Baruch Student Among Best Poster Winners at CUNY Celebration of Undergraduate Research

Baruch Student Among Best Poster Winners at CUNY Celebration of Undergraduate Research

June 24, 2026

For Lucy McGee ('27), a Baruch College Macaulay Honors student, presenting her research is familiar-but earning an award is new.

The biological science major won Best Poster for her project "Epilepsy gene prickle required for Drosophila development in gut and trachea cells" at the CUNY Celebration of Undergraduate Research in May. Among the 235 presentations, the award was presented to a recipient from all 20 CUNY colleges that offer faculty-mentored undergraduate research experiences.

"Being chosen for this exclusive student event was thrilling," said McGee, who participated at Baruch's Creative Inquiry Expo in 2025 and 2026, and presented last year at the Macaulay STEAM Festival. "It was rewarding interpreting the results, see my poster come together, and view all the research happening on other CUNY campuses."

McGee explored how a gene linked to neurological disorders helps organisms develop. Working with fruit flies, she discovered that although different versions of the gene could compensate for one another, removing all of them prevented the flies from maturing into adults.

'A Proactive Researcher'

McGee's faculty mentor was Rebecca Spokony, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Natural Sciences at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, who nominated McGee, calling her a "proactive researcher." McGee joined Spokony's lab following a tour with her BioMed Club last year.

"Lucy brought her enthusiasm for scientific discovery to the lab and propelled an ongoing project forward," Spokony explained. "By presenting her work at multiple stages, she developed a strong understanding of both the background material and the experimental design, culminating in this latest presentation, which included the results."

McGee credits Spokony's invaluable involvement with her award-winning presentation.

"The biggest challenge I faced was figuring out how to communicate the results clearly," said McGee. "Dr. Spokony taught me the importance of how to put together a presentation that was to the point but can be easily understood."

'Ah Ha Moments' for Students

McGee was among 14 Baruch undergraduates who participated in CUNY's annual event that provides students mentored by CUNY's world-class faculty with a university-wide showcase for their work. At Baruch, that experience is reinforced through the College's Experiential and Community Engaged Learning (ExCEL) office that bridges research to professional development and career pathways.

ExCEL Director Anthony Maniscalco noted, "Our faculty-mentored student participants at the CUNY Celebration of Undergraduate Research get an opportunity to gain a clearer understanding of the connections between their classroom and lab work and their success beyond graduation."

"The 'ah ha' moments that can occur at these research showcases are inestimable!"

Meet Baruch's Presenters, Projects, and Mentors

• Andrew Cottle - "Municipal ID Programs in the United States: A Comparative Analysis of Governance Models" (Mentor: Dr. Els de Graauw)
• Martime Doccy - "The Economics of Exclusion: Who Gets a Grocery Store and Who Doesn't" (Mentor: Dr. Ryan Teschner)
• Ronard Lebron - "AQP8 mediates H2O2 transport across the mitochondrial inner membrane" (Mentor: Dr. Pablo Peixoto)
• Cherry Leung - "Shrike: Performance Turned Exploitation Turned Rebellion" (Mentor: Dr. Adrienne Raphel)
• Jenny Lin - "Analyzing Student Experiences Through User-Generated Data: An Application Across CUNY" (Mentor: Dr. Claude Braithwaite)
• Lucy McGee - "Epilepsy gene prickle required for Drosophila development in gut and trachea cells" (Mentor: Dr. Rebecca Spokony)
• Putri Prabowo - "Medutainment: When Health Communication Becomes Entertainment" (Mentor: Dr. Anthony Maniscalco)
• Diyora Saidniyozova and Mehreen Zahid - "Effect of Polysaccharide Production on εp in Cyanobacteria" (Mentor: Dr. Ana Gonzalez Nayeck)
• Sindi Shallari, Karen Lopez Gomez, Nada Abushami, and Johanna Vicente - "The Karen Blixen House: A Symbol of Freedom or a Spector of Colonialism" (Mentor: Dr. Karen Shelby)
• Rachel (Zheyi) Xie - "Impacts of large wood debris on living shoreline ecological functioning." (Mentors: Dr. Chester Zarnoch and Dr. Amanda Flores)
• Jessica Zhou - "Nanoplastic Permeation Across the Blood Brain Barrier" (Mentor: Dr. Baofu Qiao)

Expanding Opportunities for Students

Experiential learning applies classroom learning to real problem solving, connects classrooms to communities, and empowers students to connect with and impact the world.

At ExCEL, the office builds and expands opportunities for students to engage in research while being supported by faculty mentors in each of the College's academic departments. It also develops opportunities for students to participate in community-based learning activities while they earn course credit and connect their growing theoretical knowledge to new experiences beyond the campus.

View all the research and off-campus community-based learning opportunities ExCEL offers students.