10 people poses in front of a blue conference backdrop, all smiling
Back row: Jacob Kagan, Daniel Kagan, Lyndsey Edick, Lilliana Langdon, Bridelle Toumani. Front row: Professor of Spanish Kate Kagan, Adrianna Denio, Molly G. Oravsky, Elena Baranoski, and Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Heliana Magalí Chavez Cortez

Eight Russell Sage College students shared their research at the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, held in New York City on February 27. 

The students participated in a poster session titled “Emerging Scholars: Research Across Cultures, Communities, and Disciplines,” which highlighted undergraduate research spanning culture, language, community engagement, biology, health sciences, advocacy, and neurodiverse learning. The session gave the students a valuable opportunity to share their research, receive feedback, and connect with educators and peers from different fields, said Professor of Spanish Kate Kagan, associate director of the college’s Honors Program. They represented Russell Sage with distinction, and their posters showcased the strength of undergraduate research at Russell Sage, she added. 

The students included:

  • Psychology major Elena Baranoski, who presented a poster “Building Intercultural Competence: Perspective Beyond the Classroom” 
  • Biology major Adrianna Denio, who presented a poster titled “False Memories in Bilinguals: A Meta-Analytic Review of Cross-Linguistic Interference and Memory Distortion”
  • Health Science major Lyndsey Edick, who presented a poster titled “Learning Spanish Identity Through Art History” 
  • Biology major Daniel Kagan, who presented a poster titled “Epilepsy Care in Argentina: Language, Access, and Lived Experience”
  • Biology major Jacob Kagan, who presented a poster titled “Decoding Bats’ Evolutionary Language of Disease Resistance”  
  • Biology major Lilliana Langdon, who presented a poster titled “Avoidance Doesn’t Mean Absence: What Spanish Writing Leaves Unsaid”
  • Psychology major Molly G. Oravsky, who presented a poster titled “Location Based Productivity” 
  • Bridelle Toumani, who presented a poster titled “The Spanish American War and its Positive Impact on Spain.”

Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Heliana Magalí Chavez Cortez, who is spending the 2025-2026 academic year at Russell Sage, also attended the conference and presented “When the Brain Speaks in Plural: The Beauty and Power of Being Multilingual.”

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