Skip to content
Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Tag: Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Undergraduate discovery on display at annual Research Symposium

Written by Undergraduate Academic Affairs
Posted on

More than 1,000 talented University of Washington undergraduates will showcase their contributions to innovative and groundbreaking research at the Sixteenth Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, one of the largest such symposia in the country. The symposium will take place May 17, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., in Mary Gates Hall. Some presentations will also occur in Johnson Hall and Meany Studio Theater.

Poster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumOverview of a poster sessionPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster presentation at the Undergraduate Research SymposiumPoster PresentationPerforming arts session audiencePerforming Arts SessionPerforming Arts Session 2011Oral presentation sessionOral presentation session

The Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium provides a forum for undergraduate students to present the research, scholarly, and creative work they have accomplished alongside faculty and graduate mentors throughout the academic year. These students are making significant contributions to real-world and cutting-edge issues of our time. Through their poster and oral presentations at the Research Symposium, undergraduates also learn to explain and connect their work to a general audience. The resulting shared learning and discussion—among faculty, staff, students, and community members—is a valuable experience for many students and guests at the event.

The Undergraduate Research Symposium showcases the diversity of undergraduate research, which spans all disciplines and addresses critical issues of our time. In 2011-12, more than 7,000 undergraduates participated in University-sponsored research, benefiting from the University’s resources as a research powerhouse, and contributing to solutions to critical societal problems. At this year’s Undergraduate Research Symposium, students will share their research on topics which relate to new methods for targeted DNA sequencing, improving waste management efficiency at the UW, translating athletes’ football intelligence to classroom success, cultivating a sustainable farm at a prison, creating an accurate, low-cost, paper-based test to diagnose infectious diseases such as malaria in developing countries, and producing a Native American comic book to share important information relating to cancer education, among many others.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

5/17/13 | 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Mary Gates Hall and select rooms in Johnson Hall and Meany Studio Theater

There’s a lot to see! Create your own proceedings.

Students often utilize, and sometimes discover, new talents as they approach challenging research questions. Elain Fu, a research assistant professor in bioengineering, mentors undergraduates in her lab. She says that one of her favorite things to see is when students begin to recognize their own talents and capabilities through their involvement in research—an empowering experience. Fu has also seen undergraduates make great contributions to her discipline. Speaking of one undergraduate in her lab, senior Tinny Liang, Fu says “She has not only contributed to the research in my lab, being a co-author on three papers and counting, but her enthusiasm for her work is infectious.”

Students often spearhead original research projects that allow them to pursue personally-relevant topics which build upon their strengths. Undergraduate Alex Catchings, a senior majoring in English, decided to delve into the subject of race and higher education. “My experience as an undergraduate researcher has crystallized my inherent interests in issues of race and higher education,” Catchings says. He says that UW programs like the Undergraduate Research Program, the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, the Mary Gates Endowment for Students, and support from professors across the English and American Ethnic Studies Departments have supported him to continue these interests.

Distinguished speakers Regent Joanne Harrell, Head Football Coach Steve Sarkisian, and UAA Dean and Vice Provost Ed Taylor will address symposium participants and attendees in a brief welcome at 12:30 p.m. in the Mary Gates Hall Commons. The annual undergraduate research mentor awards, which recognize exceptional faculty and graduate student mentors to undergraduate researchers, will also be announced during the program.

The Symposium is organized by Undergraduate Academic Affairs’ Undergraduate Research Program, which facilitates research experiences for students in all academic disciplines. Symposium attendees are encouraged to search the online proceedings, locate the poster and oral presentation sessions that interest them, and create their own, personalized proceedings to navigate the Symposium. Visit exp.uw.edu/urp/symp/ to use this tool.

MLK and sacred songs that feed the soul

Written by Ed Taylor
Posted on
Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor
Vice Provost and Dean Ed Taylor Photo: Tony Grob

I crave the sound of a call and response—the verbal and non-verbal interaction between a speaker and listener—that is endemic to democratic participation in public matters; the kind of call that allows us to acknowledge misfortune, ruination, or loss, followed by a response proclaiming that freedom and justice are close at hand. It’s a reminder that we have reason to be hopeful.

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a eulogy for Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robertson, the four children killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing on Sunday, September 15, 1963. King’s message is time honored, foretelling, and tragically predictive that we would not see the last of violence, suffering, and sorrow.

In the tradition of so many spirituals, King called the faithful to bear witness to ineffable sadness and in doing so, reminds us of our ultimate calling:

These children—unoffending, innocent, and beautiful—were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. And yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death….They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.

In the tradition of the spirituals that allow us to move from suffering to hope, King calls on our redemptive spirit:

And so my friends, they did not die in vain….The death of these little children may lead our whole Southland from the low road of man’s inhumanity to man to the high road of peace and brotherhood. These tragic deaths may lead our nation to substitute an aristocracy of character for an aristocracy of color. The spilled blood of these innocent girls may cause the whole citizenry of Birmingham to transform the negative extremes of a dark past into the positive extremes of a bright future. Indeed this tragic event may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience.

The leader’s voice calls for a response that summons justice and human worth. And while we often want to hear King invoke the view from the mountaintop, he reminds us of the reality that the journey up there means that we have to walk through the darkness and through the shadows so that we come to see certain truths:

And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair. We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers. Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality.

Negro spirituals are a stunning and beautiful expression of humanity. They can be anthems that transcend a given moment and feed the aspirations and desires of the human soul. King began his sermon by calling attention to the tragedy. He ends by invoking the promise of a new day. And as with so many spirituals, so many of King’s sermons—we, the congregation, have the opportunity to respond. In the words of King:

Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters.

You gave to this world wonderful children. They didn’t live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives. Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality. And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died. They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham, they died between the sacred walls of the church of God, and they were discussing the eternal meaning of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations. Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare: Good night, sweet princesses. Good night, those who symbolize a new day. And may the flight of angels take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you.