(Top) Students engage in conversations concerning their project. (Bottom) Junior Makinley Thomas presents her research to a faculty member.
Nyrop was buzzing, and so were students’ minds at the annual Mind Expo on Thursday, April 23.
Mind Expo, a “university-wide event to celebrate our students’ original scholarly works completed in the current academic year,” according to its website, had over 100 presentations. These presentations were separated into four categories: poster, oral presentation, visual art piece and music performance. 2026 was the first year to include music performance at the exhibition, featuring instrumental performances by junior Bryan Alvarado, sophomore Dallas Mueller-Pry, and junior Ashton Barber held in Heckman Auditorium.
The rest of the presentations were held in Perry Campus Center, primarily in Nyrop Hall and its adjacent conference rooms. Among the poster presentations, senior Rodrigo Prieto Arbos presented Digital Integration Strategy for JJM7 Mensajeros: Eliminating “Silent Financial Leakage”— his first-ever presentation at Mind Expo.
“Through a client survey, for example, I asked if some of the customers were okay with shifting to digitalization, and they all agreed because it will help with their internal audit,” Prieto said. “I would feel I could help those owners to understand how AI and new technologies can really help you connect to [businesses] in the US.”
Another poster presentation by sophomore Brianna Wright proposed her senior research project about community awareness of neonicotinoids, which she explains is “a class of insecticides and man-made chemicals commonly used in agricultural practices.”
“I wanted to do something more sociology-based and less hard sciences,” Wright said. “I was really interested in the effects, and there’s a real lack of knowledge about people’s awareness, communication methods and education methods when it comes to pesticides, especially in rural and agricultural areas.”
Next to poster presentations in Nyrop, visual art pieces spanned the north wall. Artist sophomore Abbi Arroyo’s bug-themed presentation, “The Pollinated Room,” featured several ceramic creations, screen prints, and various other styles of art revolving around her favorite insects.
“I wanted to do something different from what most other artists do. I wanted to do something like more of a boutique rather than just having art displayed,” Arroyo said. “I’m glad I’m getting the experience to talk about my art—never really done that before.”
