June 24, 2021
Collaboration with the Undergraduate Research Program promotes population health
An ongoing partnership between the University of Washington Population Health Initiative and the Undergraduate Research Program (URP) has introduced and supported undergraduate students in their endeavors to tackle pressing population health challenges.
The Undergraduate Research Program (URP) supports undergraduate students as they navigate their way to research opportunities. The URP offers students a wealth of resources to discover and apply their skills and talents to research opportunities.
“The Undergraduate Research Program strives to support undergraduates at the University of Washington in all disciplines,” Jessica E. Salvador, assistant director of the Undergraduate Research Program, said. “Our goal is to help students pursue their passions by providing access to research opportunities.”
Through this partnership, students are encouraged to orient their research to address pressing issues of population health.
“One of the most valuable outcomes of our partnership with the Population Health Initiative is helping students to see the research being done at the intersections of disciplines that addresses issues of critical societal importance,” Janice DeCosmo, associate dean of UW Undergraduate Academic Affairs, said.
Among the areas of partnership are the awarding of Population Health Recognition Awards at the Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, support of student conference travel, and creating a general studies undergraduate course that promotes population health research.
Population Health Recognition Awards
Every spring, the URP hosts the Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. This event offers students from all academic disciplines across all three campuses the opportunity to share their research experiences with fellow students, faculty, and the UW community at large.
“We have been able to also create a platform within this symposium to highlight population health,” Salvador said.
Students engaged in population health research are eligible for recognition through the Population Health Recognition Awards.
The initiative recognizes 12 undergraduate students annually whose research addresses critical population health challenges.
Population Health Initiative leadership evaluates submissions based on the potential impact of their research and its alignment with the initiative’s mission of advancing population health through a holistic and interdisciplinary approach.
Undergraduate research conference travel awards
In addition to supporting undergraduate researchers through recognition at the symposium the Population Health Initiative has joined the URP in supporting undergraduates seeking to share their research beyond the UW community.
The Population Health Initiative and the URP have combined resources to support undergraduate students in attending conferences that promote and extend their research to a broader audience.
“The conference awards provide undergraduates an opportunity to promote their work and support their growth as researchers and scholars through engagement with their discipline’s community of scholars,” Salvador said.
The travel awards are available to students across all three UW campuses, pursuing research on population health. Requests for up to $600 are considered for travel expenses for conferences specific to population health.
Research Exposed Undergraduate Course
The partnership also promotes population health through an undergraduate general studies course, Research Exposed! (General Studies 391).
“The goal [of the course] was to help provide students with a glimpse of what research looks like in different fields,” Salvador said.
The course entails a series of guest lectures from UW faculty engaged in research across multiple disciplines.
“Students are able to ask questions or follow up with faculty in the future,” Salvador said. “We have had students reach out to faculty and end up getting involved in their research with professors that have been speakers. A lot of connections [are] made that way.”
Since winter quarter 2018, the Population Health Initiative supported the course in developing a curriculum featuring UW faculty speakers whose research falls under the purview of population health.
“The Population Health Initiative has been instrumental in helping us bring a focus to population health for our winter quarter series,” Salvador said.
Among the speakers from the winter 2021 course were Ali H. Mokdad, the UW’s chief strategy officer for population health and professor of health metrics sciences; Barbara Baquero, associate professor of health services in the Department of Public Health; Nidhi Agrawal, professor of marking and Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor at the Foster School of Business; Elin Björling, senior research scientist and lecturer in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering; Sándor Tóth, associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Forest Sciences; Jonathan Kanter, research associate professor in the Department of Psychology; and Anirban Basu, Stergachis Family Endowed director and professor of health economics at the UW School of Pharmacy.
“Part of our goal is to spark that curiosity in students of what research can look like,” Salvador said. “This course can help them realize that [their] curiosity can be [applied] towards their own learning and help them embark on a research journey.”
The course is sponsored by Undergraduate Academic Affairs, the URP and the Population Health Initiative.
“Through the course, conference awards, and symposium highlights, we help students discover career paths that extend the knowledge they are developing in their majors to interdisciplinary research that matters,” DeCosmo said.