The Undergraduate Library Research Award, presented by the Science, Engineering, and Social Sciences Libraries, recognizes outstanding use of library resources—including collections, services, spaces, and staff expertise—in sciences, engineering, and social sciences-based assignments, projects, or creative work completed in the past year. Winners submitted 700-800 word essays detailing their research process with library resources, earning prizes and recognition at our May 7, 2025 awards ceremony at Butler Library. Winning essays are accessible through Academic Commons.

Congratulations to the 2025 Library Research Award winners!

Capstone Project or Senior Thesis Award Category

First Place: Michael Boisture (History)

Michael Boisture won first prize for his honors senior thesis, “The Faith of a Nation: The Catholic Church, Irish Nationalism, and Family Welfare During the Dublin Lockout and Beyond, 1913-1918.” Advised by Professor Marc Van De Mieroop (Department of History) and Professor Roslyn Dubler (Department of History), his work offered a political and cultural examination of the Catholic Church’s welfare-based institutions in Ireland and how they intertwined with Irish nationalist sentiments amidst a pivotal moment in modern Irish history. Michael acknowledges British and American History and Literature Librarian John Tofanelli and West European Studies Librarian Ian Beilin for their guidance in navigating library resources, enabling him to locate archival and primary source materials—both digitally and in Dublin—in preparation for his research trip to Ireland, funded by the Department of History’s Fellowship for Research in European Archives. He also highlights the instrumental role of Borrow Direct, Interlibrary Loan (ILL), self-serve scanners, and key databases like ProQuest Historical Newspapers in supporting his thesis research. Read Michael’s winning essay. 

Second Place: Fatima Ahmad (Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies)

Fatima Ahmad won second place for her honors senior thesis, “Voices of Hijrat [ہجرت] Tracing Indian Muslim Migration through Faiz Muhammad Khan’s 1920 Journey to Afghanistan.” Advised by Professor Isabel Huacuja Alonso (Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies), her work explores the social dimensions of the Hijrat Movement, understanding it to not simply be defined by religion, but also by politics. Ahmad credits South Asian Librarian Gary Hausman for guiding her exploration of key primary sources, including newspapers such as Akhbār-i khavātīn, Imroẕ, Jang (The Daily Jang), and Navā-yi vaqt. Additionally, she utilized CLIO to access poetry and memoirs, enriching her analysis of the Khilafat Movement beyond official speeches and government records. Read Fatima’s winning essay.

Sophomore, Junior, or Senior Category

First Place: Ishaan Barrett (Urban Studies)

Ishaan Barrett won first place for his paper, “Histories of Privatization: Examining Culture, Legal Conflict, and Economic Transformation at Adams Morgan Plaza in Washington, DC” (supported by a Research Fellowship at the Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights). Advised by Professor Frank Guridy (Department of History), his work analyzes census data and primary sources to investigate the privatization of Adams Morgan Plaza and subsequent community challenges, offering insights into the neighborhood’s evolving cultural and economic landscape. Ishaan utilized Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to access critical resources, including photography and scholarly works central to his research. He acknowledges Teaching and Undergraduate Services Librarian Sydni Meyer for helping him refine his research methodology—particularly through controlled vocabulary searches, which enhanced precision in locating materials on zoning policies, public easements, and urban historic preservation. Sydni further directed him to government document repositories and local historical archives, enabling access to key municipal reports. Read Ishaan’s winning essay.

Second Place: Gwendolyn Seto (Operations Research: Engineering Management Systems)

Gwendolyn Seto won second place for her interactive web game, “Moral Code,” created for Barnard’s Vagelos Computational Science Center (CSC) Visualization Wall competition (Spring 2025) under the theme Art & Futurism. Advised by CSC staff Saima Akhtar (Senior Associate Director), Marko Krkeljas (Senior Software & Applications Developer), Kiley Matschke (Post-Baccalaureate Fellow), and Nica Genestin (Coordinator), the project merges technology ethics, Gwen’s own original art, and speculative futures, reflecting on past tech disasters while imagining future implications. Seto utilized Columbia’s library resources, including CLIO, to access academic analyses, investigative journalism, and technical reports (e.g. “Ethics in Media, Technology, and Design: Case Studies” from Academic Commons, the Libraries’ institutional repository). These materials informed her ethical frameworks and scenario designs. She also credits the Butler, Uris, and Mathematics libraries as key workspaces for the project. Read Gwendolyn’s winning essay.

First Year Category

Winner: Eduarda Kovarsky Rotta (Philosophy and History)

Eduarda Kovarsky Rotta won the First Year category for her two class assignments: “The Brazilian Academy of Letters and its Third Member of the 37th Chair” (advised by Professor Alfonso Salgado, Department of History) and “Impunity as Precedent: Brazil’s Politics of Forgetting in Usages of Amnesty” (advised by Professor Carolyn Cargile, Undergraduate Writing Program). Collaborating with Social Sciences and Policy Librarian Ben Chiewphasa, she anchored her research in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture for contextual grounding on Brazil’s democratic transitions. While browsing Lehman Library’s Brazilian history collection, she discovered materials that inspired her to focus one of her projects on the Brazilian Academy of Letters during Brazil’s authoritarian periods. Chatting with Ask A Librarian staff prompted her to access off-site Portuguese materials via Borrow Direct, WorldCat, and New York Public Library. Additionally, library staff directed her to key resources like Latin American Newstream and subject guides that discuss strategies for working with archives and primary sources. Read Eduarda’s winning essay.

The program team consisted of Ben Chiewphasa (lead), Kae Bara Kratcha, Nickeisha Pencil, and Eamon Tewell. The program was funded by the Columbia University Libraries’ Community Engagement Grant initiative.