Our UMW students are going places with their research! During the 2024-2025 academic year, 77 students received undergraduate research grants from the College of Arts and Sciences to present their research work at professional conferences across Virginia and the country: from Charlottesville to Chicago, San Diego to San Antonio, and everywhere in between.
In the 2024 fall semester 45 students in art history, biology, chemistry, computer science, earth and environmental science, geography and sociology traveled to present their research with support from the College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research funds. The funds covered travel (train or airfare, or mileage), hotel, and conference fees. Below are a few of the reports they sent back about their experiences:
Computer science students Connor Hairfield and Mackenzie Swain presented their research from the 2024 UMW Irene Piscopo Rodgers (’59) Summer Science Institute at the student poster presentation session of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Eastern Regional Conference, held in Emmitsburg, Maryland, October, 2024. They also represented UMW in the collegiate programming contest held as part of the conference. Their faculty mentor was Dr. Ian Finlayson, associate professor of computer science.
Earth and environmental science students Jessica Oberlies, Ainsley Lord, Avery Duncan, Kate Green, Katie Burbridge, and David Nichols presented their research projects at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Washington DC from December, 2024. Oberlies, Lord, Duncan and Green worked with Dr. Pam Grothe, associate professor of geology, on their project titled “Using large skeletal architecture fossil corals to reconstruct central tropical Pacific climate.” Burbridge and Nichols both worked with Dr. Ben Kisila, professor of geology and environmental science, on different projects. Burbridge’s work was titled “Spatio-Temporal and bioaccumulation analysis of trace metal concentrations within sediment and dagger blade grass shrimp in Chincoteague Bay, USA” while Nichols worked on “Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Northern Virginia Waterways in Relation to Urbanization.”
Sociology student Zoey Hanrahan presented her research titled “Life-style or Marriage Migrants? Western Women and Positioning Privilege in Asia” at the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies (MARAAS) in Newark, DE, November, 2024. Her faculty mentor was Dr. Nora Kim, professor of sociology. Hanrahan analyzed the experiences of a subset of lifestyle migrants consisting of predominantly young, Western white women who marry Asian men and relocate to Asian countries, by conducting a virtual ethnography through online posts made by these women.
In November, a group of geography students traveled to Greenville, SC to participate in the Geography Bowl and present their research at the Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers. Kaleb Dunlap presented his work titled “Spatial Patterns of English and Celtic Folk Music in the Eastern United States” (faculty mentor, Dr. Steve Hanna, professor of geography) and Haley Cooke presented “Studying Vegetation Change at Crow’s Nest Natural Area Using Pollen Analysis” (faculty mentor, Dr. Jackie Gallagher, associate professor of geography), which she researched as part of the 2024 Irene Piscopo Rodgers (’59) Summer Science Institute.
Many of the students reported positively on the opportunity to interact with students and professors of other universities, and commented on how preparing and delivering a presentation at a professional conference helped them hone their communication skills, and gave them confidence in their abilities and knowledge.
Earth and environmental science student Jessica Oberlies put it this way:
I was very nervous beforehand, but Dr. Grothe gave some good feedback after practicing with her, and I felt confident in the material. Now, I feel much more confident in my ability to communicate science through various means, whether it be through writing or speaking.
After attending this conference, I have decided that I may want to attend graduate school in the future!
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