Howard University investigators showcased the cutting-edge research they’re working on across a range of disciplines at the 2026 Research Symposium, part of the university’s annual Research Month event series. 

This year, several hundred students, faculty, and staff members participated in the university’s annual Research Symposium, the signature event that brings together the campus community to discuss key research findings from Howard-led studies in STEM, AI, the humanities, and social sciences. The symposium, which took place April 30 and May 1, was an opportunity for student researchers to present the research they’ve contributed to in labs across Howard’s campus.  

The student presentations covered a wide range of topics that exemplify the diverse breath of research and creative activity happening at the university. The 2026 Research Symposium is also a cumulation of the new and ongoing research that’s been conducted at Howard since the university was designation as the only Research One (R1) HBCU in the country. 

Research focused on analyzing allergy-related hospital visits; investigations on common squirrel species in Virginia; and an array of studies examining mental health in Black communities are just a few of the Howard-led research studies that were on display during this year’s signature symposium event. 

Take a look at The Dig’s roundup of some of the research presented at Howard’s 2026 Research Symposium, presented by the university’s Office of Research.

How Food Environments Shape Community Health Outcomes

Rising senior Emmanuel Christian, a human performance major (with a sports medicine concentration), presented his research examining how living in areas that are considered food swamps, food deserts, and food oases shape community health outcomes. The Virginia native examined how populations in Virginia Beach and Henrico County are impacted by their access to nutritious foods. Christian worked in the Quantitative Histories Workshop, a computational curriculum collective and community-centered teaching and learning lab led by Dr. Nathan Alexander, an assistant professor in Howard’s School of Education. 

Using spatial analysis and Census data, Christian’s research team investigated how food environments relate to socioeconomic conditions and public health disparities. The researchers also made interactive maps that plotted where the food swamps and food deserts were located, the Black population of each designated area, and the income of each area. 

“As a sports medicine major, I got into nutrition and fitness early, around middle school, and I saw the effects of having a healthier lifestyle because it changed my life,” said Christian. He explained that this experience led him to join Alexander’s research team. 

Their study’s findings determined that food oases were more likely to be found in the higher-income areas in Virginia Beach and Henrico County, whereas lower-income areas were largely classified as food swamps and food deserts. Christian, who was a first-time presenter at the Research Symposium event, was inspired to find ways to “educate our community about nutrition.”

“We’re looking at how can we pair communities with professional dieticians to cultivate a healthier lifestyle, connect them with food banks and different food resources so they are able to have healthier options, like organizations such as Martha’s Table.”

A Deeper Look at Seasonal Allergies

Rising sophomore Randi Ebron-Frails, a biology major from Augusta, Georgia, presented findings from her research examining the relationship between annual ragweed observations and allergy-related emergency department visits across counties in the Washington-Maryland region. Ebron-Frails used her experience living with allergies as the inspiration to study how seasonal allergies impact Black communities. She partnered with fellow student researchers Cameron Philogene and Mariah Polk to dive deeper in understanding the effects of seasonal allergies. 

“African Americans are disproportionately affected with having more seasonal allergies and having asthma,” she said. “It’s important for us to understand and get to the root cause of seasonal allergies. Our research showed that there’s an 8-15 percent increase of emergency department visits with rhinitis and asthma-type symptoms due to the increase of common ragweed.”

The research team’s findings aim to provide a framework for improving public heath preparedness and early identification of environmental allergy risks in affected demographics. 

Cultural Orientation and Behavioral Patterns

Psychology majors and rising juniors Leonie Manafa and Miriam Oyejide teamed up to present their research on the impacts of cultural orientation on self-esteem, and the coping mechanisms that are used during high-stress moments. Manafa described cultural orientation as “how closely someone aligns with certain traits of their racial and cultural identity.”

The pair worked alongside Dr. R. Davis Dixon, assistant professor of psychology, to examine the intersectionality between cultural orientation as it relates to the behavior patterns of undergraduate students at HBCUs and PWIs. 

“We found that cultural orientation was positively correlated with [respondents] using problem-focused coping mechanisms … not emotional focused mechanisms,” Manafa explained. “We also found that cultural orientation was positively associated with emotion-based coping.”

For Oyejide, working on this research is helping her to prepare for her future Ph.D. studies. 

“Starting this now is a good way to get your feet wet and having guidance from professors who shape you as a researcher,” she said. 

Manafa echoed Oyejide’s sentiments on the importance of taking part in undergraduate research, saying she’s “interested in conducting research that tries to understand how minority identities can shape how we view the world, how we interact with the world, and how we view ourselves in the context of not being the dominant culture.”

A Study on Squirrels

Jemima Nguebeyo Ngouambe, a rising sophomore who’s majoring in biology, found her passion for animal research from an unlikely source: the squirrels she saw scurrying across Howard’s campus. Ngouambe presented her research on urban and rural observation patterns of the eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Virginia. 

The study used data from iNaturalist to determine if eastern grey squirrels were more prevalent in urban or rural areas. By comparing observation counts across environments, the research also considers how human behavior may influence data collected about wildlife. 

“The findings that were shocking included how adaptive these squirrels are especially in rural areas, they are thriving and adaptable,” said Ngouambe. “I was inspired to participate in Research Month by my mentors and teaching assistants in my biology and chemistry labs. I was motivated to do this by seeing how they put their hard work into their research and how their research could potentially change the world.”

Graduate Student Research in Action

Rumi Dunkel Vance (B.S. ‘23), a mechanical engineering graduate student studying microfluidics, discussed the research he’s working on to develop an affordable, high-performance optical fiber hydrophone, a specialized microphone designed to detect and record sound waves under water. 

Dunkel Vance explained how his advisor, Dr. Hyung Bae, assistant professor in mechanical engineering, sparked his interest in nanofabrication techniques when he was a student in his microelectromechanical systems class. His current study found that the fiber-optic hydrophone were most responsive to changes in temperature.

Michael McMillan, a Ph.D. candidate in the psychology department, presented his research on how perceived stereotypes of Black male student-athletes affect their identity development. McMillan, a former football player, used his own experience as a student-athlete as the inspiration to explore this research. These stereotypes, McMillan explained, can lead to an increase in anxiety and a decrease in academic performance. He’s hoping to use this research as the starting point for his dissertation.

“There’s not a lot of research around this, so I wanted to bring awareness to professors and staff in academic settings to understand what student-athletes go through and potentially what stereotypes they’re receiving,” said McMillan. “A lot of people don’t know that this is a systematic thing. I wanted to pursue mental health because it’s something that a lot of Black men are not in … it felt like it was a calling to me.”

Danica Nestor, a social work doctoral student, similarly investigated the mental health of Black men with her study “Breaking Barriers: Preliminary Findings on Help-Seeking Attitudes and Mental Health Service Utilization Among Black Men.” 

Her work in investigating the increase in Black men going to therapy was sparked by her father’s untimely death at age 50, which she estimates may have been brought on by mental health issues. 

“My father passed away really young … and I feel like he passed away because of a lot of stress and a lot of mental issues that I didn’t know existed until I got older,” said Nestor. 

Her father was the first person in his family to come to the U.S. from Haiti, and he would eventually bring the rest of his family “on his back,” Nestor said. “I can imagine what kind of stresses that came with, which drove me to be a social worker.”

Nestor is currently a director of case management at Amory University Hospital. Through her research, she observed the gradual increases in Black men going to therapy. She’s hopeful that her research will also lead to an increase in gender-responsive and culturally specific therapy practices.

“Stigma has a negative correlation when it comes to attitudes about getting therapy,” Nestor noted. “Even though [men] are in therapy, they still have some stigma about themselves, which doesn’t get them to think that therapy is working.”