AACR Undergraduate Scholar Awardees 2025-2026
The AACR is pleased to announce the recipients of 2025 AACR-Undergraduate Scholar Awards. Awards have been given since 1997 and are intended to inspire young science students at the undergraduate level to enter the field of cancer research. The AACR is committed to promoting the education and training of the next generation of dedicated scientists and to facilitating and nurturing their careers in cancer research or cancer-related biomedical science. In 2025, the AACR and Dr. Brian Rivers have generously supported these awards.
Congratulations to these talented young scholars. The names and affiliations of the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 Awardees are listed below, along with the numbers and titles of their poster presentations, where appropriate, and brief video introductions.
Congratulations to the 2024-2025 AACR Undergraduate Scholar Awardees

Anjali Agrawal
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas

Arnav Barpujari
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

Monique Kanitz Ruschel
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina

Sona N. Kocinsky
Tufts University
Medford, Connecticut

Bum Seok Lee
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland

Ashraf Mahmoud
Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College
Kilimanjaro, Moshi CBD

Deniz G. Olgun
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia

Elizabeth Ramos
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Clara E. Tandar
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island

Nikhiya Shamsher
Stanford University
Stanford, California

Ammar D. Siddiqi
Rice University
Houston, Texas

Matthew T. Ye
Rice University
Houston, Texas
Congratulations to the 2025-2026 AACR Undergraduate Scholar Awardees

Blake M. Arciga
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, Missouri

Jonathan Jean Charles
University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida

Cedric Bruges
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri

Paul A. Daniel
University of Houston
Houston, Texas

Kylie M. Chan
University of California, San Diego
San Diego, California

Manami Hasegawa
The University of Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan

Rishi Patel
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

Kevin Song
University of Houston
Houston, Texas

Emma Sanderson
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma