On February 28, 2020, Preston Pozderac competed in the 34th Annual Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum at the Ohio State University. The event features oral and poster presentations of cutting edge research across multiple disciplines. Out of over 300 applications, only 184 students were invited to present and compete for $14,000 in cash prizes.

Preston won first place in the oral presentations in the Mathematical & Physical Sciences. Preston presented on Polarization Dependent Relativistic Transparency. The work incorporated both particle-in-cell simulation results and Scarlet experimental results from the experimental lead Anthony Zingale.