April 30, 2009
McNair/Early Identification Program Spring Research Conference, May 1-2
Is the benefit of driving a hybrid car worth its cost? What controls the high-velocity gas close to the center of a black hole? When one eye is damaged, does the other eye grow stronger to compensate?
Such questions and more will be addressed by UW students and their faculty advisers at the 17th annual Pacific Northwest Ronald E. McNair/EIP/GO-MAP Spring Research Conference, Friday and Saturday, May 1-2 at the HUB.
It’s a research conference where students, faculty, and staff convene to share intellectual ideas, engage in a variety of discussions and build collegial relationships. Click here to learn more.
The conference is sponsored at the UW each year by the McNair Program, a federally funded TRIO program that offers graduate preparation services to 25 low-income, first generation and underrepresented students each year to familiarize them with the culture of graduate education. Also sponsoring is the UW Early Identification Program (EIP) for Graduate Studies. The Graduate School’s Graduate Opportunities & Minority Achievement Program (GO–MAP), a vehicle for undergraduate scholars to connect with colleagues in graduate education, also supports this conference.
The conference attracts McNair scholars from colleges and universities in the Pacific Northwest and across the country. This year, 79 undergraduate McNair scholars and colleagues from 13 regional and national universities will be in attendance.
Also participating will be 28 UW undergraduates representing the McNair Scholars, Presidential Scholars, Boeing Scholars, and EIP Scholars programs.
There will be 34 concurrent paper presentations and 38 poster presentations in the two-day conference. These will highlight student research in the social science, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), and humanities fields that they have conducted throughout the year in collaboration with a faculty mentor.
That’s where you’ll hear, for instance, the UW’s economics and mathematics student Kelvin Kai-Wing discuss “The Green Delusion? An Analysis of Hybrid Vehicles.” Or physics student Joel Leigh talking about black holes. Or you can hear neurobiology student Maria Acosta Garcia discussing ongoing research on visual acuity in rats, and hear what implications the work has for human eyesight.
This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Ileana M. Rodríguez-Silva, UW assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean history. She will speak at the Friday lunch reception in the Husky Union Building.
The second day of the conference will feature a panel discussion with five UW faculty members discussing the topic, “Who Do You Admit? Who Do You Fund? Who Do You Mentor?” This will be from 10:30 a.m. to noon in HUB 108. Participating will be Brian Fabien, professor of mechanical engineering; Danilo Pozzo, assistant professor of chemical engineering; Stephanie Smallwood, associate professor of history; Barbara Wakimoto, professor of biology and genome sciences; and Joy Williamson-Lott, associate professor of education.
Also on the second day will be a roundtable discussion with national McNair alumni who are current UW graduate students.
This event presents a unique opportunity for undergraduates to be exposed to the scholarly work of fellow McNair/EIP students who are making a contribution to the scholarly and intellectual atmosphere at the University.
The EIP Program has held this conference since 1992. The McNair program was founded in 1994 and joined the conference in 1999.
If you would like more information about the Early Identification Program and Ronald E. McNair Scholars program at the UW, please visit online at http://depts.washington.edu/uwmcnair/ or e-mail uwmcnair@u.washington.edu.
