"The fifth annual BIG EAST Undergraduate Research Poster Symposium took place on Saturday, March 14, at Madison Square Garden, bringing together outstanding undergraduate scholars from across the conference for a day of academic competition and collaboration. The event featured 55 teams representing all 11 BIG EAST member institutions, with five teams from each school. Each team, consisting of one or two currently enrolled undergraduate students, presented original research to a panel of judges." St. John’s University was honored to return this year to face off in this academic competition which featured research projects from a variety of scholarly disciplines.
The symposium serves as a premier platform for undergraduate students to showcase innovative research in a high-profile setting. Five (5) of our top undergraduate student research teams were nominated to showcase their posters and present their work at the "World’s Most Famous Arena". Research students: Samit Bin Alam, Kosta Alexandratos, Richard Castimore, Christian Feurtado, Irene Gao, Kirpa Kaur, Aqilah Rahman, Ethan Yakubov; their faculty mentors: Dr. Saurabh Agarwal, Dr. David Byrne, Dr. Tracey Freiberg, Dr. Juan Santos, and Dr. Laura Schramm; along with two (3) faculty members serving as judges: Dr. Saurabh Agarwal, Dr. Marina Sorochinski, and Dr. Jenny Yang; were selected to represent St. John’s at this prestigious event.
As an added bonus, participants were also invited to attend the BIG EAST Championship game in the evening and cheer on the St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball team. The spirit of St. John’s University was strong at the 2026 BIG EAST Conference making this a year to remember!
BIG EAST Research Symposium News
Get updates on the conference and look for St. John’s University selected undergraduate researchers in the 2026 Abstract Book. Congrats to our 2026 Researchers!