Baruch College Undergraduates Share Their Research to a Global Audience
Premier event featured 460 students from 14 institutions worldwideOctober 24, 2022

Katrynna Jackowicz (’23), who is studying political science at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, presented her research to a global audience at ICUR 2022 in September.
Baruch College students presented their original research to peers from around the world at the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) held on Sept. 28 and 29.
The 14 undergraduates—who come from the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, and the Zicklin School of Business—conducted research on a wide range of topics from urban heat islands in New York, to the history of Jewish Mikvah ritual baths, to errors in DNA structure.
“Baruch’s undergraduates presenting at ICUR have shown peers at universities around the globe that they are doing high-quality research across a variety of disciplines, and that the Baruch education has prepared them well for graduate school or professional careers,” said Katherine Pence, PhD, associate professor of history, Director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Baruch’s Weissman School, and the campus organizer of the annual event who is also currently serving as Baruch’s Provost Innovation Fellow for Cross-College and Undergraduate Research.
Overall, 460 students from 14 colleges and universities worldwide shared their work over a complex 48-hour schedule of virtually-linked panels at ICUR 2022, which is organized by the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and Monash University in Australia.
For the past nine years, Baruch undergraduates have participated in this global event. This year, the College and Penn State were the only U.S. institutions represented among an international list that includes Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), University of Leeds (England), University of British Columbia (Canada), Stellenbosch University (South Africa), Zayed University (United Arab Emirates), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), CY Cergy University, Paris (France), Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (Spain), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), and University of Gothenburg (Sweden).
Pence added, “Sharing work with an international audience at ICUR is an exciting culmination of the process of conducting original research. I’m proud of all the ICUR presenters who showed off how Baruch College is helping to train the next generation of scholars and innovators.”
Baruch’s participation in ICUR 2022 was funded by the Office of the Provost and the Baruch College Fund.
Hear from Baruch’s ICUR Participants
Jie Ying (’24), biological sciences major who is minoring in computer science at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences: “I wanted to experience presenting in front of a global audience. Participating in ICUR helped me gain more confidence in my public speaking skills to explain my work in a way that is considerate to the general audience by restricting use of scientific jargon. The experience taught me how to be more concise in my writing and how to look for ways to say more with less.”
Nikala D’Aguiar (’23), marketing management major at the Zicklin School of Business who is also minoring in journalism: “I thought it was important to share the information our team researched on climate change. I think people believe climate change is affecting the world impartially. However, our research allowed us to look at how a heat island affects neighborhoods microscopically, and we found that it affects everyone differently, especially those who do not have air conditioning and access to parks.”
Shreshth Jain-Hutchison (’23), double major in philosophy and psychology at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences: “I participated in ICUR to get first-hand experience with the process involved in submitting to and presenting at an academic conference. I found the experience extremely rewarding. I’ll be using the paper I presented on for my writing sample for graduate school applications, and the process of breaking my research paper down to the essential parts needed to fit into a 10-minute presentation and figuring out a way to communicate it simply to a broad audience was extremely helpful.”
Jonathan Figueroa Reyes (’23), mathematics major with a minor in physics at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences: “ICUR represented a great opportunity to communicate the mathematical research that I have performed as an undergraduate and to interact with other students that share the same passion for research. My participation in ICUR has strengthened my desire to continue doing academic research as a graduate student, with the long-term goal of becoming a professor in a research university or institute.”
Complete List of Baruch Presenters and Their Research Projects
- Samia Alam (’24), Nikala D’Aguiar, Jenny Ho, Lin Hong, and Amaris Navarette (’22)
- “Urban Heat Island in NYC: Exploring the Role of Social Network in Building Resiliency”
- May Elisheva, public affairs, Marxe School
- “When Ritual Confronts a Changing City: A Study of Mikvah Throughout New York City History”
- Benjamin Herrera, organic chemistry/biology, Weissman School
- “Errors in DNA Structure: How Often do DNA Tautomerizations Occur?”
- Katrynna Jackowicz (’23), political science, Weissman School
- “The Effect of Learning Martial Arts on Women: An Examination of Notions of Confidence and Self-Efficacy”
- Shreshth Jain-Hutchison, philosophy and psychology, Weissman School
- “Parallel Braids: An Examination of Gay Identities”
- Jonathan Figueroa Reyes, mathematics, Weissman School
- “Spanning Forest Probabilities on Path Graphs and Binary Trees”
- William Rose (’22), political science, Weissman School
- “The Gun Control Paradox in the States: Evidence from National Polls”
- Kaitlan Russell (Hunter College, ’22), Spanish literature studied at the Weissman School
- “The Role of U.S. Imperialism in the Construction of Masculinity in the Puerto Rican and Dominican Diaspora”
- Florence Uritsky (’22), biological sciences, Weissman School
- “Computational Studies of the Decarboxylation of Cannabidiolic Acid to Cannabidiol”
- Jie Ying, biological sciences, Weissman School
- “Two Juvenile Hormone Degradation Enzymes, Different Effects on Drosophila Melanogaster Growth”
Join ICUR 2023
Baruch undergraduates working on research projects in any field can apply to present at the next ICUR in September 2023.
According to Pence, this experience “is fun, rewarding, and confidence-building, while also helping students continue to hone communication skills, since ICUR organizers at Baruch and through the Warwick-Monash Alliance offer feedback on their paper abstracts, practice sessions for their oral presentations, and the chance to field audience questions at the conference.”
For more information see: www.icurportal.com or contact katherine.pence@baruch.cuny.edu.
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