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As the semester comes to a close, we would like to congratulate all of our students on their hard work throughout the year. In this edition of our newsletter, you can find last-minute reminders of deadlines, workshops, and highlights from the 2024 Undergraduate Research Symposium and the 2024 ACC Meeting of the Minds. We wish you all the best as the semester comes to a close! Please drop by our office with any questions about how you can get involved in research.
Thank you for reading, and as always, if you have any questions or would like to know more, please email us at cre@fsu.edu!
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UPCOMING DEADLINES/INFO SESSIONS |
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The UROP deadline is rapidly approaching! Join a community of hundreds of first-year, second-year, and transfer student researchers and UROP alumni. UROP will help you explore academic and career interests through research mentorship, all while learning to think in creative and innovative ways. UROP also offers the opportunity to engage in research outside of your proposed, or declared, field of study.
Incoming student/current first-year student deadline: May 1, 2024.
Transfer student deadline: July 1, 2024.
To learn more about UROP, please attend our last information session which will be held in HSF 3008 and via Zoom. We also have a pre-recorded info session on our website!
Tuesday, April 23 – 2 pm - Hybrid
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The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) is an initiative by the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement to engage high-achieving undergraduates in the academic culture of research and offer help to Research Mentors.
UROP Research Mentors will work with student research assistants for a year-long period. UROP is currently recruiting Research Mentors to submit projects for which they would like undergraduate research assistants.
Upcoming Research Mentor Virtual Information Sessions:
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During this year’s Nourishing Creativity Hour, the Center for Undergraduate Research and Engagement recognized four research mentors for their hard work and dedication to undergraduate research. These mentors collaborated closely with their research students on projects, involving them in the process and serving as a vital source of guidance through the intricacies of research.
The mentors, pictured above, who received awards for exceeding expectations were: Alex Kallen, a clinical psychology doctoral student; Irene Zanini-Cordi, associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics; Sierra Morandi, a doctoral student in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences; Olivia Cook, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology.
“We are so proud of this incredible yearly event and couldn’t do it without the commitment of the hundreds of research mentors who generously share their skills, talent, and time so our students can have the life-changing experience of participating in the groundbreaking research and innovation that happens at FSU,” said Latika Young, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement.
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UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM |
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On April 3rd, 2024, the Center for Undergraduate Research held its 24th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS). Hundreds of student researchers, including those from the Garnet and Gold Scholar Society, Honors in the Major Program, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), and independent studies, presented their work as posters and creative presentations.
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"This program has been the perfect entryway into research. I am more than delighted with my experience in UROP." - Morgan Brown
Hear more about the 24th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium by clicking the video below!
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NOURISHING CREATIVITY HOUR |
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As part of the 24th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, the CRE hosted Nourishing Creativity Hour. This year's Nourishing Creativity Hour featured the following presentations:
Alyna Santos Bodart
Studio Art/Creative Writing
Forked Roads: The Beginning of a Webcomic
Sophia Gannaoui
Choral Music Education
Exploring Diversity in Religious Repertoire Through Choral Music
Shena Kamata
Art History
The Art of Bonding: Museums as a Third Space.
Diego Fernandez Mota
Biochemistry
Artificial Intelligence in Independent Music Study: Value Maximization of OpenAI's ChatGPT and GPT Creator
Isabella Alamo
Studio Art
Excess, Abjection, and Hypersexualization: Women In Horror
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"It felt really great to have a space to share my honors project with others. My webcomic is something that's been in my head for years, and being able to talk about it at Nourishing Creativity Hour has made it start to feel real. I thank the team at CRE for organizing the event and giving FSU creatives such a great opportunity!" |
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"Presenting at Nourishing Creativity was an amazing and fun experience. It allowed me to present my research in a more creative and expressive light. My favorite moment was being able to perform the ukulele to the audience! This allowed the audience to view the results of my research." |
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2024 ACC MEETING OF THE MINDS |
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Congratulations to the five FSU students who presented at the 18th annual ACC Meeting of the Minds conference: Melisa Sencer, Joelyz Wolcott, Erin Tilly, Harrison Betz, and Richard Hilpert!
The ACC Meeting of the Minds highlights undergraduate excellence in research and creative scholarship across many fields.
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The 2024 Meeting of the Minds was held at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN from April 5-7, 2024. The ACC Meeting of the Minds is an annual research conference celebrating undergraduate research and creative inquiry at the 15 Atlantic Coast Conference member schools. The weekend of events is designed to provide students with the opportunity to share their work, connect with peers from other institutions, to learn from and with each other. |
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What CRE program were you involved in?
I was involved in UROP during my freshman year of college. I assisted a graduate student, Ethan Cissell, with his project involving cyanobacterial mat distribution on coral reefs in Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. This experience opened the door for me. At the end of my first semester, I got SCUBA certified so that I could take the Scientific Diving class, which I took in Spring 2021. During my sophomore year, I assisted the same graduate student with their research and was offered an assistantship to go to Bonaire with the lab in Summer 2021. While there, I assisted another graduate student, Josh Manning, with his work on parrotfish feeding and behavior. I also began working on my own project involving butterflyfish behavior. I collected video data and started analyzing it upon returning to the US. I worked on the data during my junior year and presented my preliminary findings at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in Spring 2022. In the Summer of 2022, I traveled to Walpole, Maine to assist with diving in the Damariscotta River. I dove on oceanographic buoys to clean them of biofouling so they could continue to record data that would be used by lobstermen and other scientists in the area. I also learned how to use the BlueROV2 by BlueRobotics, and developed methodology for a project that would observe juvenile Atlantic cod activity in nearshore seagrass habitat. During my senior year, I assisted a graduate student, Ally Dubel, with her analyses of videos of fish taken in Moorea, French Polynesia. I also was a UROP leader from August 2022 to May 2023, and I really enjoyed it! I love teaching.
How did your involvement with CRE programming help prepare you for your current experience/engagement/work/awesome activity?
Currently, I work for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Eastpoint, FL. I am involved in projects concerning oyster reef restoration, seagrass restoration, living shoreline maintenance, and water quality monitoring. For our oyster reef project, we SCUBA dive in Apalachicola Bay, Pensacola Bay, and St. Andrews Bay to collect samples to analyze in the lab for live and dead spat, seed, and adult oysters. For our seagrass project, we snorkel in St. Joseph Bay along boat propeller scars that have been previously filled with sediment to help with seagrass growth. We then use a PVC quadrat to look at the coverage of seagrass in the scar every 10m. For our living shoreline project, we do breakwater oyster surveys, marsh grass surveys, and critter surveys. For the water quality program, I am charged with the maintenance and deployment of YSI sondes in Alligator Harbor and St. Joseph Bay. My experience in UROP helped prepare me for my current job because it taught me so much about research and opened doors for me to get experience throughout my undergraduate career! Without my involvement in the program early on, I would not have been able to get my scientific diver certification, travel to Bonaire, or travel to Maine. I am so grateful for the experience I was able to gain by being involved in UROP.
Lena has a science Instagram account where she posts about the work she does. Follow Lena and her work! @lenagoesdiving
If you would like to read more about Lena's time in Maine, click the line below!
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Get involved with CRE and research opportunities using the button below.
In addition, you can also request a presentation from CRE and other Honors, Scholars, Fellows staff to present to your class, RSO meeting, and more. We will present on research opportunities while Office of National Fellowships and Honors will talk about their respective offices. Click on the link below to submit a presentation request.
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FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA |
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Engaging students in research, innovation, and scholarship is the hallmark of a great research university. Through this engagement, students become better thinkers, innovators, and problem solvers, cultivating a depth of understanding needed to make a positive difference in the world. |
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