Graduate: Christian Merkley
The 2025 Graduate winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Christian Merkley. Christian is an English graduate student. His project is titled "Marking Their Sacrifice: Headstones and History for USCT Veterans in Jacksonville, Florida.”
In his essay, Christian talked about his graduate internship research project for his Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities course where he aimed to consolidate military and pension records to identify and honor United States Colored Troops. Christian worked to establish a memorial site in Mt. Herman Cemetery, near the Jacksonville University campus, and provide headstones for the unmarked graves of these soldiers. He highlighted how the Library’s Special Collections and University Archives was crucial to his research especially Jenn Bibb who went out of her way to explain procedures for handling fragile documents, and pulled additional materials that Christian did not request but helped to identify additional soldiers for his project. Because of the success of Christian’s work, the City of Jacksonville declared the cemetery as a memorial park that will continue to receive funding to rightfully honor those buried there.
Christian’s application was supported by Dr. James Beasley.
Undergraduate: Katherine Fite
The 2025 Undergraduate winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Katherine Fite. Katherine is a junior with a major in Anthropology. Her project is titled “Bombing the Hospitals: The Long-Term Consequences of Genocide Crippling the Healthcare System."
In her essay, Katherine talked about a project for her Health, Illness and Culture course where she focused on the long-term consequences of the ongoing Palestinian genocide, through a more health-focused lens. She researched the impact of genocide on healthcare systems, with an end goal of applying that to the Palestinian genocide. She highlighted how she relied heavily on library resources and staff. OneSearch became her primary research tool and library staff were instrumental in refining her research skills and strengthening her project’s framework including Maria Atilano, who introduced the class to advanced search strategies on OneSearch.
Katherine’s application was supported by Dr. Anne Pfister.
Undergraduate (Honorable Mention): Ashley Hair
The 2025 Undergraduate honorable mention winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Ashley Hair. Ashley is a senior with a major in History. Their project is titled “A Hidden Hero: Bayard Rustin."
In their essay, Ashley talked about their research paper for their Craft of the Historian class that was focused on the Civil Rights Movement. Ashley chose to research and write about Bayard Rustin a civil rights activist and prominent leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Ashley highlighted how instrumental the library was in writing their paper including library databases, Digital Commons, several books, and a meeting with Special Collections & University Archives - Allison Mason, Jenn Bibb, and Susan Swiatosz – who Ashley is now working alongside.
Ashley’s application was supported by Dr. Felicia Bevel.
Graduate: Jennifer Bridenbaugh
The 2024 Graduate winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Jennifer Bridenbaugh. Jennifer is a graduate student in the online Doctorate in Clinical Nutrition program. Her project is titled "The Development and Initial Validation of an Empathy Scale for Higher Education Instructors.”
In her essay, Jennifer talked about how an opportunity to collaborate on a research project outside her usual professional realm turned into the topic for her Doctoral dissertation which is about the need to develop a tool to evaluate empathy in higher education instructors that would lead to a better learning experience for students and contribute to their success. She highlighted how the Carpenter Library services contributed to her growth in her research capabilities in this new area of study including the research consultation she had with Sarah Moukhliss, STEM Online Learning Librarian, and how the additional guidance she received from Sarah gave her confidence to navigate and search a variety of library databases.
Jennifer’s application was supported by Dr. Jenifer Ross.
Graduate (Honorable Mention): Jose Caicedo 
The 2024 Graduate honorable mention winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Jose Caicedo. Jose is a graduate student in the Master of Public Administration program. His project is titled “Affordable Housing for Downtown Jacksonville.”
In his essay, Jose discussed the housing supply issues in downtown Jacksonville and the impacts and importance of having affordable housing, and that the research guidance he received from Sarah Moukhliss, STEM Online Learning Librarian, taught him how to access a variety of essential resources. He highlighted the importance of print and electronic resources and how valuable it was to visit the library and use resources on-site from Special Collections & University Archives to data analysis software.
Jose’s application was supported by Dr. Georgette Dumont.
Undergraduate (Honorable Mention): Amber Marks
The 2024 Undergraduate honorable mention winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Amber Marks. Amber is a freshman with a double major in Nursing and Spanish. Her project is titled “What does it mean to be a TRUE republican?”
In her essay, Amber talked about a class research project for her English class ENC 1143: Evidence and Style, where she had to find sources and compile them into an annotated bibliography for her research question, and she talked about how she would use each of the sources to talk about what it means to be a true republican. She highlighted how valuable the library resources were in helping her find books related to her topic, including the library’s discovery tool OneSearch and Library Guides.
Amber’s application was supported by Dr. Robert Talbert.
Graduate: Lauren Boyd
The 2023 Graduate winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Lauren Boyd. Lauren is a graduate student in the Master in Psychological Science program. Her project involves capturing movements using virtual reality technology to study Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in adults with and without developmental disabilities.
Virtual Reality is the new frontier for human-computer interaction, and Lauren’s essay noted what a privilege it was to work closely on her research with the Library’s Virtual Learning Center (VLC) and its staff. In addition to learning how to optimize literature searching with Boolean operators, the VLC itself provided a physically safe real environment to host the complimentary virtual environment, ensuring that there is minimal to no risk of injury to the participants. The VLC provided the necessary space, access to technology, and support that no other place on campus could offer for her research.
Lauren’s application was supported by Dr. Dominik Guess.
Undergraduate: Kaia Lacey
The 2023 Undergraduate winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Kaia Lacey. Kaia is a senior majoring in history/anthropology with her project titled “White Man’s War: Māori Stance Against Conscription in the Great War.”
Although her topic was very niche, Kaia highlighted in her essay both the print and electronic resources available through the Carpenter Library making special mention of the depth of our journal collection for both historic articles and contemporary commentaries. She noted by name a couple of the Library staff who had assisted her: Lauren Newton who taught research methods and Austin Sprunger who obtained resources that she needed from other Libraries.
Kaia’s application was supported by Dr. Chris Rominger.
Undergraduate (Honorable Mention): Boaz Levy
The 2023 Undergraduate honorable mention winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Boaz Levy. Boaz is a senior majoring in political science and his project is titled “The Sephardic-Mizrahi Moment: Cultural Renewal, Jewish-Arab Rapprochement, and Zionism in the 1920s.”
In his essay, Boaz pointed out that the study of modern Middle Eastern history demands innovative sources and linguistic proficiencies and that the Carpenter Library staff was able to help him broke down the intimidating barriers to research and made them manageable. He highlighted not only the outstanding resources of the Carpenter Library but also how valuable it was to have access to resources at other institutions through interlibrary loan.
Boaz’s application was supported by Dr. Chris Rominger.
Graduate: Doretta Leung
The 2022 Graduate winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Doretta Leung. Doretta is a graduate student pursuing a DCN in Clinical Nutrition-Advanced Practice. Her project is titled “The impact of a pediatric interdisciplinary outpatient feeding clinic on preterm infant weight gain and caregiver compliance with feeding recommendations.”
Doretta’s essay highlighted how RefWorks had helped her manage the citations for all the articles that she used for her project, and how the availability and timing of research consultations with the faculty librarians had been critical to her work. Doretta, who works as a pediatric dietician at Nemours Children’s Health Clinic, commented on how she uses the library’s medical databases daily as she prepares to meet with patients at the clinic.
Doretta’s application was supported by Dr. Andrea Arikawa.
Undergraduate: Lamija Hodzic
The 2022 Undergraduate winner of the UNF Library Research Prize is Lamija Hodzic. Lamija is a Junior majoring in International Studies with her project is titled “The Dayton Accords and Instability Within Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Lamija’s essay highlighted the skills she had acquired by working with faculty librarians to learn how to define and narrow her search for information so that she didn’t have to sift through thousands of search results – but rather spend her time on reviewing only those that were most relevant – and then how the library could help her locate and acquire those materials, even if they weren’t in our library. She also highlighted the significance of the library as a space where she could focus and collaborate with fellow students.
Lamija’s application was supported by Drs. Sarah Mattice and Clayton McCarl.
Graduate: Leslie Van Horn
Leslie Van Horn is a doctoral candidate in the Doctorate of Clinical Nutrition program at UNF. She is presently working to complete her dissertation titled, “Validation of an evidence-based dietetic practice instrument and the association between level of education and use of evidence-based dietetic practices among registered dietitian nutritionists.” Her research interests focus on nutrition and dietetics education. She lives in Charlotte, NC and also works full-time as an instructor at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.
Undergraduate: Ketty Mora
My name is Ketty Mora, and I just graduated from UNF with a BA in Art History. My time at UNF has precipitated an enormous personal growth and development that have given me the confidence and motivation to continue my studies at Emory University, where I will pursue a PhD in Art History starting next Fall. My professors at UNF, staff, and resources, have played an instrumental role in my personal and academic life, and my gratitude goes out perpetually to them.
Undergraduate (Honorable Mention): Carol Lynne Hemmingway
Carol Lynne Hemmingway is an undergraduate student and Jacksonville native studying History and Spanish with a minor in Digital Humanities. Her academic interests include local history, women authors and historians, and archival science. Lynne has worked as a student assistant for the Thomas G. Carpenter Library Special Collections since her first year at UNF and, as a student intern, has contributed to ongoing projects which combine her interests like the UNF Digital Humanities Institute's Editing the Eartha M. M. White Collection.
