KU News Release

More than 70 undergraduates to present research at April 12 symposium

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LAWRENCE — More than 70 undergraduates at the University of Kansas will present research on topics ranging from child welfare to DNA sequences at the 11th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium starting at noon Saturday, April 12, in the Kansas Union.

This year, the symposium also will feature presentations from students at KU and other area schools who are members of Sigma Xi, an international scientific honor society.

The impressive breadth of symposium topics includes projects from numerous academic departments at KU. There is a study on narrative style and rhetoric in the documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth,” a project on the acoustics of worship spaces, a study on storm water pollution reduction and many more.

The symposium is sponsored by the University Honors Program and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies. Steven Warren, vice provost for research and graduate studies, will welcome the participants and guests to the symposium.

Four KU students will open the symposium with their presentations: Cassandra LaMar, Carlinville, Ill., senior in biology; Anne Kretsinger, Emporia senior in communication studies; Amelia Yowell-Mayes, McPherson senior in political science; and Tashia Dare, Lawrence senior in art history.

The day will end with an awards banquet at 6 p.m. in the Jayhawk Room. Edith Taylor, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, will be the speaker.

In addition to student awards for exceptional papers and poster presentations, a faculty member will receive the K. Barbara Schowen Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award.

A full symposium program is on the honors program Web site.