Led by its Editor-in-Chief, the Lucerna research journal celebrates 20th anniversary with a student research symposium

The Lucerna symposium celebrated the publication of its 20th volume by highlighting three undergraduate researchers on March 11 at the UMKC Student Union.

  Lucerna is an interdisciplinary research journal produced by the Honors program at UMKC, and the Editor-in-Chief, honor student Lilah Crum-Barnhill, was tasked with hosting the symposium. 

  Keynote Speaker Dr. Antonio Byrd presented his research on the book he wrote, “Black Tech Ecosystems: How Black Adult Learners Use Computer Code Bootcamps for Liberation.” 

  The book is a year-long ethnographic study of low-income Black adult learners attending Clearwater Academy, a nonprofit bootcamp that teaches coding literacy, aiming to help end racism and poverty within the computer science field. 

  December 2025 graduate honors student Olivia Christensen was highlighted in the symposium, presenting her first publication in a research journal. Christensen was one of three students who presented research that evening. 

  “My research is about the experiences of Indigenous women in Indian territory during the Civil War,” said Christensen. Christensen had just graduated in December 2025, with a bachelor’s in history and French language and literature. 

  Growing up in Oklahoma, Christensen’s grandmother always talked about the genocide against the indigenous people, their history and how they ended up in Oklahoma. She was exposed to the topic at a young age, but interning at the Wornall Majors House Museum sparked more interest. 

  “They asked me to do some civil war research, and it just took off from there,” said Christensen. 

  She ended her presentation with a powerful takeaway, “One thing is clear. First American women have long been overlooked as participants, victims and chroniclers of a war that took place on their land. It is finally time we let these women speak for themselves.” 

   Lucerna was a successful event, but it didn’t come without its own challenges. Barnhill described the technical challenges she faced while preparing for the symposium. 

  “The biggest challenge tends to be just picking the essays to publish and getting them edited,” said Barnhill.  “It can be difficult sometimes, like, when everybody’s on such a busy schedule and just trying to meet all those deadlines producing the book in general.”  

  She said she was a bit nervous and hesitant at first, especially when it came to telling people what to do as the Editor-in-Chief. 

 “I wanted to be very democratic,” said Barnhill. “I didn’t want it to be like I’m just some super hardheaded person who needs things to be done a certain way.”  

  Despite personal struggles, the symposium was a successful event for Barnhill. 

  “Now there’s a tangible material product at the end of the day that people can take home and put on their shelves and remember all the work that they put into it, too,” said Barnhill. “So it’s truly rewarding.” 

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