Psychology’s Capstone Borine Awards Fall 2025

Each year, graduating senior psychology undergraduate students complete a project that allows them to explore an area of interest. The Sharon Borine Top Capstone Award acknowledges students who produce outstanding senior projects. 

The award selection process involves section leaders and faculty members nominating candidates, who are then evaluated and ranked by a panel of faculty members. Congratulations to psychology undergraduate students Andrew Ramirez, Audrey Ronan, and Shaye O’Neil for receiving the Fall 2025 awards!

Andrew Ramirez

Andrew Ramirez has received the first-place Capstone Award and $250 for his paper, “A Review of the Low Prevalence Effect in the Real World and of Proposed Interventions.” He was advised by Professor Hoang Nguyen.

Ramirez describes himself as a serial procrastinator and a perfectionist, so for these reasons, he worked to turn in a complete paper for his first draft rather than just the first required sections. After talking to his Psychology of Attention professor, Vanessa Lee, he was confident that a literature review on the low-prevalence effect was a good idea, and the scientific papers students reviewed in her class laid a good foundation for his critical analysis. When summarizing the findings, Ramirez used the editing skills he learned from two impactful philosophy classes he had taken previously: Scientific Thought, with Alan Love, and Wittgenstein, with Philip Bold. In those classes, he learned to edit his work for conciseness and about the importance of word choice, phrasing, and readability. Ramirez also used Zotero–a free, open-source citation manager–to complete his paper, allowing him to keep all his source information in one easily accessible place.

Ramirez was born and raised in the Twin Cities, living with his parents, two older brothers, and his maternal grandparents (who lived next door). His dad's family lives in Mexico City, and he has often gone to visit them, including living there for one year in 3rd grade.  Outside of his studies, Ramirez has worked as a pizza delivery driver, via which he discovered his love of driving In fact, the inspiration for his paper topic came from an article he read in another class about driving and attention.

Congratulations, Andrew!

Audrey Ronan

Audrey Ronan has been awarded the second-place Capstone Award recipient, receiving $150 for her paper “Psychological Safety in Partially and Fully Virtual Teams: A Literature Review of Emerging Challenges and Technological Solutions.” 
   
Ronan's capstone project examines technology as a double-edged sword in virtual teams. The choice of topic was inspired by a summer internship in change management and communications, where she saw how essential it is for people to feel comfortable asking questions, seeking feedback, and speaking up for both organizational effectiveness and individual well-being. 

In her paper, Ronan focuses on translating scholarly insights into practical ideas relevant to professionals across organizational levels. Her hope is that this discussion engages readers to relate, reflect, and act with greater intention as our experience of the modern workplace continues to evolve.

Ronan will graduate in December 2025 with a BA in Psychology and minors in Health Services Management and Spanish Studies. Before transferring to the University of Minnesota, she worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Child Development. For the past two years, she has been involved in the Social Team Research in Promoting Health Equity Lab, a connection that began when she was matched with Dr. Melissa Ertl through the Dean’s First-Year Research and Creative Scholarship Program. Her three undergraduate internships helped her discover a strong interest in workplace dynamics. After graduation, Ronan will begin her role as a Human Resources Program Coordinator at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Minnesota.

Congratulations, Audrey!

Shaye O’Neil

Shaye O’Neil has received $75 and is the third-place Capstone Award recipient for her paper “The Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Borderline Personality Disorder: A Review of Literature.”

Shaye’s capstone project examines the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and borderline personality disorder (BPD), with an emphasis on how early trauma shapes emotional regulation, interpersonal functioning, and personality development across the lifespan. Her interests lie in the value of trauma-informed and dimensional approaches to understanding complex mental health conditions.

Shaye's attention to this topic is informed by her research and applied experiences. She has been involved in multiple psychology research labs, including work in an eating disorders lab, a lab focused on early-stage psychosis, and a personality and psychopathology lab under the mentorship of Dr. Whitney Ringwald. In addition, she completed an internship with a Hennepin County Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team, where she worked alongside interdisciplinary providers supporting individuals with serious mental illness. Together, these experiences shaped her interest in understanding psychopathology within broader developmental and contextual systems.

Shaye is a senior at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, majoring in psychology and minoring in family violence prevention. She plans to pursue doctoral training in counseling psychology to integrate research with applied clinical work.

Congratulations, Shaye!

Composed by Madison Stromberg and Kiet Pham, communications assistants.