From petri dishes to the pitch, University of Washington undergraduates research it all.
A cohort of undergraduates in this year’s Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities (SIAH) spent the last quarter researching the effects of the world’s visit to Seattle for the FIFA Men’s World Cup. This summer course is supported by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Mary Gates Endowment for Students and the Office of Research and gives students the opportunity to experience this once-in-a-lifetime event in a whole new way.
Students spent Seattle’s six World Cup matches gathering interviews, community surveys and observations about how the tournament shaped the city for two months.
Ten weeks later, they’ve hit their goals and are ready to pass off their knowledge to the community.
Get a glimpse of the action
Check out this video from the College of Arts and Sciences to go behind the scenes with SIAH researchers as they took to the streets to research the World Cup in Seattle.
On Friday, Aug. 21, 19 students who took part in the summer research experience will present their projects at the annual SIAH Symposium. From 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., catch these students in the Petersen Room in the Allen Library, where they’ll share how the World Cup left a lasting impact on Seattle, its residents and its visitors.
“The Summer Institute in the Arts & Humanities Final Symposium is truly one of my favorite events of the year,” said Sophie Pierszalowski, director of the Office of Undergraduate Research. “This event is a culmination of a summer full of hard work, creativity, critical thinking and growth.”
Student researchers spent hours around Seattle Stadium during matches gathering photos, videos, observations and interviews to tell the story of the World Cup in our city. Their final projects turned into research on protests around the city, immigration policies, nationalism, foreign policy and more.
Most students didn’t have any experience doing research in the arts and humanities before the summer, but watching them learn how to do it was one of the most rewarding parts of the program, said Caley Cook, teaching professor in the Department of Communication. Instead of labs and crunching numbers, these students’ research focused on interviewing strangers, observing their surroundings and finding creative ways to tell their stories.
“You watch the students build resilience around challenge and around failure,” Cook said. “Convincing students that it’s OK to try something and not be good at it in one day is the best thing we could potentially teach them.”
SIAH is an annual program, supported by the Office of Undergraduate Research, the Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Mary Gates Endowment for Students and the Office of Research, that gives students the opportunity to explore research in the arts and humanities. The program gives students a scholarship and access to seminars and lessons that highlight the importance of humanities research. Students leave the program with experience thinking interdisciplinarily and a research paper or project that they can be proud of.
“As part of their exploration, these students have crafted meaningful research questions and have taken creative and scholarly steps to answer those questions through individual and collaborative projects,” Pierszalowski said. “On Aug. 21, we get to celebrate these students, listen to their findings and be in community with 19 incredible undergraduate researchers who devoted their summer to exploration, conversation and inquiry. How lucky are we?”
About the Office of Undergraduate Research
The Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities is supported by The Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Mary Gates Endowment for Students, the Office of Research and the Office of Undergraduate Research. The Office of Undergraduate Research is a program in Undergraduate Academic Affairs that advocates for inclusive research for all undergraduates through courses, scholarships, resources and the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.