Research Day 2026

WiSys Quick Pitch is a research-focused 3-minute pitch competition open to all academic disciplines, undergraduate and graduate students. The winner, selected by a panel of judges, wins a cash prize and moves on to a Quick Pitch State Final this summer. There will be 11 pitches involving 13 students. They are listed below:

1. Srujana Mallu – Automated Vertical Storage and Inventory Optimization

2. Arsalan Khan Jadoon – Systems Architecture for End-to-End Autonomous Fast-Food Operations

3. Premanvitha Salla – Development of cherry-tamarind 'swicy' hot sauce

4. Caldrida Pearl D Souza – Comparative Analysis of Meltability and Stretchability in Traditional and Plant-Based Cheeses

5. Sai Prathyusha Neelam – Effect of Collagen Infusion on the Physicochemical and Textural

6. Chloe Ferguson – User experience design for painting optimization constraints onto a 3D model

7. Sreeja Samala – Pea Starch to Food Packaging: Replacing Plastic with Biodegradable Films

8. Anushka Patil – Gut microbial effects on trophallaxis in the honey bee, Apis mellifera

9. Mukundeshwari Yampalla, Chuhan Yu, & Junmeng Zhang – Antimicrobial Effect of Kombucha and SCOBY on Fresh Chicken Meat

10. Reese Hufnagel – The Sky is Falling: Accelerating Demise During Uncontrolled Reentry of Space Debris

11. Chaitra Sawant – Potato Protein Isolate for early stage GLP-1 users

Hear presentations from faculty mentors and their students about their collaborative research projects in 10-minute oral presentations, and have the opportunity to ask them questions! Vote on the audience favorite presentation.

1:00-1:15 pm Ella Kemp with Tina Lee - Return on Investment of the Work of County Land and Water Conservation Departments in Wisconsin

1:15-1:30 pm Ashlyn Dellemann with Tina Lee - Rental Quality in Dunn County Wisconsin: Policy and Student Experiences

1:30-1:45 pm Prachi Sakariya with Pranabendu Mitra - Development of Sugar-Free, Protein-Enriched Hard Candy Using Encapsulated Spirulina: Effects of Wall Materials on Stability and Flavor

1:45-2:00 pm Desiah Melby with Debbie Stanislawski - Adult Learners' Perceptions of an AI-Infused Writing Curriculum in Two-Year Postsecondary Education

2:00-2:15 pm Michael Romero with Keif Oss - Using Digital Pre-visualization for Cinematic Storytelling in 'What Remains'

UW-Stout's FIRST Ambassadors Program, launched in 2025 with generous support from the Argosy Foundation, connects UW-Stout students with regional K-12 schools to mentor and sustain robotics teams in FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition.Two of these teams will attend Research Day to showcase their robots and share their experiences. They are #134 and #135.

Connect with students, faculty, and staff to learn more about how their research and creative projects will enhance and revolutionize the way we live, work and understand the world. Presenters share their work through posters, demos, and exhibits. This year, water-related research is highlighted in the Great Hall, and students from CVTC and FIRST Ambassadors high school robotics teams will be presenting, as well.

Attendees vote on the Audience Favorite Poster or Exhibit.

Each year, UW-Stout recognizes outstanding faculty and students for their research and scholarly activities through the presentation of Outstanding Researcher Awards. Join us in celebrating these exceptional researchers and learn more about what they've accomplished. In addition, the Audience Favorite Poster or Exhibit and Oral Presentation and the WiSys Quick Pitch 1st Place, 2nd Place, and Audience Favorite will be announced.

REFRESHMENTS SERVED.