UL Lafayette Students Win Top Poster Awards
Two University of Louisiana at Lafayette graduate students took first and second place in a graduate research poster competition at an international statistics and combinatorics conference.
Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in Mathematics
Azwaad Labiba Mohiuddin won first place and Mithun Ranjan Kar won second place in the graduate research poster competition at the 2026 International Conference on Advances in Interdisciplinary Statistics and Combinatorics. The conference brought scholars from 25 states and four countries to Lafayette.
Why it matters
The win highlights the research strength of UL Lafayette's graduate program in front of a national and international audience of statisticians and mathematicians. Hosting the event also brings visiting researchers and their work to the Lafayette area.
Scholars from 25 states and four countries attended, the first time the conference has been held in Louisiana since it was established in 2007. The source does not report how many graduate poster entries competed for the top prizes.
The players
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
A public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, serving as the host institution for the conference and home to the winning graduate students.
National Science Foundation
The independent U.S. federal agency that funds basic research and education in science, engineering and mathematics, which supported the conference.
The details
Mohiuddin took first place and Kar second in the graduate research poster competition. Kendall Thomas of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill placed third in the graduate division, and undergraduate division winners included Charles Wu of the University of Georgia, Christopher Housholder of Missouri State University and Gasper Ndokaj of Vassar College.
Timeline
2007: The conference was established.
2026: The conference was held in Lafayette and the student awards were presented.
Fall 2028: UL Lafayette is scheduled to host the biennial conference again.
Big Picture
The conference, supported by the National Science Foundation and Springer, is a biennial gathering founded in 2007 that rotated to Louisiana for the first time in 2026. Its student poster awards place a regional graduate program alongside established national and international research groups.
Students and faculty in Lafayette gain visibility for their graduate research through national competition results. Residents interested in statistics or mathematics can follow upcoming regional academic events hosted by the university.
The takeaway
Regional universities can build national reputations through student research competitions hosted on their own campuses. Following these events is a practical way to track emerging talent in statistics and mathematics.
What happens next
UL Lafayette is scheduled to host the biennial conference again in fall 2028.
Further reading
For related coverage of research in this field, see Mathematics news from across the region.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Advocate.
