The Office of Research and Innovation extends its congratulations and sincere appreciation to all students, faculty, staff, and community members who participated in making in this year’s Research and Innovation Day and Poster Competition a success.

Research and Innovation Day 2026 winners for our Undergraduate and Graduate categories are:

Undergraduate Student Winners

• 1^st Place for $1,000
  • Poster Title: Oxygen-Propane Rocket Motor
  • Name(s): Nicholas Kawamura, Joseph Tonche, Noah Estrada, Daniel Houf, Brendon Cavazos
  • College: Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering
  • Department: Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

• 2^nd Place for $750
  • Poster Title: An Evaluation of the In Vitro True Digestibility of Four Texas Native Grasses and Bermuda grass for use in beef cattle production
  • Name(s): Alexandria Ojeda
  • College: Dick and Mary Lewis Kleberg College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
  • Department: Animal Science & Veterinary Technology

• 3^rd Place for $500
  • Poster Title: Anthrax Vaccine Response In Cattle
  • Name(s ): Violeta Lira
  • College: Dick and Mary Lewis Kleberg College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
  • Department: Animal Science & Veterinary Technology

Graduate Student Winners

• 1^st Place for $1,000
  • Poster Title: Metabolic Reprogramming of Tumor-Associated Macrophages from Pro-Tumor to Anti-Tumor
  • Name(s): Nishat Ara
  • College: Texas A&M Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy
  • Department: Pharmaceutical Sciences

• 2^nd Place for $750
  • Poster Title: Privacy-Preserving Federated Deep Learning for Nomophobia Risk Prediction Using Encrypted Transport of Masked Updates
  • Name(s): Md Wahidur Rahman
  • College: Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering
  • Department: Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

• 3^rd Place for $500
  • Poster Title: Inverse design of 1D linearized Euler equations for acoustics
  • Name(s): Avinash Potluri
  • College: Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering
  • Department: Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

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