SIUE Announces Student Winners for Fall 2025 URCA Awards

SIUE Announces Student Winners for Fall 2025 URCA Awards

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville announced two Fall 2025 URCA Research Assistant and Creative Activities Assistant of the Semester awards: Emma Prott who graduates this December with a degree in environmental toxicology, and Ella Young, a senior double majoring in English and Anthropology.

Prott was interviewed previously about her work studying border militarization on the Rio Grande with mentor Adriana Martinez, PhD, professor of physical geography, fluvial geomorphology, riparian zones and geographic information systems (GIS).

Young performed her research under the mentorship of Johanna Schmitz, PhD, professor of Theater History and Dramatic Literature.

Both Prott and Young receive a stipend deposited into their Bursar Office accounts from the Office of the Provost. They shared their thoughts on the opportunity to conduct award-winning research.

Describe your research interest and work this semester.

Young: My project this semester involves contributing to a digital archive for the Rose Playhouse since its 1989 discovery. The Rose was the first Elizabethan theatre built in Bankside London and was rediscovered during construction work in the 1980s. My project includes processing and uploading documents, photos, and videos pertaining to the Rose into the archive created by Professor Schmitz.

Prott: Since my first visit to the southern border, I have gained many more valuable experiences to help aid my research and understanding of the topic. With my last trip in June of this year, I spent more time meeting with community members to update and inform them about the channel disruptions caused by the buoys.

Dr. Martinez and I discussed our findings with the Mexican Consulate, the local Texas Congressional representative, the Eagle Pass Mayor, several city council members, and local community members involved in art and humanities projects surrounding the river. Providing community members with updates on the river allows for increased transparency about channel health and disruptions caused by the buoys. As more of the community learns about how the buoys are negatively affecting the river, it could help lead to the removal of the buoys and restoration of the river channel.

This semester I continued processing sediment samples collected from the Rio Grande to understand how sediment deposition can impact river channel dynamics. The samples were collected in June 2025, and samples are being processed with the same methods as my previous two semesters as an URCA student.

After the sediment samples are dried in the oven, each sample is separated into inorganics and organics before being separated by size with the Ro-Tap sieve machine. The sieve machine allows me to understand how the sediments are distributed based on size for both the U.S. and Mexican side of the buoys.

Through my channel disruption research, my current research interests are understanding how the river channel's health will change over time due to the presence of buoys in the river. With the buoys remaining in the channel, channel velocities are changing, and this leads to shifting sediment dynamics on both the U.S. and Mexican side of the buoys. As sediment dynamics change in the river channel, the health and stability of aquatic vegetation, terrestrial organisms and the riverbanks could continually decrease over time. Understanding that the buoys play a large role in riparian and organismal health provides more reasons to remove the aquatic barrier.


Ella, are you planning to share your research, work and findings beyond SIUE's campus?

Young: Parts of the archival work done by Professor Schmitz, former URCA students, and I are already public. As we continue to work on the archive, more of it will be made publicly available.


For you both, describe working with your mentors and how your experience may inform you as you become mentors to others.

Young: Working with Professor Schmitz has allowed me to gain skills regarding digital archiving that I could not attain elsewhere. Her enthusiasm toward the project is infectious, and I am happy I can help contribute to the preservation of such a culturally significant historic site through this project. Professor Schmitz encourages me to find creative solutions when I encounter roadblocks while collecting data and directs me to pursue tasks that I find interesting and fulfilling. Like Professor Schmitz, I hope to be a mentor that inspires creativity.

Prott: Working with Dr. Martinez has always been very helpful and motivating to continue this research. As I have spent the last three semesters working with Dr. Martinez, she is always available to assist me with any lab or technical questions, which has made learning about this topic much easier. Her extensive knowledge and drive for environmental justice makes me want to work even harder to help this important cause. Through her continuous mentoring, it has allowed me to become a better mentor to others around campus and in my courses. Mentoring requires patience, understanding, and a drive to teach and help others through difficult problems that must be solved. I strive to help others succeed and try my best to help inform them so that their problems can be easier to solve.


How has your time as an URCA student enhanced your SIUE student experience?

Young: I have acquired a plethora of new skills through my URCA project. Digital archival work is something I did not expect to acquire experience in, but has been valuable to my studies in Anthropology. This work also builds upon the insight I gained on my travel-study trip to London, where I was able to see the location of the Rose Playhouse. My work as an URCA assistant has contextualized the cultural and historical significance of this site, which I thought to be unassuming upon first seeing it. Most crucially, this project has allowed me to obtain a fuller understating of the importance of archival work, which preserves history that would otherwise be lost.

Prott: Being an URCA student has allowed me to travel and conduct fieldwork that I would never have expected to experience. Traveling to Texas has broadened my understanding of the world and how foreign relations play a role in my life thousands of miles away. Conducting fieldwork on the Rio Grande has been a great learning opportunity to apply fieldwork skills that I learned in my courses to a real-life application. In addition to conducting fieldwork, I have also learned how to discuss my research findings with local Texas state officials and community members to inform them of the changes in the river channel. Communicating data and conducting fieldwork are two important skills that have drastically improved my time at SIUE and will help prepare me for future research.


What are your future plans?

Young: I will graduate in the spring of 2026. I hope to go into museum work, eventually returning to university to obtain a master's in museum studies while pursuing my literary aspirations in my free time.

Prott: After I graduate this December, I will begin my master's degree in environmental technology and assessment here at SIUE in the spring semester. My research will still be found in the Rio Grande, but I will collect sediment and water samples to detect and analyze microplastics. Samples will be collected above stream of the buoys, in and around the buoys, and downstream of the buoys to determine how microplastics are being put into the environment. The Rio Grande is a very important water source for local communities on both the U.S. and Mexican side of the river. Understanding how the buoys are impacting the water quality through microplastic leaching is imperative to study because it impacts organismal and human health.


PHOTO: Fall 2025 URCA Research Assistant and Creative Activities Assistant of the Semester award winner Ella Young; award winner Emma Prott, ('25)