Award Announcements

• Congratulations, Summer 2015 SURF Award recipients!

husky-statueThe Office of Undergraduate Research is pleased to announce the selection of 35 undergraduate students to receive SURF Awards in support of their summer undergraduate research projects. The faculty review committee was impressed by the very high caliber of the 107 applications submitted this year.

Click here to view the full list of Summer 2015 SURF award recipients.

Congratulations to the SURF awardees! Your academic achievements, curiosity, initiative, and motivation were evident in your applications. You have a challenging summer of deep engagement with the process of research ahead of you. We look forward to hearing about all you learn!

We thank the faculty members who supported SURF applicants in a range of roles: mentors, letter writers, and faculty review committee members! SURF represents a collaborative effort between students and faculty. This program would simply not be possible without the support and participation of the UConn faculty!

OUR also extends thanks to SURF supporters in the UConn community. We are grateful to the Provost’s Office and to the Deans of the Schools and Colleges of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources; Education; Engineering; Fine Arts; Nursing; and Pharmacy, who all contributed funding to the SURF competition this year. Alumni, parents, and friends of UConn also helped fund SURF awards. This collaborative funding effort ensures that SURF supports a diverse array of undergraduate research endeavors. We are grateful to all of our program partners for making intensive summer research opportunities available to students seeking to enrich their undergraduate experience in this way.

Once again, congratulations to those students offered 2015 SURF awards, and good luck with your summer projects!

• Congratulations, Spring 2015 UConn IDEA Grant Recipients!

idea_logo_standard_color_bottomWEB_cropCongratulations to the thirty-seven UConn undergraduates who have been awarded UConn IDEA Grants in the spring 2015 funding cycle!

Twenty-five of the award recipients will be completing individual projects, and twelve will be working on collaborative group projects. The award recipients represent a variety of disciplines, from music education to civil engineering, environmental science to molecular and cell biology, and campus affiliations, including one recipient from the Stamford campus.

Click here to view the full list of spring 2015 UConn IDEA Grant award recipients.

Special thanks to the faculty and staff that supported student applications to the UConn IDEA Grant and to those who will be mentoring the award recipients as they complete their projects. We would also like to thank the faculty and staff from around the University who served as reviewers.

The UConn IDEA Grant program awards funding to support self-designed projects including artistic endeavors, community service initiatives, traditional research projects, entrepreneurial ventures, and other creative and innovative projects. Undergraduates in all majors at all UConn campuses can apply. Applications are accepted twice per year from individuals and from small groups who plan to work collaboratively on a project. The next application deadline will be in December 2015.

• Congratulations, Fall 2014 UConn IDEA Grant Recipients!

idea_logo_standard_color_bottomWEB_cropCongratulations to the twenty-six UConn undergraduates who have been awarded UConn IDEA Grants in the fall 2014 funding cycle!

Eighteen of the award recipients will be completing individual projects and eight will be working on collaborative group projects. The award recipients represent a variety of disciplines, from puppetry to mechanical engineering, nursing to horticulture, and campus affiliations, including three recipients from the Stamford campus and one from the Avery Point campus.

Click here to view the full list of Fall 2014 UConn IDEA Grant recipients.

Special thanks to the faculty and staff who supported student applications to the UConn IDEA Grant and to those who will be mentoring the award recipients as they complete their projects. We would also like to thank the faculty and staff from around the University who served as reviewers.

The UConn IDEA Grant program awards funding to support self-designed projects including artistic endeavors, community service initiatives, traditional research projects, entrepreneurial ventures, and other creative and innovative projects. Undergraduates in all majors at all UConn campuses can apply. Applications are accepted twice per year from individuals and from small groups who plan to work collaboratively on a project. The next application deadline is Monday, March 16, 2015.

• 2015 Roper Awards for Research Experience (RARE)

The Roper Award for Research Experience (RARE) supports undergraduate research apprenticeships that make use of the archives of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. We are pleased to announce the two student/faculty RARE teams who have received awards for Spring 2015 and thank the Roper Center for its generous support of these student awards. Congratulations, RARE awardees!

2015 RARE Recipients
Erin Puglia ’17 (CLAS), Professor Vin Moscardelli, Roper Center Director Paul Herrnson, OUR Director Caroline McGuire, Chris Bruno ’16 (CAHNR), and Professor Ben Campbell.

Project Title: The Role of Demographics and Socioeconomics on Views of the Food System and Food Access
Student Apprentice and Major: Christopher Bruno, Resource Economics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Benjamin Campbell, Agricultural and Resource Economics

Mr. Bruno and Professor Campbell will be using Roper Center data to consider how different groups view the food system and access information about food-related issues. They will examine how different groups view organic, local, and genetically modified food products, considering the role of race, gender, income, and other characteristics to better understand differences in perceptions. This research will culminate with the development of policy recommendations that address potential racial and/or income inequalities within the food system.

Project Title: Throwing the Bums Out: Public Attitudes Toward Scandal-Plagued Incumbents
Student Apprentice and Major: Erin Puglia, Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Vincent Moscardelli, Political Science

Ms. Puglia and Professor Moscardelli will use exit poll data to consider the mechanism(s) by which Congressional incumbents involved in scandals lose vote share. While existing research has documented the phenomenon of reduced vote share for candidates in the election cycle in which a scandal is first reported in the media, the causal mechanisms have not yet been established, so this project aims to model this process.

• Congratulations, 2015 SHARE Award recipients!

SHARE Awards support undergraduate research apprenticeships in the social sciences, humanities, and arts. We are delighted to announce the 24 student-faculty teams selected to receive awards for Spring 2015 and thank the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute for its generous support of two of these student awards. Congratulations to all award recipients!

Project Title: Health Care Reform, Fertility, and Infant Health: Evidence from Massachusetts
Student Apprentice and Major: Andrew Carroll, Economics & Psychology
Faculty Mentor and Department: David Simon, Economics

Project Title: Too Much of a Good Thing? Excess Legitimacy and Democratic Principles in Argentina
Student Apprentice and Major: Katie Cavanaugh, Political Science & Management Information Systems
Faculty Mentor and Department: Matthew Singer, Political Science

Project Title: The Crane Wife at the National Festival of the Puppeteers of America
Student Apprentice and Major: Edward Cody, Puppet Arts
Faculty Mentor and Department: Margarita Blush, Dramatic Arts

Project Title: Racial Identity, Ethnic-Racial Socialization, and Adjustment among Youth of Color
Student Apprentice and Major: Kalea Coles, Human Development and Family Studies
Faculty Mentor and Department: Annamaria Csizmadia, Human Development and Family Studies

Project Title: Prior Art Search and Settlement Negotiations in Patent Dispute
Student Apprentice and Major: Brendan Costello, Political Science & Economics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Talia Bar, Economics

Project Title: Dramaturgies of Memory, Materiality, and Violence in African American Theatre
Student Apprentice and Major: Brighid DeAngelis, Theatre Design/Tech
Faculty Mentor and Department: Adrienne Macki Braconi, Dramatic Arts
Award Co-Sponsored by the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute

Project Title: Provision of Emotional Support to Increase Pumping Duration in High Risk Mothers
Student Apprentice and Major: Katherine Dinisi, Nursing
Faculty Mentor and Department: Jacqueline McGrath, Nursing

Project Title: Economic Rights in Islam and the Middle East
Student Apprentice and Major: Abdullah Hasan, Political Science & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Faculty Mentor and Department: Zehra Arat, Political Science

Project Title: The Linguistic Analysis of Graphic Novels
Student Apprentice and Major: Matthew Henderson, Linguistics/Psychology & Anthropology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Harry van der Hulst, Linguistics
Award Co-Sponsored by the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute

Project Title: Teaching the Vocabulary of Comprehension: A Technology-Enhanced System to Enhance At-Risk 3rd Graders’ Acquisition and Application of Essential Vocabulary (IVCS)
Student Apprentice and Major: Timothy Henning, Digital Media and Design
Faculty Mentor and Department: Michael Coyne, Educational Psychology

Project Title: Topics in Time Series Modeling of Inter-Event Durations
Student Apprentice and Major: Rajeshwari Majumdar, Economics & Statistics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Nalini Ravishanker, Statistics

Project Title: The Comparison of Maternal Descriptions of Late Preterm and Full Term Infant Breastfeeding Behaviors
Student Apprentice and Major: Lindsay Moore, Nursing
Faculty Mentor and Department: Ruth Lucas, Nursing

Project Title: The Politics of Environmental Action: Cities, Water Pollution, and Environmental Inequality in Latin America
Student Apprentice and Major: Renato Muguerza, Latin American Studies & Economics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Veronica Herrera, Political Science

Project Title: The Effects of Perceptual Fine-Tuning on Facial Recognition in Infancy
Student Apprentice and Major: Leighanne Ormston, Psychology & Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor and Department: Heather Bortfeld, Psychology

Project Title: Visual History of Parks and Green Spaces in Waterbury, Connecticut
Student Apprentice and Major: Donato Pesce, Urban and Community Studies
Faculty Mentor and Department: Phil Birge-Liberman, Urban and Community Studies

Project Title: Ensuring Economic Growth Promotes Economic and Social Rights: The Role of Gender Equality in Education
Student Apprentice and Major: Gwendolyn Peyton, Economics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Susan Randolph, Economics

Project Title: Importance of Social Network Ties in Ad-Hoc Team Composition: Implications for Individual Team Member Performance
Student Apprentice and Major: Emily Roller, Psychology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Dev Dalal, Psychology

Project Title: Galatea Triumphant: Explorations in Figurative Ceramic Sculpture for Upcoming Solo and Group Exhibitions
Student Apprentice and Major: Catherine Solari, Sculpture/Ceramics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Monica Bock, Art and Art History

Project Title: Content Analysis of Colorado District Gifted and Talented Program Plans as Compared to the National Association for Gifted Children PK-12 Programming
Student Apprentice and Major: Jessica Stargardter, Elementary Education & History
Faculty Mentor and Department: E. Jean Gubbins, Educational Psychology

Project Title: Use and Acceptance of Technical Signs in Deaf Higher Education
Student Apprentice and Major: Emily Stassen, Individualized: American Sign Language and Deaf Culture & Molecular and Cell Biology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Diane Lillo-Martin, Linguistics

Project Title: Coverage of Haiti in the Dominican Republic’s Daily Newspapers: A Pilot Content Analysis Study
Student Apprentice and Major: Isamar Tavarez, Political Science
Faculty Mentors and Departments: Thomas Craemer, Public Policy & Samuel Martinez, Anthropology & Latin American Studies

Project Title: Development of Polysyllabic Word Reading Skill in Elementary-Age Children: A Descriptive Study
Student Apprentice and Major: LaShawna Thompson, Elementary Education
Faculty Mentor and Department: Devin Kearns, Educational Psychology

Project Title: Public Opinion on Renewable Energy
Student Apprentice and Major: Jessica Topper, Individualized: International Relations
Faculty Mentor and Department: Oksan Bayulgen, Political Science

Project Title: A New Methodology for Understanding Development through Joint Action
Student Apprentice and Major: Cassandra Zwarycz, Psychology & Human Development and Family Studies
Faculty Mentor and Department: Adam Sheya, Psychology

• Congratulations, Summer 2014 SURF Award Recipients!

SURF is the largest competitive funding opportunity administered by the UConn Office of Undergraduate Research. I am delighted to announce that 59 UConn undergraduates have been offered SURF awards for summer 2014. The faculty review committee was impressed by the overall high caliber of the 108 applications submitted this year.

Congratulations to the SURF awardees! Your academic achievements, creativity, and initiative were evident in your applications. You have a challenging summer of deep engagement with the process of research ahead of you. We look forward to hearing about all you learn!

Thank you to the faculty members who supported SURF applicants: mentors, letter writers, and faculty review committee members! SURF represents a collaborative effort between students and faculty. This program would simply not be possible without the support and participation of faculty members!

Thank you, too, to SURF supporters in the UConn community. We are grateful to the Provost’s Office and to the Deans of the Schools and Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engineering, Fine Arts, Pharmacy, and Nursing, who all contributed funding to the SURF competition this year. Alumni, parents, and friends of UConn also helped fund SURF awards. This collaborative funding effort ensures that SURF supports a diverse array of undergraduate research endeavors!

Once again, congratulations to those students offered 2014 SURF awards.

Caroline McGuire, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Undergraduate Research

 

 

 

• Congratulations, Spring 2014 UConn IDEA Grant Award Recipients!

Congratulations to the twenty UConn undergraduates who have been awarded UConn IDEA Grants! idea_logo_standard_color_bottomWEB

Fourteen of the twenty award recipients will be completing individual projects, and the remaining six will be working on collaborative group projects.

Click here to learn more about the UConn IDEA Grant recipients and their projects.

Special thanks to the faculty and staff that supported student applications to the UConn IDEA Grant and to those who will be mentoring the award recipients as they complete their projects.

The UConn IDEA Grant program awards undergraduates funding to support self-designed projects including artistic endeavors, community service initiatives, traditional research projects, entrepreneurial ventures, and other innovative projects. Proposals for the UConn IDEA Grant represented a variety of disciplines, ranging from fine arts to marine sciences. The program is open to undergraduates in all majors at all campuses.

• Congratulations, Fall 2013 UConn IDEA Grant Recipients!

idea_logo_standard_color_bottomWEBThe UConn IDEA Grant program provides funding of up to $4,000 for self-designed projects including entrepreneurial ventures, community service initiatives, traditional research projects, or other creative endeavors. Proposals for the UConn IDEA Grants represented a variety of disciplines, ranging from history to mechanical engineering.

Congratulations to the nine undergraduates who have been awarded UConn IDEA Grants in the second award cycle of this new program coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR)! Click here to download the list of grant recipients and their projects.

Rosse Gates ’16 (ENGR) – Autonomous Navigation Systems and Algorithms

  • Rosse will work to develop an autonomous quadcopter that can track its position in relation to the environment and survey disaster areas in GPS-devoid environments.

Dillon Jones ’15 (ENGR) – Gentleman’s Gantry Machine

  • Dillon will work to build a “Gentleman’s Gantry Machine,” a general purpose, computer controlled positioning system of his own design that will enable multiple forms of manufacturing on one device.

Saher Kazi ’16 (CLAS) – Investigation and Analysis of the Barriers to Mental Health Care in India

  • Saher plans to investigate the factors influencing access to mental healthcare in India in a study involving mental health clinics in the town of Nashik in Maharashtra, India.

Kiersten Kronschnabel ’16 (CLAS) – POWER: Providing Optimal Strategies for Patient Retention While Transitioning from Pediatric to Adult Care 

  • Kiersten’s project is a community service initiative to address the dearth of resources for facilitating the pediatric-adult care transition for HIV-positive adolescents.

Katelyn McFadden ’15 (CANR) – Effects of Poor Maternal Nutrition on Liver Development in Lambs

  • Katelyn’s project builds on a collaborative study in the Department of Animal Science evaluating the effects of poor maternal nutrition on the growth of offspring in sheep. Katelyn will analyze liver samples in lambs to understand the mechanisms at work affecting offspring growth and development.

Amoolya Narayanan ’16 (CLAS) – Investigating the Use of Natural Antimicrobials to Control Urinary Tract Infections in a Mouse Model

  • Amoolya will investigate the potential of trans-cinnamaldehyde, a natural antimicrobial molecule contained in cinnamon, as an antimicrobial coating on urinary catheters to control urinary tract infections.

Zachary Raslan ’15 (CLAS) – Historic GIS Mapping of Hartford, CT

  • Zachary is partnering with a larger research project, Virtual Hartford, to acquire and digitize the earliest maps of Hartford, CT. He will apply GIS software to create maps that detail the evolution of the city and show changes to the physical landscape after significant historic events.

Aaron Rosman ’16 (CANR) – Elatine Ambigua and Elatine Triandra

  • Aaron will conduct research on invasive plant species Elatine Ambigua and Elatine Triandra to clarify the species boundaries and provide insights on their source and vector of introduction in the U.S.

Rachel Winsor ’15 (ENGR) – Project XX

  • Rachel plans to partner with UConn groups and departments to help bridge the gender gap to success by developing and implementing a series of empowerment workshops for the UConn community.

 

Thank you to the faculty members who have agreed to supervise the UConn IDEA Grant students in their projects. Thank you as well to the faculty members and program directors who served on the UConn IDEA Grant Proposal Review Committee!

• Announcing the 2014 Roper Awards for Research Experience (RARE)

The Roper Award for Research Experience (RARE) supports undergraduate research apprenticeships that make use of the archives of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. We are pleased to announce the two student/faculty RARE teams who have received awards for Spring 2014 and thank the Roper Center for its generous support of these student awards.

Project TitlePublic Perception and Judicial Legitimacy
Student Apprentice and Major: Molly Rockett, Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Virginia Hettinger, Political Science

Ms. Rockett and Professor Hettinger will be using the DRI National Poll on the Civil Justice System to explore public perceptions of the judicial decision-making process and poll respondents’ assessments of firsthand experiences (as litigants, jurors, or witnesses) with the legal system.

Project Title: The Right to Bear Arms: The Role of Federalism in Gun Control Policy
Student Apprentice and Major: Brian Tiedt, Political Science & Economics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Paul Herrnson, Political Science

Mr. Tiedt and Professor Herrnson will use the metadata available on iPOLL and a variety of data sets to consider the evolution of public opinion on gun control, subgroup variation in opinion, and public perceptions of the role of the federal government in regulating firearms.

 
Press Release from the Roper Center

• Congratulations, 2014 SHARE Award Recipients!

SHARE awards support undergraduate research apprenticeships in the social sciences, humanities, and arts. Following the most competitive application cycle to date, we are pleased to announce the 20 awardees for the Spring 2014 semester. Congratulations!

Project TitleDeferred Examination
Student Apprentice and Major: Patrick Adams, Economics
Faculty Mentor and Department: Talia Bar, Economics

Project Title: Evaluation of Gifted Education Using State Accountability Systems
Student Apprentice and Major: Daniel Arndt, Education
Faculty Mentor and Department: Jonathan Plucker, Educational Leadership

Project Title: Implementing and Evaluating K-3 Literacy Support in CT Schools
Student Apprentice and Major: Rachael Cerutti, Elementary Education
Faculty Mentor and Department: Michael Coyne, Educational Psychology

Project Title: Exploring Prunus Domestication in the Southern Caucasus
Student Apprentice and Major: Joyce Fountain, Anthropology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Alexia Smith, Anthropology

Project TitleAssessing Legal Protections Against Rape in the 50 U.S. States
Student Apprentice and Major: Celia Guillard, International Relations
Faculty Mentor and Department: David Richards, Political Science

Project TitleThe New Husky Study: Stress, Coping and Health Behavior Change in First-Year Students
Student Apprentice and Major: Megan Iacocca, Psychology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Crystal Park, Psychology

Project TitleDamini: Illuminating the Flaws in India’s Legal System and Rape Laws
Student Apprentice and Major: Tina Lapsia, Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Betty Hanson, Political Science

Project TitleCongressional Responsiveness During the ‘New Gilded Age’
Student Apprentice and Major: Phillip Menard, Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Thomas Hayes, Political Science

Project TitleGifted Students Achievement Patterns Beyond High School
Student Apprentice and Major: Jennifer Moore, Secondary Education
Faculty Mentor and Department: Del Siegle, Educational Psychology

Project TitleDiscourse in Linguistically Diverse Mathematics Classrooms
Student Apprentice and Major: Bailey Muchin, Special Education
Faculty Mentor and Department: Mary Truxaw, Curriculum and Instruction

Project TitleNeural Mechanisms for Behavioral Differences on Visual Integration in Schizophrenia
Student Apprentice and Major: Fariya Naz, Psychology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Chi-Ming Chen, Psychology

Project Title: Observations on the Genderization of Security: A University (UConn/Avery Point) Community Perspective
Student Apprentice and Major: Kaitlin Pealer, Anthropology
Faculty Mentor and Department: Richard Cole, Political Science

Project Title: Beyond Nation States
Student Apprentice and Major: Marissa Piccolo, Political Science
Faculty Mentor and Department: Prakash Kashwan, Political Science

Project Title: Understanding of Social Relationships in Children with a History of Autism Who Have Achieved Optimal Outcomes
Student Apprentice and Major: Kaitlyn Porter, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Faculty Mentor and Department: Deborah Fein, Psychology

Project Title: Counting Strategies in Deaf Homesigners in Nicaragua: Can Fingers Help?
Student Apprentice and Major: Devika Prasad, Psychology
Faculty Project Title: Marie Coppola, Psychology

Project Title: Neonatal Nurses’ Perceptions of Mother-Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact in NICUs: A National Survey
Student Apprentice and Major: Kelsey Richardson, Nursing
Faculty Project Title: Xiaomei Cong, Nursing

Project Title: Examining Questioning in Reading Classrooms
Student Apprentice and Major: Melissa Scarbrough, Secondary Education/French
Faculty Project Title: Catherine Little, Educational Psychology

Project Title: Preparation of Engraved Editions of Late Piano Works by American Modernist Composer Dane Rudhyar
Student Apprentice and Major: Jonathan Schmieding, Music -Composition and Performance
Faculty Project Title: Ronald Squibbs, Music

Project Title: Gap Detection and Frequency Discrimination Abilities in Individuals High in Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptomatology
Student Apprentice and Major: Emily Thompson, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Faculty Project Title: Inge-Marie Eigsti, Psychology

Project Title: Social Challenges for Correctional Nurses Delivering Healthcare
Student Apprentice and Major: Alyssa Zabin, Psychology
Faculty Project Title: Denise Panosky, Nursing