On November 13th, 2025, the School of Graduate Studies hosted their 4th annual Dr. Joseph Moerschbaecher III Graduate Research Day. Every year, Graduate Studies hosts Research Day with the mission of promoting various research efforts and professional development across graduate programs on campus, which includes students in Graduate Studies, Public Health, and Nursing. The program for the event included poster sessions, postdoctoral trainee talks, graduate student presentations (oral talks), and 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) presentations.
Forty-two abstracts were presented across students from Graduate Studies and Public Health and included selected research from postdoctoral trainees and non-LSUHSC trainees. Out of over thirty submissions, eight students were selected as winners for this year’s poster session, which included Kyle Gallegos, Gabrielle Vontz, Khushi Kiran, and Mary Catherine DeMatteo as 1st place winners and Jeff Ji, John Lammons, Ashlyn Anderson, and Sarah Melton as 2nd place winners. Each winning student was awarded with $1000 in travel funding along with individual cash awards.
Graduate Student Oral Presentations included junior graduate students James Kinchen and Herriethsiah S. Noah from the School of Public Health along with Kaitlin Couvillion and Eric Eymard from the School of Graduate Studies. Senior graduate students included Isabel Stephany Bassesco, Meagan Donovan, Thomas Galbato, Eden Gallegos, Margaret Larsen, Nicholas Harris, Ayushi Patel, and Nour Abbes. Out of all the oral presentations, Kaitlin Couvillion won 1st place in the Junior Competition with a $1500 research travel award, with Thomas Galbato and Margaret Larsen tied for 1st place in the Senior Competition, each earning $1500 in travel awards. Nicholas Harris placed 2nd place in the Senior Competition and also earned $1500 in travel.
Amjila Bam, Ayushi Patel, John Carleton, Kaitlin Couvillion, Mary Catherine DeMatteo, Nour Abbes, and Riya Dahal all participated as graduated students in the 3-Minute-Thesis Competition. Riya Dahal won 1st place while Nour Abbes placed in 2nd. Mary Catherine DeMatteo was voted as Fan Favorite by the students. Riya Dahal was awarded full travel sponsorship to compete in the national 3MT competition at the Council of Southern Graduate Schools regional meeting in March 2026.
To close Research Day, the School of Graduate Studies hosted its annual Research Day Picnic on November 14th with catering from Dat Dog. Both events continually increase in participation from graduate students and graduate faculty and are funded by the generous donations of faculty and research-interest parties.
The School of Graduate Studies has established a Graduate Research Day Fund in honor
of Dr. Moerschbaecher.
If anyone would like to donate, please click here: https://give.lsuhealthfoundation.org/GSResearchDay.