Members of the University community have the opportunity today to witness the culmination of creative undergraduate talent in the first Faculty Senate Harrison Award Symposium.
The symposium will take place from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Pavilion VII. The students' faculty advisers also will take part in the brief presentations by providing their perspectives on mentoring the undergraduate research projects.
For the past two years, the Senate has presented Harrison Awards to about 40 undergraduate students who develop outstanding research projects to work on with a faculty adviser. Each recipient receives an award of up to $3,000 to fund spring or summer research. Each faculty adviser is paid $1,000 for mentoring the projects.
According to Senate Chairman Robert Grainger, the Senate created the symposium because it wanted to give the University community an opportunity to see the interesting projects researched by the Harrison Award winners.
Although Grainger said he wishes all 43 award recipients could share their projects in the symposium, the Senate chose a smaller group of students to present their findings for practical reasons, such as time constraints.
In choosing the subset of students, Grainger said the Senate looked for people who were particularly enthusiastic about their work and who already had completed their projects. In addition, the Senate tried to include projects from a broad range of disciplines in the sciences and humanities, he said.
University President John T. Casteen III said he already had the opportunity to view several student's projects and "all were first-rate."
"This program has been viewed as a great success," Grainger said, citing positive feedback from students, faculty members, the administration and the Board of Visitors in support of the program.
"These awards are good for students, exciting for faculty and show off U.Va. students at their best," he said.
Unfortunately, the Senate is "coming to the end of the funding" that has been used to fund the projects for the first two years, said Susan Perry, Senate research and scholarship committee chairwoman.
The Harrison Award program began two years ago when the President's Office gave a large sum of money, which was donated by David A. Harrison III, to the Senate to fund the undergraduate research awards. The original gift was for one year, but then the President's Office extended it for two more years, Grainger said.
But after this year, Grainger said the Senate may need to look for a "loyal alumnus" who wants to endow the program.
The Senate is trying to "bring more visibility to the program to find someone willing to fund [it] on a regular basis," Perry said.
If the Senate is not able to locate a donor, however, Grainger said he hopes the administration will continue to fund the awards.
In an e-mail, Casteen said, "all funds of this kind are awarded with a sunset date. Assuming that the revenue continues to flow (it seems [fine] now) and that the Senate identifies this as its top use for these funds, they will continue."
All members of the University community are invited to the symposium, and attendance especially is encouraged for second- and third-year students who are interested in gathering ideas to apply for a Harrison Award this year, Grainger said.
"Often it just gets your mind going and thinking of things on your own" to hear about past projects, he said.
Applications for this year's awards are due by Nov. 13. Information about the application process can be found on the Senate's Web site at www.virginia.edu/facultysenate.
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