Announcing the 2025 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize Winners Celebrating the Achievements of Undergraduate Researchers

The Leatherby Libraries is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize! For the seventeenth year of this award, we received applications from students across numerous disciplines, including Art History, Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, Business Administration, Communication Studies, Computer Science, English, Health Sciences, History, Journalism, Music, Political Science, Psychology, Screenwriting, Spanish, and Strategic Corporate Communication.

We invited this year’s winners to the Leatherby Libraries on Friday, May 9, 2025, to celebrate their achievements at the Library Student Research Prize Ceremony.

From left to right: Chair of Research and Instructional Services at the Leatherby Libraries, Taylor Greene, First Place Winner, Megan Lewandowski, Second Place Winner, Cintya Felix, Third Place Winner, Cassandra Chan, and Dean of the Leatherby Libraries, Kevin Ross pose for a picture at the 2025 Student Research Awards Ceremony.

Read on to learn more about this year’s winners and what this prize means to them in their own words!

First Place: Megan Lewandowski

Megan, a senior majoring in Music and Psychology, won first place for her paper “‘The Chip Off the Block’: The 21st-Century Legacy of Schoolhouse Rock!”

“I am honored to receive the 2025 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize. My research came from a place of passion for not only the educational and social impact of music but also the fact that that passion could not have become a fully developed capstone paper without the resources, support, and research skill instruction available to me through the Leatherby Libraries. In an age of information overload, access to scholarly resources and training in research abilities is more crucial than ever. I am glad that Chapman values these important skills in its undergraduate students, and I am grateful that it recognizes them in me. My heartfelt thanks to Dr. Carrie Dike and Dr. Jessica Sternfeld, my faculty advisors, who helped me to cultivate these skills and to synthesize my passion with my research.”

Second Place: Cintya Felix

Cintya, a Junior majoring in Political Science and Spanish, was awarded second place for her paper “Aquí y Ahora: The Role of US Spanish-Language TV News in Financial Vulnerability.”

“I am incredibly honored to become a recipient of the 2025 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize. As someone who aspires to enter the legal and policy-making world, I now feel more confident in finding, analyzing, and applying scholarly sources effectively. Leatherby Libraries provided the tools and support I needed to conduct a meaningful research project. As a first-generation college student, I might not have had access to this level of academic guidance otherwise, so I am immensely grateful.”

Third Place: Cassandra Chan

Cassandra, a Senior majoring in Art History, was awarded third place for her paper “Clement Hurd and the Artistic Integrity of Illustrated Children’s Books.”

“Winning the Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize contest is an incredible honor that affirms the value of intellectually rigorous, research-driven work. Developing my project has strengthened my research and information literacy skills in ways that will stay with me far beyond its completion. I’m immensely grateful for the recognition and opportunity to share my work in a community that esteems inquiry, creativity, and scholarship.”

About the Prize:

This research prize was established by the Leatherby Libraries in 2008 to recognize excellent research and effective usage of library resources while focusing on information literacy. Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

“My wife Tam and I believe in the importance of information literacy. Information literacy is essential for students conducting useful and relevant research that informs both the public and the academic community and is crucial to the success of any university. This Undergraduate Research Prize allows our students to showcase their research abilities by connecting their individual research interests with our outstanding librarians and abundance of library resources.” – Kevin Ross, Dean of the Leatherby Libraries

We sincerely thank Kevin and Tam Ross for their continued support of this research prize and our undergraduate students.

The selection committee included the following faculty members and librarians:

• Jean-Louis Bru, Ph.D.
  • Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Schmid College of Science and Technology
• Taylor Greene
  • Chair of Research and Instructional Services at the Leatherby Libraries
• Lauren McDaniel
  • Coordinator of Special Collections and Librarian at the Leatherby Libraries
• Jana Remy, Ph.D.
  • Assistant Vice President of Educational Technology / Instructor in Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Department of History.
• Katherine Roth
  • Copyright Librarian at the Leatherby Libraries