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GCI Showcase wide angle

GCI Showcase: Spring 2025

Talented student teams demonstrate the skills and knowledge they gained in the GCI program!

By Alex Lewandowski / June 17, 2025

The annual Grand Challenges Initiative Showcase was a vibrant celebration of student innovation and collaboration. Student teams presented their final projects to guests and judges, sharing breakthroughs and competing for recognition. Overall, the showcase highlighted the hard work, creativity, and impact of the student teams’ efforts.

Here are our winners:

Flint Science Award (Grand Prize Winner) and Health Category Winner:

Filtering the Future: Sustainable Nanostructures in Medical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

by Mirabella Romano, Hemi Shah, and Chloe Yoshiki

GCI Showcase Winners — GCI Showcase winners, left to right: Chloe Yoshiki, Hemi Shah, and Mirabella Romano

Health Category Runners-Up:

CareTemp: Supporting Early Breast Cancer Detection and Awareness

by Callia Findley, Sarah Im, Kaylee Kang, Trevor Lussier, and Grace Swartz

Health Category Runners Up

Environmental Category Winners:

Shampocean

by Rhea John, Adara Siamwalla, Imara Zepeda, and Mari Marumoto

Environmental Category Runners-Up:

Waste Reduction through Enhanced Composting

by Aly Pickett, Jikheem David, Hayden McKenna, Jake Heberle, and Dylan Luu

Dr. Javier Espeleta and the Environmental Category Runners Up (left) and the Winners with Dr. Thomas Piechota (right)

Education / Technology Category Winners:

AIdentify: Teaching AI Identification through repetition

Noslen Cruz-Muniz, Jack Flanagan, Joshua McCarthy, Cristian Melgoza, Divi Newton, and Dylan Ravel

Education / Technology Category Runners-Up:

Disaster Education and Preparedness

by Sammy Rokaw, Daniel Tsivkovski, Luke Wiljanen

Dr. Javier Espeleta and the Technology / Education Category Winners (left) and the Runners-Up with Dr. Thomas Piechota (right)

Special Thank-You to our GCI Postdoctoral Fellows, Student Assistants and Staff!

GCI Postdoctoral Fellows — GCI Directors, Coordinator, and Postdoctoral Fellows, left to right: Dr. Javier Espeleta, Dr. Aracely Acevedo, Dr. Sayani Ghosh, Dr. Gabriela Shirkey, Dr. Cassandra Maya, Dr. Ana Belen Avilez Garcia, Dr. Lorenzo Leiva Araya, Dr. Rajeev Joshi, Alexandra Lewandowski, M. S., Dr. Daniel Cardenas Vasquez, Dr. Thomas Piechota

GCI Assistants — GCI Directors, Coordinator and Student Assistants, left to right: Brandon Lee and Emma Garofalo (top), Dr. Thomas Piechota, Joshua Fisher, Micah Kim, Alexandra Lewandowski, and Dr. Javier Espeleta (bottom)