'Research Day was everything': Claflin students showcase work 

Claflin University’s annual Research Day was a showcase of curiosity, rigor and creativity, highlighting student research across STEM and the humanities.

The event culminated in a historic tie for third place, illustrating the breadth of talent and dedication among the student body. Each winner brought a unique lens to their field, sharing months of preparation, insight and discovery.

First place: Nigel Bradley

Sophomore biotechnology major and computer science minor Nigel Bradley won first place for his project, Regulation of β-Catenin by EBP50 in Pulmonary Vascular Endothelial Cells. It was conducted over the summer at Brown University under Dr. Imad Al Ghouleh at the Cardiovascular Institute.

His research explored the mechanisms driving pulmonary hypertension, a life-threatening cardiovascular disease. Bradley focused on understanding how the protein EBP50 can regulate β-Catenin, a key factor in the disease’s progression.

“Research Day was everything,” Bradley said. “It felt like extra fuel in the tank.”

Despite oversleeping on the morning of the event, Bradley relied on months of prior preparation, including a summer symposium at Brown, to convey complex processes like endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in layman’s terms.

The learning curve was steep.

Bradley described the first weeks in the lab as “brain-racking,” struggling to understand unfamiliar proteins and cellular interactions. Yet his perseverance paid off, both in his experimental results and his ability to communicate them.

Academically, he credits the experience with sharpening his research skills and broadening his understanding of immunology and medicinal science.     “Winning gives me another boost,” he said. “It’s motivation to see what I can do next.”

Second place: Zecariya Fenwick

Senior biochemistry major Zecariya Fenwick earned second place for her project, NMR-Based Metabolomics in the Quantification of Human Saliva Samples. Fenwick analyzed saliva from students and faculty to study how metabolites vary across age, gender, lifestyle and other factors, building upon experiments from her Biochemistry II course.

Fenwick spent a year preparing, from sample collection to analysis using Claflin’s high-powered 700 MHz NMR machine.

“It was tedious work,” she explained, “but presenting it for the first time at Research Day boosted my confidence tremendously.”

Sitting next to Bradley, she described a friendly rivalry: “We were both zoning out the rest of the room, wondering who would win.”

For Fenwick, the experience solidified her future career goal of becoming a forensic pathologist.

“Presenting this research shows that I’m capable of more than just exams,” she said. “It proves I can take on larger scientific challenges.”

Third place/tie: La’tresa Middleton and Maricellyn L. McDonald

The first tie in Research Day history went to La’tresa Middleton and Maricellyn L. McDonald, highlighting the diversity of research at Claflin.

Middleton, a sophomore English education major, presented The Effects of Perception on the Identity of Black Women. Her project examined how African American literature often centers Black men or straight Black women, leaving gay Black women underrepresented.

Drawing from a ten-week summer program at Columbia University and refining her research during the fall semester, Middleton explored the influence of perception on identity. She reflected on the challenge of interpreting literature without numeric data: “Knowing that my interpretations are right was the most challenging part,” she said. “It’s a theory-based research, but it’s meaningful.”

McDonald, a junior double majoring in biology and mass communications with a minor in chemistry, conducted her research, Lab-Based Spectroscopic Imaging of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation, as a WAVE Fellow at Caltech. Her lab-based study focused on improving seagrass monitoring through spectroscopy, analyzing differences in light reflection to differentiate seagrass from macroalgae.

“Though I didn’t choose the topic, I quickly grew passionate about it,” McDonald said.

The project strengthened her ambition to communicate scientific research to broader audiences, bridging biology and mass communications.