Over 150 Reedies shared their work at the college’s annual celebration.
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson
September 29, 2026
All three levels of Reed’s Performing Arts Building were buzzing with students, faculty, and staff as the community convened during the first week of classes for the President’s Student Showcase, a yearly celebration of student summer research.
“These students ask ambitious questions and follow those questions wherever they lead,” says President Audrey Bilger. “Whether they’re working in a lab, exploring the humanities, completing an internship, or creating art, they’re acquiring knowledge, and making connections, and contributing ideas of their own.”
Over 150 Reedies hosted poster presentations for peers, faculty, staff, alumni, and guests. “There was once again a wide-ranging set of projects that students were doing,” says Kathy Oleson, dean of the faculty. “It is incredible to have the infrastructure in place to do this event in future years.”
Though an earlier iteration of the event was solely for science majors, for the past two years, the Showcase has included students of all majors. Funding for their research is provided by the Undergraduate Research Committee, the Center for Life Beyond Reed, the Office for Institutional Diversity, the President’s Summer Fellowship, academic departments, faculty grants, and more.
(In addition, this funding enables students to be paid for internships at nonprofits and governmental agencies that would normally be unpaid.)
Among the students who participated in the Showcase was physics major Agustin Cespedes Sosa ’29. At the event, Agustin spoke about his work with Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist and computer scientist Mark Galassi ’87, with whom he connected via Reed’s Switchboard.
“He gave me direct feedback: ‘This is good, this is bad,’” Agustin says. “That helped me grow significantly. I got to work with someone who has been in the field for decades, doing something very similar to what I want to do. It was a very transformative experience because it made me sure that this is what I want to do.”
Another student whose research led to a transformative experience is environmental studies/history major Forrest Feist ’27, who grew up in Harvard, Massachusetts, and studied the effects of climate change on New England farmers—allowing him to illuminate the struggles of a region he knows firsthand.
“Over the past four years, I’ve made all these friends—and being able to be in this one room and to see all of the collective work that we’re putting in together in one place is really quite special,” Forrest said at the Showcase. “And to have my community and the place where I come from be a part of that is pretty emotionally satisfying.”
Reflecting on the research featured at the Showcase, Bilger foresees that the students’ dedication to innovation and inquiry will profoundly impact their chosen fields in exciting and unexpected ways.
“Some will become scholars and academic leaders, while others will move into a variety of different fields and career paths,” she says. “These students are learning how to wrestle with complex questions and imagine new possibilities, and those are exactly the kinds of thinkers and leaders we need for the future.”