The Kennedy Institute of Ethics’ Undergraduate Bioethics Research Showcase, a juried exhibition of student work in a variety of categories, was hosted this spring for the fourth year.
Students from all four classes were represented, with a high number of juniors and seniors participating. These students combined to represent all four schools at Georgetown, spread out across 17 different undergraduate majors. Thirteen faculty mentors helped to guide and shape individual student projects.
An interdisciplinary panel of judges was convened from across the Georgetown community to identify the most outstanding submissions, which were judge on the basis of originality, engagement, clarity and quality of presentation, and critical analysis and contextualization of the subject matter.
The Showcase awarded two Grand Champions, along with first, second, and third place winners across all categories. This year’s grand champions included Sam Lee and Maddy Rice.
Maddy Rice, one of this year’s two Grand Champions
Lee’s project, We the Coral, also placed first in the multimedia + performance category and included a video, mural, and theses relating to the 25 species of coral considered “endangered” or “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Rice’s project, Discarded Narratives, also placed first in the academic paper category, and addresses the stigmas and taboos that exist around medical waste and the potential for such items to be used as a storytelling tool and representation of the illness experience.
Sam Lee, one of two 2018 Grand Champions
Three students from Georgetown University Qatar also submitted work: Maddie Vagadori, Chaïmaa Benkermi, and Hunain Ali. Ali traveled to Washington from Qatar for the Showcase gallery and reception; he submitted a paper for the Showcase titled “Human Cloning: A Critique of the Prevailing Arguments in Islam.”
This year’s winners, by category, included:
Academic Paper
- 1st Place: Maddy Rice, Discarded Narratives
- 2nd Place (tied): Caroline Doherty, The Image of Disability: Can Art Be a Catalyst for Change?
- 2nd Place (tied): Hasaan Munim, A Third Definition of Death? An Investigation into the Implications of Advanced Medical Technology on Death in the Islamic Tradition
- 3rd Place (tied): Marco Paternoster, Green Revitalization of Struggling Urban Neighborhoods
- 3rd Place (tied): Marina Smith, Addressing the Narratives in Health-Centric Data Collection A Case Study of Chicago and Johannesburg
- Honorable Mention: Caroline Lebel, Rebirth?: The Rhetoric of Reproduction in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Juliana Spahr’s Poetry
Journalism
- 1st Place: Maya James, The American Canaries of WWI: How the US Conducted Fatal Chemical Weapon Tests on US Soldiers
Multimedia and Performing Arts
- 1st Place: Sam Lee, We The Coral
- 2nd Place (tied): Caroline Kenneally, Dancing in the Anthropocene: Making a New World
- 2nd Place (tied): Radhika Sahai, Creating a Children’s Book For Chronically Hospitalized Children
Policy Proposal
- Honorable Mention: Madeline Klineman, Federal Implementation of Physician-Assisted Suicide Legislation
Rhetoric & Argumentation
- 1st Place: Rachel Biggio, Trapped in Limb-o: Health, Pain, and Body Integrity Identity Disorder
- 2nd Place: Zach Scherer, Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing: A Call for a More Interpretive Approach
This year’s Showcase also included an arts performance, done in collaboration with Georgetown’s Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. This year’s performance, titled Derangements: Putting the Unthinkable on Stage, included a series of plays from Climate Change Theatre Action, a worldwide series of readings and performances of short climate change plays presented to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings.
This year’s Showcase included a series of plays and performances on the topic of climate change.