22, 2022

Now building an app for her nonprofit, Erika Misseri credits a VCU course that ‘changed her life’ for encouraging her to pursue research.

Kendall Gehring has wanted to be a forensic anthropologist since she was 14. (Kevin Morley, University Marketing)

Class of 2022: Kendall Gehring is driven to solve cold cases with forensic anthropology

April 22, 2022

“I’ve always loved puzzles,” says Gehring, who has had two internships with the FBI and has been a leader in VCU’s Department of Forensic Science.

Steph Cull will continue their research and studies as a graduate student in the Health Psychology Ph.D. program in the College of Humanities and Sciences. (Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing)

Class of 2022: One conversation led to exciting research projects and ‘a new passion’

April 18, 2022

“I’m not sure that I’d even be the person I am today if I had not done this research. It changed my way of thinking,” said Steph Cull, who graduates in May.

Lovell Abraham has been working in the lab of Henry Donahue, Ph.D., on research related to the effects of space travel on human biology. (Photo by Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing)

How do bones change in outer space? This chemistry major is doing research to find out

April 14, 2022

Lovell Abraham’s hard work earned him a VCU Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program fellowship and an award in last fall’s undergraduate poster symposium.

Akira Goden is president of the student organization Black Minds Matter, which is dedicated to improving mental health in the Black community. (Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing)

Class of 2022: Akira Goden is passionate about mental health in the Black community

March 30, 2022

A double major in African American studies and psychology, her dream is to combine those two fields as a therapist.

Unfolding history: VCU students contribute to massive Holocaust research project

Jan. 11, 2022

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s History Unfolded project is using crowdsourcing to better understand what Americans knew about the Holocaust from reading local newspapers.