Spring 2026 student exhibit
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—University Libraries is honored to feature creative and research works by Western Michigan University students during the spring of 2026. This student exhibit can be found on the second floor of Waldo Library in the rotunda.
Jadyn Carl Pittman
Undergraduate student, Chemical Engineering and Paper Engineering
"Admiration nd Apathy"
"Admiration nd Apathy" is a digital collage built from screenshots of the FL Studio interface for nine beats I created between April and November 2025. I layered the screenshots with different opacity based on how much I personally enjoy each beat and how much public attention it received. The most visible layers represent the beats I value most, even if they received the least recognition.
The missing “a” in “nd” is intentional: my mainstream beats, which I put less care into, often get the most approval, while the music I’m most proud of gets overlooked. In each screenshot, I highlighted the sections of the beats I’m most proud of, whether it was using only stock VSTs in “FLXR” or solving an 808 distortion problem in “TonyDim.” This piece reflects the contrast between public response and personal admiration in my creative process.
S M Shariful Islam
Collaborator: Paul Clements
Graduate student, International Development Administration
"Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning in GCF Mitigation Projects: Early Findings from India & Bangladesh"
Climate finance is vital for mitigation in the Global South, but weak MEAL structures undermine transparency, comparability, and replicability. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) — the largest multilateral climate fund — often reports ambitious mitigation outcomes that lack verified measurement.
This study evaluates how GCF-funded mitigation projects in India and Bangladesh perform in terms of transparency, reliability, implementability and cost-effectiveness. This poster was created to exhibit in WMU’s International Education Week in November 2025.
Madelynn Hernandez
Undergraduate student, Criminal Justice
"David Reimagined"
I was looking at pictures online of the David statue, and I love the depictions and the different versions of it. I love messing with color and using that as facial tones instead of realistic skin tones. I, of course, made it my own with my own tweaks. I recently got into gold leaf flakes, so I incorporated this as the background to make it pop.
"Held by His Mother"
This drawing depicts Mary holding the Christ Child and was created as a devotional study rooted in the Catholic tradition. The work began as a faith-inspired gift, drawing from the reverence and symbolism found in religious art, but as the process continued, it became a more personal reflection of motherhood, protection, and quiet strength.
Using charcoal and pencil on paper, I focused on softness of form, contrast, and gesture to emphasize the intimacy between mother and child. Particular attention was given to facial expression and the placement of the hands, allowing emotion to be conveyed through subtle detail rather than excess. The process was slow and deliberate, built through layered values and careful refinement to preserve a sense of stillness and grace.
Completing this piece became an intentional act of continuity, honoring both my artistic growth and the faith traditions that continue to shape my work.
Olivia Converse
Undergraduate student, Graphic Design
"Color Made Your Knowledge"
"Color Made Your Knowledge" is my reinterpretation of the Cooper Hewitt's Saturated exhibition, focusing on how color functions beyond aesthetics. Inspired by CMYK, the poster uses layered cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (seen as K for key) forms to highlight how color isn't just visual-it's a tool for building meaning. These colors, although rooted in science, remain highly subjective and are a personal sensory experience that is shaped by language, culture, and memory. Each layer represents how information accumulates, much like how printed colors mix to create new tones.
By simplifying the visuals and placing an emphasis on the mechanics of print, the poster invites viewers to consider the systems at play in what they're seeing. This poster was created for the class Color for Graphic Design.
Kamau DaaJa-Ra
Undergraduate student, Biomedical Science
"Butterfly<- Read.table(Neska Rose)"
There is a woman on campus who I have been privileged to be taught by. One day I had been running late for tutoring so I emailed her with the hopes she would understand my tardiness and I noticed her name was unique; at the same moment I saw a butterfly dart past me and like any ADHD individual I chased after it, and when It landed I took the photo.
"Pink"
I have always fancied myself an amateur photographer. I took this photo using my Samsung phone. The reason I enjoy it so much is because it's here on Western's campus and also because something so beautiful was sitting in plain sight; it's analogous to how life often presents to us the most beautiful things, but we have to be willing and able to appreciate them.
Juan Bautista Rodríguez Núñez
Collaborator: Nigus Beyene-Meshesha
Graduate student, Economics
"Predicting Economics PhD Admissions Using GradCafe Data"
We collected nearly 1,000 self-reported applications to Economics PhD programs from the GradCafe website and turned them into a data set. For each applicant we recorded grades (GPA), GRE scores, and short notes they wrote about their profile.
We then used basic text analysis to measure whether the notes sounded more positive or negative, and created simple numbers that capture the most common words. With this information we trained several prediction models to estimate the chance that an application is accepted.
Our results show that GRE Quantitative scores and GPA matter the most, but adding information from the notes helps the computer make slightly better predictions.
This project began as my final project for STAT 5870 Big Data with Python.
Chloe Dorman
Undergraduate student, Psychology
"Hexagonal Butterfly"
This piece was inspired by the idea of transformation and emotional depth. I chose a butterfly as the central image because it represents growth, change and resilience—qualities I’ve come to value through personal and academic experiences. Each wing is colored differently to reflect diversity and individuality, while the vibrant, splattered background symbolizes the chaos and beauty of life.
I wanted the composition to feel dynamic and expressive, so I used bold colors and layered patterns to create movement and contrast. The process was intuitive and reflective; I let emotion guide the design and allowed imperfections to become part of the story. Creating this work reminded me that growth isn’t always neat—it’s layered, messy and powerful.
"Threads of Transformation"
Threads of Transformation explores impermanence and the circular nature of life. I was inspired by the idea that we are each just a dot—briefly present, observing and experiencing within a much larger pattern.
The layered, symmetrical design reflects cycles of growth, change, and return, while the vibrant threads represent the energy and emotion we carry through those transitions. I wanted the piece to feel both grounded and expansive, like a moment suspended in motion. The butterflies add a sense of lightness and transformation, reminding us that nothing stays the same for long.
Creating this work was a meditative process, allowing me to reflect on how we move through time, how we connect, and how we let go
Chidalu Gloria Nnorukah
Graduate student, Communication
"Assessing the Influence of Language Resource Level on Communication Effectiveness, Cultural Representation, and User Engagement in AI Interactions"
I studied how people understand and respond to messages created by artificial intelligence (AI) when those messages are written in different languages. Participants were shown AI-generated responses in English and Igbo and asked to rate them on clarity, accuracy, cultural fit, and how engaging they felt. I used an online survey to collect these ratings and compare how the AI performed in a widely used language versus a less-resourced one.
The goal was to see whether AI communicates equally well across languages or whether some users are disadvantaged. This work highlights that good communication is not just about correct words, but also about culture, tone, and trust, especially in important areas like education and healthcare.
This poster was created as part of the requirements for COM 6010, a graduate course in communication research.