Announcement: 2025 Arts & Science USRA Recipients

Each academic year, six Arts & Science students receive an Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) and spend their summer conducting research on a scholarly project of interest to them. The USRAs are designed to cultivate and support research partnerships between undergraduate students and faculty members, and to give students an introduction to high-level research and an opportunity to explore their interests.

We are thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2025 Arts & Science Undergraduate Student Research Awards:

Adriana Bozzo (Artsci Level III)
Research Project: Psychiatrization of Students: Examining Teacher Discourse Around Student Mental Health and the Role of the Classroom as a Diagnostic Setting
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Mat Savelli
Project Description: I will be examining teachers’ thoughts, feelings and practices surrounding student mental health and illness. Overall, this project seeks to provide a critical analysis of how youth mental health is ideologized in education and the effects of students’ and teachers’ use of psychiatric language to define suffering, pain, and eccentricities experienced among and demonstrated by students.

Liam Feldman (Artsci Level IV)
Research Project: ‘The Weather Made Me Do It’: Applying the Criminal ‘Necessity’ Defense to Climate Activism
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Greg Flynn
Project Description: As activists increasingly look to justify climate change-related civil disobedience through the criminal defense of ‘necessity,’ I will analyze how this controversial ‘climate necessity defense’ fits within Canadian legal criteria. By mapping existing precedent, I will determine whether this defense provides a productive avenue for climate activism and civil resistance.

Nimrat Kalirai (Artsci Level II)
Research Project: Deceptive by Design: Understanding Dark Patterns and Their Impact on Older Adults
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Cansu Ekmekcioglu
Project Description: Dark patterns are deceptive design techniques that manipulate user behaviour. While research on dark patterns is growing, their effects on older adults remains underexplored. This project examines the prevalence and types of dark patterns encountered by older adults, how they interpret these manipulative designs, and their impact on digital confidence, financial security, and mental well-being.

Graeme Lavrence (Artsci Level III)
Research Project: Investigating the Role of mTORC1 and mTORC2 in Lysosome Biogenesis in Neurodegenerative Lysosomal Storage Diseases
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Suleiman Igdoura
Project Description: My project will examine the role of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) complexes 1 and 2 in regulating lysosome biogenesis and autophagosome-lysosome fusion in Lysosomal Storage Diseases (LSDs). Specifically, I will conduct laboratory work to examine how mTORC1/C2 inhibition affects the expression of lysosomal-autophagy pathway-related proteins to elucidate potential therapeutics for LSDs.

Vivian Vuong (Artsci Level III)
Research Project: Optimizing Indirect Patient Care to Improve Access to Family Medicine
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Meredith Vanstone
Project Description: I am joining a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) funded project that explores the administrative burdens of indirect patient care activities in primary care. I will participate in a qualitative study to identify challenges, understand influences on practice decisions, and develop solutions to improve patient access, particularly for communities affected by shortages to primary care.

Sunil Wijeysundera (Artsci Level III)
Research Project: Math in Context: A Pedagogical Exploration of Multidisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Mathematics
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Megumi Harada
Project Description: This research project will explore the pedagogical significance of placing undergraduate mathematics education within a grounded, socio-political context. Specifically, it will focus on assessing the pedagogical value of a mathematics education that holistically intertwines technical and theoretical content with the social and political intersections and stories within mathematics.

Congratulations Artsci students!

We are proud of the interesting research work you will each undertake
this summer and can’t wait to see what you discover.

Click here to learn more about the Arts & Science Undergraduate Student Research Awards and the work of past Artsci student recipients.