The 43 recipients of the Harrison undergraduate research awards, as well as the recipients of various other monetary grants for research, were unveiled in the Rotunda Dome Room yesterday, officially kicking off Research Week at the University.
"We had a large number of applicants for the Harrison award," said Nicole F. Hurd, assistant dean and director of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence. "It speaks well to the ability of our faculty, graduate students and undergraduates to collaborate and advance the creation of knowledge."
The Harrison Awards, now in their fifth year, are presented to students who submit a detailed proposal for independent study endorsed by a faculty member. The students submit their applications in early February and the applications are reviewed by members of the Faculty Senate and faculty members of the Center for Undergraduate Excellence.
Students selected for the Harrison Award can receive up to $3,000 toward their research, which they have one year to complete. The students work closely with a faculty advisor throughout their year of research.
Although the faculty advisor also receives $1,000 for the research period, Faculty Senate Chair Marcia Childress, who gave the opening statements during the award ceremony yesterday, explained that money was not the primary motivation for faculty to advise students during their research.
"It's the faculty's privilege to work this closely with [the Harrison Award recipients]," Childress said.
The research that will be conducted by the undergraduate grant awardees over the next year ranges from the study of resettling refugees after Sept. 11 to dihapto-coordinated carbonyl complexes.
Second-year college student Ross Baird is traveling to various European countries -- including Italy and Ukraine -- to research why there is more political participation in Europe than in the United States.
"This research is something that the Center for Politics needs to have done, so it is helpful to them as well," Baird said.
Third-year College student Catherine Hauptfuhrer, another Harrison award recipient, will be researching the financial default in Argentina, the worst in history.
Hauptfuhrer will be conducting interviews with American diplomats, officials within the IMF and Argentinean government officials, while also determining the role of major New York financial institutions in Argentina's current economic crisis.
Other awards presented in the Rotunda dome room yesterday included the Raven Fellowship, a grant of research money open to any University student, which is presented by the Raven society. Two graduate students and two undergraduate students were selected from 45 applicants to receive $2,500 from the Raven Society for various research projects.
A research symposium will be held Friday in which the research done by last year's award winners will be presented.
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