The Phillips Memorial Library Undergraduate Craft of Research Prize is a partnership between the library and the Center for Engaged Learning to recognize excellence in research and use of library resources by the undergraduate community at Providence College.

Winners are selected by a committee of librarians and faculty, and prizes and are awarded for three winners as well as two honorable mentions.

For more information on the prize and guidelines for participation see: http://providence.libguides.com/research_prize

The complete list of prizewinners is below. To read the full-text of a selection of prizewinning papers scroll to the bottom of the page.

2024
  • 1st Place - Colin Prancl - “The Transportation Revolution: The Ashton Viaduct” and “The Transportation Revolution: Beta Cloth”
  • 2nd Place - David Salzillo - "“The Learned Gentlemen with the Copies of Blackstone”: Law and Power in Moby-Dick and Blood Meridian"
  • 3rd Place - Hope Rhind - "Analyzing and Understanding America’s Foreign Policy Decisions and Strategies Throughout the Bosnian War"


2023
  • 1st Place - Catalina Betancur Velez - “Networks of Care: An Autoethnography on these Innovative Products of the Migrant Journey as Outlets for One's Development of Citizenship"
  • 2nd Place - David A. Salzillo - "On the Development of Catholic Moral Teaching (Chapter 1: Halakhic Precedent)"
  • 3rd Place - Jackson DeMartino - "Purification and kinetic characterization of mutant R111V human cytosolic malate dehydrogenase"
  • 3rd Place - Kailey Paar - "Kinetic analysis of Glu115Ala cytosolic human malate dehydrogenase mutation shows a change in activity on non-native substrate phenylpyruvate"


2022
  • 1st Place - Catalina Betancur Velez - "Indigenous Movements in Colombia: Redefining Their Notion of Citizenship Through Social Demonstrations, Representative Groups, and Constitutional and Legal Reforms"
  • 1st Place - Olivia Schmitt - "Proline to serine mutation in the active site loop of malate dehydrogenase alters substrate specificity"
  • 2nd Place - Alexander Cannon - "A Damaged Reputation: Nuclear Depictions in Entertainment Media"
  • 3rd Place - Colin Fonseca - "American Gun Violence: A Cause to Combat the Epidemic "
  • Honorable Mention - Ethan Dionne - "Development and kinetic survey of a G148Tmutant human cytosolic malate dehydrogenase isoform 3 enzyme with oxaloacetate and α-ketoglutarate "

2021
  • 1st Place - Sarah Heavren - "Reactions and Responses to the American Chestnut Blight in the Twentieth Century"

2020
  • 1st Place - Sean Gray - "Authors of Independence: Comparing Thomas Paine and Camilo Henríquez as Revolutionary Writers"
  • 2nd Place - Sarah Heavren - "Immigration in the 1990s and the Imagery of Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad"
  • 3rd Place - Mackenzie Fox - "Medieval Ailments: Healing Others, Misogyny, and Anti-Semitism"
  • Honorable Mention - Timothy Rigdon - "Ile126His and Lys129His Surface Mutations Aid in Purification of Haemophilus influenzae Carbonic Anhydrase Through Increased Metal Ion Affinity"

2019
  • 1st Place - Mary Creedon - "Aspirations to Empire: American Imperialism, Foreign Policy, and the 1954 Guatemalan Coup d’état"
  • 2nd Place - Sean Gray - "The Shortcomings of the Philosopher President: Sun Yat-sen’s Provisional Presidency of 1912"
  • 3rd Place - Morgan Dunn - "Bariatric Surgery as a Treatment to Obesity"

2018
  • 1st Place- Olivia G Braga - “Antipsychotic Drug Use: Managing Cardiometabolic and Cost Effects”

2017
  • 1st Place- Caroline Foley - “Surface Mutation Thr34His Facilitates Purification of Haemophilus influenza Carbonic Anhydrase via Metal Affinity Chromatography”
  • 2nd Place- Brandon Greene - “How Neoliberalism Weakened Democracy in Chile”
2016
  • 1st Place- Rebecca Marisseau - "Custom has rendered it somehow necessary; we must and will have it': English Transferware and National Identity in the Early American Republic"
  • 2nd Place- Hao You - "No Frills = No Thrills? An Econometric Study of Airline Baggage Fee Charges"
  • Honorable Mention: Emma Hodges -"Not Monsters, But Men: The Problem of Moral Injury"
2015
  • 1st Place—John Hindley - "Neocolonialism, Liberation Theology and the Nicaraguan Revolution"
  • 2nd Place-- Jacquelyn Kelley - "The Little Magazine That Did Big Things"
  • 3rd Place—Daniel Gagnon - "France and the Community of Six: The Schuman Declaration to the Treaties of Rome"
  • Honorable Mention: Meaghan Dodson - "Radical Rejections and Sloppy Seconds"
  • Honorable Mention: Hao You - "Men, Women and War: An Examination of Gender Conflicts within Othello"
2014
  • 1st Place- Daniel Gagnon - "Algeria, De Gaulle, and the Birth of the French Fifth Republic"

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Winners from 2024

The Transportation Revolution: Beta Cloth, Colin Prancl

The Transportation Revolution: The Ashton Viaduct, Colin Prancl

PDF

Analyzing and Understanding America’s Foreign Policy Decisions and Strategies Throughout the Bosnian War, Hope Rhind

Winners from 2023

PDF

Purification and Kinetic Characterization of Mutant R111V Human Cytosolic Malate Dehydrogenase, Jackson DeMartino

PDF

Kinetic Analysis of Glu115Ala Cytosolic Human Malate Dehydrogenase Mutation Shows a Change in Activity on Non-native Substrate Phenylpyruvate, Kailey Paar

Winners from 2022

PDF

A Damaged Reputation: Nuclear Depictions in Entertainment Media, Alexander Cannon

PDF

Development and Kinetic Survey of a G148T Mutant Human Cytosolic Malate Dehydrogenase Isoform 3 Enzyme with Oxaloacetate and A-ketoglutarate, Ethan N. Dionne

PDF

On the Development of Catholic Moral Teaching (Chapter 1: Halakhic Precedent), David Salzillo

PDF

Proline to Serine Mutation in the Active Site Loop of Malate Dehydrogenase Alters Substrate Specificity, Olivia J. Schmitt

PDF

Networks of Care: An Autoethnography on these Innovative Products of the Migrant Journey as Outlets for One's Development of Citizenship, Catalina Betancur Velez

Winners from 2021

PDF

American Gun Violence: A Cause to Combat the Epidemic, Colin Fonseca

PDF

Reactions and Responses to the American Chestnut Blight in the Twentieth Century, Sarah Heavren

PDF

Indigenous Movements in Colombia: Redefining Their Notion of Citizenship Through Social Demonstrations, Representative Groups, and Constitutional and Legal Reforms, Catalina Betancur Velez

Winners from 2020

PDF

Medieval Ailments: Healing Others, Misogyny, and Anti-Semitism, Mackenzie Fox

PDF

Ile126His and Lys129His Surface Mutations Aid in Purification of Haemophilus influenzae Carbonic Anhydrase Through Increased Metal Ion Affinity, Timothy Rigdon and Kathleen Cornely

Winners from 2019

PDF

Aspirations to Empire: American Imperialism, Foreign Policy, and the 1954 Guatemalan Coup d’état, Mary Creedon

PDF

Authors of Independence: Comparing Thomas Paine and Camilo Henríquez as Revolutionary Writers, Sean Gray

PDF

The Shortcomings of the Philosopher President: Sun Yat-sen’s Provisional Presidency of 1912, Sean Gray

PDF

Immigration in the 1990s and the Imagery of Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad, Sarah Heavren

Winners from 2018

PDF

Antipsychotic Drug Use: Managing Cardiometabolic and Cost Effects, Olivia G. Braga

PDF

Bariatric Surgery as a Treatment to Obesity, Morgan D. Dunn

Winners from 2017

PDF

Surface Mutation Thr34His Facilitates Purification of Haemophilus influenza Carbonic Anhydrase via Metal Affinity Chromatography, Caroline Foley and Dr. Kathleen Cornely

PDF

How Neoliberalism Weakened Democracy in Chile, Brandon Greene

Winners from 2016

Not Monsters, But Men: The Problem of Moral Injury, Emma Hodges

Custom Has Rendered it Somehow Necessary; We Must and Will Have It: English Transferware and National Identity in the Early American Republic, Rebecca Marisseau

PDF

No Frills = No Thrills? An Econometric Study of the Effects of Airline Baggage Fee Charges, Hao You

Winners from 2015

PDF

France and the Community of Six: The Schuman Declaration to the Treaties of Rome, Daniel Gagnon

PDF

Neocolonialism, Liberation Theology and the Nicaraguan Revolution, John Hindley

PDF

The Little Magazine That Did Big Things, Jacquelyn Kelley

PDF

Men, Women and War: An Examination of Gender Conflicts within Othello, Hao You

Winners from 2014

PDF

Radical Rejections and Sloppy Seconds, Meaghan Dodson

Winners from 2013

PDF

Algeria, De Gaulle, and the Birth of the French Fifth Republic, Daniel A. Gagnon