The Lumen Advisory Committee director Michael Carignan announced Elon University’s 2025 Lumen Scholar winners. The 15 Lumen Prize winners are granted $20,000 to support their mentored research and creative projects over the next two years. 

“It was a very competitive pool this year and we had to make more than a few difficult decisions on strong applications,” Carignan wrote. “Those that made it to the winners’ circle have truly exceptional project proposals that we are excited to support and watch unfold over the next two years.”


2025 Lumen Scholars


Nicolas Alvarez — Mechanical Engineering & Mathematics

Mentor: Blake Hament

Project: Learning to Walk: Applying Lessons from Infant Motor Development to a Reinforcement Learning Policy for Locomotion of Quadrupedal Robots


Izzy Bennett — Public Health Studies

Mentor: Cindy Fair

Project: Sexual Reproductive Health Knowledge and Counseling: Perspectives of Emerging Adult Women with Sickle Cell Disease and Healthcare Providers


Jonathan Berkson — Astrophysics

Mentor: Chris Richardson

Project: Peering into Dust and Gas: Improving Environmental Modeling to Identify Intermediate-Mass Black Holes


Gage Brinker — Exercise Science

Mentor: Madison Chandler

Project: Evaluating Sleep and Recovery in Firefighters: A Comparative Analysis of Shift Schedule Using WHOOP Wearable Technology to Optimize the Efficacy of the First Responders in Our Community


Elise Butterbach — Biomedical Engineering 

Mentors: Hwayeon Ryu & Efrain Rivera-Serrano

Project: Mathematical Modeling of Viral Myocarditis to Investigate Excessive Inflammation in the Heart


Jaylem Cheek — Astrophysics

Mentor: Chris Richardson

Project: Unveiling Ancient Seeds: An Improved Physical Framework to Detect Relic Black Holes in the Local Universe


Jack DeLucco — Engineering & Computer Science

Mentor: Richard Blackmon

Project: Isolating RF Signals Subject to Electromagnetic Interference


Makenna Grozis — Biology & Public Health Studies

Mentor: Jen Uno

Project: The Hidden Link: Endocrine Disruptors, Autoimmunity, and the Oral-Gut Microbial Axis


Monika Jurevicius — Journalism & Public Health Studies

Mentor: Alex Luchsinger

Project: Soviet Legacy and EU Influence: Examining Lithuania’s Media Landscape from 1990 to Today


Aubrey Kocsis — Acting & Music in the Liberal Arts

Mentor: Lauren Kearns

Project: Fight Club or Boys Club? Examining Structural Inequality and Gendered Movement in Stage Combat Choreography


Lola Moore — Creative Writing & Literature

Mentor: Drew Perry

Project: The Falling and the Fallen: Interconnected Short Stories on American Identity and the Restless Nature of Happiness in a Patchwork Narrative


Adam Reisman — Exercise Science

Mentor: Titch Madzima

Project: Menstrual Cycle-Based Periodized Training on Performance, Muscle Soreness, and Rates of Recovery in Active Females


Sophie Remisio — Environmental Engineering & Applied Mathematics

Mentor: Will Pluer

Project: Filtering the Future: A Regenerable Approach to PFAS Filtration Using Non-Conventional Sorbents


Aidan Spoerndle — Computer Science

Mentor: Joel Hollingsworth

Project: Design and Implementation of a Computer Vision-Based Robot to Assist Row-Intercropping Farming


Muhammad Awal Tahiru — Physics & Applied Mathematics

Mentor: Martin Kamela

Project: Decoherence and the Arrow of Time: Investigating the Quantum Origins of Temporal Asymmetry