|
The Forum Undergraduate Research Award is an honor that showcases the most rigorous and significant undergraduate research that occurs as part of education abroad programs. Every year, award recipients are invited (all expenses paid) to present their research at a plenary luncheon at the annual Forum conference. Over the years, the student presentations have become a much-anticipated event of the annual conference.
Independent research represents one of the highest achievements of undergraduate student learning. Completing serious, high-quality research requires critical thinking, analysis, and creativity. Award projects encompass a wide variety of academic fields, demonstrating that international learning informs many academic and professional fields. Moreover, the quality of the nominated research is a testimony to students’ understanding of other cultures and societies.For the award, "research" is understood in its broadest possible sense as encompassing the full range of excellence in the academic products of an education abroad experience.
The presentation of these competitive undergraduate research projects underscores, for faculty, international education administrators and other professionals, some of the important ways that study abroad impacts student learning. In this way, the very best outcomes of student learning abroad are widely visible to the profession of education abroad as well as to our constituents.
The annual deadline for nominations for the Award is at the end of June of that year. The Forum encourages its members to plan their nominations to work with their organization's calendars. Some tips provided member organizations as strategies for members to manage their nominations may be found at the link in the left hand bar on this page.
The deadline for 2010 nominations is June 30, 2010.
Awards
The Forum is proud to announce the winners of the 2009 Undergraduate Research Awards:
After the 2010 Forum Conference Undergraduate Research Award Lunch Plenary (from left): Brian Whalen, Karyn Jones, Beth Ann Saracco, Kenneth Wong, Sun-Jin Lee, Jeffrey Cason, MaryAnn Clark
Sun Jin Lee, Yale University
Study Abroad Program: Yale University Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory; Project: “Amazonian endophytes as a platform for discovery of novel anti-inflammatory therapies to inhibit pathogenic processes relevant for preterm birth”
Beth Ann Saracco, University of Dayton
Study Abroad Programs: Center for Social Concern, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala Immersion, University of Dayton (summer 2007); Chile: Cultural Identity, Social Justice, and Community Development, School for International Training (Fall 2008). Project: “¡Justicia Ahora! The Movement for Justice in Chile and Guatemala”
Kenneth Richard Wong, University of California, San Diego
Study Abroad Program: University of Ghana, Legon Fall Semester immersion program.(University of California EAP)
Project: “Dangerous Delays: Impediments to Pediatric Malaria Treatment in Ghana.”
Congratulations to the winners, their home institutions and education abroad programs!
Now in its sixth year, this year’s Undergraduate Research Award competition received the most compelling nominations in its history. The student winners presented their research at a plenary luncheon at the Forum Conference in Charlotte, NC on March 26, 2010.
The Forum offers its sincere thanks to Neal Sobania, Pacific Lutheran University for coordinating the award selection process, and to the faculty at Forum member institutions who reviewed the applications.
|
