Sophomore University Undergraduate Research Fellow Will Bowers recently presented his ongoing research project, “Liquid biopsy analyses to characterize and monitor small-cell lung cancer during therapy by cell-free DNA next-generation sequencing,” at Johns Hopkins University’s FutureFest. 

Will presented at the BioFestival and Grant Competition, which was hosted by the Life Design Lab. The event, which brought together innovators and researchers from across disciplines — from undergraduate students to graduate students and industry professionals — allowed Will to showcase his work and engage with students and faculty from the Hopkins community.

Before the competition, Will spent months developing and refining his project as part of his continuous work through the University Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Presenting at FutureFest allowed him to see his work in a broader light and consider how his research fits into the wider view of biomedical discovery.

In a response to the Office of Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, & Creative Activity (URSCA), Will reflected on the experience of communicating complex scientific ideas to diverse audiences.

“It was an incredibly eye-opening experience to share my project with other researchers of all different levels. I had to communicate my project goals and findings in a certain way to undergrads and researchers without field knowledge, and I had to communicate an entirely different way when presenting to judges or researchers familiar with the field,” he wrote. “This helped me learn to cater my presentations to different audiences, which is a crucial skill for any researcher.”

Will noted that while the experience helped him refine his presentation skills, it also offered an opportunity for him to reconnect with the grander impact of his work.

“Working on my project for the last several months, it has become easy for me to lose sight of the bigger picture and become weighed down in the technical work. This opportunity also helped me understand my own project by placing it within the landscape of biomedical research here at JHU,” he wrote. “In presenting to judges, I was forced to think about what makes this study unique and compelling. This has left me more excited and inspired than ever about the future of this project.”

The University Undergraduate Research Fellowship (formerly the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship) is a prestigious undergraduate research award that provides selected students with $12,000 over three years to conduct independent research of their own design under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Will’s work, supported through his fellowship, exemplifies the program’s mission to encourage intellectual curiosity and interdisciplinary exploration.

Applications for the next cohort of University Undergraduate Research Fellows are open for pre-applications until December 21, 2025, with final applications due by January 25, 2026. All first-year students in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences are eligible for this unique opportunity to design and carry out a long-term research project that spans the course of their entire undergraduate career.