Each summer, student-faculty teams from across the College embark on intensive research partnerships funded by grants from the Office of Undergraduate Research, supported primarily through the Halsch Endowment.  Applications are competitive and teams apply from across the College during the early spring.  This summer, 15 faculty and 29 students are participating in the program.  Student-faculty teams work on their projects during the summer, meet regularly as a group with other teams, and then present their progress at the Taste of Research in September.  Past history shows that this program generates student and faculty papers and presentations that extend well beyond the summer commitment, many of them going on to national conferences and research journals.  

 

Topics of summer 2011 research projects include:  research on a promising plant-based treatment for HIV;  exploration of the root causes of Alzheimer’s; improving drought resistance of soybeans; understanding the effects of common pesticides and contaminants through study of mussel and snail populations; improving assistive communication technology for children with autism; understanding artistic representations of national trauma in Cambodia; testing of earbud-based heart rate monitors for distance runners; applications of Foucauldian theory to an understanding of the function of Facebook in contemporary society; an archival history of the Daughters of Bilitis as human rights leaders; a longitudinal examination of the role of social support and social networks in leadership development among young women; and the acclimation of first generation immigrants to university study in the U.S.

 

The summer program is the most focused and intensive aspect of Meredith’s undergraduate research program, which is a national model.  Forty-one percent of Meredith seniors report having done independent research with a faculty member vs. the national average of 19 percent.  

 

For more information on Meredith’s Undergraduate Research program, visit www.meredith.edu/urp/.

 

Photo Information: Jason Andrus and Jessica Brown are shown working on a prep of Tylosem fassoglensis, a native Kenyan plant that has been shown to have possible therapeutic properties against HIV

 

In this Issue:

Top Academic Scholarship Recipients Announced
Alumna Samantha Cibelli Earns Fulbright Grant
Research Partnership Grants Fund Summer Projects for Student-Faculty Teams
Faculty/Staff Facilitators Appreciate LeaderShape Experience
Readership Survey Results
Professor of Music Ellen Williams Completes Mahler CD
Faculty/Staff Accomplishments
Upcoming Events
News Briefs

 

Have you presented research or attended a professional meeting recently? Has your department earned an award? Share news of these accomplishments and more with the Meredith community. Faculty and staff are invited to email items to Melyssa Allen, “Campus Connections” editor, at allenme@meredith.edu.