Undergraduate Research Award

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 education 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.

 

Resources:
Announcing the Winners of the 2011 Undergraduate Research Awards

 

The Forum on Education Abroad is pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Undergraduate Research Awards:

Student: Claire Jenson

Program: Center for University Programs Abroad (CUPA), Paris

Home Institution: Oberlin College

Discipline: Art History

Project Title: Robert of Hangest’s missal: reconstructing a medieval illuminated manuscript

 

Student: Richard Hong

Program: University of California Education Abroad Program (UCEAP), Mexico Field Research Program

Mexico City/San Cristobal, Mexico

Home Institution: University of California, San Diego

Discipline: Political Science-International Relations/Latin American Studies

Project Title: Upon Greater Security, Greater Vulnerability: How the Growing Presence of Border Enforcement in Mexico has Affected the Flow of Central American Migrants

 

The Forum’s Undergraduate Research Award is a national competition that recognizes excellence in academic work completed by students as part of an education abroad program. The students will present their work in Denver, CO on March 23, 2012 at a plenary session at the Forum’s eighth annual conference. The students’ projects were chosen by a selection committee composed of faculty from Forum-member institutions, who judged them to be the best examples of the highest quality academic achievements of undergraduates studying abroad.

 

Nominated projects encompass a wide variety of fields, demonstrating that international learning informs many academic 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 Forum believes that completing serious, high-quality research requires critical thinking, analysis, and creativity, and represents one of the highest achievements of undergraduate student learning.

 

The presentation of these competitive undergraduate research projects underscores for faculty, education abroad administrators, and their institutions the significant ways that education abroad contributes to students’ academic growth.

 

Claire Jenson’s project, conducted over the course of a year at the Center for University Programs Abroad (CUPA) in Paris, focused on the history of a medieval illuminated manuscript, searching for sources that revealed its ownership, deciphering its text, and analyzing its decorations. Jenson wrote that “Unlike other textual studies, however, my work began with one serious disadvantage: I had only one leaf of the manuscript.”

 

One of the faculty readers of her project noted: that Claire “made the most of her stay abroad and of her  linguistic training. I am really impressed by the way she was able to integrate her interests, her linguistic fluency and improve both by hard work and worthwhile scholarly research. She is a true model of what we all hope our students will gain from study abroad besides being a promising young scholar.”

 

Upon being notified of winning the award, Claire wrote, “Studying abroad with CUPA provided me with academic and personal opportunities that stimulated my intellectual growth and passion for research.  I cannot stress enough my debt to both my French and American professors and the CUPA staff as I humbly receive this award.”

 

Richard Hong spent a semester in Mexico, where he conducted field research in Tapachula, and commuted between the border towns of Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico and Tecun Uman in Guatemala. His project used an ethnographic survey that he designed to interview undocumented Central American migrants. He also interned with the Consulate General of the Republic of El Salvador, where he was in charge of tabulating, analyzing, and logging over 230 interviews with Salvadorian child-migrants.

 

One of the faculty readers of his work noted that the sophistication of the research project, and “the energy that he clearly brought to interviews and field work, suggests a very deep engagement” in the local community.  Richard told the Forum: “I am very honored to be selected for this prestigious award. However, my research would not have been possible if not for the willingness of the humble and courageous migrants to share their stories and experiences with me. My hope is that as we continue research in this field, positive and constructive social change will come to place for communities on both sides of the border.”