Seaver College Hosts the 18th Annual Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium
Pepperdine University’s Seaver College hosted its 18th annual Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium on Friday, April 11, 2025, showcasing the findings of more than 240 undergraduate students across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines.
“This year’s symposium illustrates our campus community’s dedication to academic excellence,” says Lee Kats, Seaver College dean. “As undergraduates, our students are equipped with the opportunity to pursue their academic curiosities and make meaningful scholarly contributions to their respective fields. We believe in their potential, and we’re proud of their impactful discoveries and creativity.”
Zoe Macarewa presents her artworks
Seventy-five works of art, 48 academic posters, 24 musical performances, and 15 scholarly oral presentations headlined the day. The diverse array of academic content ranged from sculpture and photography to findings in chemistry and astronomy.
“There’s research in the educational sense, and there’s research in the creative sense,” says Zoe Macarewa, a Seaver College senior majoring in art and theatre and screen arts. “Engaging with the creative process has grown my ability to ask questions about life and helped shape my perspective. It’s put me in a great spot to pursue my passions.”
Macarewa displayed her visual art project, Shifting Under Our Feet, which includes photography, digital illustrations, video art, and more. She constructed the various art pieces while completing the summer undergraduate research program abroad in Scotland. There she studied the natural landscape of the Scottish countryside and designed her art to comment on how young people experience the climate crisis.
Across the room from this art exhibition, Madelyn Brizzee, a Seaver College senior majoring in chemistry, presented her paper, “Synthesis, Purification, and Electrochemical Analysis of Platinum Chloride Complexes with Varying Steric and Electronic Properties.” Brizzee’s chemical findings are foundational to understanding the composition of platinum chloride complexes, which are being used in anticancer drugs.
A Seaver student presents his research
“As a first-year chemistry major, I thought I was in over my head,” says Brizzee. “Because of my professors and peers, I’ve been able to get to the point where I am now.” Next year, Brizzee will begin working toward a PhD in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame.
Students, faculty, and visitors of the institution engaged with Macarewa, Brizzee, and their research-driven peers across the Malibu campus. In the Weisman Museum, vocal performances, opera arias, and string quartets serenaded onlookers. In the Black Family Plaza Classrooms, social science, natural science, sports medicine, and communication majors offered lectures and took questions on their work.
Seaver College has a strong and storied reputation as a producer of top-tier research across each of its eight academic divisions. In 2025, Pepperdine was named an R2 university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutes of Higher Education, which distinguishes the school’s meaningful research investment of more than $5 million and its 20 annual doctoral awardees, as well as its vast contributions to many scholarly fields.
Undergraduate students play an important role in the research process at Seaver College. Of the faculty’s 94 peer-reviewed publications in 2023–24, 22 included a student author. Similarly, of the 250 scholarly presentations that faculty members gave at professional academic conferences during that same year, 49 of them featured a student presenter.
These figures illustrate how undergraduates are active contributors and collaborators in the groundbreaking research taking place on Pepperdine’s campus. Working alongside faculty, they learn how to objectively investigate, analyze, and share important findings. The Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium provides a forum in which to acknowledge these important experiential learning practices.
“It is an honor to be able to bring together researchers, scholars, and artists at Seaver together in this celebration of discovery and creation,” says Lila Carlsen, Pepperdine University’s vice provost. Our students are bold. They ask questions that tackle critical issues in society. Through their art and music, they put their hearts and souls into their work with beauty and excellence. I cannot be prouder of our students and Seaver faculty mentors. You could really feel the excitement and joy all day today. That is what scholarship is all about.”