Presenting Undergraduate Research

From the June 2015 Desktop News | Five undergraduates in the College of Arts and Sciences presented their research findings April 16-18 at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. The annual event, held this year at Eastern Washington University, is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship and creative activity in all fields of study.

Arts and Sciences students who presented are: Christine Kim, psychology of Auburn; Taylor Sheeran, English and communication studies, San Antonio, Texas; Erin Hein, biochemistry and art history, Wheaton, Illinois; Genevieve Miller, biology, Biloxi, Mississippi.; and Madison Hunter, communicative disorders, Memphis, Tennessee.

“This is a great opportunity for undergraduate researchers to experience what typically only happens at the graduate student and faculty levels,” said Dr. Kim Bissell, director of undergraduate research at UA.

“Being selected to present your research as an undergraduate student is a huge honor, and the students have worked very closely with their research mentors on these projects,” Bissell said.

The students not only saw other undergraduate research projects, but they also met with graduate recruiters from around the country, Bissell said.

Each of the students, whose research ranges from research through storytelling to the relationship between psychological distress and smoking in adolescents, work with UA faculty mentors on their research projects.

“Research is just one of the ways students get exposed to graduate-level work, graduate school, etc., and this conference does just that,” Bissell said. “I know the five I have been working with are very excited for the opportunity, and each is grateful for the financial assistance from their own colleges, from the University’s Office for Research and Economic Development and from the provost’s office.”

Bissell and Dr. Mary Katherine Shreves, coordinator of the Emerging Scholars Program, accompanied the students at the conference.