BRIDGES 2026 Highlights Graduate Scholarship, Creativity and Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

The second annual BRIDGES: A Cross-Departmental Graduate Student Conference brought together graduate scholars, faculty, administrators and community members for a full day of research, creative work and professional development programming.

The event took place at the Student Activities Center on February 19. Organized entirely by graduate students through The SBU Graduate Arts & Sciences Magazine (GradMag), the conference expanded its interdisciplinary reach this year, representing more than 40 academic departments across Stony Brook University.

Led by Ava Nederlander, a PhD candidate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineeringand a member of the GradMag graduate leadership team, BRIDGES 2026 featured 93 research poster presentations spanning the sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities and the arts. The event also included a graduate art gallery, student film screenings, live musical performances and a Graduate Department Fair designed to foster meaningful connections across academic units.

Reflecting on the motivation behind the conference, Nederlander emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary engagement.

"No one's research exists in a vacuum," she said. "Everyone is working together, and there is so much collaboration that can happen when you create the space for it. BRIDGES brings different departments and disciplines together so students can connect, learn about one another's work, and find ways to bridge their research."

The conference opened with a keynote address by Peter Stokes, managing director of Strategy and Operations at Huron Consulting Group, who spoke about leadership, strategy and the value of interdisciplinary thinking in research and professional environments. Throughout the day, attendees participated in a seminar hosted by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Sciencefocused on conveying complex ideas clearly, as well as a professional development workshop led by the Stony Brook University Career Center centered on networking and career readiness.

In the afternoon, 23 faculty and industry judges evaluated student work across poster, art and film categories. Poster award recipients included Lauren Rothburd, a master's student in the Department of Psychology, who received first place and a $1,000 prize for her poster titled "Temperament, Psychopathology, and Interpersonal Functioning Factors of Adolescent Social Media Use"; Lily Cam, a PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Molecular Engineering, who received second place and $500 for her poster titled "Uncovering NosP's Role in P. aeruginosa Biofilm Dispersal via Pyocyanin Profiling of Functional Residues"; and Sai Abasolo, a PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, who received third place and $250 for her poster titled "Woven Bone-Mimicking Organoids as a Preclinical Platform and Therapeutic Construct for Bone Repair."

"My day has been nothing but exciting," said Rothburd. "Independent of winning, it was enlightening and informative. Every workshop, the keynote, the networking - it all tapped into professional development in a way that feels like it will really stay with me."

"Doing BRIDGES gave me a snapshot of my work and helped me see the big picture before my defense," said Abasolo. "It was a great stepping stone."

Benjamin Truong, a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science, received the $350 Art Award for Beaver Jesus (Stone Lithography), and Issack Cintron, an MFA student in Film, received the $350 Film Award for iCapicu!. Award recipients were recognized during the closing session.

Cintron shared the personal significance of screening his film.

"The film is rooted in family and memory," he said. "It is about holding onto traditions and passing them to the next generation. Even when we lose people, we do not lose them entirely - we carry them forward through the stories and rituals they gave us."

Cintron added that screening the film with his grandmother in the audience made the moment especially powerful.

"My family is a huge part of why I make films, so being able to share that moment with them meant everything," he said. "Anytime you get to screen your film in front of an audience, that is what filmmakers aspire to. But doing it here, surrounded by graduate students from across disciplines, made it even more meaningful."

Closing remarks were delivered by Provost Carl W. Lejuez and Dean Celia Marshik of The Graduate School, who reflected on the importance of graduate scholarship and student leadership in advancing interdisciplinary engagement at the university.

"I am such a big fan of this conference," said Marshik. "The fact that it is graduate student organized and run is really a tribute to what our graduate students are doing for themselves. It is just a reminder of the amazing talent and intellect of the graduate students at Stony Brook. BRIDGES is a celebration of the amazing things our graduate students accomplish on this campus. It reminds us why we want to be at a university and why this work matters."

Provost Carl W. Lejuez echoed that sentiment.

"This may be the best event we do at the university all year," he said. "It's done by our students, for our students, and it is so closely tied to what our graduate students need. It is intellectually nurturing while also keeping a real eye on career opportunities."

Reflecting on the continued growth of the conference, Nederlander noted that BRIDGES responds directly to graduate students' desire for spaces that encourage collaboration across disciplinary boundaries.

"Our team represents graduate students from the sciences, the humanities and the arts, and we are all coming together around one mission: graduate community and interdisciplinarity," she said. "We are proud to be the organization that brings people together, and we will continue to grow every year."

BRIDGES 2026 marked another milestone for graduate-led programming at Stony Brook University, highlighting the strength, creativity and collaborative spirit of its graduate community.