From increasing degree completion rates to improving job placement, undergraduate research provides many benefits for students. Because of this, the Office of Undergraduate Research, OUR, facilitates opportunities for University of Utah students to enrich their college experience through research. This semester, the office is looking forward to the annual Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium and recently celebrated 25 years of hosting Research on Capitol Hill.

Undergraduate Research Symposium

On Wednesday, April 2, OUR is hosting its Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium. This event will allow undergraduate researchers to showcase their faculty-assisted projects to the community, friends, and family.

Graduate students, faculty members and postdoctoral scholars will evaluate participants’ posters. The prize categories for this year’s symposium include Best in STEM, Best in Humanities and Fine Arts, Best in Wellness, Best in Health and Medicine, Best in Social Sciences, Best in Interdisciplinary, Best in Societal Impact, Best Research Narrative, Best Citations/Literature Review and Best Use of Poster Visuals.

Following the symposium, an awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday, April 9 and will be available to live stream on the OUR website. The annual awards ceremony recognizes Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awardees and Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Awardees across the disciplines. Additionally, the Monson Essay Prize and the Valadi N. Venkatesan Research Award will be presented. Award-winning posters will be on display during the awards ceremony, recognition thanks to supporters Maschoff Brennan and Northrup Grumman.

Research on Capitol Hill

The 25th annual Research on Capitol Hill event took place last month and showcased various exceptional projects and dedicated students. The event demonstrates the importance of undergraduate research and creative work from the top two research universities in this state— the University of Utah and Utah State University.

Jasmine Aguilar Lopez was chosen by OUR to participate this year for her project, “Atrapadxs en un Hoyo: Reproductive Justice and Environmental Health of Latina Women & Children in Salt Lake City, Utah.”

Lopez is a senior at the University of Utah studying communication with emphases in science, health, environment and risk management, and health, society, and policy. What started as a concern for the environment in Salt Lake City led to an exciting senior thesis on the intersectionality between reproductive environmental justice as it relates to the Great Salt Lake.

Lopez’s experience working with OUR has created numerous opportunities. She collaborated with Leandra Hernandez as her mentor, applied for the Wilkes Scholar Program and connected more with the community.

“Hopefully, this can be used as a form of advocacy and put in policies that work with the environment,” Lopez said.

Thanks to OUR, she is one step closer to achieving her goal.