Undergraduate Research Grant

Infared scanning with Unreal Engine
Ashton Hoo, Communication Arts
Sophia Zhou, Communication Arts Major
Tyler Ricks, Computer Science
Faculty Mentor: Jason Bennett
Traditional infrared scanning is very hard to access. This research seeks to find a reliable pipeline to get accurate images through a streamlined path by simulating it with 3D models, temperature sims, and Real-time rendering within Unreal Engine.

Mirror Mountain
Avenelle Orndorff, Communication Arts
Jennifer (Jen) Nguyen Graphic Design Major, Marketing Minor
Alexandra (Aly) Czerniak, Creative Advertising
Imani Tigney, Graphic Design
Faculty Mentor: Adam Kohn
Mirror Mountain is a horror comic published on a dedicated website, and printed for independent distribution. The story follows three girls in rural Appalachia who are wrongfully implicated in a series of uncanny murders, and their subsequent investigation that leads to increasingly supernatural encounters. Mirror Mountain is an examination of grief, coming-of-age, and intergenerational trauma through a sincere and humanistic narrative, both surreal and grounded. The final product will consist of the first volume of the comic, published digitally and printed, a website with a mailing list feature, and marketing materials for conventions, like stickers and business cards.

How to Live in Living Rooms
Ben Phan, Cinema
Matt Knook, Cinema
Rachel Nicholas, Mass Communications and International Relations
Francesca Zola, Theatre
Lici Simmons, Mass Communications
Evan Snyder, Mass Communications
Mydasen Riddick, Mass Communications
Promise Opoku-Yeboah, Mass Communications
Genevieve Peterson, Mass Communications
Paul Finger, Cinema
Jacob Zalenski, Cinema
Adi Sarangapani, Political Science
Trudy Hardman, Cinema
Ethan Langley, Computer Engineering
Maddy Gualdoni, Criminal Justice
Kolton Nielsen, Theatre
Sophia Chabo, Communication ARts
Angelina Recinos, Social Work
Danielle Murphy, Communications Arts
Isabel Gallardo, Fashion Merchanidising
Daniel Choi, Cinema,
Loren Boyd, Photography & Film
Poppy Friske, Cinema
Karina Achico, Photography & Film
Joshua Larsen, Photography & Film
Jackson Snead, Photography & Film
Audrey Martin, Sociology and Political Science
Adam Anwar, Mass Communications
Jasper Schneider, Music
Faculty Mentor: Daniel Caporaletti
“How To Live In Living Rooms” is a short film about an immigrant child returning to his dysfunctional, Asian-American family. It’s a film about diaspora, love, and lost connections; Because in this house, meals are not eaten together, words are left unsaid, and languages are lost. It asks the question: Is it better to live in the discomfort and differences of others, or is it fine to survive in the familiarity of ourselves? This film is for all the lost souls who have yet to find belonging in their blood, and we hope to show audiences that it’s possible: belonging.

Photography Series
Ash Gigliotti, Interior Design
Tommy Smith, Photography & Film
Faculty Mentor: Jessie Gemmer
Our projects aims to create a short photo series photographing three miniature sets we construct that replicate potential living spaces of small creatures. In the future humans are extinct and animals have began to discover complex tool use. Focusing on how the animals would repurpose human objects for their own uses. Our three sets include: set one frog taking a bath at home, set two butcher rat at work, and set three fancy bugs eating dinner in their dining room. We hope to bring the sets to the Great Dismal Swamp to use the wilderness as backdrop for the photographs.

Sculptural Installation
Grace Sharpe, Painting & Printmaking
Gabby Morris, Mass Communication
Faculty Mentor: Chelsea Flowers
My project explores the intimate and overwhelming relationship African Americans have with their hair’an act that is both ritualistic and deeply personal. I will create a sculptural installation made of hair: a 5×5 ft square with 10 ft strands cascading like a beaded curtain. Visitors can step inside the illuminated space to experience the sensation of doing hair in a warm, enclosed environment. The work invites everyone to reflect on beauty, care, and identity, while centering the Black community’s emotional and historical connection to hair.

Mural Project
Max Weker, Painting & Printmaking
Rowan Leary, Sculpture, Painting & Printmaking
Amity Crone, Sculpture & Extended Media
Faculty Mentor: Alexander Zohore
My plan is to have a group of VCUarts students paint a mural for a Richmond public school based on a design created by students of that school. The work will be for the public and will engage VCU students with their community and public school students in the art making process.

Large Scale Cyanotype
Izzy Rosenberg, Photography & Film
Aija Bowditch, Photography & Film
Valeria Beauchamp, Sculpture & Extended media
Faculty Mentor: Michael McKean
Our proposal aims to create a large-scale cyanotype banner to drape from the Pollak building during graduation week as a symbol of the significance of community, connection and resilience, especially in the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The banner will consist of silhouettes of 36 individuals; family, friends, peers, teachers, and more. We will hold still together under the sun for 30 minutes, our bodies forming a momentary silhouette against the reactive fabric. Bridging the disciplines of photography, sculpture, performance, fibers, and science to create a powerful solar talisman of learning, becoming, and creativity as an engine of possibility.

Comic Production
Jas Ly, Communication Arts
Sophia Redd, Communication Arts
Jo Ropetski, Communication Arts
Mikayla Saunders, Communication Arts
El Race, Graphic Design
Grace Boyles, Graphic Design
Dev Koch, English Literature
Faculty Mentor: Anna Karakalos
We are a group of artists seeking a grant to fund the creation and physical publication of the first issue of a comic series about the travels of a fantasy princess turned prophet, as well as a supplemental zine on religion within the world. With this series, we aim to start conversations on topics of religion, responsibility, queer identity, and growing up with our target audience of young adults. We plan on using the funds to print and distribute the first issue of this comic with a supplemental zine, and allow us to accumulate the funds for future comics.

Inside the 4th Floor
Joe DellaCorte, Fashion Design & Merchandising
Noah Sandrowitz, Photography & Film
Joe DellaCorte, Fashion Design and Merchandising
Faculty Mentor: Jennie Cook
Inside the 4th Floor is a documentary photo and interview project capturing the creative process of VCUarts Fashion Design students. Through film photography and recorded conversations, the project explores how design education shapes identity, community, and artistic direction. Portraits and interviews will document students’ workspaces, evolving collections, and personal styles, revealing a layered view of design in progress. The project culminates in a printed photo book and digital archive. Funding will support film, printing, transcription, and production of softcover copies, preserving their stories and highlighting the collaborative culture within the VCUarts Fashion program.

Verdant Echo
Kendra Lyons, Kinetic Imaging
Joseph Rother, Computer Science and Mathematics
Shane Simes, Computer Science
Piper Falcon, Interdisciplinary Studies
Sara Huffman, Kinetic Imaging
Faculty Mentor: Semi Ryu
Verdant Echo’s is a VR simulation to promote mental wellbeing. Set in a greenhouse, the simulation invites players to nurture plants which grow in response to their emotions. The system integrates a large language model that interprets the user’s spoken reflections during each session, combined with a vocal timbre analysis model developed by VCU Engineering. This interdisciplinary project has been accepted for presentation at the International Generative Art 2025 Conference in Rome and submitted to the Ammerman Center 2026 Symposium. The finalized prototype will enter CHI 2026’s Student Research Competition.

Video Installation
Maddie Han, Photography & Film
Gerard Jan De Perio, Photography & Film
Nicole Rinck, Photography & Film
Cristina Sayegh, Sculpture & Extended Media
Faculty Mentor: MB Reed
This video installation explores the concept of forgiveness and the act of the apology in Asian American culture. The act of preparing fruit for another person is seen as a nonverbal form on communication that is equated to an apology in many cultures. By creating an artificial garden using turf and paper mache orange trees, it allows for physical space to exist for both the project and the viewer. The video will be an experimental interview with my mother that explores our personal relationship to this theme.

INTERPRINT
Marty Alexeenko, Graphic Design
Faculty Mentor: Cara Benedetto
INTERPRINT is an experimental print collective investigating interdisciplinary gaps between the graphic design and painting and printmaking students at VCU. Through addressing design’s desire for analog production through screenprinting and etching, and PAPR’s explorations in digital methods with typography and publishing, INTERPRINT seeks to serve as a catalyst for the intersections in research, making, and play. Archival research practices mark the core of the final show. Every artifact, draft, and finding of the group will be documented and compiled. Pondering “the sacred object”, the group will produce a series of prints to present alongside their findings in a culminating exhibition.

SentimentVoice Korea
Dara Olusina, Graphic Design and Computer Science
Mais Aljambi, Kinetic Imaging
Khalid Alismaeil, Kinetic Imaging
Jason Gonzalez, Computer Science
Faculty Mentor: Semi Ryu
SentimentVoice Korea is an immersive VR project that uses Emotion AI to capture and represent the complex, often marginalized emotions of marriage migrant women in Korea, such as Han and Jeong. Through interactive avatars and dynamic environments influenced by traditional Korean colors and instruments, it fosters empathy and critiques AI’s limitations in understanding nuanced feelings. Intended for audiences interested in art, technology, immigration, and cultural dialogue—including artist, educators, researchers, and the general public—it aims to amplify immigrant voices, promote coexistence, and expand global conversations on emotions beyond institutional language.

Paper Mourning
Poppy Friske, Cinema & English
Lici Simmons, Mass Communications
Sophia Gilmore, Cinema
Ben Phan, Cinema
Eli Villanueva, Cinema
Trudy Hardman, Cinema
Isiah Meja, Mass Communications
Matt Knook, Cinema
Morgan Yeatts, Psychology
Jazmin Garcia, Cinema
Jojo Martin, Theater
Genevieve Peterson, Mass Communications
Cici Canfield, Sculpture
Jo Paz, Graphic Design
Alissa Martin, Cinema
Aidan Candler, Business
Allison Shewmake, Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Nile Price
‘Paper Mourning’ is a narrative short film exploring isolation, escapism, and the destruction of childhood through unremedied gun violence in America. The story, set in a conservative small town, follows the budding friendship between a new library assistant, Ana, and Louis, a withdrawn student haunted by the town’s ignorance towards his tragedy. Through intimate visuals and authentic dialogue, I hope that this film resonates with students pained by the atrocities we’ve witnessed, as well as a call to action for our country to finally put protection ahead of personal freedom.

Narrative Film
Duncan Coppi, Photography and Film
Kayla Davis, Photography and Film
Hannah Kyriakakis, Photography and Film
Emma Passman, Photography and Film
Mary Davis, Fashion Merchandising
Kira Miller, Urban and Regional Studies
Christina Ranfeld, Music
Faculty Mentor: Mary Beth Reed
Award Amount: $2,500.00
Remembrance is a narrative film that explores the relationship between a troubled grandson and his ailing grandmother. The grandson is a disenchanted young college student who is reluctantly tasked with helping his grandmother move out of her house. As he grapples with his own dissatisfaction and the burdens of adulthood, his interactions with his grandmother reveal layers of memory and love. Through her storytelling and shared experiences, the audience is invited to reflect on the significance of intergenerational relationships, the challenges of change, and the importance of cherishing the past while navigating an uncertain future.

Short Film
Karina Achico, Photography and Film
Malia Achico, Communication Arts
Madigan Achico, Chemistry
Kelem Abreham, Graphic Design
Rhand Abdelhalim, Craft/Material Studies
Derek Amissh, Biology
Natalie Auandee, Cinema, Anthropology
Angelina Bailey, Interior Design
Maddie Bui, Communication Arts
Loren Boyd, Photography and Film
Ryan Fish, Cinema
Basil Forrest, English
Marcus Garza, Biology
Alyssa Hughes, Cinema
Phoenix Keil, Cinema and Journalism
Verne Knight, Communication Arts
Ella Levri, Music
Kate Dolata, Photography and Film
Jadyan Lalonde, Photography and Film
Emilio Roberson, Biology
Ashli Coronado-Rodriguez, Biology
Edwin Schoenborn, Urban Planning
Joy Sharpe, Cinema
Keegan Shepard, Cinema
Lici Simmons, Cinema
Rishi Vemulamanda, Business
Tess Versprille, Communication Arts
Joseph Walker, Communication Arts
Adrian Young, Photography and Film
Faculty Mentor: Dana Washington-Queen
Award Amount: $2,000.00
TOTAL KNOCKOUT is a short film that raises awareness about college drinking and navigating social pressures. Our story follows Knockout, an insecure girl who, lacking the confidence to confront her crush at a party, seeks comfort in drinking; however things become difficult when her drunken delirium leads her to be challenged by a professional wrestler. This surreal, action-packed, dramedy, sets out to hold an open conversation regarding the peer and personal pressures that may arise in college experience. We hope this film can be a guide for students seeking supportive communities and embed a sense of self-confidence.

Research Paper
Lirio Vera Alva, Fashion Design and Merchandising
Rodrigo Smith, Photography and Film
Faculty Mentor: Jackie Mullins
Award Amount: $2,500.00
This research grant seeks to publish a research paper on the design career and works of Oleg Cassini, the subject matter of a Spring 2025 Independent Study. The collaboration will take 20 original Cassini pieces, primarily housed in the VCU Fashion Costume Collection, alongside other additional pieces in non-VCU Collections. The final product will yield a physical book run, including within it historical costume research, a photo carousel, and hand-rendered detail shots. This book will cater to any art student, specifically those interested in mid-20th-century fashion politics and the design theory of Cassini through the later half of his career.

Sculptures
Noah Birkeland, Painting and Printmaking
Naomy Cardoso Perez, Painting and Printmaking
Faculty Mentor: Miguel Carter-Fisher
Award Amount: $2,500.00
My project proposal details the creation of a life-size “écorché” using myself as a model, to cultivate a self-guided conversation regarding lost artistic practices utilizing dismantled skeleton armatures and several methods of sculpting. With the aid of figure instructors at VCUArts, and peer analysis from within the Biology department, I aim to create several sculptural installations that accompany works related to ‘the self-portrait’ in various techniques. This project intends to exist as a conversation on the state-of-the-art world, the practices that fall off, and become popular again in an almost cyclical nature.

Exhibition Catalog
Jenna Casey, Graphic Design
Zachary Montgomery, Graphic Design
Kelsey Ewell, Sociology/Criminal Justice
Faculty Mentor: Luiza Dale
Award Amount: $1,950.00
Recognizing the underrepresentation of graphic design in gallery settings, graphic design students were tasked with submitting works to an open-call exhibition that reflected personal experiences and interactions with time. This project will entail a publication cataloging the works featured in the final show, exploring the relationship between these visual interpretations of time and the space in which they were held. This project will address and critically examine the themes of this exhibition while highlighting the works and the curatorial process of developing the show from start to finish.

Documentary Film
Elliot Crotteau, Photography and Film
Ava Schrag, Photography and Film
Selah Pennington, Photography and Film
Ellie Leake, Painting and Printmaking
Ben Haskett, Sociology
Ella Floyd, Photography and Film (alum)
Faculty Mentor: Tesora Molina-Garcia
Award Amount: $2,500.00
This documentary film and photo project examines queer representation, and music as a community-building tool in Appalachia through tintype photography and 16mm film. By employing historical techniques to capture modern narratives, it highlights the deep ties between identity, tradition, community, and music in the region. Through intimate storytelling and direct documentary approaches, the film showcases the resilience and diversity of Appalachia, challenging stereotypes while honoring local pride. Designed for various presentation formats, including gallery installations, it reflects the communal spirit of Appalachian music gatherings, fostering shared experiences and connections that echo the region’s traditions of inclusivity.

Hybrid Magazine/Photo Journal
Erin De Shay, Graphic Design
Alyssa Willis, Graphic Design
Faculty Mentor: Herdimas Anggara
Award Amount: $1,250.00
MODE MOSAIC is an independent magazine that celebrates boundary-pushing fashion photography and visual storytelling. Through self-published spreads, I explore personal themes of nostalgia, existential anxiety, and daydreaming. My magazine seeks to inspire creativity while experimenting with DIY publishing methods and visual styles that challenge traditional editorial norms. I push towards committing to the editorial style by doing interviews and extensive local research. I hope to be seen.

Experimental Documentary Film
Jordyn Dyson, Cinema
Taylor Fenderson, Cinema
Dakarai Perry-Brown, Cinema
Makai Gillis, Fashion Design
Faculty Mentor: Sheree Chen
Award Amount: $2,300.00
What Needs to be Said is an experimental documentary that follows 4 artists — a dancer, a painter, a musician, and a fashion designer. Through a mix of expressionistic and observational documentary styles, we follow their daily lives, how they internalize their experiences as Black art students, and how they put that back into their work. The goal of the film is to help a wide audience understand the experience of starting art school as a Black college student.

Visual Novel Game
Rachel Farzan, Communication Arts
Collaborators: Natalie Reyes, Communication Arts (alum),
Olivia McCabe, Communication Arts (alum)
Cameron Krainock, Neuroscience (alum)
Faculty Mentor: Jason Bennett
Award Amount: $1,000.00
My project, Closing at 2, is an indie horror visual novel game created in my Intro to Game Dev class. Players play as a bartender, having to make drinks for customers. However, throughout the night, things become eerie as the characters begin to change. Our game is intended for mature audiences, as it tackles themes of alcoholism and mental health. Although the demo of our game has already gained popularity with over 1,800 downloads on Itch, we hope to use any funds earned to demonstrate our game at MAGFest.

Research Project
Chynia Harris, Dance and Choreography
Teairrah Green, Photography and Film
Faculty Mentor: Autumn Proctor Waddell
Award Amount: $500
This research aims to discover the hidden learning possibilities and opportunities available for performing artists who have “temporary” or lifelong physical and mental accessibility challenges. Whilst also unearthing more ways for them to generate growth and perform on their terms as an individual artist.

Zine Publication
Christina Huynh, Graphic Design
Isabelle Samay, Graphic Design
Sarah Samson (alum)
Faculty Mentor: Nicole Killian
Award Amount: $650.00
YourCarabiner is a zine publication project driven to archive people’s carabiners in the effort to educate others on Queer signaling and the history of visibility codes. By documenting carabiners, a historic Lesbian code, and connecting with intergenerational Queer voices through carefully curated interviews, we’re able to spark conversations surrounding how Queer communities were found. This project serves to inform Queer youths and others on the significance of Queer history and to contextualize a hidden language that has shaped how the community navigates.

Mixed Media Book
Kiera O’Harrow, Sculpture and Extended Media
Cameron McNamara, Engineering + Urban and Regional Studies/Planning
Eve Schwerin, Psychology
Elliot Crotteau, Photography and Film
Grace Richardson, Graphic Design
Faculty Mentor: Corin Hewitt
Award Amount: $1,500.00
My aim is to create a 50 copy edition of a photography and mixed media book. The book will be a satirical commentary about FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). It will consist of unconventional portraits, mainly of people’s backs facing away from the camera and distracted by screens, anecdotes about FOMO, overconsumption, and parasitic social media, related quotes about phones, social media, social isolation, the problems of 21st century housing and its contributions to physical isolation and loneliness.

Experimental Documentary Film
Daniel Tapia, Photography and Film
Sherilyn Herbison, Biology
Josemaria Quino Acho, Political Science
Araceli Quino Acho, Elementary Education
Charles Valdez, Photography and Film
Teairrah Green, Photography and Film
Maddie Han, Photography and Film
Gabe Salabao, Kinetic Imaging
Oscar Ozborn Ferguson, Communication Arts
Chi Doung, Kinetic Imaging
Courtney Clara Corrin, Psychology
Jason Brown, Cinema
Ian Nial Day Dayalsingh, Political Science
Ryan Calaghan, Photography and Film
Faculty Mentor: Tesora Molina-Garcia
Award Amount: $1,500.00
La Pulga is an experimental documentary film that uncovers the psychosocial impacts of Spanish colonization through the perspectives of first-generation immigrants and Latinx youth as they search for Indigenous roots. A major component of colonization is it strips away the identities of Individuals within the diaspora. By documenting a prominent third space in the local Latin Community in Richmond, Virginia, the Jefferson Davis Flea Market. We urge my community to question their role in shaping Latinidad. Ultimately, this film will be a call to action for the viewer to decolonize oneself and reclaim culture.

Documentary Film
Ryan Calaghan, Photography and Film
Ethan Jordan, Photography and Film
Jacqueline Carter, Environmental Studies
Yit Barek, Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Mark Boulos, Photography and Film
Award:$3,000
Funding to produce an interdisciplinary Documentary using Film and Photography to explore the political and environmental status of The Richmond Sewer System. The project will shine a light on the infrastructure of the sewers and political ramifications of inactivity on an environmental threat to densely populated cities. The students will be accompanied by Mark Boulos, an Associate Professor In the Photo/Film Department as their mentor regarding political-based filmmaking.

Documentary Film
LA Ricks, Photography and Film
Arrick Wilson, Journalism
Parys Pannell, Fashion Design
Erin Wardlaw, Psychology
Kayla Hollingsworth, Business
Faculty Mentor: Sonali Gulati, Photography and Film
Award: $2,227
This documentary will be about the Black church and its impact on Black youth, particularly Black queer youth. The Black church has historically been a pillar of strength and resilience for the African American community. It has taught many black youth how to be creatives and artists in their path, especially in fashion, photography, and music. However, I will be exploring the negative consequences as well that arise from the rigid beliefs often held within these religious institutions. For Black queer youth, their sexual orientation or gender identity can clash with conservative teachings that condemn homosexuality.

Biofabric Design
Benicio Gomez, Fashion Design and Merchandising
Angela Vega Vega
Faculty Mentor: Morgan Herrin, Art Foundation
Award: $1,470
Biofabric, an innovative new material from food waste and biodegradable organisms, is becoming a highly versatile and eco-conscious textile as research progresses. Our project will feature a collection of four clothing items created with biofabrics. This will serve as a visual representation of the possibilities of biofabrics combined with our guide of written recipes and experimentation for design students to reference.

Musical Theatre Performance
Kay Williams, Theatre
Anaika Korath, Theatre And Psychology
Jimmy McGuiness, Undeclared
Amanda Prince, Communication Arts
Apple DeGeorge, Theatre And Sociology
Elayna Fairno, Theatre
Faculty Mentor: Emily Mattison, Theatre
Award: $1,500
Firebringer is a musical project during the spring semester that would help to bridge the gap between VCUTheatre students and the rest of the VCUArts department. This stylized musical about the stone age will start an initiative to bring together different members of the theatre, music, communication arts, dance, fashion design, and craft/material studies departments. Hoping to have a one weekend run in the Spring of 2024, these departments will all have a hand in creating and collaborating in the inaugural production of Doomsday Theatre Company at VCU.

Solar Decathlon Competition
Courtney Thomas, Interior Design
Kyle Sirico | Urban Studies
Ranna (Peiran) Liu | Craft and Material Studies + Environmental Studies
Tiffani Vasco | Urban and Regional Studies
Stephen Dvorak | Art Direction
Faculty Mentor: Laura Battaglia, Interior Design
Award: $3,000
Funding to support a multidisciplinary team of VCU students across all majors to enter the Solar Decathlon, which is a collegiate competition run by the U.S. Department of Energy where teams from across the world design net-zero energy, affordable solar-powered homes. We are proposing a single-family home for a lower income population.

Short Film
Teairrah Green, Photography and Film
Ellis Eckman, Sculpture
Kayana Jacobs, Fashion Merchandising
Adri Ulm, Theatre
Cole Edwards, Theatre
Nawaf Tamim, Kinetic Imaging
Aziza, Painting & Printmaking
Lareina Allred, Graphic Design
Chynia Harris, Dance & Choreography
Valerie Heymann, Psychology
Charles Valdez, Photo/Film
Elliot Crotteau, Photo/Film
Kylie Hall, Photo/Film
Kayla Davis, Photo/Film
Faculty Mentor: Sonali Gulati, Photography and Film
Award: $3,000
After many job rejections, an unemployed clinical psychologist, Adella Rankine, is hypnotized by the interviewer, Andy Kipling, the agency’s director. It questions; In what way do we subconsciously and consciously decolonize systems and spaces? And Does this come from an act of rebellion or existence? 3:01 is a short film that exposes and questions the presence of coloniality. This film is made for individuals willing to challenge the mindset of others and themselves. By providing a new perspective, we attempt to reconstruct mindsets, spaces, and films.

Garment Design
Kristina Wise, Fashion Design and Merchandising
Yan Allen Shabazz, Fashion Design Major
Matthew Idechong, Fashion Design Major
Carmella Garner, Fashion Merchandising Major
Faculty Mentor: Kimberly Guthrie, Fashion Design and Merchandising
Award: $3,000
The goal of this research project is to create a prototype of a safety vest from eco-friendly sustainable materials for construction workers exposed to heavy traffic. The garment’s materials will be effective for workers in various conditions as well as solve issues regarding size inclusivity in design. The vest will be compliant with Virginia Department standards and address problems of pollution within the Personal Protective equipment industry.

Animated Film
Emily Huse, Cinema
Beau Donner, Cinema
Helene O’Brien, Interior Design
Aaron MacDonald, Communication Arts
Faculty Mentor: TyRuben Ellingson, Cinema
Award: $3,000
When a very serious man is born in the body of a clown, he must work to overcome other’s preconceived notions about him and show the world who he really is. Honk is a stop-motion short film that uses humor and metaphorical storytelling to explore what it feels like to not feel at home in your own body. The story examines what it is like to experience gender dysphoria and how the relationship between identity and body affects a person’s standing in society.

Short Film
Sofie Edwards, Cinema
Rachel Perlish, Music
Rania Ashoor, Cinema
Aurelio Babbet, Cinema
Chei-Ayn Mikell, Cinema
Faculty Mentor: Sheree Chen, Cinema
Award: $3,000
Floating is a short film about a ghost who falls in love with a balloon. As the balloon slowly deflates, it teaches the ghost the importance of letting go. A film without dialogue, Floating will be supported by an inventive original soundscape and score, and will be shot on increasingly expired film to mirror the characters’ journey toward death. This interdisciplinary project is a meditation on love and loss, aimed at making grief accessible to audiences of all ages.

Zine Creation
Courtney Te, Graphic Design
Emily Richardson, Mass Communications
Rohan Nair, Computer Science
Zoraz Haseeb, Computer Science
Faculty Mentor: David Shields, Graphic Design
Award: $896.00
Constructing a reprieve from the narrative of the Asian model minority, this zine and corresponding interactive website aim to create a safe space to reshape what it means to be Asian today.

Children’s Book
Lindsay Bowman, Art Education
Mikayla Heightshoe, English/Psychology
Faculty Mentor, Caitlin Black, Art Education
Award: $2215

To create a children’s book that merges principles of child psychology and creative learning in order to effectively communicate to children the importance of inclusion and disability awareness.

Visual History Archive
Kiara Brown, Kinetic Imaging
Achilles Braziel, Kinetic Imaging
Eunice Kim, Kinetic Imaging
Patrick Griffin, Kinetic Imaging
Ryan Alvarado, Kinetic Imaging
Sarah Cornell, Kinetic Imaging
Tony Dhillon, Kinetic Imaging
Uday Illa, Kinetic Imaging
Zachary Kennedy, Kinetic Imaging & Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Semi Ryu, Ph.D., Kinetic Imaging
Award: $3000

To create a visual history archive of art and animation through a multidisciplinary media to enforce the preservation of historical recounts of Richmond.

The Black Male Experience
Chadwick Davilsaint, Theatre
Amarachi Onyejekwe, Health, Physical Education and Exercise Science
Faculty Mentor: Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D., Theatre
Award: $250

This research project’s goals are to gather knowledge, insight, and understanding from a range of public figures on the VCU campus and in the Richmond neighborhood, to advance the overall wellness of the Black male experience, and to place special emphasis on the development of Black men’s morals, values, belief system, and way of life.

Slipping Into Yesterday
Paris Dinh, Graphic Design
Hailey Walcott, Photography and Film
Faculty Mentor: Ayham Ghraowi, Graphic Design
Award: $2000

As an interdisciplinary collaboration between a photographer and a graphic designer, Slipping into Yesterday is a research project that will result in a photo-based installation that addresses and resolves the loss of identity in the wake of our families’ divorces.

The Way They See Me
Tajhmir Gough (Cinema & Sociology)
Nico Yanakiev (Cinema & Business)
Mary Plaku (Psychology)
Faculty Mentor, Danny Caporaletti, Cinema
Award: $3000

Film: Two Black teenagers face two sides of racism from their teacher and must learn to work together to find a solution to their isolation.

Biocentrism: An Interactive Art Installation
Teairrah Green, Photo/Film
Lareina Allred, Graphic Design
Chynia Harris, Dance + Choreography
Faculty Mentor: Sasha Waters Freyer, Photography + Film
Award: $1450

This project is an interactive installation that combines video, audio, and performance art to answer the question: How does biocentrism unify our thinking and existence?

Everything Under the Sun: Short Film
Joshua Arroyo Cinema/Spanish
Hannah Cantrell, Cinema
Elise Sunderland Cantrell, Undeclared
Celia Donnelly, Graphic Design
Kendall Felix, Theatre
Gigi Jacobsen, Cinema
Gillian Moses Cinema/English
Lilly Parker, Photography + Film
Brianna Singleton Cinema/Media Studies
Holly Smith, Cinema/English
Noah Vickers, English
Maddy Wade, Cinema
Faculty Mentor: Shawn Brixey, Kinetic Imaging
Award: $2800

Everything Under the Sun is an experimental short film that studies the hesitancy and turmoil often faced when coming to terms with one’s sexuality. Our story follows Olivia, a college sophomore raised in a highly conservative and religious household, as she works through the complicated mental, emotional, and spiritual implications of her newly discovered attraction to girls.

Social Psychology of Childbirth
Anna Kovina, Sculpture + Extended Media
KáLyn Banks Coghill, Media, Art + Text (Ph.D.)
Faculty Mentors: Corin Hewitt, Sculpture + Extended Media; Jesse Burrowes, Sculpture + Extended Media; Jack Wax,Craft + Material Studies
Award: $3000

To develop a body work, utilizing bronze and glass, that challenges the established social psychology of childbirth as reflected in its historic lack of artistic representation.

Aztec Feather Mosaics
Megan Meyer, Graphic Design/Art History
Kaijun Xie, Painting + Printmaking/Biology
Award: $3000

To explore and recreate the processes of constructing Aztec feather mosaics following Spanish contact with Latin America in the 16th century.

Zine: Art Scenes and Subcultures of Saigon
Cecilia H. Nguyen, Photography + Film
Colin V. Nguyen, Interdisciplinary Studies
Yejin Lee, Graphic Design
Faculty Mentor: Jonathan Molina Garcia
Award: $3000

Our project will explore the different art scenes and subcultures of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. In our research, we will craft an intriguing and involved narrative surrounding this region of the country through a collection of interviews and portraits that will be compiled into a zine.

Impermanence: Multimedia Publication
Barrett Reynolds, Photography + Film
Fiona McMichael, Graphic Design/Painting + Printmaking
Celia Donnelly, Graphic Design
Faculty Mentor: Nicole Killian, Graphic Design
Award: $3000

To create a multimedia publication including illustration, poetry, photography, and collage exploring the materiality of the body. The students’ work will encapsulate ideas surrounding the impermanence of the human body in relation to time, as well as express the physiological
comparisons between the human form and one’s environment.

Material Sourcing and Reuse: Local Urban Wood for Student Use
Kristen Wheatley, Craft and Material Studies
Faculty Mentor: Keenan Rowe, Craft and Material Studies
Award: $2995

By establishing relationships with the City of Richmond, the James River Parks System, and the Virginia Department of Forestry, each organization will donate trees that have been removed or fallen on their land to the VCU Craft and Material Studies Department Wood Area. Using the provided funds, researchers will organize milling demonstrations with hired portable millworkers to mill the trees and educate students about lumber processing. We will then transport the wood to be dried in purchased kiln space. Following completion, the lumber will be transported to the Wood Area for use by students for Furniture Design Projects. The result will be a more financially accessible program and a more environmentally responsible source of wood.

Noises Off

This group of Theatre Performance majors plans to produce 6 shows of the comedic farce Noises Off. They want to truly research how comedy is used in everyday life. Therefore they came up with fundraising plans that will investigate comedic coping while also raising money for the show, such as pieing, a stand-up comedy night, a scavenger hunt and an awkward family photo contest. 

Award- $3000

Caroline Mae Woodson, double major in Theatre Performance and Psychology, Creative Writing minor

Sam Heller

Love, Mai

By researching and learning more about Buddhism and Vietnamese culture, this team will create a short film entitled Love, Mai, complete with a screenplay and all elements of pre and post production in filmmaking. This project will help VCU students of differing backgrounds and interests collaborate on ideas of motherhood, sisterhood, and grief. In creating and distributing this film, they hope it will challenge and affect people’s views of Asian-Americans. A main goal of this project is to give more humanity to Asian lives and to depict them as full, fleshed out characters. They want to push forward a new narrative of the diasporic experience and show Asian lives through a different lens, a main character lens.

Award- $2,950

Danielle Phan, Cinema

Aerin Fortes, English and Cinema

Ashley-Nicole Meadows, Cinema

Michael Nolan, Cinema

Camden Walent, Cinema

Shawn Bond, Cinema

Cheryl Anne Fries, Cinema

Alexiana James, Dance and Cinema

Hannah Cantrell, Cinema

Stephen Ingram, Cinema

Amani Hagmagid, Cinema

Terre Nguyen, Cinema

Jordyn Roberts, Mass Communications

Colton Johnson, Cinema

Alex Bagoly, Cinema

Faculty Mentor- J. M. Tyree

One Wing

One Wing is a short film revolving around feelings of grief, isolation, and new beginnings. It focuses on the specific period of grief that occurs before the loved one being mourned has passed away. The intended outcome of the project is to exhibit a strong father-daughter relationship in film and to display the pain and resilience required in the face of terminal illness and new beginnings. 

Award- $1,550

Gillian L Moses, Cinema

Rachel Christina, Cinema and Mass Communication

Brianna Singleton, Cinema

Carlos Chavez, Cinema

Madeline Wade, Cinema

Noah Vickers, English

Stuart Smith, Cinema 

Faculty Mentor- Danny Caporaletti

“Chữ và Lời” (Letter and Word)

Society is created and bonded through the way Vietnamese address each other using “tiếng Việt.” Drilling into this aspect, as an interdisciplinary collective of Vietnamese artists, this team is fascinated to research the nuanced and complicated connection that “tiếng Việt” brought up among Vietnamese-Americans on America’s soil. Together as inheritors of such a rich language, they aspire to preserve the Vietnamese’s handwritten script, its traditional folklore and to create a connection to our culture and its people through the project by creating a kinetic sculpture that involves Vietnamese text, wood, sedge mats and traditional bamboo weaving technique.

Award- $2,850

Hien Nguyen, Sculpture, Art History minor and Craft minor 

Quynh Nguyen, Graphic Design

Faculty Mentor- Anthony Nguyen

Eden, North Carolina

In 1967, the three small towns of Draper, Spray, and Leaksville, N.C, were merged into one and optimistically named Eden. The town is representative of the American Dream- an “Eden” belonging to hard-working Americans. However, in the wake of corporate restructuring, it has become much less of a paradise than the name suggests.  With this grant the team will be able to create a comprehensive collection of portraits of the town and its residents compiled into a book, of which a copy will be donated to the Eden Public Library. They also plan to give back to the Eden community by hosting free photography workshops for children to expand and inspire their creativity.

Award- $3,000

Kayleigh MacDonald, Photography + Film 

Elise Wojtowicz: Photography + Film and Art Education

Faculty Mentor- Mark Boulos

Stress and Strain

Stress and strain as well as tension and compression are terms with a specific engineering meaning that are also used in social context. These concepts unite on a physical and cellular level as well as on a larger social and psychological level. Making physical and biological ideas more approachable in an artistic format is important to this team. The overall outcome of this piece is to create a visual and sound piece that explores the patterns and relationships that form in non-Newtonian fluids. They hope to offer more sensory experiences than in a typical gallery setting, with interactive visual, tactile, and auditory pieces and works that connect people.

Award- $2,150

Niki Jiang, Sculpture and Craft minor

AV, Biomedical Engineering major and Math minor, who also studies Product

Innovation with the da Vinci center

Sustainable Production Methods

As a duo, this team is interested in creating sustainable products through alternative means of production. Previously, they conducted research and collected information on how to create paper using recycled materials and inks using plants, fruits, and vegetables as a way to make art sustainably. They aim to create various products that include but are not limited to: posters/flyers, books, zines, stationery, and sculptures using their made materials. Their intended outcome is an exhibition showing a collection of varying production methods and ideas that culminate into an array of sustainable products and environmentally conscious practices. This team plans to make an additional manifesto of their findings that will be created and published for the exhibition that people can take with them, made through their sustainable production methods.

Award- $606.48

Shayla Pham, Graphic Design and Painting & Printmaking minor

Wes Ramsey, Graphic Design

Faculty Mentor- Brooke Inman

PHYSARUM

Physarum will be an artist book focused on slime mold, fractals, and community care. They plan to draw on disabled and queer practices of found family and mutual aid to create a manifesto of interdependence as survival strategy. The artist book will also serve as a toolkit, offering cards to guide and inspire discussions around reciprocity and care in relationships and instructions to use them, encouraging the reader to create their own community ecosystem.

Award- $1,428

Syd Lewin, Sculpture and Extended Media

Faculty Mentor- Emily Sara