AUM students recognized at university, national research symposiums

Undergraduate and graduate students from Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) were recently honored for their research contributions at university and national research symposiums.

Held annually at Auburn University, the 2025 Auburn Research Symposium highlighted student research across a wide range of disciplines through public oral and poster presentations. AUM students competed in the category for College/School Awards. The following AUM students received recognition:

Oral Presentations

• Graduate student winner. Robert Spicer, “Embedding-Based Protien Sequence Alignment Using Clustering and Double Dynamic Programming”
• Undergraduate student winner. Aditya Singh, “Secure and Privacy-Preserving Word Embedding Evaluation via Zero-Knowledge Proof Protocols”

Poster Presentations

• Undergraduate student winner. John Ryan McMichael, “Quantifying Arm Swimming in the Octopus Muusoctopus robustus”

In recognition of his outstanding research, Spicer also received the first place Young Scientist Excellence Award in the Graduate Student Category at the 21st Annual MidSouth Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Society (MCBIOS) Meeting, held this spring at the University of Utah. The competition included finalists from top-tier research institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania. Spicer earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from AUM in Fall 2024. In Spring 2025, he re-enrolled at AUM to pursue a master’s degree in computer science, which he is expected to complete in Summer 2026.

This spring, student winners also participated in AUM’s College of Sciences Research Symposium and AUM’s Celebration of Research, Creative Activity, and Community Engagement event that included student poster presentations.

Photo caption: Pictured left, Spicer is recgonized at the 21st Annual MCBIOS Meeting at the University of Utah.