Two PEEC graduate students have been named among the Top 9 Finalists for the 2026 Research Live! Finalist Showcase. Hosted by the Graduate College, this event invites students to present their research to a general audience in three minutes or less.
The Research Live! event will take place on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Gregory Hall Auditorium, Room 112, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Come out and support our PEEC students as they showcase their research in live presentations. The event will also feature a people's choice vote and an announcement of the winners.
Please join us in congratulating our two finalists:
Brian Graves is a fourth-year PhD candidate in PEEC. Formerly an anthropology student, he pivoted to genetics research because of the pandemic, switched projects when his main experiment fell apart for legal and ethical reasons, and finally turned game creation from side interest to his main endeavor. He uses his lived experience as a wheelchair user to inform efforts to create and advocate for more robust accessibility options. In his spare time, he watches PBS shows and plays logic, puzzle, and adventure games that he can now call research. The title of his presentation is the Virtual Reality for Everyone: Towards an Accessible Medium. His research brief states that "Virtual reality offers users the chance to have experiences that might otherwise be difficult or impossible. Even educational titles often present barriers to handicapped individuals. Using a video game I built in Unity with 3D models I created in Blender, I am testing volunteer students who use wheelchairs to get information on their experiences and preferences for developers to make more inclusive experiences."
Weiqing Qu is a second-year PhD student in the School of Integrative Biology. She earned her Bachelor's degree from East China Normal University and her Master's degree from New York University. Her research focuses on assessing species’ vulnerability to climate change. In her free time, Weiqing enjoys listening to music and watching films, with a particular fondness for those from the 1980s. The title of her research is Why the Same Plant Thrives in One Place but Struggles in Another. Her research brief states "Why can the same plant flourish in one place but struggle in another? This research reveals that a species’ sensitivity to climate change can shift dramatically across regions, even within the same species. By analyzing plant data across the United States, hidden patterns of where species are most vulnerable are uncovered. The surprising result? Where a species lives may matter just as much as what species it is. These findings could change how we think about protecting biodiversity in a warming world."