The 28th annual Undergraduate Symposium will be held on Friday, April 17th, 2026 at Union South and the Discovery Building.
The annual Undergraduate Symposium showcases undergraduate research, scholarly work, community-based projects, art, and creativity from all areas of study at UW–Madison including the humanities, arts, biological sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and computer data and information sciences.
Open to all undergraduates, the symposium provides the opportunity for students to present their work in a professional setting. It also provides students with practical experience in public speaking and presentation skills. Additionally, it serves as a forum for campus and community members to learn about and engage with undergraduate work.
Several presentations and posters are related to the CREECA region and we’ve assembled a list here.
- Do Lawyers Matter? Using Generative AI to Analyze Court Opinions – Having a lawyer in the U.S. legal system is a near-requisite to win anything beyond the simplest of cases. This project aims to understand the necessity of legal counsel outside of the United States. Using Westlaw’s large language model, CoCounsel, we will analyze decisions in defamation cases made in Russian economic courts and determine whether the parties were represented. Defamation cases are an ideal case study because they present complicated legal issues for which legal expertise ought to be helpful. Once the cases are coded with the help of AI, we will plot our findings in a series of Excel tables. These tables will reveal whether having a lawyer increases litigants’ chances of winning.
- Session 1: 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM, Varsity Hall, Union South
- Presenter: Will Carter
- A Study of Serbia-Germany Relations: Political, Economic, and Social Developments from World War II to the Present – Serbia and Germany have had a complex relationship dating back to the 12th century. This paper specifically examines their evolving ties from 1945 to the present. Through an analysis of political, economic, and social developments, I explore the transformation of their relations from World War II to recent dynamics. The present focus is on German relations with the former Yugoslavia and their role in the ethnic conflicts of the 1990s, along with German involvement with the Western Balkans, particularly Serbia, since then. Preliminary findings demonstrate that although formal military occupation of the former Yugoslavia ended following WWII, Germany continues to manipulate Serbia through economic and political strategies, representing a more modern, subversive form of control.
- Session 1: 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM, Landmark A, Union South
- Presenter: Suzana Micanovic
Session 2
- Жаба Where Are You?: Code-Switching Practices in Ukrainian- and Russian-English Speaking Children – Code-switching is a common practice amongst bilingual populations, yet little to no work has been conducted on Russian-English and Ukrainian-English bilinguals. We examined the use of code-switching in bilingual children using language samples. Children listened to and retold three stories: once in English, once in Russian or Ukrainian, and once using both of their languages. These language samples were transcribed and coded for code-switches. By documenting typical code-switching practices in these populations, we hope to provide a baseline to help identify atypical code-switching patterns that may characterize language impairment. We will also be able to examine how code-switching varies with children’s language profiles in the full sample. Broadly, this work provides insight into language development within understudied Russian- and Ukrainian-English bilingual populations.
- Session 2: 11 AM – 12:15 PM, Landmark A, Union South
- Presenter: Yana Krutnyk
- Shaping the Vampire: Polidori’s Transformation of a Folkloric Figure – This project examines how John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819) transformed earlier European vampire folklore into the foundation of the modern literary vampire. Earlier accounts described vampires as rural revenants tied to superstition, disease, and community disorder. Drawing on Enlightenment debates, medical discourse, and Romantic literary influences, Polidori reimagined the vampire as a charismatic aristocrat embedded in elite society. Through textual analysis of The Vampyre and earlier sources such as Calmet’s The Phantom World and eighteenth-century vampire reports, this study argues that Polidori created a new Gothic archetype: the seductive, socially integrated vampire whose danger lies in psychological manipulation and moral corruption rather than physical monstrosity. This transformation established the template for later nineteenth-century vampire literature.
- Session 2: 11 AM – 12:15 PM, Northwoods A, Union South
- Presenter: Juan Sandoval
- Credibility Architecture: Institutional Design and the Limits of Alliance Commitment in NATO – Why do some NATO security commitments deter aggression while others invite gradual testing? Debates on deterrence credibility often emphasize military power, reputation, or signaling, yet they pay less attention to the institutional structures that translate alliance promises into predictable action. This paper introduces credibility architecture to explain how security commitments become strategically believable. Drawing on insights from political science, international relations, and historical analysis, the study examines how institutional design shapes deterrence within NATO. It compares the ambiguous commitments of the 2008 Bucharest Summit with post-2014 reinforcement measures in the Baltic region, including enhanced Forward Presence and rapid response initiatives. The analysis shows deterrence credibility emerges not from rhetoric alone, but from institutional arrangements that embed commitments within structured consultation and shared reputational stakes.
- Session 2: 11 AM – 12:15 PM, Northwoods B, Union South
- Presenter: Tristan Shomaker
- The Katte Affair: Family, Sexuality, and the Subjugation of Frederick the Great – The 1730 Katte Affair was the 18-year-old Frederick the Great’s failed flight from his abusive father and life at the Prussian court. This event resulted in the tragic execution of Frederick’s close friend, Hans Hermann von Katte, which Frederick himself was forced to witness. This serves as a pivotal and compelling moment in the life of a prominent 18th-century monarch, but the affair itself has relatively limited recent scholarship covering it. The thesis overall explores how the Katte Affair shaped Frederick’s political identity by investigating the event through lenses of familial dynamics, law and sexuality, and political significance.
- Session 2: 11 AM – 12:15 PM, Northwoods A, Union South
- Presenter: Erin Sitrin
Session 4
- Signals of Threat and Fairness: How Allies’ Defense Spending Shapes American Support for Overseas U.S. Troop Presence – This study examines how allied defense spending influences U.S. public support for overseas troop presence through two mechanisms: fairness and threat. Using panel survey data (2002 – 2024) and a DDD design centered on the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war, the research finds that higher allied spending generally increases American support regardless of partisanship by signaling burden-sharing and threatened security. However, in high-threat contexts, increased spending weakens support —particularly among Republicans —by amplifying fears of the security dilemma and U.S. entrapment in major conflicts such as nuclear wars. Ultimately, the study reveals that allies’ defense spending typically sustains the durability of alliances, serving as credible signals for American public. But, it is also manifested that signaling threat through increased spending exerts mixed effects on American public support
- Session 4: 3 PM – 4:15 PM, Industry A, Union South
- Presenter: Minwoo Choi