Georgetown University’s Lauinger Library is hosting an inaugural Cross-Disciplinary Undergraduate Research Exhibition to celebrate the achievements of student researchers from Jan. 31 to Mar. 31.
The exhibition, the first in Lau’s history, is on display in the Gelardin Center, a digital media space, and features posters of 31 undergraduate students’ research, nominated by directors of undergraduate programs. The researchers gave short presentations of their projects to other students during an opening ceremony Jan. 31.
Beth Marhanka, Lau’s head of outreach and engagement, said she hopes the exhibition brings attention to student researchers and teaches them how to engage with their work at Georgetown.
“This event was an opportunity to help students think through the importance of their research, the impact it could have and imagine what the next steps could be,” Marhanka wrote to The Hoya. “We also wanted to give students the opportunity to network, connect with potential collaborators and ask for guidance from the faculty and librarians.”
“We hope that as other students see the posters or read this article they will be inspired to imagine what is possible for themselves,” Marhanka added.
Riya Subbaiah (CAS ’25), whose research on female martyrdom across various religious traditions was featured, said she sought to highlight the stories of female martyrs and contextualize them through gender expectations for women.
“I was really focusing on the term martyr and what it is to be a martyr, especially for women across a historical and contemporary context,” Subbaiah told The Hoya. “I looked at women in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Islam, and through that study, I really wanted to broaden my definition of martyrdoms to include any woman who had committed a sacrifice in the name of religion.”
Subbaiah said the exhibition was powerful because it showed her new dimensions of academic research through the wide range of topics on display.
“The cross-disciplinary element was really, really cool,” Subbaiah said. “People had very niche, nuanced projects that I never would have conceptualized before I stepped into the exhibition.”
Luke Pappalardo (CAS ’27), who visited the opening reception, said the exhibition showed him the breadth of student research and resources in the library beyond study spaces.
“It was really cool to see a really broad range of different topics,” Pappalardo told The Hoya. “The researchers talked about things from ‘Does climate change result in conflict?’ to a linguistics poster about different interpretations of the word ‘or’ and how that has played into Supreme Court rulings.”
“It was a great way to get into the library for more reasons other than cramming for a midterm,” Pappalardo added.
Marhanka said she hopes the exhibition will also showcase Lau’s resources and research capabilities.
“We also want the entire Georgetown community to know about the resources available from the Library to help you with your research,” Marhanka wrote. “From millions of books and articles to a team of subject librarians, digital scholarship specialists and curators — we can help you through every step of the research process.”
Marhanka added that the exhibition’s success encourages her to continue the showcase in the future with the hope of inspiring more student researchers.
“We still need to debrief and get feedback from the participants, but based on the positive comments received so far, I’m very hopeful that this will be an annual event going forward,” Marhanka wrote. “We’ve already started brainstorming about holding next year’s reception in the newly renovated Pierce Reading Room, which is super exciting.”
Subbaiah said she hopes future exhibitions will encourage more Georgetown students to showcase their research.
“I would just encourage everybody who’s done research at Georgetown or off Georgetown to connect with the faculty mentor who’s been influential,” said Subbaiah. “If you’ve had a professor in a class that you like, they are really eager to hear about your research and to help you get it published and get it into exhibitions.”